This is Part 3 of the chapter "Islamic Slavery" from M. A. Khan's book, "Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery". This part discusses the horror saga of little-known Islamic enslavement in India during the pre-Sultanate period, 715-1206 (Part 1, Part 2, part 4).
ENSLAVEMENT BY MUSLIMS IN INDIA
Muslim invaders and rulers engaged in large-scale enslavement of the infidels wherever they went: Europe, Africa and Asia. In this discussion, slavery by Muslims in medieval India as recorded by contemporaneous Muslim historians will be presented in some detail. Brief accounts of Islamic slavery in Africa, Europe and elsewhere in Asia will also be presented.
By Muhammad bin Qasim: Islam’s assault on Indian frontiers started during Caliph Omar with the attack and pillage of Thana in 636, just four years after Prophet Muhammad’s death. Eight more such plundering expeditions followed under succeeding caliphs: Othman, Ali and Mu'awiyah. These early assaults by Muslim invaders sometimes yielded booty and slaves besides slaughter and pillage, but failed to gain a foothold for Islam in India. With Caliph al-Walid’s blessings, Hajjaj bin Yusuf sent two expeditions to Sindh, led by Ubaidullah and Budail. Both campaigns failed suffering heavy casualties; both commanders were slain. Sorely wounded at heart, Hajjaj next sent his nephew and son-in-law Qasim at the head of 6,000 soldiers. He overran Debal in Sindh in 712, digging a firm and lasting foothold of Islam in Hindustan. Debal, records famous Muslim historian al-Biladuri, ‘was taken by assault, and the carnage endured for three days… the priests of the temple were massacred.’[1] He put the males above seventeen years of age to the sword and enslaved the women and children. The total number of captives taken in Debal is not recorded; but among them were 700 beautiful women, who had taken refuge in temples, records Chachnama. Caliph’s one-fifth share of the booty and slaves, which included seventy-five damsels, was sent to Hajjaj. The rest were distributed amongst his soldiers.[2]
In the attack of Rawar, records Chachnama, ‘When the number of prisoners was calculated, it was found to amount to thirty thousand persons, amongst whom were the daughters of the chiefs, and one of them was Rai Dahir’s sister’s daughter.’ One-fifth of the prisoners and the spoils were sent to Hajjaj.[3] As records Chachnama, when Brahmanabad fell to Muslims, in which 8,000 to 26,000 men were slain, ‘One-fifth of all the prisoners were chosen and set aside; they were counted as amounting to twenty thousand in number, and the rest were given to the soldiers.’[4] This means, about 100,000 women and children were enslaved in this assault.
One consignment of caliph’s share of the booty included 30,000 women and children and slain Dahir’s head. Among the captives were a few girls of Sindh nobility. Hajjaj forwarded the caravan of booty and slaves to Caliph al-Walid in Damascus. ‘When the Khalifa of the time read the letter,’ records Chachnama, ‘he praised Almighty Allah. He sold some of those daughters of the chiefs, and some he granted as rewards. When he saw the daughters of Rai Dahir’s sister, he was so much stuck with her beauty and charms, and began to bite his fingers with astonishment.’[5]
In the attack of Multan, records al-Biladuri, there were, among the captives, ‘ministers of the temple, to the number of six thousand.’[6] This figure should give us an idea of total number of women and children enslaved in Multan. Qasim undertook similar expeditions in Sehwan and Dhalila among others. His rather small feat in Sindh over a short period of three years (712–15) might have yielded to the tune of three hundred thousand slaves in all.
During 715 to 1000 CE: After Qasim’s recall in 715, Muslim campaigns of slaughter and enslavement became somewhat subdued, but low-intensity campaigns continued nonetheless. During the reign of the only orthodox Umayyad Caliph Omar (717–20), his lieutenant Amru bin Muslim made several Jihad expeditions against Hindu territories and subdued them; these undoubtedly had yielded slaves. During Caliph Hasham bin Abdul Malik (r. 724–43), Sindh military chief Junaid bin Abdur Rahman engaged in a number of victorious campaigns. In his attack of Kiraj, he ‘stormed the place, slaying, plundering, and making captives.’ In his incursions against Ujjain and Baharimad, he burnt down the suburbs and plunder great booty.[7] Booty invariably included captives.
