Muhammad bin Qasim

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Muhammad bin Qasim bigraphy, stories - Generals

Muhammad bin Qasim : biography

695 – 715

Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi

A member of the Thaqeef tribe of the Ta’if region, Muhammad bin Qasim’s father was Qasim bin Yusuf who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, Muhammad bin Qasim’s paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governance. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj’s daughter, shortly before going to Sindh. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of Yemen. Under Hajjaj’s patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion.

Due to his close relationship with Hajjaj, Bin Qasim was executed after the accession of Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik.

Jat clashes with Muhammad bin Qasim

Significant medieval Muslim chronicles such as the Chachnama, Zainul-Akhbar and Tarikh-I-Baihaqi have recorded battles between the Jats and forces of Muhammad bin Qasim .Chapter by S Jabir Raza Passages in the Chachnama, Zainul-Akhbar And Tarikh-i-Baihaqi, Text and Translation, from the book The Jats, Their Role and contribution to the socio-Economic Life and Polity of North and North-West India, Volume 2, pp. 43–52

Passage from the Chachnama

Footnotes

Umayyad interest in Sindh

According to Berzin, Umayyad interest in the region occurred because of attacks from Sindh Raja Dahir on ships of Muslims and their imprisonment of Muslim men and women. They had earlier unsuccessfully sought to gain control of the route, via the Khyber Pass, from the Turki-Shahis of Gandhara. But by taking Sindh, Gandhara’s southern neighbor, they were able to open a second front against Gandhara; a feat they had, on occasion, attempted before.

According to Wink, Umayyad interest in the region was galvanized by the operation of the Meds and others.Wink (2002), pg.164 Meds (a tribe of Scythians living in Sindh) had pirated upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, in their bawarij and now were able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar. At the time, Sindh was the wild frontier region of al-Hind, inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturbed much of the Western Indian Ocean. Muslim sources insist that it was these persistent activities along increasingly important Indian trade routes by Debal pirates and others which forced the Arabs to subjugate the area, in order to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the nucleus, as well as, the overland passage.Wink (2002), 51-52 During Hajjaj’s governorship, the Mids of Debal in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia, thus providing a casus belli to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that enabled them to gain a foothold in the Makran, Balochistan and Sindh regions.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

Also cited as a reason for this campaign was the policy of providing refuge to Sassanids fleeing the Arab advance and to Arab rebels from the Umayyad consolidation of their rule.

All the above reason have their own importance for a first attack on Sindh. but immediate causes for the conquest of Sindh was the plunder of the gifts of Ceylon’s ruler to Hijjaj and attack on ships of Arab that were carrying the orphans and widows of Muslim soldiers who died in Jihaad against Africa. These Arab were imprisoned later on by the Governor Deebal Partaab Raye. A letter written by the an escaped girl from the Arab that are put in the prison of the Partab Raye. She asked Hajjab Bin Yousaf for help. When Hijjaj asked Dahir for release of prisoners and compensation, the later refused on the ground that he had no control over those. Hajjaj sent Muhammad Bin Qasim for this great expedition in 711 A.D. It was during this time when Spain and many parts of Africa and Central Asia were brought under the Muslim rule; and war was continue so Muslims were not in a position to start a new expedition. The only reason of this conquest was to rescue pilgrims that were taken captive by Hindu governor.