islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Propagation of Islam: By Force or Peacefully?temple and constructed a takiya (khanqah)…’ 267 This will give one a good deal of idea about the kind ofmeans this great Sufi saint had employed in converting the kafirs to Islam. 268Shaykh Shah Jalal, the other great Sufi saint of Bengal, had settled in Sylhet. He is regarded as anational hero by Bangladeshi Muslims. Shah Jalal and his disciples are credited with converting a largemajority of Bengalis to Islam through truly peaceful means.When Shah Jalal came to settle in Sylhet in East Bengal (now Bangladesh), it was ruled by a Hinduking, named Gaur Govinda. Before his arrival in Bengal, Sultan Shamsuddin Firuz Shah of Gaur had twiceattacked Gaur Govinda; these campaigns were led by his nephew, Sikandar Khan Ghazi. On both occasions,the Muslim invaders were defeated. 269 The third assault against Gaur Govinda was commanded by thesultan’s Chief General Nasiruddin. Shaykh Nizamuddin Auliya sent forth his illustrious disciple Shah Jalalwith 360 followers to participate in this Jihad campaign. Shah Jalal reached Bengal with his followers andjoined the Muslim army. In the fierce battle that ensued, King Gaur Govinda was defeated. 270 According totraditional stories, the credit for the Muslim victory goes to Shah Jalal and his disciples.As a general rule, every victory in Muslim campaigns brought a great many slaves, often tens tohundreds of thousand, who involuntarily became Muslim. Undoubtedly, on the very first day of Shah Jalal’sarrival in Sylhet, he helped conversion of a large number of kafirs by means of their enslavement at the pointof the sword—a very peaceful means of propagating Islam indeed! Ibn Battutah, who paid a visit to Shah Jalalin Sylhet, records that his effort was instrumental in converting the infidels who embraced Islam there. 271 Buthe gives no detail of the measures the Sufi saint employed in the conversion. One must take into considerationthat Shah Jalal ‘came to India with 700 companions to take part in Jihad (holy war)’ 272 and that he fought abloody Jihad against King Gaur Govinda. These instances give a clear idea of the tools he had applied inconverting the Hindus of Sylhet.In another instance, Sufi saint Nur Qutb-i-Alam played a central role in making a high profileconvert in Bengal. In 1414, Ganesha, a Hindu prince, revolted against Muslim rule and captured power inBengal. The ascension of a Hindu to power created strong revulsion amongst both the Sufis and the Ulema.They repudiated his rule and enlisted help from Muslim rulers outside of Bengal. Responding to their call,Ibrahim Shah Sharqi invaded Bengal and defeated Ganesha. Nur Qutb-i-Alam, the leading Sufi master ofBengal, now stepped in to broker a truce. He forced Ganesha to abdicate and Ganesha’s twelve-year-old sonJadu was converted to Islam and placed on the throne under the name of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad. 273This conversion by a Sufi saint, call it peacefully or at the point of the sword, proved a boon for Islam. TheSufis (also the Ulema) trained the converted young sultan in Islam so well that he became a bloody converterof the infidels to Islam through extreme violence. There took place, says the Cambridge History of India, awave of conversions in the reign of Jalaluddin Muhammad (1414–31). 274 About Jalaluddin’s distinguishedrole in converting the Hindus of Bengal to Islam, Dr James Wise wrote in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of267. Rizvi SAA (1978) A History of Sufism in India, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, Vol. I, p. 201268. In Kashmir, great Sufi saint Sayyid Ali Hamdani also destroyed a temple to set up his Khanqah. There is a likelyparallel between the methods these two Sufis applied in converting the Hindus (see below).269. There is a tradition that king Gaur Govinda was attacked because of his punishing one Shaykh Burhanuddin andhis son for slaughtering a cow. A piece of the cow-meat was stolen and dropped on the king’s temple, whichinfuriated the king. Such stories should be considered in the light of the facts that Muslims attacked every corner ofIndia, often repeatedly and it is unlikely that they had or needed a valid reason like this in each case.270. Hazrat Shah Jalal, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazrat_Shah_Jalal271. Gibb, p. 269272. Shah Jalal (R), Banglapedia; http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0238.htm273. Sharma, p. 243-44274. Smith, p. 27294