Indian Muslims: Who Are They c6.s7.7

c6.s7.7

Stories of forcible conversions in Bengal are narrated by Muhammadan medieval historians themselves with great gusto and we need not dilate upon them.⁶⁷ From early times each seat of Government, and each military station was more or less a centre of missionary agitation. We find another agency from across the seas working towards the same end. Arab merchants carried on an extensive and lucrative trade at Chittagong and disseminated their religious ideas among its inhabitants. When Barbosa visited Bengal at the beginning of the sixteenth century, he found the inhabitants of the interior Gentiles, subject to the king of Bengal who was a Moor, while the sea ports were inhabited by both Moors and Gentiles. He also met with many foreigners - Arabs Persians, Abyssinians and Indians (probably Gujaratis). Caesar Frederick and Vincent Le Blanc, who were in Bengal in 1570, also inform us that the island of Sandip was then inhabited by Moors.⁶⁸ In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Chittagong surely was one of the centres from which unceasing propagandism was carried on. When it is realised how Muslim merchants from India played a major role in the conversion of Mallaca and then the other parts of South-East Asia to Islam,⁶⁹ an appreciation of their proselytizing endeavour and achievements in Gujarat, Malabar and Bengal can be easily made. Thus foreign Muslims were there too in large numbers in Bengal. They migrated on several occasions and for various reasons. Some came in the wake of conquest, others as traders and businessmen.⁷⁰ Ruknuddin Barbak Shah (1460-74) was probably the first ruler who maintained a large number of Abyssinians as protectors of his throne. He recruited 8,000 Habshis and gave them key positions in his government. Aside from the Abyssinian eunuchs at the court, it was common for other eunuchs to act as harem guards.⁷¹ In addition to the Abyssinians, Bengal played host to other foreigners, especially merchants from Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and other parts of India. Many stayed on in Bengal because of its fertility, riches and cheap food.⁷² Little is reported by European writers about the Hindu population of Bengal beyond remarks to the effect that their children are sometimes sold to be eunuchs, that many of them become converts to the Muslim faith, and that they constitute the majority of the population outside the port cities.⁷³ While European accounts of Gaur talk of a mixed population of Muslims, Hindus and foreigners (Moors), the *Manasa Vijaya* of Vipradasa (composed 1495) mentions large population of Muslims in Satgaon. It says, The Muslim population of Saptagrama is innumerable; they belong to the Mughals, Pathans and Mokadims, Saiyyads, Mullas and Qazis⁷⁴ Obviously Bengal cities had a good number of Muslims in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.