Muhammad ibn al-Qasim

Imád-uddín Muhammad bin Qasim bin Ukail Sakifi
Muhammad Bin Qasim leading his troops in battle
Allegiance	Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef, Governor to the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I
Rank	Amir
Battles / wars	Muhammad bin Qasim is famous for his conquest of Sind for the Umayyads.

Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (Arabic: محمد بن قاسم) (c. 695–715) was a Syrian Arab general who conquered the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus river (now a part of Pakistan). The conquest of Sindh and Punjab began the Islamic era in South Asia.

Life and Career

Muhammad bin Qasim bin Ukail Sakifi was born around 695 AD. His father died when he was young, leaving Qasim's mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef was one of Qasim's close relatives, and was instrumental in teaching Qasim about warfare and governing. Qasim is known for his expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate to the east by adding Sindh and parts of Punjab.

Under Hajjaj's patronage, Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion. At the age of seventeen, he was sent by Caliph Al-Walid I to lead an army towards India into what is today the Sindh and Punjab area of Pakistan.

Umayyad Interest in Sindh

The primary reason for the Umayyad interest in the region is however viewed as the operation of the Mids and other who earlier preyed upon Sassanid and now Arab shipping from the mouth of the Tigris river to Sri Lankan coast in their bawarij from Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar. With the rising importance of commercial traffic along the Persian Gulf route these cities had to be subjugated to safeguard the increasing important India trade from piracy. Sindh at this time was the wild frontier region of al-Hind inhabited largely by predatory semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturbed much of the Western Indian Ocean. Muslim sources insist that it was this persistent insolence of Debal pirates and other lairs which forced the Arabs to subjugate the area to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the hinge as well the overland pass-way. During Hajjaj's governorship the "Mids of Debal" kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia providing a casus belli for the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate with a chance to gain a foothold in the Makran, Balochistan and Sindh regions and put and end to piratical activity.Through conquest, it meant to protect its maritime interests, cut off fleeing both rebel chieftains and Sindhi support to non-Muslim Persians such as in various battles such as Nahawand, Salasal and Qādisiyyah.

The Campaign as recounted in the Chach-Nama

Extent and expansion of Abassid rule under Muhammad bin Qasim (modern state boundaries shown in red).

The Chach Nama is the oldest chronicle of the Arab conquest of Sindh. It was translated into Persian by Muhammad Ali bin Hamid bin Abu Bakr Kufi in 1216 CE. from an earlier Arabic text believed to have been composed by the Sakifí family, the kinsmen of Muhammad bin Qasim. At one time it was considered to be a romance until Mountstuart Elphinstone's observations of it's historical veracity.

Qasim's expedition was the second, the first had failed due to stiffer than anticipated opposition as well as heat, exhaustion and scurvy.

Qasim was successful, rapidly taking all of Sindh and moving into southern Punjab up to Multan with a regiment of 6,000 Syrian soldiers.

Hajjaj had put more care and planning into this campaign than the first campaign under Badil bin Tuhfa. Qasim was supported by Abdulla bin Nahban. In 711, Qasim first established his base at the Ummayyad controlled Arman Belah (Lasbela) in Makran and from there proceeded to assault Debal. Following the orders of Al-Hajjaj, he exacted a bloody retribution on Debal while freeing the kidnapped pilgrams as well as prisoners from the earlier failed campaign. From Debal he then moved on to Nerun to resupply. Here, Nerun's Buddhist governor had acknowledged his city as a tributary of the Caliphate after the first campaign and opened the gates to their forces. From there, Qasim's armies then moved to capture Siwistan (Sehwan) and joined into an alliance with various tribal chiefs and secured the surrounding regions. With his new allies, he captured the fort at Sisam and secured the remaining regions to the west of the Mehran (Indus River). At this point, the soldiers of the Qasim expedition had to resort to using soaked cotton with vinegar to suck on as a prophylaxis against scurvy and send for new horses, due to losses by disease and the campaign.

