Mohammad Bin Qasim – A romance of the history – Part One

Mohammad Bin Qasim – A romance of the history – Part One

Mohammad Bin Qasim is considered among the greatest heroes of Islam. His life is full of drama and thrill. The young general was born on 31^st December, 1695. After the death of his father at a very young age, Qasim’s mother and
paternal uncle, Hajaj Bin Yousuf took care of his academic and military education.

Hajjaj was also the Governor of the Eastern Provinces under the Caliphate of Abbasid Khilfah, Al-Walid 1. The Muslims had cast their eyes on India long before but they never found a chance to send an expedition to this rich land in order
to spread the divine faith of Islam. However, the ruler of Sind, Raja Dahir gave an excuse to Muslims to invade the sub-continent through some harsh measures.  

Whenever, any rebellion from Arab came to India, it was Dahir who gave him shelter and refused the Muslim requests to return back their refugees. However, the worst was yet to come.

A Muslim ship was looted near Daybal by the pirates. There were widows and orphans of the Muslim merchants in the ship, who had died in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and some gifts which were sent by the King of Ceylon for the Muslim Caliph and the
Governor.

It was a horrific event and something which could not have been ignored by the Muslim leadership. Hajjaj wrote letters to Dahir and urged him to take actions against the pirates but the ruler of Sind refused by saying that it is beyond his
control.

As a result, Hajjaj took permission from the Caliph and decided to send expeditions to Sind. He sent two of his best generals, Ubaidullah and Budail one after the other but both of them were defeated by the Hindu forces. This was something
very disheartening for Hajjaj but he did not lose hope and made a very interesting and historical decision of sending Mohammad Bin Qasim to India with a big force.

At that moment of time, Qasim was merely 17 years of age and it was widely expected that if two of Hajjaj’s most experienced generals have failed, then a young teenager does not stand a chance. Qasim was also the son in law of Hajjaj as
he married Zubaidah, the daughter of the Governor and his uncle. Therefore, the Governor had immense confidence on the abilities of Qasim and the expedition was sent in 712 A.D.  

To be continued in next part …

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Nov 2 2011. Filed under Editorial, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry