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Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqāfī ( ar, محمد بن القاسم الثقفي; –) was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the
Muslim conquest of Sindh The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to 17th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests include the invasions into what is now modern-day Pakistan and the Umayyad campaigns in India in eighth century and res ...
(part of modern Pakistan), inaugurating the
Umayyad campaigns in India In the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of battles took place between the Umayyad Caliphate and kingdoms to the east of the Indus river, in the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh in present-day Pakistan in ...
. His military exploits led to the establishment of the Islamic province of Sindh, and the takeover of the region from the Sindhi Brahman dynasty and its ruler,
Raja Dahir Raja Dahiraud (; ''Raja Dahiraud ''; 663 – 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh in present-day Pakistan. In 711 CE his kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim where Dahiraud died while defending his kingdo ...
, who was subsequently decapitated with his head sent to
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...
in
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
. With the capture of the then-capital of
Aror Aror (Sindhi: اروهڙ) or Alor or Arorkot (Sindhi: اروهڙ ڪوٽ) is the medieval name of the city of Rohri (in Sindh, modern Pakistan). Aror once served as the capital of Sindh. History As Roruka, capital of the Sauvira Kingdom, it ...
by Arab forces, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim became the first Muslim to have successfully captured land, which marked the beginning of Muslim rule in India. Muhammad ibn al-Qasim belonged to the
Banu Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islamic ...
, an
Arab tribe The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
that is concentrated around the city of Taif in western
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
. After the Muslim conquest of Persia, he was assigned as the governor of Fars, likely succeeding his uncle
Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi () was a governor of the Umayyad Caliphate in the early 8th century. The brother of the powerful governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Muhammad served under his brother as deputy governor for Fars. He is credited as the founder of the city o ...
. From 708 to 711, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim led the Sindh conquest. He established Islamic rule throughout the region, serving as governor of Sindh from 712 until his death in 715. He died in Mosul, in modern Iraq, though some sources record that his body was buried in Makran, a semi-desert coastal region in
Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline ...
.


Sources

Information about Muhammad ibn al-Qasim and the Arab conquest of Sind in the medieval Arabic sources is limited, compared to the contemporary Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The ''
Futuh al-Buldan ''Futūh al-Buldān'' ( ar, فتوح البلدان, , Conquest of (the) countries), or ''Kitāb Futūḥ al-Buldān''("Book of the Conquest of the Countries/Lands"), is the best known work by the 9th century Arab or Persian historian Ahmad Ibn Yah ...
'' ('Conquests of the Lands') by
al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
(d. 892) contains a few pages on the conquest of Sind and Muhammad's person, while biographical information is limited to a passage in a work by al-Ya'qubi (d. 898), a few lines in the history of
al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...
(d. 839) and scant mention in the ''
Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitab al-Aghani'' ( ar, كتاب الأغاني, kitāb al-‘aghānī, The Book of Songs), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-F ...
'' (Book of songs) of
Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī ( ar, أبو الفرج الأصفهاني), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (284–356 AH / 897 ...
. A detailed account of Muhammad's conquest of Sind and his death is found in the ''
Chach Nama ''Chach Nama'' ( sd, چچ نامو; ur, چچ نامہ; "Story of the Chach"), also known as the ''Fateh nama Sindh'' ( sd, فتح نامه سنڌ; "Story of the conquest of Sindh"), and as ''Tareekh al-Hind wa a's-Sind'' ( ar, تاريخ اله� ...
'', a 13th-century Persian text. The information in the ''Chach Nama'' purportedly derives from accounts by the descendants of the Arab soldiers of the 8th-century conquest, namely
qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
s (judges) and imams from the Sindi cities of Alor and Bhakar who claimed descent from Muhammad's tribe, the
Banu Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islamic ...
. The orientalist
Francesco Gabrieli Francesco Gabrieli (27 April 1904, in Rome – 13 December 1996, in Rome) was counted among the most distinguished Italian Arabists together with Giorgio Levi Della Vida and Alessandro Bausani, of whom he was respectively a student and collea ...
holds the accounts likely emerged after and considers the ''Chach Nama'' to be a "historical romance" and "a late and doubtful source" for information about Muhammad.