After the orthodox Abbasid dynasty was founded in 750, Caliph al-Mansur (r. 755–74) sent Hasham bin Amru for waging holy war against Hindu territories. He ‘subdued Kashmir and took many prisoners and slaves…’[8] He attacked many places between Kandahar and Kashmir, and every victory must have yielded captives, which are not recorded.
Great Muslim historian Ibn Asir (Athir) records in Kamil-ut Tawarikh that during Caliph Al-Mahdi’s reign, Abdul Malik led a large naval Jihad expedition against India in 775. They disembarked at Barada and in the sustained battle with the people of the neighborhood, the Muslim army prevailed. ‘Some of the people were burned, the rest were slain and twenty Musalmans perished in testimony of their faith,’ records Asir.[9] The number of captives is not recorded.
During Caliph al-Mamun’s reign (r. 813–33), Commander Afif bin Isa led an expedition against the revolting Hindus. After defeating and slaughtering them, the surviving 27,000 men, women and children were enslaved.[10] The next Caliph al-Mutasim’s governor of Sindh, Amran bin Musa, attacked and defeated Multan and Kandabil, and ‘carried away its inhabitants’ as captives.[11] In about 870, Yakub Lais attacked Ar-Rukhaj (Aracosia) and the enslaved inhabitants were forced to embrace Islam.[12]
By Ghaznivid invaders: Nearly three centuries after Qasim’s exploits, Sultan Mahmud launched seventeen devastating incursions into Northern India (1000–27), involving mass slaughter, plunder, destruction of temples and enslavement in large numbers. In his attack of King Jaipal in 1001–02, records al-Utbi: ‘God bestowed upon his friends such amount of booty as was beyond all bounds and all calculation, including five hundred thousand slaves, men and women.’ Among the captives were King Jaipal and his children and grandchildren, and nephews, the chief men of his tribe and his relatives.[13] He drove them away to Ghazni for selling.
In the attack of Ninduna (Punjab) in 1014, writes al-Utbi, ‘slaves were so plentiful that they became very cheap; men of respectability in their native land were degraded by becoming slaves of common shop-keepers (in Ghazni).’ From the next year’s assault in Thanesar (Haryana), the Muslim army ‘brought 200,000 captives so that the capital appeared like an Indian city; every soldier of the army had several slaves and slave girls,’ testifies Ferishtah. From his expedition to India in 1019, he brought 53,000 captives. Of his seventeen expeditions to India, the campaign to Kashmir was the only failure. In each victorious campaign, he plundered booty, which normally included slaves, but their records have not been recorded systematically. Caliph’s one-fifth share of the booty was kept aside, which, records Tarikh-i-Alfi, included 150,000 slaves.[14] This means that a minimum of 750,000 slaves were captured by Sultan Mahmud.
