Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c7.s3: 3.3. Friday Service

Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c7.s3

Language: English

3.3. Friday Service

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In every religion prayers have a place of importance. In Islam their place is much more important as they are said as many as five times during the day. In Islam, the liturgical mosque service is known as *Salat*. *Salat* is Arabic: its equivalent in Persian and Urdu is namaz. The following are the times of prayer: (i) *Fajr ki namaz*, *Salat-ul-fajr*, or morning prayer, is said from 5 a.m. to sunrise. (ii) *Zuhur ki namaz*, *Salat-uz-zuhr*, or midday prayer, between 1 and 3 p.m. (iii) *Asr ki namaz*, *Salat-ul-asr*, or afternoon prayer, from 4 to 4.30 P.m., or till sunset. (iv) *Maghrib ki namaz*, *Salat-ul-maghrib*, or sunset prayer, at 6 p.m. (v) *Isha ki namaz*, *Salat-ul-Isha*, or prayer when night has closed, at bed time, between 8 p.m. and midnight. These five times of prayer are obligatory(*farz*). Besides these are others known as 'traditional' (*sunnat*) and supererogatory(*nafl*) which are observed by more religious and devout persons.¹⁰³

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"The daily prayers are not necessarily congregational. They may be offered up by the worshippers singly or in companies, in the mosque, at home, or by the way. But at mid-day of Friday, the service took a more public form, at which the believers as a body, unless detained by sufficient cause, were expected to attend. The usual prayers were on this occasion followed by an address or sermon pronounced by Mohammad. This weekly oration was usefully adapted to the circumstances of the day and feelings of the audience. It allowed full scope for the prophet's eloquence... and helped rivet the claims of Islam."¹⁰⁴

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Friday, the day chosen for the congregational prayer, had a special significance. According to many *ahadis* Friday is the best day on which the sun rises, the day on which Adam was taken into Paradise and turned out of it. On Friday his sins were pardoned. He died on Friday. It will be the day of Resurrection (*Qiamat*). The Prophet made his first entry into Madinah on that day, and he appointed it as the day of public worship. A Muslim saying namaz on Friday has his supplication granted by Allah.¹⁰⁵ According to a conservative interpretation, "Friday was not indeed to be a Sabbath; for that institution he (the Prophet) had no desire to imitate, but it was to correspond with the sacred week-day of the other communities, and since the Christians had seized the day after the Saturday, he had no choice but to take the day before it."[106] The origins of Friday service may be traced to the early problems of Islam. in the beginning, Muslims were few. They were advised to remain together, in groups, in company, and in prayer to have a feeling of the strength of unity. It was decided to call them all to pray together in congregation.[107]

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*The Azan*

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In the absence of a time-knowing device, like the clock, the worshippers used to assemble for prayer at different times resulting in much confusion. It was felt necessary to call the congregational prayer at one appointed time. How could this be done? It was suggested that a flag should be raised on a high place. People will see it, inform one another and assemble for prayer. But the Hazrat did not approve of it. It was then suggested that the Jewish trumpet or the Christian hammer may be employed for calling the people to prayer. This too was not appreciated. The Prophet did not want any similarity with Jewish or Christian practice. Besides, in every masjid, there would have been need to keep a horn for blowing. Umar saw in a dream the principle of azan or "call to prayer". It was also revealed to Abdullah bin Zaid. The Prophet asked his black slave Bilal to summon the worshippers to prayer. Bilal had a loud voice. He called from some eminence, such as the roof of a barn. It was in the second year of *hijr* that this practice became regular in Madinah and began to be regarded as an institution of Islam.

