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

Islamic Jihadold environment, which was deeply influenced by caste distinction and general social exclusiveness.’ 616 Wisewitnessed in Bengal that some Bediya outcastes of the Hindu society had converted some thirty years ago (c.1850) and become practising Muslims, ‘but they cannot enter the public mosque or find a place in the publicgraveyard. From a social point of view they are still aliens with whom no gentleman will associate or eat. Thetreatment of the Chandal by the Sudra is in no respect more rigorous or harsh than that of the Bediyas by theupper ranks of Muhammadans.’ 617In sum, the converted low-caste Hindus socially remained the same in the Muslim community. Eventoday, they are outcaste, a socially degraded people. They are no better off than their Hindu counterparts,probably rather worse. Conversion to Islam did not uplift their overall caste-sufferance; instead, it hasprobably worsened their overall situation because, Muslims in India, including converts from the upper caste,continue falling behind economically and intellectually. They also commit human rights violation within theircommunity, including suppression of women’s rights and honor killing.Islam, in fact, worsened the overall caste situation in India. The caste system, as horrible as it is, wasa reality in pre-Islamic India. However, ancient manuscripts, namely Arthashastra of Kautilya and Nitisara,suggest that it was not so rigid. The social structure in the middle ages, notes Nehru, ‘may have been open tomerit or capacity, as the Nitisara says… Occasionally men from the lower castes made good. Sudras wereeven known to become kings… A more frequent method of rising in the social scale was for a whole sub-casteto go a step up.’ Sometimes, there were power-struggles between the upper and lower caste and ‘more oftenthey ruled jointly and accommodated each other,’ adds Nehru. 618 The dominant reality was, however, that theBrahmins and Khasttriyahs, the two castes at the top, ruled and the rest toiled. But the coming of Islam toIndia, argues Nehru, ‘made its caste system, which till then had an element of flexibility in it, more rigid andfixed.’ 619 Islam also worsened the standing of the caste system in India by driving larges number of uppercaste Hindus down the ladder. There are numerous examples of destitute Hindus taking refuse in jungles allover India either to wage rebellion against Muslim oppressions or to escape torture of the tax-collectors forfailing to meet the crushing tax demands. During the reign of Ghiyasuddin Balban (aka Ulugh Khan Balban,r. 1265–85), hundreds of thousands of Hindus, whose wealth and abode had been plundered and ravaged andfamilies decimated, had taken refuge in the jungle settlements and engaged in night-time robbery. The Sultanresolved to decimate these bandits and rebels (Muwattis), first in the jungles and hills around Delhi. Hedirected his chiefs ‘to slay the men, to make prisoners of the women and children, to clear away the junglesand to suppress all lawless proceedings,’ records Barani. 620 In the campaigns to suppress these rebels, ‘onehundred thousand of the royal army were slain by the Muwattis,’ while ‘great number of the Muwattis wereput to the sword’. 621 The Sultan then marched out of Delhi proceeding to the neighborhood of Kampil andPattiali, where he spent five to six months putting the Muwattis to the sword. He then on marched to Kateharto exterminate the turbulent rebels surrounding the districts of Badaun and Amroha, where ‘the blood of therioters ran in streams, heaps of slain were to be seen near every village and jungle, and the stench of the deadreached as far as the Ganges,’ adds Barani. 622616. Ashraf KM (1935), Life and Condition of the People of Hindustan (1220–1550 A.D.), Journal of Asiatic Society ofBengal, Letters, p. 191.617. Wise J (1894) The Muhammadans of Eastern Bengal, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 63, 3:1, p.61618. Nehru (1989), p. 132619. Ibid, p. 157620 Elliot and Dawson, Vol. III, p. 105621 Ibid, p. 104–05622 Ibid, p. 105–06189