Dahir attempted to prevent Qasim from crossing the Indus river by moving his forces to its eastern banks. However, Qasim successfully completed the crossing and defeated an attempt to repel him by Jaisiah, the son of Dahir, around the vicinity of Jitor. He then advanced onward to Raor (Nawabshah) in 712, where Dahir was defeated and died in battle.

Qasim's forces then marched upon Raor and took it, where it is noted in the Chach Nama that Dahir's wife Bai and some others committed Jauhar. He then made his way toward Brahmanabad where Jaisiah had invested himself and was gathering troops. Enroute he took the forts at Bahror, which he besieged for two months, and Dahlelah, where he captured Jaisiah's wazir who then defected to Qasim. When Qasim arrived at Brahmanabad, Jaisiah who had based himself there moved out and Qasim besieged the city for six months. The town was taken when a faction came over to Qasim and opened the gates. Here a report tells of the capture of another of Dahir's wives, Ladi, whom Qasim later married, and of the two daughters of Dahir from a third wife, who were sent on to the Khalifa as war booty. At Brahmanabad Qasim began to organize the administration of the lands before marching onward to the capital Alor (Aror), while consolidating his hold on the region and accepting pledges of allegiance, without encountering any significant resistance enroute. Aror was governed by one of Dahir's sons who fled to join his brothers and the city surrendered without much fighting. From here Qasim advanced northward to Multan and after crossing the Beas River began to encounter resistance once again from the local rulers at the forts of Golkondah, Sikkah and finally Multan. Jaisiah after attempting to raise support in Rajasthan fled to exile in Kashmir.

Qasim was preparing to march upon Kanauj when he received a summons from the Khalifa, thereby ending his campaign.

Military Strategy

The military strategy outlined by Hajjaj to Qasim in a letter:

My ruling is given:Kill anyone belonging to the combatants (ahl-i-harb); arrest their sons and daughters for hostages and imprison them. Whoever does not fight against us..grant them aman (safety) and settle their tribute(amwal) as dhimmah.

The first Arab concern was to facilitate the conquest of Sindh with the least number of casualties while also trying to preserve the economic infrastructure. Towns were given two options; submit to Arab authority peacefully or be attacked by force (anwattan), with the choice governing the Arab response upon capture. Capture of towns was then usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among the "enemy", who were then extended special privileges and material rewards. There were two types of such treaties, "Sulh" or "ahd-e-wasiq (capitulation)" and "aman (surrender/ peace)". Upon the capture of towns and fortresses, Qasim performed executions as part of his military strategy, but they were limited to the "ahl-i-harb (fighting men)" - whose surviving dependents were also enslaved. Hence when resistance was strong, prolonged and intensive resulting in considerable Arab casualties his response was equally intensive; a three day long massacre at Daybul, 6,000 at Rawar, between 6,000 and 26,000 at Brahmanabad, 4,000 at Iskalandah and 6,000 at Multan. Conversely places taken by sulh such as Armabil, Nirun, Siwistan, Budhiyah, Bet, Sawandi and Aror where resistance was light few if any casualties occurred. Sulh appeared to be Qasims preferred mode of conquest, accounting for between 63-65% of the towns and tribes recorded by Baladhuri or the Chachnama. He was even berated by Hajjaj for being too lenient and therefore risked being considered by all as weak. Pardon or aman was also granted to the common folk, who were encouraged to coutinue working, while the Brahmins and Shramana's continued to be employed as administrators. While upon express orders of Hajjaj this option was not to be granted any inhabitant of Daybul, Qasim still bestowed it upon certain groups and indivuals.

Political Strategy

After each major phase of his conquest, Qasim stopped to establish law and order in the newly-conquered territory by showing religious tolerance and incorporating the ruling class into his administration.

Reasons for Success

He succeeded partly because Raja Dahir was an unpopular Hindu king that ruled over a Buddhist majority. The forces of Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir in alliance with the tribe of Jats and other Buddhist governors. His campaign's success is ascribed to the support of Buddhists and the tribal Jats, Meds and Bhutto tribes. Chach of Alor and his kin were regarded as usurpers of the Rai Dynasty), and rebels formed the infantry to his primarily cavalry force that first arrived at Arman Belah. His army at Multan was reported in the Tarikh Masumi at 50,000, of which only 6,000 came with Qasim.