Origins and early life

Muhammad was born in . His birthplace was almost certainly in the Hejaz (western Arabia), either in
Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...
, the traditional home of his Thaqif tribe, or in Mecca or Medina. Following their general embrace of Islam in , members of the Thaqif gradually attained high military and administrative ranks in the nascent Caliphate and played important command and economic roles during and after the early Muslim conquests, particularly in Iraq. The tribe produced effective commanders associated with early Arab military operations against the Indian subcontinent: in the Thaqafite governor of
Bahrayn Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
(eastern Arabia),
Uthman ibn Abi al-As Uthman ibn Abi al-As al-Thaqafi ( ar, عثمان بن أبي العاص, ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ; died 671 or 675) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from the tribe of Banu Thaqif and the governor of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) a ...
, dispatched naval expeditions against the Indian ports of
Debal Debal (Urdu, Arabic, sd, ) was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Pakistan. It is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta. Etymology In Arabic history books, most notably in the early ...
, Thane and
Bharuch Bharuch (), formerly known as Broach, is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since tim ...
. The tribe's power continued to increase with the advent of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661. Muhammad belonged to the Abu Aqil family of the Banu Awf, one of the two principal branches of the Thaqif. The Abu Aqil family gained prestige with the rise of
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...
, the paternal first cousin of Muhammad's father al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hakam. Al-Hajjaj was made a commander by the Umayyad caliph
Abd al-Malik Abdul Malik ( ar, عبد الملك) is an Arabic (Muslim or Christian) male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and ''Malik''. The name means "servant of the King", in the Christian instan ...
() during the
Second Muslim Civil War The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate., meaning trial or temptation) occurs in the Qur'an in the sense of test of faith of the believer ...
and killed the Umayyads' chief rival for the caliphate,
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ( ar, عبد الله ابن الزبير ابن العوام, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 CE – October/November 692), was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the ...
, in 692, and two years later was appointed the viceroy of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. Following his promotion, al-Hajjaj became a patron of the Thaqif and appointed several members to important posts in Iraq and its dependencies. Muhammad's father was appointed the deputy governor of
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
, though his career was otherwise undistinguished. According to a letter between Muhammad and al-Hajjaj cited by the ''Chach Nama'', Muhammad's mother was a certain Habibat al-Uzma (Habiba the Great). The ''Chach Nama'' also indicates Muhammad had a similar-aged brother named Sulb and Arabic sources indicate he had a much younger brother named al-Hajjaj, who served as an Umayyad commander during the Alid revolt of 740. No information is provided by the Arabic sources about Muhammad's childhood and adolescence. The modern historian
Nabi Bakhsh Baloch Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch ( sd, نبي بخش خان بلوچ, Balochi: نبی بخش خان بلۏچ) (16 December 1917 – 6 April 2011) was a research scholar and writer. He was termed as a 'moving library' on the province of Sindh, Pakistan. ...
holds that Muhammad most likely grew up partly in Ta'if and then Basra and Wasit, the provincial capital of Iraq founded by al-Hajjaj in 702. Muhammad's time in Basra, a military and intellectual center of the Islamic world at the time, may have widened Muhammad's career horizons, while at Wasit he was likely educated and trained under al-Hajjaj's patronage. Al-Hajjaj was highly fond of Muhammad, and considered him prestigious enough to marry his sister Zaynab, though she preferred the older Thaqafite al-Hakam ibn Ayyub ibn al-Hakam, to whom she was ultimately wed. The ''Kitab al-aghani'' refers to Muhammad at the age of 17 as "the noblest Thaqafite of his time". In the summation of Baloch, "Muhammad grew up under favorable conditions into an able, energetic and cultured lad of fine tastes".


Governor of Fars

Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's first assignment was in the province Fars in modern Iran, where he was asked to subjugate a group of Kurds. After the successful completion of the mission, he was appointed as the governor of Fars. He likely succeeded his uncle
Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi () was a governor of the Umayyad Caliphate in the early 8th century. The brother of the powerful governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Muhammad served under his brother as deputy governor for Fars. He is credited as the founder of the city o ...
, a brother of al-Hajjaj, who was previously a governor. The city of
Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 pe ...
is said to have been revived by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim. He built a royal villa in the city and a military camp at a short distance from it. He was also given the task of subjugating the area to the south of Shiraz, and the distant area of
Jurjan Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...
near the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asi ...
. Fars might have also had at this time some of the rebels leftover from the revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath, which almost brought down the rule of al-Hajjaj. An aged supporter of rebels and a Shia notable of the time, a disciple of the companion of Prophet Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari and a famous narrator of Hadith, Atiyya ibn Sa'd Awfi was arrested by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim on the orders of Al-Hajjaj and demanded that he curse Ali on the threat of punishment. Atiyya refused to curse Ali and was punished. While Maclean doesn't give the details of the punishment, early historians like Ibn Hajar Al-asqalani and Tabari record that he was flogged by 400 lashes and his head and beard shaved for humiliation and that he fled to Khurasan and returned to Iraq after the ruler had been changed.


Background on Sind


Early Muslim presence

The connection between the Hindu Sind and Islam was established by the initial Muslim missions during the Rashidun Caliphate. Hakim ibn Jabala al-Abdi, who attacked Makran in the year 649 AD, was an early partisan of
Ali ibn Abu Talib ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
. During the caliphate of Ali, many Jats of Sindh had come under influence of Islam and some even participated in the
Battle of Camel The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel or the Battle of Basra, took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH (656 CE). The battle was fought between the army of the fourth caliph Ali, on one side, and the rebel army led by A ...
and died fighting for
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
. Harith ibn Murrah al-Abdi and Sayfi ibn Fasayl' al-Shaybani, both officers of Ali's army, attacked Makran in the year 658. Sayfi was one of the seven shias who were beheaded alongside
Hujr ibn Adi Ḥujr ibn ʿAdī al-Kindī ( ar, حُجْر بن عَدِيّ ٱلْكِنْدِيّ), died 660 CE, was a Companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was sentenced to death by the Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I for his unwavering support and pr ...
al-Kindi in 660 AD near Damascus. Under the Umayyads (661–750 AD), many Shias sought asylum in the region of Sindh, to live in relative peace in the remote area. Ziyad Hindi is one of those refugees.