Mahmud (d. 1030) did the spade-work for founding an Islamic Sultanate in Punjab, where the Ghaznivid dynasty ruled until 1186. In 1033, his not-so-illustrious son, Sultan Masud I, launched ‘an attack on the fort of Sursuti in Kashmir. The entire garrison was put to the sword, except the women and children, who were carried away as slaves.’[15] In 1037, Sultan Masud, having fallen ill, made a vow ‘to prosecute holy war against Hansi,’ if he recovered. Having recovered, he attacked and captured Hansi. According to Abul Fazl Baihaki, ‘The Brahmans and other higher men were slain, and their women and children were carried away captives.’[16]
The rather weak Ghaznivid Sultan Ibrahim attacked the districts of Punjab in 1079. Fierce battle lasted for weeks and both sides suffered great slaughter. At length, his army gained victory and captured much wealth and 100,000 slaves, whom he drove away to Ghazni, record Tarikh-i-Alfi and Tabakat-I Akbari.[17]
By Ghaurivid invaders: Sultan Muhammad Ghauri, an Afghan, launched the third wave of Islamic invasion of India in the late twelfth century establishing Muslim rule in Delhi (1206). In the attack of Benaras in 1194, ‘The slaughter of the Hindus was immense; none were spared except women and children and the carnage of the men went on until the earth was weary,’ records Ibn Asir.[18] The "women and children" were normally spared for enslaving. His illustrious general Qutbuddin Aibak attacked Raja Bhim of Gujarat in 1195 capturing 20,000 slaves;[19] in his attack of Kalinjar in 1202, records Hasan Nizami, ‘Fifty thousand men came under the collar of slavery, and the plain became black as pitch with Hindus.’[20] In 1206, Muhammad Ghauri marched to exterminate the recalcitrant Khokhar rebels who had established their sway in regions of Multan. The slaughter of the rebels was so thorough that none survived to light a fire. ‘Much spoils in slaves and weapons, beyond all enumerations, fell into the possession of the victors,’ adds Nizami.[21] In summarizing the feat of slave-taking of Sultan Ghauri and Aibak, says Fakhr-i-Mudabbir, ‘even poor (Muslim) householders became owner of numerous slaves.’[22] According to Ferishtah, ‘three to four hundred thousand Khokhars were converted to Islam’ by Muhammad Ghauri.[23] These conversions came mostly through enslavement.
Having become the first sultan of India in 1206, Aibak conquered Hansi, Meerut, Delhi, Ranthambor and Kol. During his reign (1206–10), Aibak undertook many expeditions capturing much of the areas from Delhi to Gujarat, from Lakhnauti to Lahore. Every victory yielded slaves, but their number is not recorded. The fact that Aibak generally captured slaves in his wars can be gauged from Ibn Asir’s assertion that he made ‘war against the provinces of Hind… He killed many, and returned with prisoners and booty.’[24]
Simultaneously, Bakhtiyar Khilji unleashed extensive conquest, involving massacre and enslavement, in Bengal and Bihar in Eastern India. The number of slaves captured by Bakhtiyar is not recorded either. About Bakhtiyar, Ibn Asir said, bold and enterprising, he made incursions into Munghir and Bihar, brought away much plunder and obtained plenty of horses, arms and men (i.e., slaves).[25] In Bakhtiyar’s attack of Lakhmansena of Bengal in 1205, records Ibn Asir, ‘his whole treasure, and all his wives, maid servants, attendants, and women fell into the hands of the invader.’[26]
After Aibak settled in Delhi, slaves were not transported overseas anymore like in earlier raids of Sultan Mahmud and Muhammad Ghauri, who used to come from Ghazni. Captives were, thereafter, engaged in various activities of royal courts, and by the generals, nobles and soldiers. The excess of slaves were sold in the markets of India for the first time in her history.
[1]. Eliot HM & Dawson J, The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians, Low Price Publications, New Delhi Vol. I, p. 119-20; Sharma SS (2004) Caliphs and Sultans: Religious Ideology and Political Praxis, Rupa & Co, New Delhi, p. 95
[2]. Lal (1994), p. 17
[3]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. I, p. 173
[4]. Ibid, p. 181
[5]. Sharma, p. 95–96
[6]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. I, p. 122–23,203
[7]. Ibid, p. 125–26
[8]. Ibid, p. 127
[9]. Ibid, Vol. II, p. 246
[10]. Ibid, p. 247–48
[11]. Ibid, Vol. I, p. 128
[12]. Ibid, Vol. II, p. 419
[13]. Ibid, p. 25–26
[14]. Lal (1994), p. 19–20
[15]. History of Punjab: Ghanznivide Dynasty, http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/library.history?Action=Page&Param=13
[16]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 135,139–40
[17]. Ibid, Vol. V, p. 559–60; Lal (1994), p. 23
[18]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 251
[19]. Ferishtah MK (1997 print) History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, translated by John Briggs, Low Price Publication, New Delhi , Vol. I, p. 111
[20]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 232; also Lal (1994), p. 42
[21] Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 234–35
[22]. Lal (1994), p. 44
[23]. Ibid, p. 43
[24]. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 251
[25]. Ibid, p. 306
[26]. Ibid, p. 308–09
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written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
written by balam , September 17, 2011
written by Reed Wilson. , September 17, 2011
It is interesting that 'the total number of captives are not recorded' and what is recorded is the exact number of women and that they were beautiful.
