A Tale of a Thousand Years

a stone staircase leading up to a tower — Photo by Sandip Roy on Unsplash

This is the best of the times, this is the worst of the times. Isn’t it? Indeed, it is. We have never lived in such times before. We have fun, we have war. We have entertainment. We have tragedies. Lives are long, problems are fewer, yet there is the fear of the unprecedented. We live in an era where advanced countries care about human rights. Yet, organised rings for rapes of minors, child abuse and infant eating are being exposed. Geopolitical pundits are warning us about the eruption of the Third World War. Indeed, American armadas have surrounded Persia from all sides. Air bases have been filled with stealth planes. Negotiations are happening to avert this. Rhetorics are belligerent. Aspirations for underhanded dealmaking are high.

Over the past couple of years, I have been writing about certain historical matters that I hope will help heal humanity’s collective conscience. I have tried to be objective. As a Muslim person, I have criticised the many conquests of the so-called Mulim forces of the medieval era. I have argued that the conquests of Spain and India by nomadic Mulim warlords were wrong. One of my previous articles in the journey to Jerusalem series was a chronological critique of the conquests of the Indian subcontinent. And I am committed to all that.

My today’s article has a slightly different spirit. In this, I would like to reflect on the various groups and clans of India that converted to Islam over more than a thousand years. To be more precise, I want to reflect on the groups or clans of India that came in conflict with those Muslim warlords and they later converted to Islam. This is a long list victors and loosers, and it is interesting because it also contains the former category of clans.

India is a caste-based society. Muslims confronted various caste groups in the subcontinent from 712 AD till the middle of the nineteenth century. Let’s begin with Raja Daahir. He was the first one to bear the siege by Arabs. I have written about him. He stood firm against the Arabs as any brave king would. And he tried to defend Sindh to the best of his abilities. It is a pity that he lost. However, his progeny or tribe still live in Sindh and they embraced Shia Islam.

If you read my article on the conquests of India by the Muslims, the second clash I mention there was between Sultan Mahmood of Ghazni and the Northern Indian king Jaya Pala. Jaya Pala was a Rajput from the famous Janjua clan that is still based in the salt range of Pakistan. Jaya Pala lost the battle of Peshawar and later committed suicide. Almost all Janjuas are Muslims, and many of them acquired notable sociopolitical positions in Pakistan.

Sultan Mahmood is famous for his seventeen attacks on India. During his last attack, he was pursued by a local Indian king, Raja Bhoj. Bhoj belonged to the Paanwar Rajput tribe and was famous for his ferocity, among other qualities. Many Paanwars converted to Islam, and they also migrated to Pakistan after 1947. They acquired notable positions in various services in Pakistan. A sub-tribe of Paanwars is Naarma. All of it is Muslim, and they live in Pakistan.

During his campaigns, he also invaded the region of Sindh. Jaats of Sindh drove him out of Sindh. Almost all Jaats in SIndh are Muslims.

Then comes the turn of the clash between Sultan Muhammad of Ghaur and Prithvi Raj Chohan. Although I have argued that the clash between Mehmood of Ghazni and Jaya Pala was a fair game on the part of the erstwhile, I would assert that Sultan Muhammad of Ghauri beat Prithvi Raj Chohan with deception. Chohans are also Rajputs of India. Many of them are settled in Pakistan. And among the many who are in Pakistan are devout Muslims. Later, Sultan Muhammad was ambushed and assassinated by another northern Indian clan called Khokhars. Khokhars also identify themselves as Rajputs. The ones from northern India have historically lived in the salt range of Pakistan and they are largley Muslim. Legend has it that Raja Porus, who clashed with Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC in the famous battle of Hydaspes, was also a Khokhar.

When Babar invaded India, he made a fiery speech in Sohawa (a town in Northern Punjab, Pakistan). He mustered the support of local Gujjars and took them along with their military to invade Delhi. Gujjar is a scheduled caste of India. Almost every Gujjar who lives in Pakistan (including Sohawa and its suburbs) is a Muslim. Legend has it that much of the victory of the throne of India can be attributed to the support lent to Babar by the Gujjars.

