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

Islamic Jihadmissionary movement for converting non-Muslims.’ He added that medieval Islam ‘failed to develop anymissionary activity;’ and that, in India, ‘we have to confess frankly that no trace of a missionary movement forthe conversion of the non-Muslims has yet been discovered.’ He further added: ‘Some cheap mystic books nowcurrent attribute conversions to Muslim mystics on the basis of miracles they performed… But all such bookswill be found on examination to be latter-day fabrication.’ 295 Rizvi’s investigation on the Sufi mystics ofmedieval India also led him to conclude that ‘the early mystic records (Malfuzat & Maktubat) contain nomention of conversion of the people to Islam by these Saints.’ Nizamuddin Auliya was India’s greatest Sufisaint. But his biographical memoir Fawaid-ul-Fuad records the conversion of only two Hindu card-sellers byhim. 296In instances of large-scale conversion, in which Sufis were involved, their roles were to incite therulers into unleashing violence and cruelty on non-Muslims leading up to those conversions. The evidencerecounted above makes it overwhelmingly clear that the Sufi mystics took little interest or initiative inpeaceful missionary activity. Indeed, they were opposed to such engagements. For example, when the zealousproselytizer, Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughlaq, wanted to employ the Sufis for missionary work, notes MahdiHussain, it faced strong opposition from the Sufi community. 297 Whenever Sufis were involved in theconversion, their method was obviously not peaceful.Moreover, most of the Indian Sufis, who came from Persia and the Middle East, did not speak Indianlanguages to transmit Islam’s messages to ordinary people effectively. They never learned the hated jahiliyahIndian languages, while masses of Indian natives were illiterate; they rarely learned Arabic or Persian. Finally,the Hindus of our time, particularly those of the lower caste, are much better able to judge the superiormessage of equality, peace and social justice, allegedly contained in Islam. Today, the message of Islam isreaching to every corner of India in well-expounded and clear language through so many easily accessible andinnovative means. If it was the greatness of Islam’s message, which impressed tens of millions of Indianinfidels to embrace Islam during the Muslim rule, the rate of their conversion to Islam should be greater todaythan at any previous time.Conversion by traders in Southeast AsiaThe conversion of the infidels to Islam by Muslim traders, particularly in Southeast Asia, is emerging as anew paradigm. In a The Time of India article, Atul Sethi terms the claim—that ‘Islam was brought to India byMuslim invaders’—a misconception. Attempting to clear the misconception, he wrote: 298Most historians now agree that India’s introduction to Islam was through Arab traders and notMuslim invaders, as is generally believed. The Arabs had been coming to the Malabar Coast insouthern India as traders for a long time, well before Islam had been introduced in Arabia…Writes H G Rawlinson, in his book, Ancient and Medieval History of India, ‘The first ArabMuslims began settling in the towns on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century.’ Theymarried Indian women and were treated with respect and allowed to propagate their faith.According to B P Sahu, head of the department of history of Delhi University, Arab Muslimsbegan occupying positions of prominence in the areas where they had settled by the 8 th and 9 thcenturies… In fact, the first mosque in the county was built by an Arab trader at Kodungallur, in295. Lal (1990), p. 93296. Ibid, p. 93–94297. Ibid, p. 94298. Sethi A, Islam was brought to India by Muslim invaders, The Time of India, 24 June, 2007; also Qasmi MB,Origin of Muslims in India, Asian Tribune, 22 April 200899