While religious status gave the Hadhramis an advantage over other groups, their distinction as a knowledge-based society that emphasized literacy and a print culture arguably sealed their exceptionalism. Religious scholarship, secular knowledge and intelligence gathering appear to have formed a composite strategy for the commercial and political dynamism of the Hadhrami ‘men of influence’.
Hadhrami botanical and pharmaceutical knowledge, accessed through their over-lapping roles as herbalists, shamans and traders. Knowledge of timbers, plant dyes and waxes would appear to have given them a head start in timber-milling, ship-building and the batik industry. Nautical and terrestrial maps, the products of adventure and exploration, were often the envy of Europeans. The corpus of closely-guarded knowledge and information, in conjunction with the ready adoption of the technologies of colonial modernity, such as the press and steam ship, underpinned Hadhrami influence, casting them in the eyes of the West as desirable allies but dangerous enemies.