|
Undoing
the damage done to Indian History-Part 2 by Aniruddha Avanipal
Before we go into the details of the early
attempts made by Islamic army to invade India, lets take a quick
look at the global context in this regard.
After the death of Prophet Mohammed in AD 632, the armies of Islam
went berserk in a blood-curdling orgy under the specious plea of
spreading the "only true religion of the world". They
massacred the Byzantine provinces of Palestine and Syria in a
six-month long invasion during AD 636-637. Their next target was
the Sassanid empire of Persia which included Iraq, Iran and
Khorasan. Islamic Army brought mass destruction to those states
and the whole Persian empire was overturn in the next few years.
By AD 650, the Turkish speaking territories of Mongolia, Bukhara,
Tashkhand and Samarkand, etc. were thoroughly invaded. Meanwhile,
in the west, the Byzantine province of Egypt had fallen in AD
640-641. The Arab armies proceeded towards North Africa till they
reached the Atlantic and crossed over Spain in AD 709.
Readers should keep in mind that the above mentioned historical
incidents were not mere territorial conquests. Muslim regimes
throughout the whole world have an unrelieved record of unparalled
terror and torture described in gory detail by contemporary Muslim
chroniclers themselves. Subjecting all non-Muslims to abject
attrocities, plundering their wealth, abducting their women and
usurping their places of worship to be used as mosques and tombs,
have been considered a duty of every Muslim. The major source of
inspiration for these Islamic invaders to decimate and
denationalise the defeated ones during these warfare were none
other than the verses of the "Holy Quran". I have quoted
a few of these verses for those of our readers who are not yet
familiar with these kind of "inspiring" messages.
Quran: 4th verse of Sura 47
When you meet the unbelievers in the Jihad strike off their heads
and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then
grant them their freedom or take ransom from them, until War shall
lay down her burdens.
Quran: 5th verse of Sura 9
When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolators wherever ye
find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them and prepare
for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and
pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is
Forgiving, Merciful.
Quran: 73rd verse of Sura 9
Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal
rigorously with them. Hell shall be their Home: an evil fate.
Its of little wonder and astonishment that the invaded Syrians,
Persians, Berbers, Turks and others were rapidly Islamised and
their language and culture were Arabicised.
The important point to notice here is that the same Islamic
invaders had to struggle for 69 long years to make their first
effective breach in the borders of India. During next three
centuries the Islamic army pushed forward in several provinces of
Western and Northern India. But unlike the other countries invaded
by Islam, India was far from being conquered militarily or
assimilated culturally. The Arab invasion of India ended in a more
or less total failure.
Islam gets its first taste of Indian Sword
The first Arab raid against India was attempted under Khalif Umar
in AD 636. The order given to Islamic gang of marauders was to
land at Thana near Mumbai and bring back whatever loot they could.
According to the Arabic chronice "Tarikh-i-Masumi", the
Hindu defenses during that time were so strong that not even a
single member of the raiding party returned alive.
In an effort to probe India's defenses, another Arab gang attacked
Debal of Sindh. (The actual name of Debal is Devalay and in
present day known as Karachi). This expedition of the Muslim
armies also met the same fate as the previous one. Mugahirah, the
leader of the Arab army was defeated and killed.
Umar decided to send another army by land against Makran which was
at that time a part of the kingdom of Sindh. But he was advised by
the governor of Iraq that "he should think no more of
Hind".
The next Caliph, Usman (AD 646-656), was well aware of the
sharpness of Hindu swords in India. He appointed Abdullah as the
governor of Iraq and ordered him to send only a scouting party to
the Indian coast instead of risking any more disastrous raids.
Since Hakim was associated with an earlier raid he was made the
leader of espionage and subterfuge. Arabic Historian Al Biladuri's
"Futuh-ul-Buldan" describes how Hakim was arrested by
the vigilant Indian guards and was severly punished. On his return
to Iraq, despite repeated and close cross-questioning, Hakim stuck
to his statement that "water is scarce, fruits are poor and
Hindus are bold. If only a few troups are sent, they will be
slain; if many they will starve." It was quite obvious that
the Hindu soldiers had put the fright of Allah into Hakim which
made him paint a grim picture to the Caliph. Completely unnerved
and disillusioned, Usman, the Caliph also gave up the idea of
organizing any more raids aganist India.
http://www.hinduunity.org
|