Umayyad interest in Sind

According to Wink, Umayyad interest in the region was galvanized by the operation of the '' Meds'' (a tribe of Scythians living in Sindh) and others. The Meds had engaged in piracy on Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the
Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...
to the Sri Lankan coast, in their ''
bawarij Bawarij ( sd, باوارج) were Sindhi pirates from Sindh named for their distinctive ''barja'' warships. They looted Arab shipping bound for the Indian subcontinent and China, but entirely converted to Islam during the rule of the Samma Dynasty ...
'' and now were able to prey on
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
shipping from their bases at Kutch,
Debal Debal (Urdu, Arabic, sd, ) was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Pakistan. It is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta. Etymology In Arabic history books, most notably in the early ...
and
Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, i ...
. At the time, Sindh was the wild frontier region of al-Hind, inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturbed much of the Western Indian Ocean. Muslim sources insist that it was these persistent activities along increasingly important Indian trade routes by Debal pirates and others which forced the
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
s to subjugate the area, in order to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the nucleus, as well as, the overland passage. During Hajjaj's governorship, the ''Meds'' of
Debal Debal (Urdu, Arabic, sd, ) was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Pakistan. It is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta. Etymology In Arabic history books, most notably in the early ...
in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
, thus providing grounds to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that enabled them to gain a foothold in the Makran,
Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline ...
and Sindh regions.Nicholas F. Gier
From Mongols to Mughals: Religious violence in India 9th-18th centuries
Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May 2006.
Also cited as a reason for this campaign was the policy of providing refuge to Sassanids fleeing the Arab advance and to
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
rebels from the Umayyad consolidation of their rule. These Arabs were imprisoned later on by Governor Deebal Partaab Raye. A letter written by an Arab girl named Nahed who escaped from the prison of Partab Raye asked Hajjaj Bin Yusuf for help. When Hajjaj asked Dahir for the release of prisoners and compensation, the latter refused on the ground that he had no control over those. Al-Hajjaj sent Muhammad ibn al-Qasim for action against the Sindh in 711. The
mawali Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...
; new non-Arab converts; who were usually allied with Al-Hajjaj's political opponents and thus were frequently forced to participate in battles on the frontier of the Umayyad Caliphate — such as Kabul, Sindh and Transoxania. An actual push into the region had been out of favor as an Arab policy since the time of the Rashidun
Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
Umar bin Khattab ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
, who upon receipt of reports of it being an inhospitable and poor land, had stopped further expeditionary ventures into the region.