Along with this were:

1. Superior Military equipment (siege engines and the Mongol bow)
2. Troop discipline and leadership
3. The concept of jihad as morale booster
4. A large Buddhist population unhappy with their Hindu rulers
5. Positive response by Qasim to overtures of surrender and an avoidance of excessive bloodshed and destruction.
6. Ready support from lower caste races; the Jats and Meds formed the infantry to the predominantly cavalry army that came with Qasim.
7. The role played by the belief in prophecy; both of Muslim success, and Dahir's marriage (unconsummated) to his sister which alienated him from others.

Administration by Qasim

Qasim's task was seen as administrator was to set up an administrative structure for a stable Muslim state that incorporated a newly conquered alien land, inhabited by non-Muslims He adopted a concilatory policy, resulting in the acceptance of Muslim rule by the natives in return for non-interference in their religious practice. He established Islamic Sharia law over the people of the region, however Hindu's were allowed to rule their villages and settle their disputes according to their own laws and traditional hierarchical structures such as those of Village Headmen (Rais), Chieftains (dihqans) were maintained. A Muslim officer called an amil was stationed with a troop of cavalry to manage each town; on a heridatary basis

The “Chach-Nama” notes the following as highlights of Qasim’s rule:

• He permitted all to practice their religion freely.
• Hindus were included in the Ahl al Kitab
• the status of Dhimmis (protected people) was conferred upon Hindus and Buddhists

Taxation

Everywhere taxes (mal) and tribute (kharaj) were settled and hostages taken - occasionally this also meant the custodians of temples. One-fifth of the slaves and booty taken were sent on to Hajjaj as both treasure and to repay the Caliph for his outlay in outfitting the campaign. As a whole, the non-Muslim populations of conquered territories were treated as People of the Book and granted Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions the freedom to practice their faith in return for payment of the poll tax (jizya). They were then excused from military service or payment of the tax paid by Muslim subjects - Zakat. The jizya enforced was a graded tax, being heaviest on the elite and lightest on the poor.

Incorporation of ruling elite into administration

During his administration Hindus and Buddhists were inducted into the administration as trusted advisors and governors. A Hindu, Kaksa, was the second most important person in his administration. Dahir's prime minister and various chieftains were also incorporated into the administration.

Religion

No mass conversions were attempted. The destruction of temples such as the Sun Temple at Multan was forbidden and 3% of the government revenue was allocated to the Brahmins.

A small minority who converted to Islam and were granted exemption from slavery and the jizya. Mosques were built, prayers held and coins struck in the name of the Caliph. The people of Sindh were allowed to repair damaged temples and construct new ones.

An eccelastical office "sadru-I-Islam al affal" was created to oversee the secular governors. While proslytization occurred, the social dynamics of Sind were no different from other Muslim regions such as Egypt, where conversion to Islam was slow and took centuries, and generally came from among the ranks of Buddhists.

The taking of slaves

According to Wink , "a considerable number of Jats was captured as prisoners of war and deported to Iraq and elsewhere as slaves."

Strategy of Temple Plunder

The plunder was also achieved by an ingenious system of leaving the prosperous population alone, so that they would continue to bring donations to the temples, and then the Muslims would loot these temples. In order to save their temple from destruction, many Hindu warriors refused to fight: According to Wink :

"An even greater part of the revenue of these rulers was derived from the gifts donated by pilgrims who came from all over Sind and Hind to the great idol (sanam) of the sun-temple at Multan… When Muhammad al-Qasim conquered Multan, he quickly discovered that it was this temple which was one of the main reasons for the great wealth of the town. He 'made captives of the custodians of the budd, numbering 6000' and confiscated its wealth, but not the idol itself – which was made of wood, covered with red leather and two red rubies for its eyes and wearing a crown of gold inlaid with gems --, 'thinking it best to leave the idol where it was,
but hanging a piece of cow's flesh on its neck by way of mockery".

