The wonder that was india

It was the Bedouins, however, who dominated the north-western

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part of the Arabian Peninsula. Their culture was predominant even in the main towns, and babies born in the cities were brought up in the tribal environment. The Arab's most prized possession was his language.

Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was descended from the dominant Quraysh tribe of Mecca. His father, 'Abdu'llah, died before his birth; his mother, Amina, took her last breath some seven years later. Muhammad was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib and was known as a young man for his integrity and trustworthiness in all matters. When he was about twenty-five years old, he married his employer, a wealthy widow of forty called Khadija. Wealth and comfort did not, however, change his life. He identified himself with the downtrodden section of society and saw their suffering as his own. Muhammad often retired to the nearby Hira cave and stayed there for several days, meditating on God. Whilst he was there he became conscious of a voice commanding: 'Read; In the name of the Lord who createth.' This revelation was identified as Muhammad's first call to the Prophethood. The night of that day was named 'the night of power' (laylat al-qadr). The voice came more frequently, sometimes like 'the reverberations of bells', and later identified itself as belonging to the archangel Gabriel. Muhammad was convinced that he was the messenger (rasul) of Allah, and a 'warner'. His wife, Khadija, and his cousin 'Ali became his earliest followers, although some of his friends also accepted him as the Prophet. The divine revelations he received, emphasizing monotheism, social equality, and justice, were anathema to most of the wealthy Meccans, who determined to persecute him and his followers. In 615 Muhammad permitted a group of his disciples to migrate to the Christian Negus of Ethiopia. Four years later Abu Talib died, followed in 619 by Khadija. Three years after this Muhammad migrated to Medina at the request of the Khazraj and Aws tribes, arriving on 24 September 622. Seventeen years later his emigration was made the starting-point of the Muslim hijra (immigration) era, when the date was changed to 16 July 622 to make it compatible with the first day of the first month of the Muslim lunar calendar. Muhammad's Meccan followers moved to Medina in due course. The immigrants were known as muhdjirs. The other inhabitants of Medina, except the Jews, who welcomed the immigrants were known as ansars or 'the helpers'. Muhammad's influence stopped the existing feuds and rivalries between the people of Medina and forged a remarkable Islamic brotherhood between the ansars and muhdjirs.

In Mecca the Prophet prayed facing in the direction of Jerusalem in order to distinguish his prayers from those of the pagan Arabs,

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who faced the Ka'ba. The Muslims were permitted to eat most foods prepared by the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) and to marry their women. They were, however, prohibited from eating pork and any animal which had died naturally, had been sacrified to idols, had had its neck wrung, or had not been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. Although the Jewish books promised a Messiah, they would not accept anyone who was not a Jew as Messiah. They were appalled when Muhammad recited the Qur'anic verses stating that the Jews had falsified their scriptures and that their divine revelations pertained only to a particular age. He also declared that the Christians had likewise departed from their scripture. The Jews were completely alienated, however, when early in 624, acting upon God's commands, he ordered his followers to pray facing the ancient sanctuary of Ka'ba. They also resented Muhammad's repeated condemnation of usury and hoarding.

When the caravans from Mecca passed through Medina, the travellers jeered and taunted the muhdjirs as cowards for fleeing from Mecca. The Muslims were eventually forced to defend themselves. The first major trial of strength took place in March 624 at Badr Hunayn, a small town south-west of Medina. The Meccans were defeated but they avenged their humiliation the following year at Uhud near Mecca. In 627 Meccans, Bedouins, and some Ethiopian mercenaries jointly attacked Medina. On the suggestion of his Iranian companion Salman, the Prophet had a Hitch dug around Medina to save it from immediate assault, while 'All's fierce sorties disheartened the invaders, and they withdrew. Next year the people of Mecca were forced to make a truce with Muhammad in order to prevent him from conquering their city. In 629 Muhammad defeated the Jews at their formidable Khaybar fort and seized their oases north of Medina. Towards the end of 630 Muhammad triumphantly entered Mecca with his followers. He died in June 632, after complaining of having a severe headache.

