hello friends,,

what do you think, was arab conquest of sindh religiously motivated? did islam have anything to do with it?! or it was just another political venture!? what do you think, support your answer with logical arguments........

plz enlighen.

thanks

Hello Dear

There were many factor responsible for the Arab Conquest like:

1 Preaching of Islam

2 Territorial extension

3 The wealth of India

4 Hajjaj Bin Yousuf(who want to extend his territory )

5 Plunder of ship by the pirates near Daibul

6 Shelter to Arab rebels

7 Help to Persian army against Arabs

8 Internal Insatiability of India(Sind)

The afore mentioned factors (according to our history books) were responsible
for the Arab invasion of sind.

BUT my personal view is that it had more a political cum imperialistic objective than religious .The reasons are obvious......... so no more comments..


Regards

Oriental

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Many reasons, like social, economical, geographical, dynastical etc, can be quoted for the conquest of Sind but NOT Religious!!!

And there are some facts and figures which cement this theory!

[LEFT]1- The Hindu Rulers of the region did not put any solid resistance to the invaders. Obviously, it would be a folly to consider Raja Dahir and his associates as cowards. Except from Dahir and a few others, Qasim was actively supported by many castes and creeds in Sind. Obviously some of them were humiliated by Dahir, like Jats and Meds but not all. If it were a religious war, Qasim would not have received all the support from the different walks of life, that eventually was one of the dominant factors of his win over the Sind elite.

2- Many Arab rebels, Alafi for instance, fought on Dahir's side and held important designations and ranks. Same was the case in Qasim's case. he actively employed and honored Dahir's Wazirs and Generals. In cases of religiously motivated wars, this cannot be thought of. Obviously it were the material differences that led to the events that followed.

3- No religious call was ever given by the Sindi Rulers. Even after Dahir was killed in the battle, his successor did not extend the call to all the Rajput princes. He only asked help from his cousins and relatives. If it were a religious war, a war cry of the sort raised during Ghori's time would have been raised.

4- Let us now analyze the composition of the Arab Army. Qasim employed Syrian soldiers, both mounted and foot. They kept their tribal forms and structure intact. They were basically mercenaries and not religiously motivated followers of Islam. We do not find an account of large number of people subscribing to this force of ISLAM that was bound to expand Islam into the Deserts of India.

5- Now the questions remains, WHY DID HUJJAJ ORDER THE ATTACK ON SIND? Well analyze the form of government of that era. It was autocratic. Particularly Hujjaj was very ruthless and particular about the integrity of the state. All the rebels of the Arab environs would seek refuge at Dahir's court. Hujjaj saw this development as an insult to the authority of the state if not a threat to the integrity of the vast Ummayyad Empire. After the refusal of Dahir to hand over Alafi and his likes to the Ummayyad Authority Hujjaj waited upon an opportunity to seek vengeance for the insult. This was provided by the plunder of those 8 ships off the coast of Daibul.


The rest as we all know is HISTORY!

Although muslim Caliph Umar and Uthman has sent expedition to India but without any success.But after the conquest of cental Asia,the Umayyad caliph Walid 1 was ambitious to conquorre India.Hajjaj was the governor of Eastren prvinces who wanted to extend his territory to India.But there were no such ambitions involved to preach Islam.Some events of time that compelled Arabs to invade India were;

1-Indian king has supported persian against Arabs
2-Arab rebels has taken refuge in India
3-The most immediate cause was the plundering of 8 ships by Indian pirates at Daibul.Hajjaj asked the King Dahir to restore the captives but King showed no interest.That enraged Hajjaj who sent expedition to India.

The conquest of India,more of political motive than that of religious.The local people were oppressed by the caste system and demoralization of subjects by the King.The polished behaviour of the muslim invadors attracted the local people towards Islam.We can say spreading of Islam is the Bye-product of the Arab trimph over India.

Nicely said.... but there is some room for improvement as well...!!!

First....always remember there was NO King of India at that time... Sind was not even considered a part of India by some...anyways...SIND was an independent principality...Subcontinent or INDIA as we know of was conquered concretely during the reign of Ghori. not before that!.. If you repeat this mistake in the paper, you might be penalized for it...!!

Secondly when we are discussing the RELIGIOUS CAUSES for the invasion, we do not want to discuss what were the social/economic/political conditions of SIND at that time. whether there was a caste system in rule or a democratic system, that wouldnot interest us... why? because that part may be included in "Why was the Arab Invasion successful initially?" but certainly not in the present context that we are talking....

Two main reasons to invade on Sindh
1) Capture of the Arab rebels
2) Release of the Arab families from the pirates

Was the invasion religiously motivated?