Conquest of Sindh

Hajjaj had put more care and planning into this campaign than the second campaign. Al-Hajjaj gave Muhammad ibn al-Qasim command of the expedition between 708 and 711, when he was only 15–17 years old, apparently because two previous Umayyad commanders had not been successful in punishing Sindh's ruler
Raja Dahir Raja Dahiraud (; ''Raja Dahiraud ''; 663 – 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh in present-day Pakistan. In 711 CE his kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim where Dahiraud died while defending his kingdo ...
for his failure to prevent pirates from disrupting Muslim shipping off the coast of Sindh. Al-Hajjaj superintended this campaign from
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...
by maintaining close contact with Muhammad ibn al-Qasim in the form of regular reports for which purpose special messengers were deputed between
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
and Sindh. The army which departed from Shiraz under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim consisted of 6,000 Syrian cavalry and detachments of ''
mawali Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...
'' (sing. ''mawla''; non-Arab, Muslim freedmen) from Iraq. At the borders of Sindh he was joined by an advance guard and six thousand camel cavalry and later, reinforcements from the governor of Makran were transferred directly to
Debal Debal (Urdu, Arabic, sd, ) was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Pakistan. It is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta. Etymology In Arabic history books, most notably in the early ...
(Daybul), at the mouth of the Indus, by sea along with five ''manjaniks'' (catapults). The army that eventually captured Sindh would later be swelled by the Jats and Meds as well as other irregulars who heard of the Arab successes in Sindh. When Muhammad ibn al-Qasim passed through the Makran desert while raising his forces, he had to subdue the restive towns of Fannazbur and Arman Belah ( Lasbela), both of which had previously been conquered by the Arabs. The first town assaulted in Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's Sindh campaign was Debal and upon the orders of al-Hajjaj, he exacted retribution on Debal by giving no quarter to its residents or priests and destroying its great temple. From Debal, the Arab army then marched northeast taking towns such as Nerun and Sadusan ( Sehwan) without fighting. One-fifth of the war booty including slaves were remitted to al-Hajjaj and the Caliph. The conquest of these towns was accomplished with relative ease; however, Dahir's armies being prepared on the other side of the Indus had not yet been confronted. In preparation to meet them, Muhammad returned to Nerun to resupply and receive reinforcements sent by al-Hajjaj. Camped on the east bank of the Indus, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim sent emissaries and bargained with the river Jats and boatmen. Upon securing the aid of Mokah Basayah, "the King of the island of Bet", Muhammad crossed over the river where he was joined by the forces of the Thakore of Bhatta and the western Jats. At Ar-rur (
Rohri Rohri ( Sindhi: روهڙي; ur, ) is a city of Sukkur District, Sindh province, Pakistan. It is located on the east bank of the Indus River, located directly across from Sukkur, the third largest city in Sindh. Rohri town is the administrativ ...
) Muhammad ibn al-Qasim was met by Dahir's forces and the eastern Jats in battle. Dahir died in the battle, his forces were defeated and Muhammad ibn al-Qasim took control of Sindh. In the wake of the battle enemy soldiers were executed —though artisans, merchants, and farmers were spared —and Dahir and his chiefs, the "daughters of princes" and the usual fifth of the booty and slaves were sent to al-Hajjaj. Soon the capitals of the other provinces,
Brahmanabad Mansura ( ar, المنصورة, al-manṣūra, the triumphant ity}), referred to as Brahmanabad ( ur, برہمن آباد ; sd, برهمڻ آباد, barhamaṇabād) in later centuries, was the historic capital of the Muslim Caliphate in Sindh ...
, Alor (Battle of Aror) and Multan, were captured alongside other in-between towns with only light Muslim casualties. Multan was a key site in the
Hindu religion Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global pop ...
. Usually after a siege of a few weeks or months the Arabs gained a city through the intervention of heads of mercantile houses with whom subsequent treaties and agreements would be settled. After battles all fighting men were executed and their wives and children enslaved in considerable numbers and the usual fifth of the booty and slaves were sent to al-Hajjaj. The general populace was encouraged to carry on with their trades and taxes and tributes settled. The conquest of Sindh, in modern-day Pakistan, although costly, And was a major gain for the Umayyad Caliphate. However, further gains were halted by Hindu kingdoms during Arab campaigns. The Arabs attempted to invade India but they were defeated by North Indian kings
Bappa Rawal Bappa Rawal (c. 8th century) was a king of the Mewar kingdom in Rajasthan, India. The bardic chronicles describe him as a member of the Guhila Rajput Clan, and some of them consider him to be the founder of the Guhila dynasty. He is credited ...
of
Guhila dynasty The Guhilas of Medapata colloquially known as Guhilas of Mewar were a Rajput dynasty that ruled the Medapata (modern Mewar) region in present-day Rajasthan state of India. The Guhila kings initially ruled as Gurjara-Pratihara feudatories be ...
, Nagabhata, of the
Gurjara-Pratihara The Gurjara-Pratihara was a dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the mid-8th to the 11th century. They ruled first at Ujjain and later at Kannauj. The Gurjara-Pratiharas were instrumental in containing Arab armies moving east of ...
dynasty and by the South Indian emperor
Vikramaditya II Vikramaditya II (reigned 733 – 744 CE) was the son of King Vijayaditya and ascended the Badami Chalukya throne following the death of his father. This information comes from the Lakshmeshwar inscriptions in Kannada dated 13 January 735 A.D ...
of the
Chalukya dynasty The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynast ...
in the early 8th century. After the failure of further expeditions on Kathiawar, the Arab chroniclers conceded that the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
caliph
al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abba ...
() "gave up the project of conquering any part of India."


Military and political strategy

The military strategy had been outlined by Al-Hajjaj in a letter sent to Muhammad ibn al-Qasim:
My ruling is given: Kill anyone belonging to the ''ahl-i-harb'' (combatants); arrest their sons and daughters for hostages and imprison them. Whoever does not fight against us...grant them ''aman'' (peace and safety) and settle their tribute 'amwal''as ''dhimmah'' (protected person)...
The Arabs' first concern was to facilitate the conquest of Sindh with the fewest casualties while also trying to preserve the economic infrastructure. Towns were given two options: submit to Islamic authority peacefully or be attacked by force (), with the choice governing their treatment upon capture. The capture of towns was usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among the enemy, who were then extended special privileges and material rewards. There were two types of such treaties, "''
Sulh Sulh ( ar, صلح, ṣulḥ) is an Arabic word meaning "resolution" or "fixing" generally, in problem solving. It is frequently used in the context of social problems. It is also an Arabic surname, mostly from Lebanon used in the variant Solh. Usa ...
''" or "''ahd-e-wasiq'' (capitulation)" and "''aman'' (surrender/ peace)". Among towns and fortresses that were captured through force of arms, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim performed executions of ''ahl-i-harb'' (fighting men) as part of his military strategy, whose surviving dependents were enslaved. Where resistance was strong, prolonged, and intensive, often resulting in considerable Arab casualties, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's response was dramatic, inflicting 6,000 deaths at Rawar, between 6,000 and 26,000 at Brahmanabad, 4,000 at Iskalandah, and 6,000 at Multan. Conversely, in areas taken by ''sulh'', such as Armabil, Nirun, and Aror, resistance was light and few casualties occurred. Sulh appeared to be Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's preferred mode of conquest, the method used for more than 60% of the towns and tribes recorded by al-Baladhuri and the ''Chach Nama''. At one point, he was actually berated by Al-Hajjaj for being too lenient. Meanwhile, the common folk were often pardoned and encouraged to continue working; Al-Hajjaj ordered that this option not be granted to any inhabitant of Debal, yet Muhammad ibn al-Qasim still bestowed it upon certain groups and individuals.