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Once this institution was established, no exceptions were made. Those who heard the call were ordered to come to join the congregation on pain of having their houses burned down, no excuse being permitted.[108] A blind old man living far from the congregational mosque asked the Prophet for permission to absent himself as he was blind and old - he could not see and could hardly walk. The Prophet asked him if he could hear the azan. On being told he could, he was denied permission for absenting himself from the congregation.[109] The *ahadis* declare that namaz said in congregation is twenty-five times superior to namaz said alone at home. Muhammad was very strict about attendance in congregational prayer.[110] It was obligatory for every Muslim, with the exception of four - ghulam, woman, boy and the sick.¹¹¹ Muhammad was very particular about Muslims staying together and eating together like brothers.¹¹² He exhorted them to pray together lest the Mushriks should harm them.¹¹³ It became incumbent on one momin to protect the life and property of another momin. If a non-Muslim harms a Muslim, the whole community should join together to save the latter from harm.¹¹⁴ "Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other."¹¹⁵ The unity among Muslims for which the community is famous, was thus established from the very birth of the creed.

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*Friday Namaz a must*

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The Friday Congregation service posed some problems which, however, were satisfactorily solved. Abu Daud tells how order for bathing on Friday was issued. Early Muslims were poor. They used to wear blankets (of camel wool). They had to do lot of physical labour and sweated profusely. The masjid (in Madinah) was small with low ceiling. Once in summer season, the bad smell of perspiration reached the Rasul. He observed that when such a day arrives (i.e., Friday) take bath, use oil and perfume you have. In course of time Allah made them rich (through Jihad). They began to wear other clothes besides the blanket. Their burden was also lightened (as they began to take work from slaves and slave-girls) and mosques also became spacious. The odour which inconvenienced one another was gone. That is how bath became customary on Friday. Bath is considered good but not "obligatory".¹¹⁶ But it is obligatory that the service should be performed in Arabic and that the clothes and body of the worshipper should be clean.¹¹⁷

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The Prophet was a strict disciplinarian, and a watch was kept on the Faithful about the observance of namaz. One who neglected namaz for three Fridays without reason, was marked out by Allah.¹¹⁸ Even children were to say namaz. For boys it began at the age of seven, at 10 they were to be beaten up if they avoided it.¹¹⁹ When there was Jihad, namaz was to be said in parts and by rotation.¹²⁰ It was inculcated in the minds of the Musalmans that the difference between a Musalman and a Kafir is that of namaz. There is a vow of namaz among the Muslims. One who renounced it did *kufr*, did *shirk*.¹²¹ So far as the congregational prayer was concerned, attendance was compulsory. Compulsion inculcated a sense of awe and raised the number of devotees. People "could refuse this invitation or call at their peril, spiritual and physical. As his followers became more powerful, the peril became increasingly more physical."¹²²

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As the strength of the worshippers increased it was felt necessary to manage the crowd by making them stand in rows of straight files. First a long stick was used to see that the *jamaat* stood in linear array. Later on a line was drawn for the same purpose.¹²³ Men and boys stood in front rows, women in the last.¹²⁴ Men stood as close to one another as possible lest Shaitan should pass between them or Allah sow discord among them.¹²⁵ No one was allowed to pass in front of the congregation during prayer. If one did, the order was to fight him. In the days of the Prophet, a man once happened to pass on a donkey in front of the namaz. His feet were cut off.¹²⁶ The namaz during the early period was performed in privacy. Afterwards it was employed as a sort of military drill. "Whatever may be its origin, it is evidently a military exercise, intended to train soldiers (*mujahidin*) for endurance…"¹²⁷ In the early years of Islam the main features of the Friday service were prayer in congregation with worshippers standing in straight linear rows. Attendance was compulsory and military discipline was maintained. The sermon was like the order of the day; it comprised advice, reprimand and directions on the religious and political obligations for the faithful. A sense of awe pervaded raising the number of worshippers. The occupation of Makkah (8 H/630 CE) had skyrocketed the prestige of Muhammad. It was the Quraish who had declared war on the Prophet and opposed him. When Makkah was occupied, the Quraish became his subjects. Since they could no longer display enmity towards him they entered into God's religion, coming to him from all directions.¹²⁸

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*Congregational Prayer and Iconoclasm*