Strategy of Temples as Ransom

According to Wink AI-Qasim built his mosque in the same place, in the most crowded bazaar in the center of the town. The possession of the sun-temple -- rather than the mosque -- is what in later times the geographers see as the reason why the local governors or rulers could hold out against the neighboring Hindu powers. Whenever an 'infidel king' marched against Multan and the Muslims found it difficult to offer adequate resistance, they threatened to break the idol or mutilate it, and this, allegedly, made the enemy withdraw. In the late tenth century however the Isma'ilis who occupied Multan broke the idol into pieces and killed its priests. A new mosque was then erected on its site…"

Enslavement of non combatants priests women and children

On the other hand in the matter of treatment of brahmins and enslavement of women and children Farishta the muslim historian records in Chapter IX of his chronicle

"In a few days after which the place fell. Mahomed Kasim levelled the temple and its walls with the ground, and circumcised the bramins. The infidels highly resented this treatment, by invectives against him and the true faith. On which Mahomed Kasim caused every bramin, from the age of seventeen and upwards, to be put to death: the young women and children of both sexes were retained in bondage; and the old women being released, were permitted to go whithersoever they chose.

Treatment of Jats

The narrative in the Chach Namah a persian book translated from an earlier arab book conveys that Chach humiliated the Jats and Lohanas .Ibbetson records on page 358 volume II that "Muhammad bin Qasim maintained these regulations , declaring that the jats resembled the savages of Persia "

Death

Qasim had begun preparations for further expansions when Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef died, as did Caliph Al-Walid I who was succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Once Hajjaj, Qasim’s father-in-law and a notoriously brutal governor of Iraq died, the new governor took revenge against all who were close to Hajjaj. Hajjaj had pursued a systematic to break Umayyad power and with them the Azdi who under Mohalib had grown powerful in the eastern regions of the empire also suffered. Sulayman owed political support to opponents of Hajjaj and so recalled both of Hajjaj's successful generals Qutaibah bin Muslim and Qasim. He also appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, once tortured by Hajjaj and a son of Mohalib, as the governor of Fars, Kirman, Makran and Sindh who placed Qasim in chains.

There are two accounts on the details of fate of Qasim, but both agree that he was recalled by the new caliph Sulayman.

1. The account from the Chach Nama narrates a tale in which the Khalifa had been tricked into ordering Qasims recall by the daughters of Raja Dahir's. Upon having been taken captive they were sent on as presents to the Khalifa, whom they convinced into believing that Qasim had violated them before sending them on. As result of this subterfuge Qasim was wrapped in oxen hides and returned to Syria resulting in his death enroute, from suffocation. This narrative attributes the motive as one securing vengeance for their father's death. Upon discovering this subterfuge the Khalifa is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordering the sisters be buried alive in a wall.
2. The Persian historian Baladhuri's account states that the khalifa was a political enemy of Hajjaj and recalled Qasim after Hajjaj's death and imprisoned him where Qasim is reported to have died at the age of twenty under torture.

Controversy

The is considerably controversy on the topics of conversion and conquest of Sindh voiced in two antagonistic perspectives have resulted in a polemical debate.

1. )Coercive Conversion has been attributed to early British administrator historians such as Elliot and Cousens and Indian nationalists such as Majumdar and Vaidya. This holds the view that conversion in Arab Sind was necessarily forced as a direct consequence of the presumed violent nature of Islam and explains examples of religious toleration as accommodation due to Arab weakness due to numerical inferiority and Arab killings in various battles and temple destructions as a reflection of religiously motivated intolerance.
2. ) To Indian Muslims like Habib and Pakistani Nationalists like Qureishi the conquest was largely and the conversion wholly peaceful.

