" Kalah" or "Kalaha" was Found by Kurds from the Kalahar Tribe
The State of Kedah, which was opened in 11th century A.D. was originally named " Kalah " (Muhammad Hassan, 1968: 3). " Kalaha " was the name of a tribe of Kurds, i.e. the natives of Iran who migrated to the Nusantara in the 10th and 11th century A.D. When the " Kalahar " tribe settled in Kedah, the other tribes moved on to settle down in other parts of the Malay Archipelago (Omar Amin Husin, 1962: 185).
Historians had proven that the Kingdoms of Pasai, Rokan, Kuntu and Siak in Sumatra were opened by Muslim Iranians as far back as 969 A.D. Tombstones engraved in the Pahlawi script were found there. Legor, or Nakhorn Si Thammarat was opened by Kunu Iranians who named the city, Jamguerd. Arabs pronounced it as " Jamkut ". The same could be said of a settlement in Leren, near Gerisik in East Java, which was believed to have been opened by Iranians of the Lor tribe. Zainab binti Maimun who was buried in Leren in 1101 A.D. had Sulaiman al-Farisi as one of her ancestors (Omar Amin Husin, 1962: 179)
When the Kalahar tribe arrived in Kedah, they named the place in accordance with the name of their tribe : Kalahar. Muhammad Hassan in his book, " Al-Tarikh Salasilah.. ", wrote its name as " Kalaha ". Arabs pronounced it as " Kalah ". These Kurds tribes who had migrated to the Nusantara did so not only for trade, but also in search of a calm and peaceful life, away from their own strife-torn land. These Iranians had also migrated to Africa, India, The Middle East, the Far East and New Zealand. The Malay Archipelago or "Nusantara" was also one of their destinations.
The Migration of Muslim Merchants from China to Kedah
Muslim merchants from Arabia, Iran and other places, congregated in the port of Canton (now Guangzhou) in China. Caliph Sayidina Uthman ibn Affan (644-656) used to send his envoy, Saad Abi Waqqas and an entourage of fifteen others, on a sea voyage to china with the purpose of asking the emperor of China to embrace Islam. Chinese records of 651 A.D. admitted having received an envoy from " Han Mi Mo Moni " ( " Amir ul-Mu'minin " ) and in the 7th century A.D. the emperor of China, Tai Ti Sung embraced Islam (Abdullah Ishak, 1992: p. 250-251).
Around 877 A.D., Arab and Iranian merchants were attacked and killed by rebels who were fighting against the government of China. These merchants who had lived for 200 years in Canton were massacred. It was estimated that the number killed were between 120,000 to 200,000 people (Naguib Al-Attas, 1969: 11). A large number of these Muslim traders and their families sought refuge in Kedah.
Another rebellion broke out around 900 A.D. in Yong Chow. This time, around 5,000 people including Muslim traders were murdered. Those who survived migrated to Kedah and Palembang (Abdullah Ishak, 1992:440).
The status of Canton as a busy port was thus taken over by Kedah. As far back as the 8th century A.D., Islam had taken roots in England. Two pieces of gold coins kept in the British Museum testified to the fact that King Offa, the ruler of Mercia had embraced Islam. It coins displayed the two the Muslim confession of faith. The Kingdom of Mercia was located between River Thames and the Humber River, comprising Kent, Essex and London. In 825 A.D. Mercia was attacked and assimilated by other territories and its status as a Muslim Kingdom then disappeared.
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