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

Islamic JihadENSLAVEMENT BY MUSLIMS IN INDIAMuslim invaders and rulers engaged in large-scale enslavement of the infidels wherever they went: Europe,Africa and Asia. In this discussion, slavery by Muslims in medieval India as recorded by contemporaneousMuslim historians will be presented in some detail. Brief accounts of Islamic slavery in Africa, Europe andelsewhere in Asia will also be presented.By Muhammad bin Qasim: Islam’s assault on Indian frontiers started during Caliph Omar with the attack andpillage of Thana in 636, just four years after Prophet Muhammad’s death. Eight more such plunderingexpeditions followed under succeeding caliphs: Othman, Ali and Mu'awiyah. These early assaults by Musliminvaders sometimes yielded booty and slaves besides slaughter and pillage, but failed to gain a foothold forIslam in India. With Caliph al-Walid’s blessings, Hajjaj bin Yusuf sent two expeditions to Sindh, led byUbaidullah and Budail. Both campaigns failed suffering heavy casualties; both commanders were slain.Sorely wounded at heart, Hajjaj next sent his nephew and son-in-law Qasim at the head of 6,000 soldiers. Heoverran Debal in Sindh in 712, digging a firm and lasting foothold of Islam in Hindustan. Debal, recordsfamous Muslim historian al-Biladuri, ‘was taken by assault, and the carnage endured for three days… thepriests of the temple were massacred.’ 683 He put the males above seventeen years of age to the sword andenslaved the women and children. The total number of captives taken in Debal is not recorded; but amongthem were 700 beautiful women, who had taken refuse in temples, records Chachnama. Caliph’s one-fifthshare of the booty and slaves, which included seventy-five damsels, was sent to Hajjaj. The rest weredistributed amongst his soldiers. 684In the attack of Rawar, records Chachnama, ‘When the number of prisoners was calculated, it wasfound to amount to thirty thousand persons, amongst whom were the daughters of the chiefs, and one of themwas Rai Dahir’s sister’s daughter.’ One-fifth of the prisoners and the spoils were sent to Hajjaj. 685 As recordsChachnama, when Brahmanabad fell to Muslims, in which 8,000 to 26,000 men were slain, ‘One-fifth of allthe prisoners were chosen and set aside; they were counted as amounting to twenty thousand in number, andthe rest were given to the soldiers.’ 686 This means, about 100,000 women and children were enslaved in thisassault.One consignment of caliph’s share of the booty included 30,000 women and children and slainDahir’s head. Among the captives were a few girls of Sindh nobility. Hajjaj forwarded the caravan of bootyand slaves to Caliph al-Walid in Damascus. ‘When the Khalifa of the time read the letter,’ recordsChachnama, ‘he praised Almighty Allah. He sold some of those daughters of the chiefs, and some he grantedas rewards. When he saw the daughters of Rai Dahir’s sister, he was so much stuck with her beauty andcharms, and began to bite his fingers with astonishment.’ 687In the attack of Multan, records al-Biladuri, there were, among the captives, ‘ministers of the temple,to the number of six thousand.’ 688 This figure should give us an idea of total number of women and childrenenslaved in Multan. Qasim undertook similar expeditions in Sehwan and Dhalila among others. His rathersmall feat in Sindh over a short period of three years (712–15) might have yielded to the tune of three hundredthousand slaves in all.683. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. I, p. 119-20; Sharma, p. 95684. Lal (1994), p. 17685. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. I, p. 173686. Ibid, p. 181687. Sharma, p. 95–96688. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. I, p. 122–23,203209