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

Islamic Jihadslaves were also engaged in ‘almost every conceivable function.’ 798 Indeed, almost entire work-force inIslamic Southeast Asia consisted of slaves as already noted.Employment in building and construction: One major task Muslim invaders and rulers undertook inconquered lands was the construction of outstanding buildings for mosques, minarets, monuments andpalaces. These were intended for declaring the might and glory of Islam, overshadowing the achievements ofthe native infidels. According to Chachnama, Qasim, informing of the building initiatives undertaken by himin Sindh, wrote to Hajjaj, ‘…the infidels converted to Islam or destroyed. Instead of idol temples, mosquesand other places of worships have been built, pulpits have been erected…’ 799 Qutbuddin Aibak had startedconstruction of the impressive Qwat-ul-Islam (might of Islam) mosque in Delhi as early as 1192, more than adecade before establishing Muslim rule in India (1206). According to Ibn Battutah, the site of the Qwat-ul-Islam mosque ‘was formerly occupied by an idol temple, and was converted into a mosque on the conquest ofthe city.’ 800 Aibak started the construction of the magnificent Qutb Minar—a minaret for announcing theIslamic call to prayers—in Delhi in 1199. The Qutb Minar ‘has no parallel in the land of Islam,’ wroteeyewitness Battutah. 801The undertaking of these huge ventures in India, ahead of establishing a firm foothold for Islam,affirms that the declaration of the might and glory of Islam was an urgent and focal mission of the conquest.To undermine and degrade the achievements of the infidels further, materials from destroyed temples,churches, synagogues etc. were used in the construction of Islamic structures. A Persian inscription on theQwat-ul-Islam mosque testifies that materials from twenty-seven destroyed Hindu and Jain temples were usedin its construction. 802 Similar materials were used in the construction of Qutb Minar, about which, writes Prof.Habibullah, ‘the sculptured figures (of Hindu gods, goddesses etc.) on the stones being either defaced orconcealed by turning them upside down.’ 803Muslim invaders of India started with the building of such magnificent mosques, minarets, citadels,and mausoleums of their religious significance; to these, they later added outstanding palaces and otherbuildings across India. Their constructions were often completed in double-quick time. In excessiveenthusiasm, Barani informs us that a palace could be built in two to three days and a citadel in two weeksduring Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Although an exaggeration, it nonetheless tells us that a large number of people,invariably slaves, were employed in these works of great endeavor; and they had to work under tremendouspressure to complete those ventures in the quickest of time in that non-technological era. It is little wonderthen that Sultan Alauddin had accumulated 70,000 slaves, who worked continuously in buildings. Qwat-ul-Islam mosque and Qutb Minar were projects of great endeavor, since materials from destroyed temples had tobe dismantled with great care for reusing them. Nizami records that the temples were demolished usingelephants, each of which could haul a stone, for which 500 men would be needed. Much of the delicate work,however, was done by human hands and a large number of slaves must have been employed. 804Furthermore, there was little respite in building new cities, palaces and religious structures. Manyoften, after a new Sultan ascended the throne—happened frequently because of ceaseless uprisings andintrigues, which so characterized the Islamic rule in India—he would construct a new city and palace in orderto leave an enduring legacy of his own. Abandoning Iltutmish’s old city, Sultan Ghiysuddin Balban (r. 1265–798. Reid A (1993) The Decline of Slavery in Nineteenth-Century Indonesia, In Klein MA ed., Breaking the Chains:Slavery, Bondage and Emancipation in Modern Africa and Asia, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, p. 68799. Sharma, p. 95800. Gibb, p. 195801. Ibid802. Watson and Hero, p. 96803. Lal (1994), p. 84804. Ibid, p. 84–85229