Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.8

c19.8

⁵ The reason of Umar's dislike for India is described by Al Masúdi (Murúj Arabic Text, Cairo Edition, III, 166-171), to have originated from the description of the country by a philosopher to whom Umar had referred on the first spread of Islám in his reign. The philosopher said: India is a distant and remote land peopled by rebellious infidels. Immediately after the battle of Kadesiah (A.D. 636) when sending out Uthab, his first governor to the newly-founded camp-town of Basrah Umar is reported to have said: I am sending thee to the land of Al-Hind (India) as governor. Remember it is a field of the fields of the enemy. The third Khalifah Usmán (A.D. 643-655) ordered his governor of Irák to depute a special officer to visit India and wait upon the Khalifah to report his opinion of that country. His report of India was not encouraging. He said: Its water is scarce, its fruits are poor, and its robbers bold. If the troops sent there are few they will be slain; if many they will starve. (Al-Biláduri in Elliot, I, 116.) Sir H. Elliot's History of India, I, 116.