Everything about Muhammad Bin Qasim totally explained
Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (
Arabic:
محمد بن قاسم) (c.
31 December,
695–
18 July,
715), born
Muhammad bin Qasim bin Yusuf Sakifi, was a
Syrian general who conquered the
Sindh and
Punjab regions along the
Indus river (now a part of
Pakistan). The conquest of Sindh and Punjab began the
Islamic era in
South Asia and continues to lend the Sindh province of Pakistan the name
Bab-e-Islam (The Gateway of Islam)
Life and Career
Muhammad bin Qasim's father was
Qasim bin Yusuf who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education.
Umayyad governor
Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Muhammad bin Qasim's paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governing. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj's daughter, shortly before going to
Sindh. His second marriage was with a wife of
Raja Dahir called
Rani Ladhi. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was
Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of
Yemen. Under Hajjaj's patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of
Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion. At the age of seventeen, he was sent by
Caliph Al-Walid I to lead an army towards South Asia into what are today the Sindh and Punjab regions of Pakistan.
Umayyad Interest in Sindh
According to Berzin, Umayyad interest in the region stemmed from their desire to control the trade route down the
Indus River valley to the seaports of Sindh, an important link in the ancient Silk Road. They had earlier unsuccessfully sought to gain control of the route, via the
Khyber pass, from the Turki-
Shahis of
Gandhara. They had operated
preying upon
Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the
Tigris to the
Sri Lankan coast, in their
bawarij and now did so to
Arab shipping from their bases at
Kutch,
Debal and
Kathiawar. During Hajjaj's governorship, the
Mids of Debal in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia, thus providing a
casus belli to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that enabled them to gain a foothold in the
Makran,
Balochistan and Sindh regions.
Political setting
The campaign for the conquest of Sindh under Qasim was launched during the same period as the
Umayyad conquest of Hispania and
an offensive against the Kabul Shahan. It was a period of great expansion of the Umayyads under the governorship of Hajjaj, the first governor of both the
Arabi and
Ajami halves of the ex-
Sassanid domains. The first town assaulted was Debal and upon the orders of Al-Hajjaj, he exacted a bloody retribution on Debal by giving no quarter to it's residents or priests and destroying its great
temple in the process of freeing the kidnapped women.
From Debal the Arab army then marched north taking towns such as Nerun and Sadusan (
Sehwan) peacefully. hadn't yet been fought.
The Arabs' first concern was to facilitate the conquest of Sindh with the fewest casualties while also trying to preserve the economic infrastructure.
Reasons for Success
Muhammad bin Qasim's success has been partly ascribed to Dahir being an unpopular Hindu king ruling over a
Buddhist majority who saw
Chach of Alor and his kin as usurpers of the
Rai Dynasty. 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,
Meds and
Bhutto tribes. 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.
Along with this were:
- Superior military equipment; such as siege engines and the Mongol bow. He adopted a conciliatory policy, asking for acceptance of Muslim rule by the natives in return for non-interference in their religious practice, Dahir's prime minister and various chieftains were also incorporated into the administration.
Treatment of Jats
The narrative in the Chach Namah conveys that Chach humiliated the Jats and Lohanas. Denzil Ibbetson records that "Muhammad bin Qasim maintained these regulations, declaring that the jats resembled the savages of Persia " According to Wink "While the Jats were also granted (aman) a considerable number of Jats were also captured as prisoners of war and deported to Iraq and elsewhere as slaves. However, Qasim wasn't entirely deferential to the native religions. Many town temples containing idols were converted into mosques. At Multan, 6000 custodians of the Sun-temple were made captive and their wealth confiscated. The temple housing the great idol (sanam) was a source of great wealth for the town, receiving pilgrims from across the region. Muhammad bin Qasim left the idol where it was;, but he hung a piece of cow flesh on its neck by way of mockery; he then built a mosque in the same bazaar at the center of the town. A small minority who converted to Islam were granted exemption from slavery and taxes.
There are two accounts regarding the details of Qasim's fate:
- The account from the Chachnama narrates a tale according to which the during Muhammad bin Qasim s governorship, the daughters of Dahir were taken captive and were sent on as presents to the Khalifa for his harem. The account relates that they then tricked the Khalifa into believing that Muhammad bin Qasim had violated them before sending them on and as a result of this subterfuge, Muhammad bin Qasim was wrapped in oxen hides and returned to Syria, resulting in his death en route from suffocation. This narrative attributes the motive for this subterfuge to securing vengeance for their father's death. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the Khalifa is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.
- The Persian historian Baladhuri's account states that the Khalifa was a political enemy of Hajjaj and recalled Muhammad bin Qasim after Hajjaj's death and imprisoned him; Muhammad bin Qasim is reported to have died under torture in Mosul.
- Coercive conversion has been attributed to early historians such as Elliot, Cousens, Majumdar and Vaidya.
Various
polemical perceptions of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are also reflected in this debate. On one extreme, the Arab Muslims 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.
The next Arab governor died on arrival. Dahir’s son Jaisimha 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, Junaid Ibn Abdur Rahman al-Marri killed Jaisimha and recaptured the territory before his successors once again struggled to hold and keep it. During the Abassid 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 who set up an independent Fatimid state. These successor states didn't 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.
Coastal trade and a Muslim colony in Sindh allowed for cultural exchanges and the arrival of Sufi missionaries to expand Muslim influence. From Debal, 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 bin Qasim is sometimes called the "the first Pakistani citizen".
Youm-e-Babul Islam is observed in Pakistan, in honor of Muhammad bin Qasim.Further Information
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