فى شبه القارة الهندية الإسلام نور

The Light of Islam in Subcontinent

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the historical inheritance of Pakistan; Muhammad bin Qasim’s conquest of Sindh in 712 which pushed the Hindus of India into a millennium of domination by various Muslim empires and dynasties. The political and religious impacts of Muslim rulers on Indian sub-continent, the feelings of separate identity of Muslim from Hindu majorities. The invasion of Arabs and other Muslim rulers in the subcontinent were mainly for the purpose of propagations of Islam, trade and the expansion of their role and dependency. Most of the historian justified that the Arab invasion on the subcontinent was only for the purpose of spreading Islam but the contradictory views is that the Arab and other Muslim invaders objectives were to grab immense wealth and dominate the trade route of the region.

The first permanent Muslim foothold in the subcontinent was achieved with Muhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sindh in 711 A.D. An autonomous Muslim state linked with the Umayyed, and later, the Abbassid Caliphate was established with jurisdiction extending over southern and central parts of present Pakistan.

If Islam spread through violence and warfare, the Muslim community today in India would exist only in the areas closest to the rest of the Muslim world. Thus only the western part of the subcontinent would have any Muslim population at all. What we see instead is pockets of Islam throughout the subcontinent. For example, Bangladesh and its 150 million Muslims are in the far east, separated from other Muslim-majority areas by Hindu lands in India. Isolated communities of Muslims exist also exist in western Myanmar, central India, and eastern Sri Lanka. These communities of Muslims are proof of Islam spreading peacefully throughout India, regardless of whether or not a Muslim government existed there. If Islam spread by force as some claim, these communities of Muslims would not exist.