Seemingly it is not understandable. How the women could be beautiful when they were refused in temples?
written by aki , September 17, 2011
When we are done with that we should build these camps where we can gas them all. How cool are we?
Oh wait a minute...
written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
written by aki , September 17, 2011
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/
where demonization of a minority group ultimately leads.
written by Rationalist , September 17, 2011
Reed, the medieval Muslim chronicles are not hadith but are historical records. Read them carefully with your wives, children, grandchildren, and your whole Paki community. Come out of Islam... Every Paki should read this article.
written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
written by Yibel , September 17, 2011
"To the victors,the spoils of war
written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
Did not Muslims do as Abraham?Give 10 percent of the loot to God?Not to mention the male slaves having their privates hacked off and shipped to the middle east."
Please, give us some references about this spoils of war, 10 percent to god, stuff, and shipping slaves off to the ME. Or was it their privates that were shipped off? And when did this occur? Where did you read about this? Is this some story from the Quran or ahadith?
Because it sure isn't in the Bible.
BTW, the 20 percent of the loot was sent to the caliph who ordered the raids, not to God, whoever that might be. Muhammad demanded 20 percent of the spoils as his share, and the Caliphs who took over after his death continued this practice.
written by M. A. Khan, Editor , September 17, 2011
written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
written by dead or alive , September 17, 2011
written by fineliving56 , September 17, 2011
Islamic History can't lie
It is the cold hard thorny truth that wounds the very body of islam
Truth hurts …..doesn't ….
Q,m
written by Dwito , September 18, 2011
Seemingly it is not understandable. How the women could be beautiful when they were refused in temples?
Lot's of things may not be understandable, dear. One such thing is, who you come to convey Qur'an, when almost everyone here denounce it after scrutinizing thoroughly? But that's a different point.
My question is, how history will record the total number of slaves, Islam purchases now legally in India, i.e. the secularists!!
written by duh_swami , September 18, 2011
written by M. A. Khan, editor , September 18, 2011
"When you capture tens of thousands of slaves, how do you go about feeding them? This would require a lot of food and a big kitchen..."You needn't be worried about the kitchen or the stomach of the slaves; instead, it is the stomach of their masters that would have been at stake had the slaves were not captured. Slaves brought them money through their sale, through their labor and much more. Stay tuned.
written by Archpagan , September 18, 2011
(B)'His illustrious general Qutbuddin Aibak attacked Raja Bhim of Gujarat in 1195 capturing 20,000 slaves'.
Please check your facts. In the school history book I was taught that King Jaipal was defeated in the battle of Und and forced to sign a treaty on humiliating terms. After a few days Jaipal committed suicide by self-immolation. His son Anandapal and grandsons Trilochanpal and Naipal carried on the Resistance till the last drop of their blood. Raja Bhim unsuccessfully fought Sultan Mamud in 1026 A. D. to save the famous temple of Somnath. Gujarati Hindus are still reluctant to forgive the Muslims for destruction and desecretion of Somnath temple. The Gujarat riot of 2002 has its root in 1026 A. D.
written by M. A. Khan, Editor , September 18, 2011
b) It can be different Bhim. Ferishtah calls this Raja Bhim "Bheem Dew" (Bhim Dev).
written by duh_swami , September 18, 2011
The nuts and bolts of rounding up a lot of slaves captured in battle, took some pre-planning...Where to put them, how to guard them, how to feed them, what and how much to feed them, how to distribute them, or sell them...and finally, give them their various slave assignments...Not all slaves are equal...Some are better off as household slaves, others might make field hands or miners, or building jobs...
While all these determinations are being made, the slaves have to eat...A healthy slave brings more money than a sick one...The master also gets more work out of a healthy well fed slave...
