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

Islamic Imperialism in IndiaWhen 8,000 Rajput soldiers were slain in the siege, their women—some say 8,000 in number, who wereordered to be enslaved—embraced death by jumping into fire to avoid dishonor and sexual slavery. 457 Asnoted already, Emperor Jahangir wrote that 500,000 to 600,000 people were slaughtered during the combinedrule of his father (enlightened kind-hearted Akbar) and his own (1556–1627).The Islamic brutality and savagery in India, begun with the invasion of Sindh, continued into thereign of the last independent Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan (1750–99), seen as a nationalist "hero" of India for hisbrave resistance against the British. According to the History of Mysore by Hayavadana Rao, Tipu Sultan hadput 700 men, women and children of the Iyengar community of Mysore to death on the day of Dipavalicelebration in the 1790s; for, the latter had allegedly made a pact with General Harris, the British Governor ofMadras and Tirumaliyengar. According to Mohibbul Hasan, a Mughal General known by his initialM.M.K.F.G. recorded in his account of Tipu Sultan’s life (corrected by Tipu’s son) that the Sultan had killed10,000 Hindus and Christians and enslaved 7,000 of them in his wars against Travancore. The enslaved werecarried away to Seringapatam, where they were circumcised, made to eat beef and forced to convert toIslam. 458 Muslim chronicler Kirmani in his Nishan-e Haidari records that 70,000 Coorgis were forcefullyconverted to Islam by Tipu Sultan. Some modern historians dispute this as an exaggeration by the author torepresent the Sultan as a champion of Islam. 459 Whether the number is correct or not, these modern historianshappily affirm that converting the infidels by the sword was obviously considered glorious even at thesedying days of Muslim rule in India.Alain Danielou, in describing the Muslim invasion of India, writes: ‘From the time Muslims startedarriving, around 632 AD, the history of India becomes a long, monotonous series of murders, massacres,spoliations, and destructions. It is, as usual, in the name of "a holy war" of their faith, of their sole God, thatthe barbarians have destroyed civilizations, wiped out entire races.’ Mahmud Ghazni, continues Danielou,‘was an early example of Muslim ruthlessness, burning in 1018 the temples of Mathura, razing Kanauj to theground and destroying the famous temple of Somnath, sacred to all Hindus. His successors were as ruthlessas Ghazni: 103 temples in the holy city of Benaras were razed to the ground, its marvelous temples destroyed,its magnificent palaces wrecked.’ Indeed, the policy of the Muslim invaders in India ‘seems to have been aconscious systematic destruction of everything that was beautiful, holy, refined (to Indians),’ concludesDanielou. 460American historian Will Durant, who thinks that the Muslim conquest of India was probably thebloodiest in history, wrote: ‘The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with utmost glee and pride ofthe slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave-markets, andthe destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions ofHindus were converted to Islam by the sword during this period.’ 461 Indeed, this sadistic glorification of theIslamic brutality of Indian infidels was a common theme in Muslim history writing until the last days ofIslamic domination. The works of Muhammad al-Kufi, al-Biladuri, al-Utbi, Hasan Nizami, Amir Khasrau andZiauddin Barani amongst many others bear the testimony of that.The massacre and enslavement of the conquered infidels and destruction of their religiousinstitutions by Muslim invaders in India have few parallels in history. The Hindu Kush Mountain was namedso because of the huge number of Hindu slaves from India, caught up in inclement weather, died there whilebeing transported to Islamic Central Asia. According to Ibn Battutah (described in 1333), Hindu Kush 'means"Slayer of Indians" (i.e. Hindus), because the slave boys and girls who were brought from India die there in457. Lal KS (1992) The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India, Aditya Prakashan, Delhi, p. 266–67458. Hasan M (1971) The History of Tipu Sultan, Aakar Books, New Delhi, p. 362–63459. Tippu Sultan, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_Sultan460. Danielou, p. 222461. Durant W (1999) The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage, MJF Books, New York, p. 459152