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

Islamic JihadOn the other side of the Siwalik Valley was the large and important town of Hindustan, calledNagarkot. In the attack, ‘The Holy warriors… made heaps of corpses,’ and ‘a vast booty,’ including‘prisoners… fell into the hands of the victors, who returned triumphant and loaded with spoil,’ concludedTimur.On his way back from Delhi, Timur had made five major assaults on the Hindu fortresses, towns andvillages, besides other smaller incursions and captured slaves in each. The rough number of captives—some200,000 to 300,000—is available only for the assault in Kangra. If similar number of slaves were captured inthe other assaults, he must have acquired 1.0 to 1.5 million slaves in the course of his return. Combined withthe captives taken at Delhi, he had driven away some 2.0 to 2.5 milion slaves from India. At Delhi, he alsohad selected thousands of artisans and craftsmen, whom he brought to his capital. 725During the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties (1400–1525): In the period, subsequent to Timur’s invasion, thenumbers of slaves taken in wars are not properly recorded; only abstract references are found in variousdocuments. 726 Following Timur’s departure after devastating the power in Delhi, the Tughlaqs, followed bythe Sayyids, while consolidating their authority, made many expeditions. Many of these campaign yieldedslaves in large numbers. As recorded by Ferishtah, in the reign of Sultan Sayyid Mubarak (r. 1431–35), theMuslim army plundered Katehar and enslaved many of the Rahtore Rajputs (1422), enslaved many in Malwain 1423, carried away the surrendered Muwatti rebels in Alwar in 1425 and the subjects of Raja of Hulkant (inGwalior, in 1430) were carried away as prisoners and slaves. 727In 1430, Amir Shaikh Ali from Kabul attacked Sirhind and Lahore in Punjab. In Lahore, recordsFerishtah, ‘40,000 Hindus were computed to have been massacred, besides a great number carried awayprisoners’; in Toolumba (Multan), his army ‘plundered the place, and put to death all the men able to beararms… and carried the wives and children of the inhabitants into captivity.’ 728Following the Sayyids, the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526) re-established the authority of the sultanateand continued the practice of enslavement as usual. Sultan Bahlul, founder of the dynasty, ‘turned a freebooterand with his gains from plunder built up a strong force.’ In his assault against Nimsar (in Hardoidistrict), he ‘depopulated it by killing and enslaving its people.’ His successor Sikandar Lodi produced thesame spectacle in Rewa and Gwalior regions. 729During Mughal rule (1526…): By defeating Sikandar Lodi in 1526, Jahiruddin Shah Babur, prouddescendent of Amir Timur, established the Mughal rule in India. In his autobiographical memoir BaburNama, he describes his campaigns against the Hindus as Jihad, punctuated with verse and references from theQuran. The records of capturing slaves during Babur’s reign are not documented systematically. However, inhis attack of the small Hindu principality of Bajaur in present-day Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province,records Babur: ‘they were put to general massacre and their wives and children made captives. At a guess,more than 3,000 men went to their death… [I] ordered that a tower of heads should be set up on the risingground.’ 730 Similarly, he made pillars with the heads of slain Hindus at Agra. In 1528, he attacked anddefeated the enemy in Kanauj and ‘their families and followers were made prisoners.’ 731 These examples725. Lal (1994), p. 86726. Ibid, p. 70–71727. Freishtah, Vol. I, p. 299–303728. Ibid, p. 303,306729. Lal (1994), p. 86730. Babur JS (1975) Baburnama, trs. AS Beveridge, Sange-Meel Publications, Lahore, p. 370–71731. Ferishtah, Vol. II, p. 38–39215