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

Islamic Jihadlaments Ibn Warraq. For example, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-GeneralEkmeleddin Đhsanoğlu of Turkey demands Turkey’s accession into the European Union based on Islam’scontribution to Europe in its colonial past. He recently said: ‘We argue that Islam is among the foundingelements of Europe. The Ottomans ruled for five centuries in the Balkans, and Muslim rule in Andalusialasted eight centuries… Islam cannot be regarded as an extrinsic element in Europe. It is one of the foundingelements of the European civilization.’ 429 Despite the fact that today’s India is impossible without the Britishcontributions: from education to administration, from governance to healthcare, a similar statement onBritain’s contributions to India by a British statesman will undoubtedly raise an international outcry.An objective study of the Islamic invasion and subsequent Muslim rule in India is very important atthis juncture, when the future security and stability of India is seriously challenged by Islamic terrorists: bothhomegrown and foreign. Indeed, the stability and security of Muslim Bangladesh and Pakistan are much morevulnerable to Islamic terrorist threats. This study will attempt to evaluate the largely untouched impact of theIslamic rule in subcontinental India and its continued legacy. It is needless to emphasize again that the Islamicrule in India was as much imperial and colonial as was the British rule.THE ISLAMIC CONQUEST AND RULEOne central theme in modern history writing in India is that there was great harmony, peace and brotherhoodbetween Muslims and Hindus (and other non-Muslims) prior to the British occupation. Having capturedpower in India, the British rulers created disharmony between Muslims and Hindus, which continues to blightIndia to this day.If one looks at historical records left by leading Muslim historians and rulers, the claim that Hindu-Muslim disharmony never existed before the British engendered it appears furthest from the truth.Regrettably, the unavoidable truth is that religious tolerance and harmony between Hindus and Muslimshardly existed ever since the Islamic invaders set foot in India. Let us examine the trail of the Hindu-Muslimrelationship in India throughout the centuries of Muslim invasion and rule.Muhammad bin Qasim’s invasion: Inspired by the edicts of the Quran and Sunnah (as noted already), Hajjajsent Qasim with a 6,000-strong army toward India, instructing him to kill all able-bodied men and to enslavethe women and children in the course of his conquests. After capturing Debal in Sindh, Qasim’s armymassacred the residents for three days. In Brahmanabad, between 6,000 and 16,000 men of weapon-bearingage were slaughtered; in Multan, all men of weapon-bearing age were ordered to be killed. Chachnamarecords that Qasim’s successful assault in Rawar yielded 60,000 slaves. 430 Qasim slaughtered tens ofthousands of Indian defenders and enslaved their women and children on a grand scale, a few hundredthousand in all, during his three-year stint in Sindh. In addition, temples were demolished, sculptures andidols shattered, and mosques built in their stead. Plundering of Hindu establishments, temples and palacesyielded great quantities of booty.Sultan Mahmud’s campaigns: Sultan Mahmud, in his seventeen plundering expeditions into Northern India(1000–27), revived Qasim’s momentous exploits of slaughter and destruction with greater ferocity andmagnitude. In his forays one after another, Sultan Mahmud used to slaughter the adults mercilessly; capturethe women and children as slaves in the tens to hundreds of thousands; and loot and confiscate whatever429. Kamil Subasi, İhsanoğlu: Islam not just a guest in Europe, Today’s Zaman, 9 October, 2008430. Lal (1994), p. 18147