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By Shabbir Patel

When the eyes of the messenger of Umar R.A fell upon the land of Sindh, found in modern day Pakistan. He took note of his surroundings and reported back to the Amir-ul-mumineen with the following words, “’O Commander of the faithful! It’s a land where the plains are stony; Where water is scanty; Where the fruits are unsavoury, Where men are known for treachery; Where virtue is held of little account; And where evil is dominant; A large army is less for there; And a less army is useless there; The land beyond it, is even worse…”. Upon hearing this, Umar decided to halt the advancement of his conquering army at the Indus River, believing that sending troops to push the lines would prove fruitless.

100 years later, Muhammed bin Qasim, a 17-year-old expeditionary who lived during the Umayyad Empire set off to battle against the polytheists that lived in the region. He and his strong army of 6000 found themselves in Multan, in front of the imposing Hindu temple and fought a brutal battle against the local resistance. The heavy defeat he inflicted upon the polytheists meant that Muslims ruled the land all the way from Portugal to Pakistan. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary conquest.

Following centuries of uncertainty in the region due to skirmishes between warring factions, Mahmud of the Ghaznivid family led an army to conquer India.  In the 11th century, he launched 17 different expeditions into the sub-continent, initially taking over Peshawar, before pushing his army deep into Hindu territory, conquering all the lands he passed. The Ghaznivids ruled over northern India for 175 years and it was at this time that Lahore was made an important capital of the Muslim empire.

When the Ghorid clan from Afghanistan defeated the Ghaznivids in 1191 AD, they set about creating the first ever Sultanate in India, with Delhi as the capital city. With large swaths of north Indian territory under their command, the Ghorids enjoyed a prosperous and long lasting rule. The growth of Islam in the subcontinent was intrinsically linked to the conquests of the Muslim armies. Before long, Muslim kings extended their rule further south and the majority of the country became part of the caliphate. The law of the land was based on the Qur’an and Hadith and all non-Muslims were expected to pay Jizya, which is tax that an Islamic state places on its non-Muslim citizens, in order to practice their religion. Although not officially linked to the Ottoman Caliphate, both ruling Muslim factions enjoyed cordial relations with one another.

In 1526, an Uzbek commander by the name of Babur, entered India and seized control of the tattered Sultanate in Delhi. This invasion formally marked the introduction of the Mughal Empire. The famous family dynasty ruled India for a period of three centuries. It was a time when India enjoyed vast prosperity and major developments in the fields of science, culture, agriculture and astronomy. The language of Urdu developed out of an amalgamation of the Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages spoken by the Mughal leaders.

During this time, India was led by famous kings such as Akbar, who was also known as Akbar the Great as in Arabic, akbar means great and the king was known for his tolerance towards people of all faiths and his inclusion of other ethnicities in the running of the country. He was succeeded by Jahangir who enjoyed great success with the kingdom and helped to expand its borders and was father to probably the most famous emperor of the Mughal Empire, Shah Jahan. In 1630AD, Shah Jahan commissioned the development of India’s most famous landmark, the Taj Mahal, which was built as a tomb for his late wife. It was also during this period that the empire expanded vastly, encompassing most of the land in modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They ruled over 90 percent of the territory with a population of 150 million people and enjoyed many years of peaceful rule. However, by the middle of the 18th century, the Mughal empire began to crumble. Repeated attempts at invasion by outside forces from the west, along with internal rebellion from the Marthas in the south, meant that the Mughal’s were in heavy decline.

By the beginning of the 19th century, the British had taken control of vast areas of the subcontinent and eventually exiled the final Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar to Burma.

To this day, many of the descendents of the subcontinent’s conquerors can be seen living in India and its surrounding countries. The blood lines of these people tell of a fascinating story that the introduction of Islam has had on the long and diverse history of India. Many modern scientific and technological advances can be traced back to the merging of these two incredible cultures and many of the incredible icons of that era are still present today.

Source: themuslimpaper

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