Reasons for success

Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's success has been partly ascribed to Dahir being an unpopular Hindu king ruling over a
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
majority who saw
Chach of Alor Chach (c. 631-671 AD) ( sd, چچ)Wink, André. (1991)''Al- Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The slave kings and the Islamic conquest''. 2, p. 153 Leiden: Brill. was a Hindu Brahmin king of Sindh region of the Indian subcontinent in th ...
and his kin as usurpers of the
Rai Dynasty The Rai dynasty (c. 489–632 CE) was a polity of ancient Sindh. Scholarship Pre-Islamic Sindh has been the subject of voluminous scholarship concerning the eve of Arab conquests; otherwise, the paucity of source materials remains a severe hin ...
. This is attributed to having resulted in support being provided by Buddhists and inclusion of rebel soldiers serving as valuable infantry in his cavalry-heavy force from the Jat and Meds. Brahman, Buddhist, Greek, and Arab testimony however can be found that attests towards amicable relations between the adherents of the two religions up to the 7th century.''The Chachnamah, An Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu period down to the Arab Conquest''. (1900). Translated from the Persian by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Karachi: Commissioners Press. Along with this were: # Superior military equipment; such as
siege engines A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while other ...
and the Mongol bow. # Troop discipline and leadership. # The concept of Jihad as a morale booster. # Religion; the widespread belief in the prophecy of Muslim success. # The Samanis being persuaded to submit and not take up arms because the majority of the population was Buddhist who were dissatisfied with their rulers, who were Hindu. # The laboring under disabilities of the Lohana Jats. # Defections from among Dahirs chiefs and nobles.


Administration of Sindh

After the conquest, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's task was to set up an administrative structure for a stable Muslim state that incorporated a newly conquered alien land, inhabited by non-Muslims.Appleby. pg. 291-292 He adopted a conciliatory policy, asking for acceptance of Muslim rule by the natives in return for non-interference in their religious practice, so long as the natives paid their taxes and tribute. In return, the state provided protection to non-Muslim from any foreign attacks and enemies. He established Islamic Sharia law over the people of the region; however, Hindus were allowed to rule their villages and settle their disputes according to their own laws, and traditional hierarchical institutions, including the village headmen () and chieftains () were maintained. A Muslim officer called an ''amil'' was stationed with a troop of cavalry to manage each town on a hereditary basis Everywhere taxes (''mal'') and tribute ('' kharaj'') were settled and hostages taken — occasionally this also meant the custodians of temples. Non-Muslim natives were excused from military service and from payment of the religiously mandated tax system levied upon Muslims called
Zakat Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is n ...
, the tax system levied upon them instead was the
jizya Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The jizya tax has been understood in Isl ...
- a progressive tax, being heavier on the upper classes and light for the poor. In addition, three percent of government revenue was allocated to the
Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
.


Incorporation of ruling elite into administration

During his administration, Hindus and Buddhists were inducted into the administration as trusted advisors and governors. A Hindu, Kaksa, was at one point the second most important member of his administration. Dahir's prime minister and various chieftains were also incorporated into the administration.


Clashes with the Jats

Significant medieval Muslim chronicles such as the ''Chach Nama'', ''Zainul-Akhbar'' and ''Tarikh-I-Baihaqi'' have recorded battles between Jats and forces of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.