The slave if purchased, is a financial investment and needs maintenance...so it is in the masters best interest to keep the slave well fed...Of course not all slave owners subscribed to that theory , so many slaves died of malnutrition and over work...
written by Reed Wilson. , September 18, 2011
No problem Mr. Khan. Linguistic or factual mistakes will not make any difference. Your book shall find a ready made market. I wish you luck.
written by Reed Wilson. , September 18, 2011
Your suggestion to amend Quran has been noted by the author.
written by M. A. Khan, editor , September 18, 2011
written by dead or alive , September 18, 2011
written by Aki , September 18, 2011
Slaves cannot eat precious metals.
How did they get fed???
written by dead or alive , September 18, 2011
written by Mozlem , September 18, 2011
written by Aki , September 18, 2011
Where in the Quran does it sanction the enslavement of a free man?
For slavery or to make wealth from a free man???
Cheers dude!
written by duh_swami , September 18, 2011
You cannot enslave a free man...The Quran knows little or nothing of free men...When Allah runs across a free man, he seeks to kill him...
written by Aki , September 18, 2011
written by Archpagan , September 18, 2011
written by M. A. Khan, editor , September 18, 2011
written by M. A. Khan, editor , September 18, 2011
written by duh_swami , September 19, 2011
Wrong matey bloke, my father was a human...
'are you transmitting your healing loving glowing heating lighting energy oh great one???'
That's a technique that I wouldn't expect a primitive to understand...If you don't like it, don't do it...
written by Yibel , September 19, 2011
The rest of the story:
When Abraham heard of this, he armed his household (318 men) and pursued these kings to Dan where he SMOTE them, and then he continued to purse them all the way to Damascus. Then Abraham returned to Sodom, bringing back all the people and goods, Abraham then gave tithes to Melchizedek, the king and high priest of Jerusalem. The reason for this was to give thanks to YHVH for a successful mission. Then Abraham returned the goods and persons to Bera, king of Sodom and Birsha, king of Gomorrah. And Abraham took not "from a thread even a shoelatchet" of anything that he rescued from the 4 kings.
And NO ONE was sold in any slave markets!!! And No One was deballed!!! And NO ONE was shipped to the Middle East!!!
Also, the word is harem, not HARLEMS. It is an Arabic word meaning forbidden. Harems were the norm among the Sultans and Caliphs of ISLAM; and yes, this is where captive sex-slave women were kept and guarded by eunuchs. The MUSLIMS shipped millions of captured women and children to the slave markets in the Middle East (mainly Baghdad and Damascus) over a period of 1400 hundred years.
BTW: That web site where you got your information from was not a very reliable source.
written by Aki , September 19, 2011
Truce!!!!
written by duh_swami , September 19, 2011
written by Dwito , September 19, 2011
No doubt you are right darling. Qur'an proved the time tested hypothesis beyond any confusion.
written by dead or alive , September 19, 2011
written by Mozlem , September 19, 2011
Of course in order to see what inside the chain you will have to stoop. If any sharia court comes to know your acts you will be arse whipped (100 times) till it is red.
You will also be declared someone who is behaving like women. I don’t think you are a native English speaker either for the correct term is pulling leg. Yes you can get a masseurs job also for pulling others legs.
written by aki , September 19, 2011
not in yorkshire it isn't sunshine!!!!
written by duh_swami , September 20, 2011
pulling leg" not in yorkshire it isn't sunshine!!!!
Yorkshire used to be a nice place till it was invaded and taken over...Lots of groups have tried to take over Yorkshire in the past but all have failed...The Saxons couldn't do it, the Romans couldn't do it, Hitler couldn't do it, even the Catholic Church couldn't do it...But the Islamic invading crusaders have managed to do it...Now Yorkshire has become one of those places you might want to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there...Of course the Islamic crusaders are all over the UK now, demanding this and that from the bewildered, and often not to smart indigenous population...In this I have to agree with Muslims...stupid kuffars...You have not yet realized the depth of your stupidity...But there are signs that Brit kuffar are caching on...