After Muhammad's death the muhdjirs and ansdrs at Medina, who believed that Muhammad had not nominated any successor, elected Abu Bakr as caliph (Arabic khatif = 'successor'), but a number of the Prophet's companions and the members of the Prophet's Hashimite clan, who considered that the Prophet had nominated his cousin and son-in-law 'All as his heir, dissociated themselves with these proceedings. They were known as 'partisans' or Shi'as of 'All. After several decades the first group, who had no specific title, became known as Sunnis. Abu Bakr (632-4) named 'Umar al-Khattab (634-44) as his successor. Under 'Umar, the

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Byzantine territories of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt and the Sasanid countries of Iran and Iraq were conquered.

The defeated nations were offered three choices: acceptance of Islam, payment of poll-tax (jizya), or total destruction. Since the institution of poll-tax already existed in the Byzantine and Sasanian empire, it was easily accepted by the subject nations. The Zoroastrians were also given the status of the people of the revealed books, as afforded to the Jews and Christians. The Meccan idols had never been worshipped in these regions, so the Muslim condemnation of idolatry did not cause any religious crisis in the early stages of expansion. The Arab conquerors were either merchants or tribesmen; they had no interest in agriculture, and the farms were left with their original owners. For administrative purposes the revenue of large areas was placed under the control of military commanders. According to 'Umar's decrees, Arabs were even forbidden to settle on the land; they garrisoned the frontier forts and extended the boundaries of their empire from these points. The dihqans (chieftains) in Iraq and Iran, who controlled land assessment and the payment of khardj (land tax), enforced law and order and revenue collection in village communities in accordance with their ancient laws and practices.2 They became the link between the Arab commanders and the cultivators. 'Umar then started diwan (literally a revenue register of pre-Islamic Iran) to record revenue collections and the payment of stipends to the Arab chiefs, and founded the Muslim treasury or baytu 'l-Mdl. The conversion of the local population to Islam was a complex and long-drawn-out process. The immediate problems were defence and administration, not Islamicization.

In 644 'Umar was assassinated by one of his Iranian slaves. 'Usman (644—56), one of the Prophet's senior companions, was elected caliph by a council of six members who had been nominated by 'Umar. The first six years of Usman's reign were peaceful, but civil war broke out in the second half. 'Usman had made his relations governors of various provinces; their despotism forced the people to rebel. The dissidents advanced on Medina to force 'Usman to dismiss them. The first to arrive were the Egyptians who besieged 'Usman's house and then killed him.

Subsequently, on the invitation of the Medina elite, 'All (656-61) accepted the caliphate in order to save the community from disintegration. Muhammad's wife, 'A'isha, who had initially opposed 'Usman's government, now changed her mind and be-came leader of 'All's enemies, who were demanding immediate vengeance for 'Usman's blood. An army of about 10,000 men under 'A'isha marched against 'All, and six months after 'Usman's

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assassination a fierce battle was fought near Basra: 'A'isha was defeated and sent back to Medina. 'All now moved the capital from Medina to Kufa in Iraq. Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria, who was related to 'Usman, refused to submit to 'All and gave battle near Baghdad. When Mu'awiya's soldiers realized they were losing the fight, they raised the Qur'an on their spears to force 'All to make arbitration on the basis of the Qur'an. Some of 'All's followers disapproved of this arbitration and deserted him. Later they also fought 'All but were defeated. They were called the Khawarij (singular Khariji). 'All was assassinated by a Khariji while at prayers in the mosque in Kufa, and Mu'awiya renewed his attempts to seize the caliphate by military force. 'All's son, Hasan, who had been chosen as his father's successor by the people of Kufa, abdicated to avoid bloodshed, and Mu'awiya became caliph.

Mu'awiya made Damascus his capital and reduced Mecca and Medina to purely spiritual centres of Islam. Some years before his death, Mu'awiya made his son, Yazid, who was notorious for his dissipation, his successor. This constituted a major departure from the earlier tradition of election. Hasan's brother, Husayn, and other leading Muslims opposed Yazid's succession. After Mu'awiya's death, Yazid tried to force Husayn to accept him as caliph, but Husayn refused. Instead he moved to Kufa at the invitation of the leading Muslims there who wished to make him their leader. A strong force sent by Yazid's governor in Kufa intercepted Husayn and his followers at Karbala in Iraq. On 10 October 680 they killed Husayn and his followers. The tragic circumstances of Husayn's martyrdom spread a wave' of hatred against Yazid, and 'revenge' became the battle-cry of many anti-Umayyad movements. In 750 the Umayyads (the ruling dynasty founded by Mu'awiya) were overthrown by the 'Abbasids (750-1258), who had secretly built up their strength among the anti-Umayyad sections of the Iranian and Arab population. The 'Abbasids were descended from the Prophet's uncle, 'Abbas, and this gave their rule a certain legitimacy. Although the Umayyads and the 'Abbasids were called caliphs, they were hereditary monarchs, like the Iranian and Byzantine emperors preceding them. The first four rulers following the Prophet are known as Rashidun or 'rightly guided caliphs'.

