Naval alliance between Muslim Gujrat and Ottoman Empire against the Portuguese

Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On May 25 in 1458 AD, Sultan Mahmoud Shah I of Gujarat, western India, was born. Popularly known as Mahmoud Begada, he was the most prominent sultan of Gujarat, and was the great-grandson of Ahmad Shah I, the founder of the Muzaffarid dynasty, and of the city of Ahmadabad. He was known to be quite religious and ruled for 43 years. He contacted the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultan of Cairo to form a naval alliance against Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, and it was during his reign the famous Battle of Diu took place against the European marauders. Sultan Begada undertook great many public works in his kingdom, and built a magnificent Jama Mosque in Champaner, which ranks amongst the finest architectural edifices in Gujarat. It is an imposing structure on a high plinth with two tall minarets 30 m tall, 172 pillars and seven mihrabs. Topped with a central dome, the balconies and carved entrance gates have fine lattice work in stone.

The Ottoman Navy defeated the Portuguese fleet north of Bombay
On 8th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani in 937 AH, corresponding to 1531 AD, the Ottoman fleet defeated the Portuguese fleet composed of 190 warships and 210 ships carrying 26,000 soldiers in a naval battle near Diu Island, 250 km north of Bombay. Diu Island which belonged to the Sultan of Gujarat was liberated from Portuguese occupation and handed over to him by the Ottoman Admiral, Mustafa Bayram. It is worth recalling that because of the Portuguese raids on the western coasts of India, the Sultans of Bijapur and Gujarat had sought cooperation with the Mamluks of Egypt and the Ottomans, resulting in the First Battle of Chaul in 1509 which the Muslims won because of their greater fire power.
Thereafter the two sides fought a series of seesaw naval battles for almost the next fifty years, during which both were exhausted, with the Ottomans withdrawing from the Indian Ocean. The Mirat Sikandari, a Persian history of the Indian Muslim Kingdom of Gujarat details some of these battles. Among the heroes of these battles were Amir Hussain al-Kurdi of Egypt and Malik Ayyaz, a Russian convert to Islam in the service of the Sultan of Gujarat.

The Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India
On May 18 in 1498 AD, the Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, with the help of Arab navigators managed to discover the sea route around Africa, and reached the port of Calicut, India. He was a treacherous and murderous person, and killed many Hindus and Muslims including the Muslim navigators who had guided him to India.
On June 3, 1502 AD, Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, massacred people of the port of Calicut, southern India. Calicut, now called Kozhikode, was the first site occcupied by him in 1498, after he discovered the sea route to India via the southern coast of Africa, with the help of Muslim Arab navigators, whom he treacherously killed.
Vasco da Gama was a murderous person, and on one occasion, when 800 Arab merchants landed on the southern Indian coast for buying rice, he seized them; tortured them to death by cutting their hands, ears, and noses; and burned their ships.