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The tradition of Friday congregational prayer was followed wherever the Muslims went. In India in the early eighth century, Muhammed bin Qasim established many mosques in towns he took in Sindh, like Debal, Alor, Nirun and Multan and propagated the Islamic faith. Besides, there were some mosques in Gujarat and on Malabar coast where there were settlements of Muslim merchants. The Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid was the first congregational mosque built in Delhi after the conquest of Hindustan by the Muslims. it was built, as per Arabian tradition and command, from the materials obtained from the places of idols. In this case the Mosque was built from the debris of 27 Hindu and Jain temples as per an inscription found carved on it. It had been ordained in the Hadis to construct mosques at places where idols were, and the tradition was scrupulously followed in Arabia. At Taif, for example, a masjid was built where there were idols of Mushriks.¹²⁹ It is related in some Biographies of Muhammad that while the siege of Taif was being carried on, some companions were ordered to destroy every idol they could find. "Thereupon Ali, the Commander of the Faithful... destroyed all the idols of the Bani Hoazan and Bani Thaqyf which were in that region."¹³⁰ No count of temples is available in the sources. They must have been many. Similar was the fate of other temples. There were 360 idols at Kaba. They were all destroyed. Hubal, the principal idol in the Kaba, was pulled down and used as a doorstep when the Prophet conquered Makkah. Having purified Makkah, the Prophet sent expeditions to those idols which were around and had them destroyed. These included al-Uzza, al-Manat, Suwa, Buana and Zulkaffan.¹³¹ When Islam arrived in India, both the practices were religiously followed - building mosques at the sites and with the debris of Hindu temples and using idols as steps leading into the mosque. Just as it was commanded to fight the non-Muslims till they recited the *Kalima*,¹³² it was also commanded to "make your Masjids as tall and magnificent as Jews and Christians make their synagogues and churches."¹³³ The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Delhi was erected in this very spirit - as symbol of unity and strength of Islam as other mosques had been built earlier by the invader Mahmud of Ghazni at many places. The congregational mosques in particular also stood as a challenge and an invitation to the people to convert to the new creed.

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For example, at Kalinjar in 1202, "The temples were converted into mosques," writes Hasan Nizami, "and the voices of the summoners to prayer ascended to the highest heavens, and the very name of idolatry was annihilated."¹³⁴ Call to prayer five times a day with a loud voice carried an invitation and a message - join us, or else. This helped in the conversion of people to Islam.

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Mosques came up in large numbers in towns and cities and even in villages as the Muslim rule spread. in any place the main mosque was known as the Jama Masjid or Friday Congregational Mosque. The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Delhi, the symbol of strength of the newly established Islamic state in India, served as the congregational mosque. It was extended by Sultans Iltutmish and Allaudin Khalji. Alauddin nearly doubled the size of this Masjid and built a magnificent gate to its entrance known as the Alai Darwaza. This indicates swift rise in Muslim population in the proximity of the mosque. As per tradition *madrasas* were located in the Friday mosques. Alauddin's *madrasa* or college lies immediately to the southwest of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. He constructed many other mosques as well as some masjids in his newly built city of Siri.

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Of the mosques of Alauddin Khalji constructed outside the capital, mention may be made of the masjid at Mathura¹³⁵ and the tomb of Shaikh Farid (built C 1300), which was probably a converted Hindu or Jain temple. There is another masjid built about the same time in Bharuch. it is also a converted Jain temple. In 1300 Alp Khan, brother-in-law of Alauddin and governor of Gujarat, constructed the Adinah mosque at Patan. It was built of white marble, and it is related "that it was once an idol temple converted into a mosque". The Adinah mosque no longer exists. After the conquest of Chittor in 1303, Alladin "constructed a congregational mosque. There was a temple lying in ruins."¹³⁶ In Biana there is the Ukha mosque belonging to the Khalji period. Many mosques were built during Alauddin's invasion of the South. Farishtah claims that a mosque was built as far away as at Rameshwaram and called Masid-i-Alai and that it was in existence when Farishtah lived.¹³⁷ The above examples clearly show that as per the dictates of the Quran and the injunctions of the Hadis and the Sunnah, mosques in India too were built on the sites of the idol temples and with the materials obtained from razing the shrines. Muhammad bin Tughlaq built the Begumpuri Masjid at Jahanpanah. It is an imposing mosque of great size. Firoz's Kali Masjid or Kalan Masjid built by Khan-i-Jahan II in 789 H/1387 CE., stands intact till today near the Turkman Gate of old Delhi.¹³⁸

