Taken from: De Maleische Alexanderroman by Pieter Johannes van Leeuwen

Also called: Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain
This book is really a missionary story from South East Asia out of the century when Islam-isation started. The extracts given all come out of the 5 pages following the adventures with the 5 Habshi kings.  We do not learn anything about East Africa here. It is more seeing what South East Asia learned about East Africa.

P239-240

…….A month later Chidir (1) sees a copper statue of a man on a horse, pointing with his sword in a certain direction. He mentions to Iskander who wants to take away the sword that this belonged to the son of Noah, and that the statue is put there by Allah to show the route. The army follows the route indicated by the statue and meets after 15 days a man seated on a giraffe, who kills 4 of Chidir’s men. He is then taken prisoner and says his name is P. tah and that there are three tribes in his land; the Mis.k, Ta’wil and Ta’ris, and they are governed by a queen called Raziya and worship the planet Saturn. He is converted by Chidir (1) and goes to his queen for the purpose of killing her. To his great surprise she is already aware of his plan, and on his questions she tells him that in her youth she was already converted by W.d.'h, daughter of a king of the jins to Islam, who had predicted out of the tawarich (Chronicles) that Iskandar would come and that he (P. tah) would try to kill her. By letter, Raziya now informs Iskandar that she is already a supporter of the true faith, while making known to her people who Iskandar is and what his purpose is. With part of her people she goes to the army of Iskandar; admires it and is well received; Chidir converts all those who accompany her. When she returns to her country, the remaining part of her people will not repent till after being conquered by Iskandar in a fight. Raziya drives them out of the country and Chidir goes to them with the Habshi soldiers. In order to avoid a bloody battle, Chidir (1) proposes that fifty of the subjects of Raziya will try to hit his lance with their arrows. If they cannot do this, then that is proof of the fact that Allah's help is more powerful than that of their god. The lance is not touched after Chidir's prayer; these pagans then also repeat the shahadat (creed). Chidir reports to Iskandar, Raziya gets a royal dress and brings tribute, which Iskandar again distributes to the newly converted. After 8 days Iskandar moves on, while Raziya accompanies with a large army, riding on giraffes. After a few days you arrive at a plain, from which, when you dig, water bubbles colder than dew and whiter than milk.

P241

….Abud closes the gates of the city and waits to give Iskander the opportunity to escape. Chidir (1) writes a letter to Abud, urging him to surrender and to pray to Allah who created the sun and not to the sun, and then brings the letter himself to the city, ridding on a giraffe. He is welcomed with honor and military show and he really is impressed about the greatness of Abud’s country. During the greetings Allah puts awe (hebat) in the hart of Abud, making that he receives Chidir with more honor than planned…..

P245

…..The idol worshippers have an idol of precious stones (katje jakoet), who can talk and pushes them to fight Iskander. The strongest among them, called S.ndbaz, is sent to kill Iskander, and is promised in marriage the king’s daughter. He tries to enter Iskander’s inner circle but is discovered by Chidir, he admits guilt, converts and is send back to convert his people. The king who is called D.kl.m, gets angry and is ready to kill him on the command of the idol, when Chidir (1) comes ridding in on a giraffe. He shows the impotency of the idol by pulling him of the throne and pull of his crown. D.kl.m is ashamed and converts together with all his people. Iskander gives them clothes and receives taxes, while 50,000 man, called N.kariya ridding on ostriches join the army. After a trip of two months one reaches the outer provinces of Qairawan (2) where the idol  Dzu’l-arkan is worshipped. The army of the border province is beaten and the people convert. The king of Qairawan (2) called Hawas, who lives in negeri Afriqiya, receives a message of Iskander arriving and collects his army…..

P260

….On ships of Noedjoem the army starts the trip to the country of the Zanggi (Blacks) called Dzu ‘l-nabin. He does not want to convert and is beaten after a heavy fight close to a bridge that he had built on the border of his country, and killed. His people convert and the army takes some rest in the country….

(1) Chidir: maybe Khidr: prophet, who guards the sea, teaches secret knowledge and aids those in distress.

(2) Qairawan: Kairouan is a city in northern Tunisia’s inland desert.