Elliot perceived Islam as a religion of "terror, devastation, murder and rapine" where the conquering Arabs were characterized as "ruthless bigots" and "furious zealots" motivated by "plunder and prosletism". The period of bin-Qasim's rule has been called by U.T. Thakkur as "The darkest period in Sind history" with the records speaking of massive forced conversions, temple destruction, slaughters and genocides where the people of Sind, who being described as inherently pacifist at the time had to re-adjust to the conditions of "barbarian inroad". Descriptions interpreted by Thakkur also entailed "frightful outbreaks of religious bigotry in several places and temples were wantonly desecrated" during bin-Qasim's rule, and that Muslim travelers often extorted resources from Hindus by legal mandate or as attesting to forced conversions imparted on the native Sindhis by bin-Qasim including a systematic depopulation of the region. Some historians strike a middle ground, saying that bin-Qasim was torn between the political expediency of making peace with the Hindus and Buddhists; having to call upon non-Muslims to serve under him as part of his mandate to administer newly conquered land; and orthodoxy by refraining from seeking the co-operation of "infidels". It is contended that bin-Qasim may have struck a middle ground, conferring the status of Dhimmi upon the native Sindhis and permitting them to participate in his administration, but treating them as "noncitizens" i.e. in the Khilafat, but not of it..

Legacy

• Qasim's presence and rule was very brief. His conquest for the Umayyads brought Sindh into the gambit of the Muslim world

• The next Arab governor died on arrival, and Dahir’s son Jaisimha recaptured Brahmanabad and c.720 was granted pardon and inclusion in the administration in return for converting to Islam but soon recanted and split off when the Umayyads were embroiled in a succession crisis. Later Junaid Ibn Abdur Rahman al-Marri killed Jaisimha and recaptured the territory before his successors once again struggled to hold and keep it. During the Abassid period c.870 the local Amirs shook off all allegiance to the caliphs and by the 10th century the region was split into two weak states, Mansurah on the lower Indus and Multan on the upper Indus; which was soon captured by Ismailis who set up an independent Fatimid state and destroyed an old and historic temple in Multan that bin Qasim had protected and built a mosque in its place. These successor states did not achieve much and shrank in size. The Arab conquest remained checked in what is now the south of Pakistan for three centuries by powerful Hindu monarchs to the North and east until the arrival of Mahmud of Ghazni.

• Coastal trade and a Muslim colony in Sindh allowed for cultural exchanges and the arrival of Sufi missionaries to expand Muslim influence. From Debal, which remained an important port until the 12th century, commercial links with the Persian gulf and the Middle East intensified as Sindh became the "hinge of the Indian Ocean Trade and overland passway."

• Port Qasim, Pakistan's second major port is named in honor of Muhammad bin Qasim.

• Muhammad bin Qasim is sometimes called the "the first Pakistani citizen".

• Youm-e-Babul Islam is observed in Pakistan, in honor of Muhammad bin Qasim.

See also

• Battle of Rajasthan
• Qutaibah bin Muslim
• Muslim conquests

External links

• Alexander Berzin, "Part I: The Umayyad Caliphate (661 - 750 CE), The First Muslim Incursion into the Indian Subcontinent", The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire

References

• The Chach-Nama. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979.

• Nicholas F. Gier, FROM MONGOLS TO MUGHALS: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN INDIA 9TH-18TH CENTURIES, Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May, 2006[2]

• Stanley Lane-Poole, Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule, 712-1764, G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1970

• Schimmel, Annemarie Schimmel, Religionen - Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill Academic Publishers, Jan 1, 1980, ISBN 90-04-06117-7

• Appleby, R Scott & Martin E Marty, Fundamentalisms Comprehended, University of Chicago Press, May 1, 2004, ISBN 0-226-50888-9

• Wink, Andre, "Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill Academic Publishers, Aug 1, 2002, ISBN 0-391-04173-8

• Keay, John, "India: A History", Grove Press, May 1, 2001, ISBN 0-8021-3797-0

• Maclean, Derryl N. "Religion and Society in Arab Sind", Brill Academic Publishers, 1989 ISBN 9-004-08551-3