Indian Muslims: Who Are They c5.s2.6

c5.s2.6

Muhammad bin Tughlaq became notorious for enslaving women, and his reputation in this regard spread far and wide, so that Shihabuddin Ahmad Abbas writes about him thus: The Sultan never ceases to show the greatest zeal in making war upon the infidels Everyday thousands of slaves are sold at a very low price, so great is the number of prisoners.⁴² Ibn Battutas eyewitness account of the Sultans arranging the enslaved girls marriages with Muslims on a large scale on the occasion of the two Ids, confirms the statement of Abbas.⁴³ Such was their influx that Ibn Battuta writes: At (one) time there arrived in Delhi some female infidel captives, ten of whom the Vazir sent to me. I gave one of them to the man who had brought them to me, but he was not satisfied. My companion took three young girls, and I do not know what happened to the rest.⁴⁴ Thousands of non-Muslim women⁴⁵ were captured in the minor yearly campaigns⁴⁶ of Firoz Tughlaq, and under him the Id celebrations were held on lines similar to those of his predecessor.⁴⁷ In short the inflow of such captives never ceased, and it need hardly be stated that in the hands of their Muslim masters the slaves, whether captured or purchased, became Musalman sooner or later.