Akbar made political alliances with Indians through marriages. He married in a Rajput clan, and hence the later progeny of Mughals had Rajput genetic code in them.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh established the SIkh dynasty in Northern India. He and his army were known for their ferocity. Afghans used to fear Hari Singh Nalwa for a long time. Ranjit belonged to the Sainsi subtribe of the Bhatti Rajputs. He was from Gujranwala. Sainsi Bhattis can still live there. They are all Muslims.

It is interesting to note that almost all the local Indian clans who came into conflict with Muslims converted to Islam, irrespective of whether they won or lost against them. This fact is additionally noteworthy because there is a notion that Muslim nomads subjugated the local populations and forced them to convert. I am not denying this. However, my position is that even the victors converted to Islam.

Why did this happen? Conquering other peoples land is bad unless there is a noble purpose behind it. And I have already argued that conquest of India by nomadic Muslims was bad.. This is my very firm position and it is one of the important theses of my life. Not only that, I am also against the conquest of Spain, Sicily, Central Asia and other places. Actually there is a strong argument that when various Arab factions conspired against the household of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, and litterally assassinated son upon son of noble Imams, to divert peoples’ attention from their heinous deeds, they started a new project of conquest of the known world as a noble cause. I have argued about this in several of my previous articles. My question is that how was it possible that the defenders of India, who were hostile to Muslim warlords, converted to Islam irrespective of whether they lost or won against a certain campaigner.

Islam has a strong epistemology. The Holy Quran and the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad PBUH speak about the past Prophets and try to straighten human view of them. Especially, much of the Holy Quran revolves around setting the status of Jesus Christ PBUH straight. In the Middle East, he was either loved and revered to the extent of worship or loathed. And the haters had the excuse to do so because he was worshipped. Monotheists couldn’t agree with him, and hence they would strip him off of his divine title as the Christ. Chapters of the Holy Quran and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad PBUH set his status right in the conscience of the common man. The Holy Quran asserts that he was not the son of God, but a Holy Prophet. In doing this, God also eliminates any excuse to loathe him.

Apart from this, Islamic prophecies about the future of mankind are also strong. Moreover, the Islamic values are quite commendable. The ideas of human equality and justice in Islam are indeed universal. But above all, it was the arrival of Sufi Saints that changed human hearts in Islam. Rajputs of India are not an easy bunch to succumb to any threat or domineering entity. Actually, the Rajput caste in India crystallised with the advent of the Islamic invaders in India. They stood up to defend India against Muslim invasion. And many of them were quite successful in their assignments. However, Sufi saints moulded hearts. It is said that one of the sons of Prithviraj Chohan converted to Islam at the hands of Hazrat Khawaja Moin ud Din Chishti RA. He is considered the patron saint of India. Around half a million Rajputs converted to Islam on the hands of Hazrat Bahaudin Zakriya RA. And there is no chance that all of these millions of people will convert to any other religion, even if given any choice. So if a future clash between India and Pakistan happens (God forbid), it will be mostly between local Hindus and Muslims of Indian origin.

Swayamvar has been an old Indian tradition. In this, when a princess had to be married, princes would be invited to view the princess from far flung Indian territories. The princess instead would review the princes. She would select one and reject the rest. Rest of the disheartened princes would get against the state of the princess. This would lead to political conflicts between different states, leading to disloyalties, animosities and war. Most of the invaders of India were helped by local Indians. And many local Indians also converted to Islam due to the universal ideas of human egalitarianism and justice.

While the sword may have changed the political boundaries and the ruling elite, it was the Sufi influence and social values of Islam coupled with the fragmented Indian society that actually converted the populace and sustained the faith over centuries. Military force often breeds resentment rather than genuine belief. The sword could demand taxes or submission, but it couldn’t necessarily mould hearts. In a highly stratified, caste-based society, the Islamic concepts of egalitarianism and divine justice offered a radical alternative. The superior values acted as a psychological and social pull factor, especially for those looking for a sense of human equality that was historically denied to them.

This is where the victors and losers both converting becomes most relevant. Sufi saints often lived outside the royal courts and reached out to the common people, including the warrior classes (Rajputs, Khokhars, etc.). Sufis often used local idioms, music, and poetry, making the transition to Islam feel less like a foreign imposition and more like a spiritual evolution.