Religion

Lane-Poole writes that, "as a rule Muslim government was at once tolerant and economic". The preference of collection of jizya over the conversion to Islam is a major economic motivator.Habib Tiliouine, Richard J. Estes, 2016, "The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies", Springer, page 338.John Powell, 2010, "Weapons & Warfare: Warfare : culture and concepts", Salem Press, page 884. Hindus and Buddhists who were classified as
Dhimmi ' ( ar, ذمي ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligati ...
s had to pay mandatory
Jizya Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The jizya tax has been understood in Isl ...
instead of
Zakat Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is n ...
paid by Muslims. Contrastingly preferential treatment was given to a small number of people who were converted to Islam by "exempting them from Jizya in lieu of paying the
Zakat Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is n ...
". Muhammad ibn al-Qasim fixed the Zakat at 10% of the agricultural produce. have to pay the mandatory jizya. "In Al-Biruni's narrative", according to
Manan Ahmed Asif Manan Ahmed Asif, commonly known as Manan Ahmed, is a historian of South Asia and West Asia, who works as an associate professor at the Columbia University in New York City. He is the founder of the South Asia blog ''Chapati Mystery'' and co-fo ...
– a historian of Islam in South and Southeast Asia, "Muhammad bin Qasim first asserts the superiority of Islam over the polytheists by committing a taboo (killing a cow) and publicly soiling the idol (giving the cow meat as an offering)" before allowing the temple to continue as a place of worship. A religious Islamic office, "''sadru-I-Islam al affal"'', was created to oversee the secular governors. The native hereditary elites were reappointed with the title of Rana. According to
Yohanan Friedmann Yohanan Friedmann (born 1936) is an Israeli scholar of Islamic studies. Biography Friedmann was born in Zákamenné, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1949. He attended high school at the Reali School in Haifa (1945-1 ...
, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim declared that the Brahmins of
Brahmanabad Mansura ( ar, المنصورة, al-manṣūra, the triumphant ity}), referred to as Brahmanabad ( ur, برہمن آباد ; sd, برهمڻ آباد, barhamaṇabād) in later centuries, was the historic capital of the Muslim Caliphate in Sindh ...
were good people.Iqtidar Hisain Siddiqui, 2010
Indo-Persian historiography up to thirteenth century
Primum Books, Delhi.
While
proselytization Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or ''Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as involu ...
occurred, given the social dynamics of areas of Sindh conquered by Muslim, the spread of Islam was slow and took centuries. No mass conversions to Islam took place and some temples escaped destruction such as the Sun Temple of Multan on payment of jizya. In the Arab settlers controlled areas of Sindh and Multan, conversion to Islam occurred only slowly, not on a massive scale. Majority of the population continued to remain Hindu who had to pay the jizya imposed by the Muslim state.Mohammad Yunus, Aradhana Parmar, 2003, "South Asia: A Historical Narrative", Oxford University Press, page 123. It has been reported that Muhammad ibn al-Qasim met with Sayyida Ruqayya bint Ali, a daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib.


Death

Al-Hajjaj died in 714, followed a year later by Caliph al-Walid I, who was succeeded by his brother Sulayman. The latter took revenge against the generals and officials who had been close to al-Hajjaj. Sulayman owed political support to al-Hajjaj's opponents and so recalled both of al-Hajjaj's successful generals
Qutayba ibn Muslim Abū Ḥafṣ Qutayba ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ Muslim ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī ( ar, أبو حفص قتيبة بن أبي صالح مسلم بن عمرو الباهلي; 669–715/6) was an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who became governor of ...
, the conqueror of
Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
(Central Asia) and Muhammad. He also appointed the son of the distinguished general
al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra Abū Saʿīd al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufra al-Azdī ( ar, أَبْو سَعِيْد ٱلْمُهَلَّب ابْن أَبِي صُفْرَة ٱلْأَزْدِي; 702) was an Arab general from the Azd tribe who fought in the service of the Ra ...
, Yazid, who was once imprisoned and tortured by al-Hajjaj, as the governor of Fars, Kirman, Makran, and Sind; he immediately placed Muhammad in chains. Muhammad ibn al-Qasim died on 18 July 715 in Mosul which is a part of the modern-day Iraq. Some sources say that his body was transferred to Makran in
Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline ...
at the
Hingol National Park Hingol National Park or Hungol National Park ( ur, ) is the largest national park in Pakistan, located in the Makran coastal region. The park covers an area of about and is located 190 km from Karachi in the three districts of Gwadar, Lasbe ...
which is part of modern-day Pakistan. There are two different accounts regarding the details of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's fate: * According to
al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
Muhammad was killed due to a family feud with the governor of Iraq. Sulayman was hostile toward Muhammad because apparently, he had followed the order of Hajjaj to declare Sulayman's right of succession void in all territories conquered by him. When Muhammad received the news of the death of al-Hajjaj he returned to Aror. Muhammad was later arrested under the orders of the Caliph by the replacement governor of Sindh,
Yazid ibn Abi Kabsha al-Saksaki Yazid ibn Abi Kabsha al-Saksaki ( ar, يزيد بن أبي كبشة السكسكي) was an Arab military commander and provincial governor for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the son of Haywil ibn Yasar, surnamed Abu Kabsha, a member of the Syrian ...
, who worked under the new military governor of Iraq, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, and the new fiscal governor, the ''mawla''
Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman Abū al-Walīd Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sijistānī () (died 721–724) was a leading bureaucrat in the central '' dīwān'' (tax bureau) of Iraq under the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (694–714) and then fiscal governor of the p ...
. Salih, whose brother was executed by al-Hajjaj, tortured Muhammad and his relatives to death. The account of his death by al-Baladhuri is brief compared to the one in the ''Chach Nama''. * The ''Chach Nama'' narrates a tale in which Muhammad's demise is attributed to the daughters of Dahir, Surya Devi and Parimal Devi, who had been taken captive during the campaign. Upon capture their mother had been made a slave of Muhammad himself, while the two sisters had been sent on as presents to the Caliph for his harem in the capital
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
(however Baghdad had not yet been built and the actual capital was Damascus). The account relates that they then tricked the Caliph into believing that Muhammad had violated them before sending them on and as a result of this subterfuge, Muhammad was wrapped and stitched in oxen hides, and sent to Syria, which resulted in his death en route from suffocation. This narrative attributes their motive for this subterfuge to securing vengeance for their father's death. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the Caliph is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.Keay, pg. 185


