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

Islamic Imperialism in IndiaThe Hindus and Sikhs did not incite violence proactively; but they merely, and rather belatedly,reacted in kind. Inside India, in the course of the Partition in August 1947, besides violence in East Punjab,Delhi, Alwar and Bharatpur, riots also took place in Aligarh, Bombay and Jammu and Kashmir amongstothers. In these places, Muslims had strong presence and these riots were initiated and/or instigated by them.In Kashmir, for example, the Pathan Muslims enslaved the young Hindu women, carried them away and soldin the markets of Jhelum District in Pakistan. 603 The Hindu and Sikh violence, in most cases, was retaliationagainst the Muslim ones, including in East Punjab, where Muslims suffered worst Sikh retaliations. Muslims’unprovoked harrowing violence—in Calcutta, Noakhali, West Punjab, NWFP, and even, in Amritsar in EastPunjab among other places—had, undoubtedly, tested the patience of the Sikhs and Hindus to an utmostdegree, and instigated them to engage in violence in like manners. Overall, the Hindus and Sikhs showedgreat restraint; most places inside India, where Muslims were minority, remained largely calm.Undoubtedly, the separatist Muslims should bear almost the entire responsibility for the Partitionrelatedviolence and bloodbath: firstly, for their demand of a separate state, and secondly, for inciting andinitiating unprovoked violence and bloodbath that took place. The British rulers and the Hindus and Sikhs(including Hindutva groups) deserve very little share of the blame.ISLAM’S IMPACT ON THESOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL & CULTURAL LIFE OF INDIAThe worst impacts of Islamic colonialism in India were the widespread violence against non-Muslims,crushing economic exploitation of them and their enslavement on a grand scale (see next chapter) by theMuslim invaders and rulers. Moreover, many existing social and cultural ills of the Indian society—sati, childmarriage and caste system etc.—worsened under the Muslim rule. Islamic rule also engendered new socialills, such as the thuggee cult and jauhar, in India. After the British takeover, some of these, namely jauhar,and thuggee cult, disappeared; the British also made serious efforts to abolish or suppress the rest of India’ssocial afflictions. Islamic rule also had a crippling impact on the health of education and learning in India.On Education and learningEducation and learning was one of the worst victims of the Islamic colonialism in India. Muslim rulers andinvaders destroyed India’s indigenous education system. For education, they built mosques and madrasas,solely for Muslims. It is noted already that pre-Islamic India had high standards in education, literature,science and medicine, and founded famous centers of learning, namely at Nalanda (427–1197), Taxila,Kanchi, Vikramasheela, Jagaddala and Odanthapura. Situated at the then Buddhist center of learning intoday’s Bihar, the Nalanda University was one of the world’s first residential universities with dormitories forstudents. In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. It had a huge ninestoreylibrary, where meticulous copies of texts were produced and preserved. Nalanda was also the mostglobal university of its time, attracting pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persiaand Turkey. 604 In 1197, Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the University, slaughtered all of its shaven-head Buddhistteachers, and burned its immensely rich library. Prior to the Muslim conquest of India, many Muslim studentsfrom Baghdad came to Taxila University to study Medicine in particular. All these reputed universities weredestroyed by Muslim invaders and rulers; they ceased to exist after the Muslim occupation of India. On theimpact of Islamic invasions on science and learning in India, said Alberuni (noted already) that Hindu603. Talib, p. 201604. Nehru (1989), p. 122; also Nalanda in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda186