The Marmot’s Hole

Many people think the relationship between Korea and Islam is a recent phenomenon dating back to the participation of Turkish troops in the Korean War.

Historical ties between the two civilizations, however, are much older.

A 2005 piece in the Hankyoreh Shinmun by Professor Jeong Su-il looked at the interaction between Koreans and Muslims during the Goryeo era (936-1392).

First Contacts

Korea’s first contacts with the Muslim world took place during the Unified Silla period (668-935), when Arabs and Persian traders came to Korea (possibly via Tang China, where large Silla communities existed) to, well, trade. Some even stayed, becoming soldiers and government officials — see here for photos of some of the clay figurines and stone statues of (presumably) Arabs and Persians found in Gyeongju, the old Silla capital. In fact, it’s said that the mythical figure Cheoyong, from the Legend of Cheoyong, was actually a Muslim trader living in Gyeongju.

The Goryeo Era and the Apex of Korean-Muslim Interaction

Following the establishment of the Goryeo kingdom, the Muslim presence in Korea would reach new heights. At first, it was mostly Arab traders flooding into the kingdom, but in the late Goryeo era, when Korea was dominated by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, Muslims would come to Korea as soldiers and administrators, and the Muslim faith would begin putting down roots in the country.

Historical records show that in the early years of the Goryeo era, large Muslim — probably Arab — tribute delegations came to the Korean capital of Gaegyeong (present day Kaesong) in 1024, 1025 and 1037, presenting such rare gifts as mercury and myrrh. The Goryeo king prepared for these travelers special lodging and presented them with gold and silk upon their return to their homeland.

The destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate by the (unusually, well, Christian) Mongol horde of Hulagu Khan put a stop to these contacts. But only temporarily.

In 1258, the last in a series of Mongol invasions of Korea led to the fall of the “Choe Shogunate” and Korea was made a tributary state of the Yuan Dynasty. It was now that Islam really made its presence felt. With the Mongol armies came the so-called saengmokin, or “colored-eye people,” Muslims from Central Asia. In the Mongol social pecking order, the saengmokin occupied a position just below the Mongols themselves, and exerted a great deal of influence both within the Mongol court and in the Horde’s military campaigns.

Professor Jeong noted the historic irony that Islam was brought to Korea on the (horse)back of non-believers. This irony could be taken even further by noting that the afore mentioned non-believers were not just your garden-variety infidels, but the very same enemies of God who that year had single-handedly stuck a fork in the Islamic Golden Age with the “Mother of All Sackings” of Baghdad.

Following the Mongol conquest of Goryeo, the saengmokin, regarded by the Mongols as highly cultured and educated (many Central Asians, particularly Uighurs, served as administrators for the empire — even the Mongol script was invented by a Uighur), came to Korea as guards, military aide-de-camps and attendants to the Mongol princesses sent to Korea to marry the Goryeo princes. At the same time, many Muslims came to Korea in a civilian capacity as traders, with many settling down for good.

Jang Sun-nyeong and Seol Son

Typical of this phenomenon was “Samga” Jang Sun-nyong, the progenitor of the Deoksu Jang family. Jang, a Uighur, came to Goryeo in 1274 as an attendant to the Mongolian queen of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo. Jang was a very talented man and once in Korea, he quickly rose up the ranks to become a high official in royal Council of State. King Chungnyeol granted him land, a title and a Korean name. He married a Korean woman and produced four sons prior to his death at the age of 44. His descendants went on to produce many scholars, officials and literary figures, including Jang Yu, considered one of the four finest writers of the Joseon era. Today, some 30,000 Koreans call Jang their ancestor.

Seol Son, the progenitor of the Gyeongju Seol clan, was another Uighur who attained high office in Korea. Seo came to Korea to escape the Red Turban Rebellion in China. Lucky for him, he’d gotten to know King Gongmin when the king — then crown prince — was at the Yuan court as hostage, as per late Goryeo custom. The king granted Seol a title and land. After becoming a Korean subject, Seol became one of the Goryeo era’s leading poets. One of his decedents, Jang Su, was a Joseon-era diplomat who was sent on eight missions to Ming China. Today, some 2,000 Koreans trace their ancestry back to Seol.

