Islam in Myanmar
[3] The first Muslims landed in Myanmar (Burma's) Ayeyarwady River delta, on the Tanintharyi coast and in Rakhine in the 9th century, prior to the establishment of the first Burmese empire in 1055 AD by King Anawrahta of Bagan.
Muslims arrived in Burma as travellers, adventurers, pioneers, sailors, traders,[38] military personnel (voluntary and mercenary),[39] and a number of them as prisoners of wars.
Some are victims of forced slavery[42] but many of them are professionals and skilled personnel such as advisors to the kings and at various ranks of administration whilst others are port-authorities and mayors and traditional medicine men.
According to a chronicle of Burma related to the Indian Muslim brothers, they were said to have strength of the full-grown elephant after eating the magical meat of a (Zaw Gyi) or Fakir, a meal originally prepared for the monk who saved them.
During Peik Thaung Min (early Bagan Dynasty, 652-660 AD), Arab travellers from Madagascar to China through East Indian Islands, visited Thaton and Martaban ports.
[58] In 1617 A.D. even after the English East India Company had established its factory at Masulipatan, the Muslim merchants engaged themselves in trade between the Coromandel Coast and Pegu in Lower Burma.
[59] Before the 17th century, the English East India Company had to trade with Burma through the Muslim merchants who made the yearly excursion from the Coromandel Coast to Syriam at the end of wet monsoon.
From those Muslim merchants, company obtained from Burma things like Martaban Jars, small supply of gold, copper, tin, benzoin and lac.
[60] When Anaukpetlun (1605–28) defeated and concurred the Portuguese free-booter, Philip De Brito at Syriam and Bannya Dala of Martaban, who was previously subject to Siamese, in 1623 A.D., the (Muslim) Moores in Masulipatan rejoiced greatly hoping to get the trade of Pegu into their hands again and prepared to send there two ships in the following September.
[76][77] King Sane (Sa Nay Min Gyi)[78][79] brought several thousand Muslim prisoners of war from Sandoway and settled in Myedu in 1707 AD.
They were divided and settled in Taungoo, Yamethin, Nyaung Yan, Yin Daw, Meiktila, Pin Dale, Tabet Swe', Bhodhii, Syi Tha, Siputtara, Myae du and Depayin.
His Grand Vizier, U Paing (also a Burmese Muslim) who is noted for his efforts in building a two-mile-long bridge, made of teakwood, across the Taung Tha Man Lake.
Among the Burmese army, Captain Nay Myo Gone Narrat Khan Sab Bo's 70 Cavalry (horse) Regiment, was watched by Maha Bandula.
The Lordship of the Supreme Court of Rangoon remarked: "Today, in the various parts of Burma, there are people who, because of the origin and the isolated way of life, are totally unlike the Burmese in appearance of speak of events which had occurred outside the limits of their habitation.
The Patron of the Fifth Buddhist Synod, King Mindone (1854 to 1878), during his rule built Peacock rest house in the Holy City of Mecca, for the Muslims from Myanmar who went there on Hajj pilgrimage to stay comfortably while they were there for about one and a half months.
Due to Theravada Buddhism being the official religion of Toungoo Empire, he pressured his non-Buddhist subjects to convert, which he also grew suspicious and discriminatory toward those who refused.
After Konbaung Empire was founded, King Alaungpaya brought back Bayinnaung bans on Islamic Eid al-Adha and halal butchering again around mid-18th century.
King Bodawpaya (1782–1819) arrested four famous Myanmar Muslims Moulvis (Imams) from Myedu and killed them in Ava, the capital, after they refused to eat pork.
[134] The Simon Commission, which had been established to inquire into the effects of the Dyarchy system of ruling India and Burma in 1927, recommended that special places be assigned to the Burmese Muslims in the Legislative Council.
[138] The BMC, Burma Muslim Congress was founded almost at the same time as the AFPFL, Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League of General Aung San and U Nu before World War Two.
[144] In 2001,Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai , The Fear of Losing One's Race, and many other anti-Muslim pamphlets were widely distributed by monks.
[150] Details of the crime were circulated locally in an incendiary pamphlet, and on 3 June, a group of Arakan villagers in Toungup stopped a bus and killed 10 Muslims on board.
[151] On 8 June, thousands of Rohingya rioted in Maungdaw town after Friday prayers by leading Islamic leaders, destroying property and killing Arakan (Rakhine) residents.
With little to no government security present to stop the violence, people armed themselves with swords, spears, sticks, iron rods, knives, and other basic weapons, taking the law into their own hands.
Human Rights Watch also reported that monks in the 2001 riots were carrying mobile phones, a luxury not readily available to the Burmese population, as very few without government connections can afford them.
Organized gangs of several hundred people armed with knives, rods and firearms were reportedly involved in the subsequent violence, which resulted in a curfew being imposed across the city.
[161] In late 2016, the Myanmar military forces and extremist Buddhists started a major crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in the country's western region of Rakhine State.
The crackdown was started in response to attacks on border police camps by unidentified insurgents,[162] and has resulted in wide-scale human rights violations at the hands of security forces, including extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, arsons, and other brutalities.
[163][164][165] The military crackdown on Rohingya people drew criticism from various quarters including the United Nations, human rights group Amnesty International, the US Department of State, and the government of Malaysia.
[166][167][168][169][170] The de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi has particularly been criticized for her inaction and silence over the issue and for not doing much to prevent military abuses.
