My topic is named Barus: the cradle of Islam in Indonesia

My topic is named Barus: the cradle of Islam in Indonesia
Barus is one of the central trading cities which was the cradle of civilization in the Indonesian archipelago from the 7^th to the 17th centuries AD. It is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia and is located in the central Tapanuli region of North Sumatra. This town is the first Muslim Arab village in Indonesia. In historical literature, the name Barus is also called Fansur. There are several reasons why Barus is called ‘the oldest city’ in Indonesia. First, of all the cities in Indonesia, only Barus' name appears in ancient historical and literary sources written in Arabic, Hindi, Tamil, Greek, Armenian, and Chinese from the early AD. Secondly, the ancient map compiled by Claudius Ptolemy, one of the governors of Greece located in Alexandria, Egypt during the 2nd century AD, also mentioned that there were trade cities on the west coast of Sumatra called Barosai (Barus), and they were famous for their fragrant limes, and those cities were crowded with people. It is even said that camphor and its tree with some wood from the city of Barus was brought to Egypt for embalming in 5000 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II.
Historian Tomas Arnold puts forward in his book "Propagation of Islam" that the view that Islam was brought to the archipelago from the Arabian Peninsula by Muslim preachers from the 7th century. Even in 977 AD, a Muslim ambassador named Pu-li (Abu Ali) of Barus visited China to meet the Chinese emperor. Apart from this, a historical record found in Barus called 'Lobu Tua Inscription' written on a stone pillar in Tamil also shows that it was a major trading center. Barus, the former capital of ancient Lobu, has been explored by French historians.
As a result of this research, Barus was a multi-ethnic settlement of various ethnic groups such as Arab, Indian, Chinese, Tamil, Javanese, Batak, Aceh, Minangkabau, Bugis and Bengkulen in the 9th century AD. The team found many objects that are hundreds of years old. This suggests that Islam entered the archipelago directly through the Arabs in the seventh century AD. Muslim historians call this view the "Mecca Theory". This theory and evidence refutes the idea of Snoke Hurgrone and other similar scholars that Islam entered the archipelago through the Gujarat region of India.
Historical sources related to the name Barus belong to ancient times. As early as the 6th century, the name Barus was known in China because of camphor and its related trade. The Chinese knew camphor as Po-lu perfume. According to Walters, records of the southern Chinese dynasty, which "Liang-shu" ruled from 502-557, mentioned that one of the products of Lang-ya-xue in the peninsula was Po-lu perfume. According to geographer Paul Whitley, Tao Hung Tsing not only knew about it, but also included it in his work on pharmacology written in the 5th-6th centuries. In the records of Tan Pen Tsao of the 7th century, it is said that camphor perfumes and ointments were brought from the region of Po-lu, i.e. Barus. Also, the name of Barus is mentioned in the list of South Ocean states of the Buddhist I-Tsing, who lived in the 7th century. In his list of 11 regions, I-Tsing named Barus as Po-lu-shih and placed it last. Walters is the first to argue that Kern's suggestion that Po-lu-shih be accepted as a transcription of Barus is reasonable, supported by the use of the name Bualo-si before the Malay term Mo-lo-yu. Based on the above evidence, it is possible to be sure that Barus was one of the earliest centres of Islam in the Indonesian archipelago. Barus is documented in historical sources from China and other Southeast Asian countries as the primary trading hub that facilitated connections between the archipelago and other external regions. According to these historical sources, Fansur, or Barus, was a region that primarily involved in the trade of commodities between India and Middle Eastern countries. This proves that the Indonesian archipelago has long established trade relations with the outside world, especially with the Arab regions. Tibbets an English historian, who deeply studied the historical and ancestral connections between the pre-Islamic Arab Peninsula and Southeast Asian merchants, recognizes the importance of Sumatra and Java as the primary intermediary regions for international sea trade with China. Tibbets provides evidence that substantiates the contacts between Arab and archipelago traders of the period. Another such historical evidence is an ancient Chinese source that records that in the seventh century, specifically around 625, that is, 15 years after the Prophet Muhammad p.b.u. declared himself to be the Messenger of God, there was an Arab village in western Sumatra. later this village was named "Barus".
Important information about the ancient history of Barus can also be found in fiction. The names of Fansur and Barus are also mentioned in the poetry of Malay Hamza Fansuri, one of the exponents of Sufism who lived in the XVI-XVII centuries.
Hamza’s association with Barus draws attention to its role as an Islamic center of contact between the Muslims of the archipelago and West Asia. There is evidence that Arab and Indian traders began visiting the port, known as Fansur, at least as early as the 9th century. The view that Barus was one of the important centers of Islam is also supported by the presence of several Muslim cemeteries in its area containing diverse collections of decorated tombstones of various sizes. This and many other evidences have led some scholars to consider Barus as one of the earliest and most important centers of the introduction of Islam to Sumatra and an understudied region.
In conclusion, it can be said that Barus played a very important role in the introduction of Islam to the Indonesian archipelago and its wide spread in this region. The theory of the introduction of Islam to Indonesia by the Arabs through Barus has been supported by many western and eastern historians with various evidences in their research. In particular, historical sources left by ancient Arab historians and tourists are a clear example of this.