These “semi-Mongol” Muslims, especially the ones who settled in Korea, played a leading role in bridging the gap between Koreans and the Mongols. They also contributed to society. The Muslims formed a community just outside Gaegyeong, where they built a mosque for daily prayers. Under an imam, they also performed a group prayer ritual called the “Daejohoesongchuk” at the royal court. At their shrines, the Muslims burned incense for the king.

Records show that King Chunghye granted Muslims the right to sell fabric in return for the Muslims providing the crown with 15 geun of beef daily. Muslims were also entrusted with raising falcons, which were sent to the Yuan court as tribute. Close to the court, Central Asian tradesmen encouraged international trade.

I Knew Something Was Up with those Uighur Bakers

As these Muslims adjusted and blended into Korean society, they began showing up as characters in the satirical poems that were popular at the time. One example of this is “Ssanghwajeom,” or “The Turkish Bakery” (or, “Dumpling Shop”), a rather ribald song that was popular during the Goryeo era. The song tells the tale of a Korean woman who goes to a Central Asian bakery to buy some dumplings but ends up getting a whole lot more from the old Turk/Uighur/Central Asian behind the counter.

Islamic music also made an impression. Music and dance had been making its way to Korea from Central Asia since the Three Kingdoms period, and this trend continued into the Goryeo era. Central Asian musical instruments, Central Asian songs and Central Asian dance grew popular during the era. King U, the last king of Goryeo, formed a troupe of attendants composed of Muslim youth, and he himself used to enjoy playing Central Asian music at the Bubyeongnu Pavilion in Pyongyang, as well as singing and dancing in Central Asian style.

What Could be More Islamic than Soju?

Ironically enough, the most lasting contribution medieval Islam left Korea may be soju. Soju, arguably Korea’s national firewater, came to Korea in the Goryeo era. Soju’s proud history begins in the Middle East, where, in those dark days before the Saudis built the King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain, Arabs satisfied their need for drink with arak, the “milk of lions.” In 1258, the Mongols gave the Arabs real reason to drink by sacking Baghdad, but between the raping, pillaging and assembling pyramids of skulls, the intrepid conquerers still managed to learn the art of distilling arak. Mongolians still drink this vodka-like beverage, which they call arkhi. Anyway, the Mongol army, as they prepared to invade Japan, set up camps in Gaegyeong, Andong and Jeju Island, and it was here that arak was brewed for the first time in Korea. This arak, brewed by Koreans for distribution to the Mongol army, was Goryeo soju. Up until the modern era, the residents of Kaesong, the home of Goryeo soju, referred to soju as arakju.

Of course, you could read all about this at the homepage of Andong Soju.

If you don’t want to read my gibberish (or, more accurately, more summarization of Prof. Jeong’s stuff), check out this piece by Don Baker in the Harvard Asia Quarterly, which has much of the same information and more.

UPDATE: Something very interesting from the Don Baker piece (which is VERY worth reading):

Neither the creation of soju nor the adoption of Arab calendrical techniques required the presence of actual Muslims on Korean soil. However, records from the first decades of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), that which followed Goryeo, assure us that at least some of the Central Asians who had moved to Korea during the Goryeo dynasty were Muslims. In 1427 King Sejong decreed that the “huihui” who had been receiving stipends from the Korean government since the previous dynasty, and who had maintained a distinctive culture with their own styles of clothing and headgear and who even had their own “ritual hall,” were no longer to be treated any differently from than any other Korean. They also had appeared before the king every year as a group to honor him with their distinctive rituals. However, this reminder of Mongol rule, and the special place Central Asia and Muslims had in the Mongol empire, must have bothered King Sejong. Their stipends were terminated and they were ordered to dress like everybody else, as well as perform the same rituals as everyone else.The ritual hall referred to in this Joseon dynasty document is probably a mosque, though no descriptions of the hall survive to confirm that conjecture. There is also a reference in Joseon records to a “huihui” religious leader being allowed to settle in Korea in 1407. Combined with the fact that by the 15th century most Uighurs had become Muslims, it is likely that there was an actual Muslim presence in Korea in the 14th century and into the 15th. Nevertheless, the Muslim community must have been too small to resist the royal command to assimilate. There are no further references to Muslims on Korean soil for the rest of that long dynasty.

That was the end of the Muslim community until the 1920s, when the Japanese colonial administration welcomed several hundred Central Asian Muslims fleeing the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. They would eventually open a mosque of sorts in Seoul in 1934.