Prior to 500 CE and hence before the establishment of Islam, Arab seafarers had established trading relations with the “Middle Kingdom” (China). Arab ships bravely set off from Basra, the tip of the Arabian Gulf and also from the town of Qays (Siraf) in the Persian Gulf. They sailed the Indian Ocean passing Sarandip (Sri Lanka) and navigated their way through the Straits of Malacca, which were between the Sumatran and Malaysian peninsulas en route to the South China Sea.