INSTITUTIONS

According to the Qur'an, its divine revelations superseded all previous disclosures in the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel,

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brought by Moses, David, and Jesus. The name 'Qur'an' ('the Book') occurs in the Book itself. The verses in the Qur'an were revealed during the twenty-three years of Muhammad's Prophetic mission in Mecca and Medina. Its verses and chapters were arranged by Muhammad, and the entire Qur'an was written down and memorized during his lifetime. It is divided into 114 chapters and contains 6,360 verses.

The principal objective of the Qur'an is to guide humanity to lead an ethical life and to emphasize the fact that only the spiritual force should be dominant. It does not, however, advocate any compulsion in religion. It envisages war but only 'to stop religious persecution and to protect houses of worship'. It speaks of life after death as a continuation of earthly life. Monogamy is preferable, but in special circumstances four wives can be taken at the same time. In contrast to the laws of Hinduism, females are entitled to a share in their father's and husband's property. They are not forbidden to leave their homes, but they must be modest in their dress and demeanour. The Qur'an also provides rules for male behaviour and for social, economic, and political ethics.

The Qur'an is supplemented by the Sunna, or practices of Muhammad, which were transmitted in the form of short narratives called kadis (statements or traditions). Although there is no controversy over the Qur'an, the Sunni and Shi'i hadis differ in both content and methodology. The most authentic collection of Sunnl hadis was made by Muhammad bin Isma'Il al-Bukhari (810-70). His work, known as the Sahih (Authentic), contains 2,762 statements, each preceded by the chain of its transmitters. They were selected from a mass of 600,000 traditions. This shows the enormous number of false statements current in Bukhari's time and the difficulties he faced. Another authentic compilation is that of his contemporary, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. Together with four other accepted selections, the Sunni works of hadis are collectively known as the six canonical books.

The Shi'I works of hadis contain the sayings of 'All and his descendants, known as imams, besides those of the Prophet. According to the Shi'is, the imams were the custodians of Muhammad's knowledge, both esoteric and exoteric, so their narratives embody true Prophetic traditions. There are four works of Shi'I hadis; the earliest, by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni (d. 940), is the most important.

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LAW

In the Qur'an and hadis, law and religion exist side by side. All. works of Muslim law deal with fundamental religious duties such as prayers, the payment of zakat (one-fortieth of annual savings given to the needy and to travellers), fasting in the month of Ramazan, pilgrimage to Mecca (which should be performed at least once in a lifetime), and jihad (holy war). The caliphs who followed the Prophet tried to solve the problems confronting them in the light of the Qur'anic injunctions and the precedents set by the Prophet. Their successors, the Umayyad governors, delegated their power to an army of officials. Among these were the qazis or Islamic judges, who used their own discretion or 'sound opinion' (ray), drawing upon the Qur'an, other religious norms, and the legal concepts of the conquered territories as far as they were compatible with Islamic ideals. Their main concern was to consolidate the Islamic way of life mainly through ijtihad (individual reasoning or reasoning by analogy). Their efforts made Medina, Kufa, and Damascus the early centres of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). This included the regulations relating to prayers and rituals ('ibadat), civil and legal obligations (mu'dmalat), and punishments ('uqubat).

The oldest corpus of Islamic law is al-Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas (c. 715-95) of Medina. It comprises some 1,700 juridical traditions, based on consensus of opinion (ijma) among those who were believed to be best acquainted with the spirit of the Prophet's decisions. Malik's followers were known as the Malikites.

From the main body of the ancient law schools of Kufa and Basra grew the Hanafiyya or the Hanafi mazhab (school of religious law) of Abu Hanifa (699-767). He is said to have been brought as a slave from Kabul to Kufa, where he was set free by a member of an Arabian tribe. Abu Hanifa did not himself write any books on law, but the works of his disciples Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and al-Shaybani (d. 805), embodying their master's views, form the basic structure of Hanafi law. Besides personal judgement and conclusion by analogy, Abu Hanlfa insisted upon the right of 'preference' (istihsan). This meant departure from analogy on grounds of equity. Malik's pupil, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767-820), who worked mainly in Baghdad and Cairo, carved out a middle-of-the-road system between the Maliki and Hanafi schools, while al-Shafi'i's pupil Ahmad bin Hanbal (780-855), the founder of the fourth school of fiqh known as the Hanabila, was a formidable champion of puritanism.

