Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c10.22

c10.22

Of the various channels of slave-catching, mounting a campaign or fighting a war was the most rewarding. Muslim rulers had come to realise that in the occasional or minor campaigns the harvest of slaves collected was as good, if not better, as in major expeditions. There was no harm if the operations were carried on in a low key. Thereby, because of the sustained pressure, the infidel captives might abandon their false religion and accept Islam.²⁷ This was written by Muhammad Bihmad Khani, himself originally a slave (as the name Khani indicates), in the context of the wars that broke out in Hindustan after the death of Sultan Firoz Tughlaq. The exertions of the Saiyyad rulers in establishing their authority (1414-1451) also resulted in campaigns in Katehar, Khor Kampil, Saket, Badaon, Rapri, Jalesar, Chandwar, Etawah etc.²⁸ In all these places, especially in the Katehar-Doab region, the Muslim army contented itself with the ignoble but customary satisfaction of plundering the people and putting the country to indiscriminate devastation and enslavement.²⁹ Meanwhile foreigners like Shaikh Ali, the Mongol Governor of Kabul, also marched into the Punjab, slew a large number of people and took prisoner many others.³⁰ During these continual campaigns Muslim captives were sometimes released, but not the infidels who were enslaved and converted.³¹