The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c8.s8: Partial religious toleration conceded

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c8.s8

Language: English

c8.s8.1 — 4 parts

Partial religious toleration conceded

c8.s8.1.1

Muhammad bin Qasim's first task, after the conquest of Debal, was to devise a rough and ready military administration for ensuring the possession of the town. He appointed a military officer as incharge and stationed a garrison of 4,000 troops to work under his orders. This was repeated in every town, the strength of the garrison depending upon the population and strategic importance of the individual places. Confiscations, booty, plunder and extortions, all done by soldiery, sufficed to finance the war, as also the army of occupation. In this primitive administration he did not require the active co-operation of the people of the province. For this reason and in view of the mission with which the invasion was undertaken, Muhammad behaved in the hour of his victory and during his progress towards the capital town of Aror in the manner of a fanatical Musalman. Thousands of men were killed in cold blood for refusing to renounce their ancestral faith. Thousands of innocent women and children were deprived of their property and religion and reduced to servitude. Temples were everywhere destroyed and images desecrated and broken to pieces. Even such barbarous atrocities failed to satisfy Muhammad's immediate chief, Hajjaj, who, being a relentless persecutor, remonstrated against what he called slackness in doing the Lord's work, and directed him to deal with the infidels with greater severity. There is no doubt that Muhammad must have loyally carried out his chief's command.

c8.s8.1.2

After the defeat and death of Dahir, however, when the Arabs became the masters of almost the entire province and Muhammad was faced with an immediate necessity of establishing sound and durable administration, he felt compelled to choose between religious bigotry and political wisdom. It was physically impossible for a handful of the Arabs to take upon themselves all the work relating to the various branches of administration and to compel the natives to till the soil and to provide them with food and revenue. In the first place, the Arab number was small. Secondly, they were ignorant of Indian administration, revenue rules and regulations and principles of jurisprudence, etc. Thirdly, the Hindus were intensely devoted to their religion and, deeply conscious of the superiority of their faith and culture, looked down upon the conquerors as nothing more than masterful barbarians. They preferred death to Islam. Fourthly, the Hindus were armed to the teeth and in those days there was little difference in the equipment and quality of a regular soldier and the common people. An organised attempt at proselytisation would have meant a perpetual war and defeated the very object of the conquest. On the other hand, Islam, as interpreted by Muslim jurists and commentators of the Quran, granted toleration only to the Jews and the Christians, but not to the Hindus. The law of Islam divided the non-Muslims into two groups.

c8.s8.1.3

The first group known as the *Ahl-i-Kitab* (People of the Book), who were believed to be sharers in Revelation, were the Hebrews and the Christians and were entitled to toleration on payment of the jizya. The second group was, according to them, of those who did not possess the Revealed Book and hence they were not entitled to toleration. The Hindus belonged to the second category. They laid down that for the Hindus there was to be no choice between conversion to Islam and death. Muhammad bin Qasim was, therefore, faced with a dilemma and did not know what to do. Under the circumstances the only practical solution of the problem was a kind of compromise that could extend to the Hindus and the Buddhists of Sindh a partial toleration granted to the Jews and the Christians. Muhammad bin Qasim accepted this compromise. The Hindus were, therefore, asked to pay the jizya or Poll Tax and were allowed to retain their religion and worship their God in an inoffensive manner and without parade. They became known as the *Zimmis* (protected people), as the Hebrews and the Christians were known. This was obviously a concession which had been unknown to the Islamic law (*Shariat*) and opened up a new chapter in the history of Islam. That accounts for Sir William Muir's observation that the Arab conquest of Sindh marked a new stage in Muslim policy. Muhammad bin Qasim's decision to grant partial religious tolerance to the Hindus in Sindh was a very important act.

c8.s8.1.4

This became a kind of fundamental law for subsequent Muslim rulers of the land. It must, however, be understood that the partial toleration given was not due to generosity but to peculiar circumstances as all the Hindus could not be put to death or forcibly converted. Moreover, they were not accorded equal rights of citizenship with those of them who had embraced Islam. They were required to pay the jizya which was a religious tax and meant to show that they were an inferior people. Various other disabilities were imposed upon them. Inspite of these, Muhammad succeeded in winning the Hindu co-operation and thus solving his novel problem.