Different views of different historians on this context.
. Before Qasim's invasion, we can say that the earlier two expeditions under the command of Ubaidullah and Budail were religiously motivated. In 712, Hajjaj had no any intention to propagate Islam in Sindh. The above mentioned two reasons infuriated the Hajjaj to attack on Barhmanabad.
After the success attempts at Daibul, Neeru and Multan. Qasim Administration controlled the economy and spread the message of Islam.
In addition to it, we can say it was politically motivated because If it had been religiously motivated, Qasim and his Governor would have offered or sent a message to embrace Islam as other Khalifas did earlier to propagate Islam.
Conclusion
Khud he likh lo :P lol

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thank u everyone for active participation.....

Those who have read history believe that MBQ's conquest was motivated by everything but religion....and i believe the same..However, recently i came across facts which brought out some religious connection behind MBQ's conquest of sindh.....Example: After daibul's invasion, a mosque was built and muhammad bin qasim wrote to hajjaj : " The nephew of raja dahir, his warriors and principal officers have been dispatched, and the infidels converted to islam or destroyed. Instead of idol-temples, mosques and other places of worship have been created. Khutbah is read, the call to prayer is raised, so that devotions are performed at stated hours. the takbir and praise to almighty God are offered every morning and evening"

so friends, in the light of above facts, what do you have to say----do you find a tinge of religious aspiration behind what seems to be purely imperialistic adventure....

Plz enlighten

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Why not !?

Brother

in reply to your query there are more than multiple reasons/explanations for this ambiguity.

For example: We should not forget that the invaders were Muslims. therefore they would offer their prayers, observe fasts etc etc. just as the TTP of today would go to prayers and still consider themselves doing a justified act by killing people all over Pakistan. Therefore we should always draw a clear line between religious obligations and religious motivation.

Let me quote a few examples: For instance, we do not come across any concrete facts that Shariah was imposed in the land. Interest was still charged by the locals in their day to day transactions. it is one of the examples that one can quote here.

The letter of Muhammad Bin Qasim can be labelled as an exaggeration on his part. in fact this was how generals used to address or dispatch a letter to their masters/governors/Khalifahs etc. We call it Mubaligah Arai in Urdu, probably . there were conversions ofcourse, whether forced or un-forced. Either MBQ was unaware of Islamic tradition of inviting others to the religion of Allah before declaring war or Jihad or he ignored it. But as i have put it earlier we never see any demand for conversion before the attack. the demands were purely to hand over the Arab Rebels and the orphans kidnapped.

And let me put one thing straight. even if Dahir had accepted these terms, Hujjaj would have acted on his expansionist schemes. We should keep in mind that while MBQ was invading Sind, a war was already under way in Central Asia. I wonder who kidnapped whom there? The jist of the matter is that, kidnapping or no kidnapping, asylum to rebels or otherwise, Sind would have been invaded sooner or later. it was an era of Islamic expansion throughout the known world and i am sure Hujjaj would not want to let go of this unique opportunity.

Thnx bro...

You mentioned that there were conversions after arab conquest, yes there were....but kindly tell us, were the conversions on the large scale???....and abt whether they were forced or not...i think they were not forced...After people of brahmanabad's appeal to khalifah, MBQ was instructed from damascus to let everyone practise their faith as long as they paid jizya and submitted to khalifahs authority...and i think people embraced islam out of their own will especially the persecuted class... ...yet another reason why sindh can be considered as bab-ul-islam...........am i right???

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Why not !?

There are two points that you raised.

First: was it a forced conversion? i think probably not. but i wouldnot say that people embraced islam on the go. islam would take time to consolidate its position and spread here. Offcourse imagine yourself in their place. the invaders come to your land, and it would take you time to understand them and their teachings. or wouldn't it?

Second: As far as Sind is Bab-ul-Islam is concerned. yes it is. reason is that we shouldnot confuse Islam with its political wing or administrative structure. for example islam might come to a place, people might embrace islam, yet it might be ruled by a force that is not islamic. Let us take example of France these days. It can rightly be regarded Bab-ul-Islam in Europe. Although the Muslims over there do not share political power but they are a major minority now. So my assertion is that Sind is rightly called Bab-ul-Islam because it was the first geographical region in this area to have experienced Islam as a social, economic and a political force. Politically it might not be a launchpad for Muslims into the heartland of the subcontinent but yes it was the first instance when the local Hindu populace really became the neighbors, friends and even relatives of the invading Muslims.

I hope this does answer your queries!

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Umar Abbas Babar
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