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The works of the founders of the four schools of jurisprudence and their disciples and successors form the major corpus of the Sunni schools of law. After Ahmad bin Hanbal's death, an agreement developed among all four schools that all essential legal questions had finally been settled and that future jurists should abide by the laws propounded by them. This decision is known as 'the closing of the door of ijtihad'. The unquestioning acceptance of the doctrine of any of the four schools is known as taqlid or imitation; the jurists of subsequent centuries were therefore muqallids (imitators).

By the time Malik and Abu Hanifa had risen to eminence, Imam Muhammad Baqir (677-733) and Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (702-65), the fifth and sixth Shi'i imams, who lived in Medina, had worked out the legal system which the Shi'is follow. It embodies the principles which, as 'All's direct descendants, they inherited from the Prophet Muhammad.

The 'Abbasid caliphs gave the Hanafiyya school of jurisprudence official status, and it held supreme authority in all the kingdoms as far as eastern Iran, Transoxiana, Turkey, and India. The qdzis and scholars at the 'Abbasid courts and under the Iranian and Delhi sultanate composed a large number of handbooks dealing with the application of Hanafiyya law. These are largely collections of fatwas (legal decisions) of earlier qdzis who were mainly concerned to answer questions relating to their respective environments. The most impressive collection of Hanafiyya fatwas is the Fatawa al-'Alamgiriyya compiled by a board of Indian 'ulama' (religious scholars, singular 'alim), appointed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzib.

THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND

Since time immemorial, commercial relations existed between Arabia and the western coastal regions of India. Even before the advent of Islam, the Arabs had acquired a monopoly of the sea trade in several Indian ports and had established settlements there. After the Islamicization of the Arabian Peninsula, these communities built mosques, recited congregational prayers, and converted some of the indigenous people to Islam. Their children naturally were brought up as Muslims. The rulers, in the interest of trade and according to the tolerant traditions of India, took no exception to their religious activities, and relations between them remained cordial. The Muslim community at Malabar, called moplahs (from

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mapilla, meaning a bridegroom or child), developed from the matrimonial alliances between the Arabs and the local population.

Pirates posed a potent threat to the Arab sea trade. In 636 the governor of Bahrayn and 'Umman sent an expedition to Thana, near modern Bombay. Other Arab expeditions left also for the ports of Broach and Dabol. The second caliph, 'Umar, did not favour sea wars, but the raids through Makran (Baluchistan), captured during his reign, continued. Legends wrongly assert that Muhammad bin Qasim's invasion of Sind in the early eighth century was initially a punitive expedition.3 It was, in fact, part of the forward policy of the Umayyad governor of Iraq, Hajjaj bin Yusuf (694-714), to annex the region from Sind to Transoxiana.

Sind was then ruled by Raja Dahir. He was the son of a usurper, the brahman Chach, who had overthrown Buddhist rule, although their influence was still strong in the territory. In 712 Muhammad bin Qasim, the young nephew and son-in-law of Hajjaj, marched at the head of a strong army through Shiraz (Iran) and Makran. Ballistae, one of which required five hundred trained men to operate it, were sent by sea to join the main army at Debal, an inland commercial port near modern Karachi. Dahir's garrison, entrenched in the stone fortification at Debal, offered stiff resistance, but the bombardment with rocks by the ballistae forced them to capitulate. Early in 712 Nirun, south of modern Hyderabad, was seized. Sehwan, a commercial centre, surrendered without resistance. Although the Jats of the lower Sind fought fiercely, they too were defeated. The Arab onward march, however, was balked near a tributary of the Indus by an epidemic of scurvy among the troops and disease in the horses. Hajjaj sent both reinforcements and medicines. A hotly contested battle was fought by Dahir, near Brahmanabad (north of Hyderabad) in June 712, but he was defeated and killed. Muhammad bin Qasim took Brahmanabad, married Dahir's widow, Rani Ladi, and became the master of lower Sind. In October he marched against the capital, Aror (near modern Rohri), held by the Raja's son, and seized it. Conquering upper Sind early in 713, Muhammad bin Qasim proceeded towards Multan. The garrison there resisted but finally surrendered.