Aftermath

After Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's departure, the next appointed Arab governor died on arrival. Dahir's son recaptured Brahmanabad and c. 720, he was granted pardon and included in the administration in return for converting to Islam. Soon, however, he recanted and split off when the Umayyads were embroiled in a succession crisis. Later,
Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri In the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of battles took place between the Umayyad Caliphate and kingdoms to the east of the Indus river, in the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh in present-day Pakistan in ...
killed Jaisiah and recaptured the territory before his successors once again struggled to hold and keep it. During the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
period, c. 870, the local emirs shook off all allegiance to the caliphs and by the 10th century the region was split into two weak states, Mansurah on the lower Indus and Multan on the upper Indus, which were soon captured by
Ismailis Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
who set up an independent
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyn ...
state. These successor states did not achieve much and shrank in size. The Arab conquest remained checked in what is now the south of Pakistan for three centuries by powerful Hindu monarchs to the north and east until the arrival of Mahmud of Ghazni.


Controversy

There is controversy regarding the conquest and subsequent conversion of Sindh. This is usually voiced in two antagonistic perspectives viewing Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's actions: His conquest, as described by Stanley Lane-Poole, in Medieval India (Published in 1970 by Haskell House Publishers Ltd), was "liberal". He imposed the customary poll tax, took hostages for good conduct and spared peoples' lives and lands. He even left their shrines undesecrated: 'The temples;' he proclaimed, 'shall be inviolate, like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews and altars of the Magians'. In the same text, however, it is mentioned that "Occasional desecration of Hindu fanes took place... but such demonstrations were probably rare sops to the official conscience...", as destruction of temples and civilian massacres still took place. #''Coercive conversion'' has been attributed to early historians such as Elliot, Cousens, Majumdar and Vaidya. They hold the view that the conversion of Sindh was necessitated. Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's numerical inferiority is said to explain any instances of apparent religious toleration, with the destruction of temples seen as a reflection of the more basic, religiously motivated intolerance. #''Voluntary conversion'' has been attributed to Thomas W. Arnold and modern Muslim historians such as Habib and Qureishi. They believe that the conquest was largely peaceful, and the conversion entirely so, and that the Arab forces enacted liberal, generous and tolerant policies. These historians mention the "praiseworthy conduct of Arab Muslims" and attribute their actions to a "superior civilizational complex". Various polemical perceptions of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are also reflected in this debate. The period of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's rule has been called by U.T. Thakkur "the darkest period in Sindh history", with the records speaking of massive forced conversions, temple destruction, slaughters and genocides; the people of Sindh, described as inherently pacifist due to their Hindu/Buddhist religious inclinations, had to adjust to the conditions of "barbarian inroad".''Sindhi Culture'' by U.T. Thakkur, University of Bombay 1959 On one extreme, the
Arab Muslims Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...
are seen as being compelled by religious stricture to conquer and forcibly convert Sindh, but on the other hand, they can be seen as being respectful and tolerant of non-Muslims as part of their religious duty, with conversion being facilitated by the vitality, equality and morals of the Islamic religion. Citations of towns taken either violently or bloodlessly, reading back into Arab Sindh information belonging to a later date and dubious accounts such as those of the forcible circumcision of Brahmins at Debal or Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's consideration of Hindu sentiment in forbidding the slaughter of cows are used as examples for one particular view or the other. Some historians strike a middle ground, saying that Muhammad ibn al-Qasim was torn between the political expediency of making peace with the Hindus and Buddhists; having to call upon non-Muslims to serve under him as part of his mandate to administer newly conquered land; and orthodoxy by refraining from seeking the co-operation of "infidels". It is contended that he may have struck a middle ground, conferring the status of
Dhimmi ' ( ar, ذمي ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligati ...
upon the native Sindhis and permitting them to participate in his administration, but treating them as "noncitizens" (i.e. in the Caliphate, but not of it). While Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's warring was clearly at times brutal, he is supposed to have said of Hinduism that 'the idol temple is similar to the churches of the Christians, (to the synagogues) of the Jews and to the
fire temples A fire temple, Agiary, Atashkadeh ( fa, آتشکده), Atashgah () or Dar-e Mehr () is the place of worship for the followers of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran (Persia). In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see ''atar''), together wi ...
of the Zoroastrians' (''mā al-budd illā ka-kanāʾis al-naṣārā wa ’l-yahūd wa-buyūt nīrān al-madjūs''). This 'seems to be the earliest statement justifying the inclusion of the Hindus in the category of '' ahl al-dhimma'', leading Muhammad to be viewed by many modern Muslims as a paragon of religious tolerance.


Legacy

Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's presence and rule was very brief. His conquest for the Umayyads brought Sindh into the orbit of the Muslim world.Markovits, Claude ''The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750-1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama'', Cambridge University Press, June 22, 2000, , pg. 34. After the conquest of Sindh, he adopted the Hanafi school of Sharia law which regarded Hindus, Buddhists and Jains as "
dhimmis ' ( ar, ذمي ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligati ...
" and " People of the Book", allowing them religious freedom as long as they continued to pay the tax known as "
jizya Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The jizya tax has been understood in Isl ...
". This approach would prove critical to the way Muslim rulers ruled in India over the next centuries. Coastal trade and a Muslim colony in Sindh allowed for cultural exchanges and the arrival of Sufi missionaries to expand Muslim influence. From
Debal Debal (Urdu, Arabic, sd, ) was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Pakistan. It is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta. Etymology In Arabic history books, most notably in the early ...
, which remained an important port until the 12th century, commercial links with the Persian Gulf and the Middle East intensified as Sindh became the "hinge of the Indian Ocean Trade and overland passway." Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, claimed that the
Pakistan movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a List of historical separatist movements, political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslims, Muslim-majority a ...
started when the first Muslim put his foot on the soil of Sindh, the
Gateway of Islam Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
in India. He is often referred to as the first Pakistani according to Pakistan Studies curriculum.
Yom-e Bab ul-Islam Yom-e Bab ul-Islam ( ur, ) is observed on 10th Ramadan to commemorate the establishment of Muslim rule by Muhammad bin Qasim in modern Pakistan in 711 AD. Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi was an Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conques ...
is observed in Pakistan, in honor of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.
Port Qasim The Port Muhammad Bin Qasim ( ur, ''Bandar-gāh Muhammad bin Qāsim''), or Qasim Port Authority ( ur, ), also known as Port Qasim, is a deep-water seaport in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, on the coastline of the Arabian Sea under the administra ...
, Pakistan's second major port, is named in honor of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.Cheesman, David ''Landlord Power and Rural Indebtedness in Colonial Sind'', Routledge (UK), February 1, 1997, Bagh Ibn Qasim is the largest park in Karachi (Sindh, Pakistan), named in honor of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.
Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium The Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, originally known as the Old Fort Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Multan, Pakistan. It is currently used mostly for cricket and football. It hosted one Test match in 1980. The stadium holds 18,000 and opened in 1 ...
, Multan is a multi-use stadium named after Muhammad ibn al-Qasim. The Pakistan Naval Station Qasim, or
PNS Qasim The PNS Qasim (also known as Marines Base Qasim) is a major marines base that serves as the headquarter of the Pakistan Marines for their administrative, operational and logistic requirements. PNS Qasim, the garrison of Pakistan Marines, is served ...
, is the major naval special operations base for the Amphibious Special Operations Forces in the Pakistan Navy named after Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.
Bin Qasim Town Bin Qasim Town ( sd, بن قاسم ٽائون, ur, ) is a Constituent Town of Karachi, lying on the eastern part of the city, north of Port Qasim. Bin Qasim Town was formed in 2001 as part of The Local Government Ordinance 2001, and was sub ...
in Karachi is named after Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.


See also

* Jat people in Islamic history *
Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to 17th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests include the invasions into what is now modern-day Pakistan and the Umayyad campaigns in India in eighth century and res ...
*
Caliphate campaigns in India In the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of battles took place between the Umayyad Caliphate and kingdoms to the east of the Indus river, in the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh in present-day Pakistan ...
*
Abdullah Shah Ghazi :''See also Ghazi and Gazi (disambiguation)'' Abdullah Shah Ghazi ( ar, عبد الله شاه غازي, ʿAbd Allāh Shāh Ghāzī) (c. 720 - c. 768) was a Muslim mystic and Sufi whose shrine is located in Clifton in Karachi, in Sindh provi ...
* Shaikh Habib Al-Raee


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * ** Nicholas F. Gier
From Mongols to Mughals: Religious violence in India 9th-18th centuries
Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May 2006. * Lane-Poole, Stanley ''Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule, 712-1764'', G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1970 * * Schimmel, Annemarie,

', Brill Academic Publishers, Jan 1, 1980, * Appleby, R Scott & Martin E Marty, ''Fundamentalisms Comprehended'', University of Chicago Press, May 1, 2004, * ** * Keay, John, ''India: A History'', Grove Press, May 1, 2001, *


External links

* {{Authority control 695 births 715 deaths 8th-century Arabs 8th-century executions by the Umayyad Caliphate Banu Thaqif Chach Nama Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Pakistani Muslims Arab Muslims History of Islam in Pakistan History of Sindh Umayyad governors of Sind Torture victims City founders