Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.5

c19.5

Al Biláduri³ (A.D. 892) states that the first Islámie expedition to India was the one despatched against Táná⁴ (Thána) by Usmán, son of Al-Ási the Thakafi, who in the fifteenth year of the Hijrah (A.D. 636) was appointed governor of Bahrein and Umán (the Persian Gulf) by the second Khalifah Umar, the son of Khattáb. On the return of the expedition, in reply to his governor's despatch, the Khalifah Umar is said to have written: "Oh brother of Thakif, thou hast placed the worm in the wood, but by Alláh, had any of my men been slain, I would have taken an equal number from thy tribe." In spite of this threat Usmán's brother Hakam, who was deputed by the governor to the charge of Bahrain, despatched a force to Bárús⁵ (Broach). Al Biláduri does not record the result of this expedition, but