The first plan of the Suez Canal was developed during the reign of Hazrat Umar

First the corona virus shook the world, now the ship stuck in the Suez Canal has given another warning that the modern world is not as stable as we think it is and a small incident can shake it.

The world is losing more than $9 billion a day due to the giant ship that got stuck in Suez last week, and even if the ship leaves, the worst traffic jam will clear up after several weeks.

Since this news, the world’s attention has been drawn to the Suez Canal, but few people know that the first plan of this canal was prepared during the reign of the second Caliph Hazrat Umar, but unfortunately it could not be implemented. The details will come down, but during the reign of Hazrat Umar another canal of the same nature was connected to Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, called the ‘Amir al-Mominin Canal’.

Maulana Shibli Nomani describes the excavation of this canal in his famous book ‘Al-Farooq’: ‘Its brief history is that in 18 Hijri, when there was a famine in all of Arabia, Hazrat Umar wrote to the authorities of all the districts that everywhere Grains and grains should be sent in abundance. Although this order was quickly obeyed, the land route from Syria and Egypt was too far, so the grain was still delayed. Hazrat Umar thought about all these difficulties and wrote to Amr bin Al-Aas (Governor of Egypt) that he should bring a group of Egyptians to the capital.

When he came, he said that if the Nile River is joined to the sea, the Arabs will never fear famine, otherwise it will be difficult to get grain from the land.

In the beginning, Hazrat Amr al-Aas was hesitant that this canal could be dug, but when he saw that Hazrat Omar was very serious about it, he returned to Egypt and started the work.

Shibli Nomani writes that ‘from Fustat (which is 10, 12 miles from Cairo) to the sea of ​​Qalazm, a canal was prepared. From this source, the ships used to come to Qalizm from the river Nile and from here they would anchor at Jeddah, which was the port of Medina.

It should be noted that the current Suez Canal connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, while the aforementioned canal connected the Red Sea to the Nile River.

According to Shibli Nomani, ‘This canal was about 69 miles long and it is surprising that it was completed in six months, so in the first year, 20 large ships with 60,000 tons of grain were transported from this canal to the port of Medina. I came This canal continued for ages and through it Egypt’s trade was greatly developed. According to the historian Abd al-Hakim, a Coptic Egyptian showed him the ancient Roman passage which was now covered with sand. In return, Hazrat Amr bin Al-Aas forgave the Jizya of this Copt and his family.

Digging the canal proved easy because at one time a branch of the Nile river flowed into the Red Sea. Later this branch dried up but it was not difficult to dig a canal on its dry course. Another reason was that the new canal was not dug, but the centuries-old Roman canal was cleaned and restored.

When the canal was ready, Hazrat Amr bin Al-Aas also made a pilgrimage on it.

Ibn Taweer, a historian of the Fatimid period, writes that it takes five days for broad-bottomed boats to cross this canal, while seven or eight days for camels to cover the same distance. A greater advantage than saving time was that the canal made it possible to ship much larger quantities of goods than by land, as only a large boat could carry the same amount of goods as a small caravan of camels.

At that time, Egypt was considered the cradle of the Middle East. It now had direct contact with the capital of the Muslims, due to which the threat of famine was eliminated.

The Suez Canal project, which was abandoned

According to Maulana Shibli, Hazrat Amr bin Al-Aas did not stop at this canal, but he had planned to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. He writes: ‘Therefore he suggested the opportunity and the place for it, and wanted that from near Ferma, where the distance between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean remains only 70 miles, a canal should be made to connect the two rivers (i.e. oceans) should be merged. But when Hazrat Umar was informed of their intention, he expressed displeasure and wrote that if this happened, the Greeks would come in ships and take away the pilgrims.

“If Amr bin Al-Aas had been allowed, the pride of inventing the Suez Canal would have actually belonged to the Arabs.”

Attacks on pilgrim caravans were very common during this period, so it was feared that the construction of the canal would facilitate the enemies, since almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea were controlled by the Christians, with whom the Muslims were fighting wars. were The empire of Constantine was also included in these countries, which lasted for several centuries despite the Muslim occupation of the Middle East.

The work on the Suez Canal could not be started, but the Amirul Momineen Canal continued to operate for 114 years. In 754, there was a revolt against the Abbasid Caliph in the Hijaz and Caliph al-Mansur ordered the damming of the canal to cut off the supply of food to Mecca and Medina.

In the 18th century, the European historian Baron de Tut discovered the traces of this canal and said that with minor repairs the canal could be restored. However, in the 20th century, large-scale urban and agricultural development obliterated the traces of this canal.

Projects of ancient times

But Hazrat Umar is not the first ruler who came up with the idea of ​​making a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea.

The plan to connect the Red Sea with the Nile was first developed during the time of the Pharaohs. According to the tradition, the pharaoh Senusrat II, who ruled between 1890 BC, started the digging of this canal, so that it could be transported by boats from the Nile to the Red Sea. According to the historian Pliny, the length of this canal was 60 miles.

Later Darius I and Ptolemy also tried to revive this old canal. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that another Egyptian ruler, Nakhaw al-Thani, also tried to dig a similar canal, but he had to leave this project incomplete after losing the lives of 120,000 workers.

Later, the Iranian emperor Darius I completed the project, which, according to Herodotus, allowed two boats to sail side by side.

An inscription engraved by Darius reads:

Shah Dara: I am Iranian. I left Persia and conquered Egypt. I ordered a canal to be dug from the river called the Nile to connect it with the sea from Persia. When the canal was dug according to my order, the ships started going to Egypt with the help of this canal from Persia.’

But with this kind of construction projects in the desert area, there is this problem, the sand keeps blowing and falling into them with the wind, along with the river water also keeps bringing soil with it, so after some time, the traces of the canal are visible. were erased. This is the reason why this canal became extinct with the arrival of the Islamic period.

The modern Suez Canal was developed by the French

The modern Suez Canal was planned by the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps in the mid-19th century. Since giant steam-powered ships by this time ruled the seas unsuited to rivers, de Lessep proposed that the Red Sea be called the Nile, unlike the Amir al-Mu’minin or the ancient Roman or Egyptian canals. Not from, but directly into the Mediterranean Sea. De Lessep presented the plan to the then Egyptian Khadive Saeed Pasha who gave permission and the Suez Canal Company was established to dig the canal.

Since Britain was a rival of France, it turned its nose up at the project. For one thing, the British could not see France benefiting, and secondly, at that time, the trade of Europe from the Indian Ocean was via South Africa, which was under British control.

However, despite this opposition, work began on April 25, 1859, and after a period of ten years and the labor of about 1.5 million workers, this great project was completed.

According to reports, daily loss of nine billion dollars is caused due to the blockage of ‘Ever Given’ in this canal. This simply means that his profit is nine billion dollars per day. Now think how much the world has benefited from this canal in the last 152 years?