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Some Muslims believe that connection between Islam and India was established right from the very beginning. There are hadith, though not authenticated, about landings of Adam and Eve to the land somewhere in India.
The recorded history of Islam in connection with India begins in the 8th century, when the Arabs began invading north India and present day Pakistan, on the orders of Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef, the governor of Iraq. Their entry in India was prompted by an attempt to free the civilian Muslim hostages whose ship was taken by sea pirates in the territory of Raja Dahir, King of Sindh. After diplomatic attempts failed, Hajjaj, dispatched a 17-year-old commander by the name Muhammad bin Qasim with a small army. Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir at what is now Hyderabad in Pakistan.
Qasim demolished temples, shattered "idolatorous" artwork and killed many men. After the violence he attempted to establish law and order in the newly-conquered territory by allowing a degree of religious tolerance. Hajjaj objected:
- O my cousin; I received your life inspiring letter. I was much pleased and overjoyed when it reached me. The events were recounted in an excellent and beautiful style, and I learnt that the ways and rules you follow are conformable to the Law. Except that you give protection to all, great and small alike, and make no difference between enemy and friend. God says, 'Give no quarter to Infidels, but cut their throats." "Then know that this is the command of the great God. You should not be too ready to grant protection, because it will prolong your work. After this, give no quarter to any enemy except to those who are of rank. This is a worthy resolve, and want of dignity will not be imputed to you. Peace be with you [1] (http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITChachnamaframeset.htm)
Despite these noted atrocities, as a whole populations of conquered territories were treated as people of the book and granted religious toleration of their Hindu beliefs in return for payment of the poll tax (jizya). Brahmin caste system was tolerated and little conversion of conquered populations was attempted. [2] (http://radar.ngcsu.edu/~mgilbert/indiasyl.htm) Indian scientific advances and the adoption of mathematical numerals spread to the Islamic world and eventually to the West.
In the early eleventh century Mahmud of Ghazni launched seventeen invasions of the Hindu parts of India. He destroyed Hindu temples in Varanasi, Mathura, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka. He had vowed to chastise idolaters every year of his life. These invasions were no more than banditry and were motivated by gold and wealth found in Hindu temples. He did not set up any permanent government in India, but he certainly left his legacy. Other raiders from Central Asia followed him, such as Muhammad Khilji, who burned Nalanda's a major Buddhist library.
The invasions by Muslims in India were not continuous and not all Muslim invaders were Islamic fanatics. One of the Moghul emperors, Akbar, was very liberal and he even established a new religion, Din E Elahi, which included beliefs from different religions. He abolished the jizya, a traditional tax levied upon protected people, or non-Muslims in the Islamic empires. In contrast, Aurangazeb was a fanatic Muslim and during his term the non-Muslims suffered. He reimposed the unpopular jizya, which his great grandfather Akbar had removed. He banned the practice of sati - the burning of widows - throughout the empire.
The spread of Islam in India was not the result of immediate mass conversions. It took several centuries. Most Indian Muslims who converted to Islam belonged to the lower classes of the Indian society. Besides these, there were also some converts who belonged to the ruling families of the different Indian kingdoms. Some of these rulers were Hindus who actually belonged to the warrior castes of the Hindu society and adopted Islam. The Muslim rulers of India also brought Muslim mercenaries, businessmen and slaves from different parts of the world. These people married local Indians and converted them to Islam.
The impact of Islam on Indian culture has been extensive. It permanently affected language, dress, cuisine, architecture and urban design, and social customs and values. The languages of the invaders were modified by contact with local languages, to Urdu, which uses the Arabic script, and the more colloquial Hindustani, which uses the Devnagri script. Both are major Indian languages today.
Literature
- Sita Ram Goel: Hindu Temples - What happened to them? 2 vols. [3] (http://voi.org/books/htemples1)
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