Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c14.17

c14.17

In brief, because of the efforts of Muhammad bin Qasim and Caliph Umar II (A.D. 717-24) some Hindus in Sind had been converted to Islam, but by the time of Caliph Hashim (724-43), when Timum was the governor of Sind, many of these Sindhi converts had returned to Hinduism. Those who continued to retain the new faith remained confined mostly to cities, particularly Multan. After Mahmud of Ghazni's attack on Multan their number seems to have gone up for, writing in the twelfth century, Al Idrisi says: 'The greater part of the population (of Multan) is Musalman; so also the judicial authority and civil administration'’¹¹ However, up to A D. 1000 there were very few Muslims in Sind.¹²