Muhammad bin Qasim sent one-fifth of the booty (ghanima) to the Caliph's treasury. The rest, according to early Islamic practices, was distributed among the army. The Chach-nama details the administrative regulations Muhammad introduced into Brahmanabad. According to the author, the artisans, merchants, and common people were left alone, but all the captured soldiers were beheaded. Those civilians who had not become Muslims were then

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divided into three categories for the imposition of poll-tax (jizya). The men in the highest income brackets paid 48 dirhams4 of silver per head, the middle income groups 24 dirhams, and the lowest class 12 dirhams. Tribute was fixed according to their resources on all chieftains who had surrendered. A census of merchants, artisans, and fanners was taken. The number of common people was about 10,000. Because the merchants and artisans had already lost much of their property through looting, it was decided that all classes should pay a tax (mal) of 12 silver dirhams.5 Village chiefs (dihqans) and headmen (ra'is) were appointed to collect it from the townspeople and villagers, and were offered a small salary.6 The Brahmans, encouraged at the favour shown by Muhammad to the headmen, urged him to restore their own former position and status also. Muhammad granted their request. The brahmans then visited the outlying villages, and at their persuasion the community leaders in the countryside also submitted to the Arabs and promised to pay taxes. An order was received from Hajjaj that, since the people of Sind had accepted the status of protected subjects (zimmi), no interference should be made in their lives and property. They should be permitted to worship freely in their own temples and should also be allowed to build new ones.7 The brahmans were permitted to collect their customary fees from the merchants, Hindu chiefs (thakuras), and common Hindus; the 3 per cent share of government revenue which they had previously received was also reinstated. Even the harsh and discriminatory treatment which the brahmans had meted out to the Jat tribe was not changed. The Jats were not allowed to put on comfortable clothes and wore rough black blankets; their chiefs were forbidden to ride horses. They were treated as brutes.8

Muhammad bin Qasim's victory over Sind was decisive and spectacular. It Was due mainly to his better and more advanced military methods. His co-ordination of sea and ground forces was remarkably successful. Dahir's defence of his forts was feeble, and the princes and chieftains under him had no personal interest in holding them. Moreover, he remained entrenched at Brahamana-bad and did not take the opportunity to strike first when Muhammad's troops and horses were prostrated by sickness at the Indus tributary. Some of Dahir's generals were disloyal, but the importance of the betrayal of the brahman cause by the Buddhists, whom the brahmans had previously replaced as rulers cannot be overemphasized as a factor in their defeat.

Muhammad bin Qasim's lightning raids in rebellious areas, his far-sighted handling of the local chieftains, and his conciliation of the brahmans helped him consolidate his power without much

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difficulty. The military governors he appointed in the forts and the Arab garrisons under them were also considerate and capable: Hajjaj's death in June 714, followed next year by that of his patron, Caliph Walid (705-15), led to the recall of Muhammad bin Qasim. The new Caliph put him in chains, and he died in prison in Iraq. The administration in Sind broke down.

When the Umayyad Caliph 'Umar bin 'Abdu'l-'Aziz (717-20) came to power he embarked upon a policy of converting the Hindu princes to Islam. Dahir's son, Jaisinha, embraced Islam, but then recanted and fell fighting on the battlefield. Some Hindu chieftains also became Muslims. In 724 Junayd took over the governorship of Sind. He subdued the rebellions there and embarked on a series of raids in Kathiawar and Ujjain. Junayd's incursions beyond Sind, however, failed, and he was recalled in 740. Only strong governors could rule Sind effectively and attempt, even if unsuccessfully, to extend their boundaries. Other governors became too involved in Crashing local rebellions and combating the intrigues among Arab chiefs and Indian converts to contemplate further conquests. In 731 the Arabs founded a town on the river Indus named Mahfuza, to garrison their troops. Six years later they built their capital, Mansura. In 854 'Umar bin 'Abdui-'Aziz Hibbari established an hereditary Arab government in Sind, and the 'Abbasids of Baghdad were regarded as caliphs in name only. In 977 the Isma' ilis, who owed allegiance to the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt,9 seized Multan by a coup d'etat and eight years later took Sind from the Hibbari family.