Soon the west will tell Muslim crusaders that the party is over...You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here...
written by aki , September 20, 2011
You talk absolute rubbish.
written by Mozlem , September 20, 2011
Good Mateyladbloke. Agrees he is a bit thick. Holed up in Beeston.
Bit NEDY though. Cannot shake MA Khan off his back.
written by duh_swami , September 20, 2011
You talk absolute rubbish.
I guess they don't know how to spell arsehole correctly in Yorkshire either...Is that Arabic?
written by Aki , September 20, 2011
Stick some of that heaty, lighty, glowing, healing, loving energy up there!
Maybe the connection to your brain might activate!
written by duh_swami , September 20, 2011
Not around here dipshit...You are considered illiterate dipshit...Now take a flying leap dipshit...
written by Malem , September 20, 2011
written by fineliving56 , September 20, 2011
Scientific posts …!?
Waisting time ..no end of dallying and goofing off.
I ask…... why Muslims hate dogs?
Muslims who hate dogs are ignorant of their Quran …as usual
I say …If dogs are Najas / filthy, why Allah would motioned dogs 4 times in
Q/Surit al kahif 18/18-22
Ahil al khalif who were 3 or 5 or 7 Muslims and loved by Allah [ no one knows how many they are, only allah knows] slept with their dog who slept next to them with two front legs spread in slobber for 3 hundred and 9 days ….etc...
If Allah took that mush peace [ form the valuable words of Quran..ha] talking about dogs 4 times,….why would Allah forbid dogs in houses like all muslims do.
I answer :Allah loves dogs because he created them and IT[allah] has nothing to do with it !!!!????
2 answer :Muhammad hated dogs and he said so in haddeth and he has everything to do with it
Muhammad WON over his Allah and all Muslims, hated dogs, since Muhammad's time, fallowing MOHAMMED and dumping ALLAH and ITS words …….
stupid !?
written by Yibel , September 21, 2011
It's about some CHRISTIAN lads that hid in a cave to avoid being killed during a time when Christianity was forbidden by the Romans. When they emerged after sleeping for several hundred years, Christianity had been declared okay. Muhammad's god, or his go-between Jibril, just couldn't remember how many Christian guys were in the cave, so Muhammad had to make a guess; he decided to just cover all the bases (3, 5, 7) and throw in a dog for good measure (cover the 4, 6, and 8). Jibril told him: Say: "My Lord best knows their number. Few know them.' In other words, Muhammad had heard different versions of the story in his caravan traveling days and just didn't know which one was correct.
This story had been around for several hundred years before Muhammad, and was still being told in the 14th century in Christian countries, by people who had never read, or even heard of the Quran. This story was included in the western Golden Legend, by far the most popular book of the later middle ages, and Gibbon included this tale in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." (Google "seven sleepers ephesus" for complete story or fordham.edu/halsall/basis/7sleepers.asp.)
written by duh_swami , September 21, 2011
You live in Yorkshire too? You and your brother Aki are like the Blues Brothers without hats or sunglasses...Actually Bevis and Butt head is more like it...The more you two jokers try to demonize me, the more fans I acquire...The only fan you have is the ugly bloke in the mirror...keep up the good work Matey...I appreciate it...Really I do...
written by Malem , September 22, 2011
written by duh_swami , September 22, 2011
written by Machmoed , September 23, 2011
"Wow...chicks...that's pretty cool" is innocent while "kill the unbelievers where ever you might find them..." is not.
The mentality of muslims is much more like Beavis. He too always thinks of......"fire..fire...yeah..uhhuuh...fire!
written by Malem , September 23, 2011
written by duh_swami , September 24, 2011
I'm waiting for you matey blokes to reveal more of this strange language...At first I thought those words were Arabic, but I couldn't find them in an Arab dictionary...Certainly they were not used in Quran...I don't remember Allah referring to anyone as a bloke...Mohammad either, there is no hadith where Mohammad calls anyone a mate or a bloke...Yorkshirian is a fascinating language, sort of like the Enochian...I'm waiting to hear more of it...
