Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic 

Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chicago: 

ABC International Group, 1996); Somaiyah Berrigan, 

ed.,  An Enlightening Commentary into the Light of the 

Holy Quran. 2 vols. (Isfahan: Amir-al-Momineen Ali 

Library, 1994), 2:121–128; Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, 

the Quran and Science: The Holy Scriptures in the Light 

of Modern Knowledge. Translated by Alastair D. Pannell 

and Maurice Bucaille (Indianapolis: American Trust 

Publications, 1979), 198–210.

boat

Boats have been a primary means of transpor-

tation on the waters in Islamicate lands. The 

q

Uran

 mentions n

oah

’s ark, a boat made of 

planks and nails (Q 54:13), and to this day the 

benediction God gave to Noah when he launched 

it—“Embark! In the name of God be its course 

and mooring” (Q 11:41)—is written on boats and 

ships owned or used by Muslims. The Quran also 

mentions ships boarded by Jonah (Q 37:140) and 

m

oses

 (Q 18:71). Muslims have used boats and 

ships since the inception of i

slam

 as vehicles of 

commerce, 

travel

, and military conflict. Seafaring 

Muslim merchants have been a vital part of both 

the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean maritime 

trading networks and were responsible for the 

initial spread of Islam along the coasts of South 

and Southeast Asia. Muslim navies controlled 

much of the Mediterranean for centuries and took 

part in such famous naval battles as the Battle of 

the Masts, when a newly formed Islamic fleet first 

defeated its Byzantine counterpart in 655.

There were a wide variety of types of boats 

in medieval Islamdom, but there were two basic 

methods of construction: the Mediterranean 

method and the West Indian Ocean method. In 

the Mediterranean, boats were built frame first, 

constructing a wood skeleton and then attaching 

the planking over it with metal nails. In the Indian 

Ocean, boats were built shell-first, from the out-

side in, and sewn together completely with palm 

fiber cord without the use of nails. After the intru-

sion of the European navies in the 16th century, 

the Indian Ocean tradition gradually faded as boat 

builders adopted European methods, which were 

better suited to modern weaponry such as can-

non. Today a rich tapestry of traditional boats still 

exists in Muslim lands, from the fishing felucca of 

the Nile to the merchant dhow of the Gulf, plying 

the waters side by side with their more modern 

fiberglass and metal counterparts.

Eric Staples

Egyptian feluccas docked in Aswan 

(Juan E. Campo)

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