THE%20SINDH%20STORY

priest would not agree to Sita becoming Muslim. At last Hind took the two to
Saniyya (now Sann, the native village of the prominent Sindh leader G.M.Syed).
There they were married while keeping their respective religions. When Sita died,
Asim immolated himself on her funeral pyre!
But otherwise the relations between the Sindhis and the Arabs were none too
good. In Sindh, the Arabs lived in isolated colonies, particularly in Mansurah, the
twin-city of Brahmanabad, while the people went their own way under the local
chiefs. The Sindhis viewed the iniquities of Baghdad with horror. To this day, in
the Sindhi language, “Baghdad” means the “limit of tyranny”. Mahmud
Ghazni’s invasion of Sindh put an end to the rump of the Arab governors of
Sindh, and thereby helped the local Rajput dynasty of the Soomras to came up.
Today there is no trace of the 300-year-long Arab adventure in India. The twincities
of Brahmanabad and Mansurah, now known only as Brahmanabad, were
so completely destroyed that according to Richardson, archaeologist, “even
twenty barrels of gunpowder under each house would not destroy it so
completely.”
As for Arab influence on Sindhi character, Dr. Pathan is quite sarcastic. He writes
in the year of grace, 1978: “A Sindhi is an embodiment of Arab mentality.
Arrogant in leisure time, he is equally timid and cannot withstand force. Like an
Arab, he takes pleasure in having as many wives as he can and maintains sexual
relations with a number of women called surets (concubines). Like the Ghazwah
practice of the Arabs, women are stolen away.... Woman, therefore, is the root
cause of crime and bloodshed in Sindh”. He adds: “In psychological traits, a
Sindhi is a brother of an Arab, being vindictive and full of deceit at all times. Like
a true Arab, he is a cunning hypocrite and matchless intriguer.” Dr. Pathan even
goes so far as to say that “Quraishi” --- the family name of Mohammed --- in
Arabic means “a sea monster”, “a profiteer”.
Professor Humayun Kabir had said that while the Government of India
supported the Arabs against the Israelis, the people of India favoured the Israelis
against the Arabs. The reason, he said, was the Arab invasion of Sindh twelve
hundred years ago. He was quite right. The race memory has neither forgotten
nor forgiven the Arab invasion. Even the Sindhi Muslims share this Indian
resentment of the Arab aggression of long ago. Today they honour “Dahir Son of
Sindhudesh” --- and look upon Mohammed Bin Qasim as an invader.
G.M. Syed, the “Grand Old Man” of Sindh, and the moving spirit behind the
“Independent Sindh” movement, is ecstatic about the bravery and statesmanship
of Dahir. According to him, Dahir had even offered asylum to Hussain, the
grandson of Mohammed --- married to a Sindhi girl --- who was being
persecuted at home. He was on his way to Sindh when he was intercepted at
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