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*Congregational Prayer in India* Five times a day namaz was performed by all Muslim kings, nobles and others. From the early days of Islam in Arabia there was insistence on compulsory namaz for all Muslims. Sultans Iltutmish and Balban said it and presided at Friday prayers. In his *wasaya* (precepts) Balban exhorted both his sons, princes Muhammad and Bughra Khan, that a king should not neglect the worship of God and five-time prayers should be offered punctually and in congregation. In his turn Bughra Khan told his son Kaiqubad that namaz and roza are very important. One who does not observe namaz is no Muslim; to kill him is justified.¹³⁹ All this refers to converted Indians who swelled the Muslim numbers since the days of Muhammad bin Qasim.¹⁴⁰ They were nominally converted as, for example, Barwaris whose leader Nasiruddin Khusrau Shah created *fitna* during and after the reign of Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah (1320 CE). It appears that they did not care to observe five-time namaz and were dubbed as low born. Muhammad Tughlaq kept a strict watch on their attending the Friday prayers. According to Ibn Battutah: "His standing orders were to the effect that prayers must be recited in congregations... even the menials - those who held the animals of the staff - were punished when they missed the prayers. The sultan issued orders that the people (newly converted) should learn the principles of ablution and prayers as well as the fundamentals of Islam, and they were interrogated on these... In the course of a single day he once killed nine persons for neglecting that (prayers)."¹⁴¹ As for Muhammad Tughlaq himself "the mottos and emblems of Islam are preserved by him, and he lays great stress on the performance of (the obligatory five prayers of the day)."¹⁴² All Muslim sultans and officers participated in Friday service, although this obvious fact may not have been mentioned by chroniclers about each and every member of the ruling class.

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Some innovations were introduced by Firoz Shah in the Friday Service. The Sultan 'invented' the *Tas wa Gharial* or the Big Bell or Clock. It was fixed at the top of the Kushak-i-Firozabad and people were amazed to see it. When the bell was struck people came to know about the time of day and night. It guided the *namaziz* about the *zuhr* and 'asr prayers and the *roza-dars* about the time of *iftar* and *sehri*. In a way it was against the dictates of Islam in which any Jewish or Christian practice was taboo, and striking the bell or gong for calling the people to prayer was Christian. Still, the azan as usual was continued to call people for prayer and the *Tas wa Ghatial* had many other uses also - Afif recounts seven benefits of the contraption.¹⁴³

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After the Friday services, Firoz Shah used to repair to his palace where parties of musicians, athletes, wrestlers and story-tellers assembled in groups from the four parts of the city. Their number used to swell about two or three thousand. The king listened to music and witnessed the performance of the dancers. He watched the wrestling feats of the pugilists and listened to anecdotes of the story-tellers. He passed his time in these entertainments till the time of the asr prayer. Then performers were handsomely rewarded. Every one present received some award, including the children present on the occasion.¹⁴⁴ Shams Siraj Afif writes about mosques of Firoz Shah Tughlaq thus: "From the *qasba* of Inderpat (present Indraprastha Estate) to the Kushak-i-Shikar (present Delhi University area), five kos apart all the land was occupied... There were eight Public Mosques and one private mosque... The Public Mosques were each large enough to accommodate 10,000 suppliants."¹⁴⁵ This also shows how Muslim population had grown in the capital city in the course of a hundred and fifty years.

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Needless to repeat that mosques, and in particular Friday mosques, continued to be built throughout the medieval period throughout the country. When Muslim provincial dynasties came up, mosques of large size and built with local materials came up in Sindh, Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Malwa, Jaunpur and the Deccan kingdoms in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In the Sultanate of Delhi, Sikandar Lodi was by far the greatest builder in the fifteenth century. A devout Musalman, he is said to have built mosques throughout his kingdom,¹⁴⁶ like in Lahore, Karnal, Hansi and Makanpur (district Kanpur), besides many others in Delhi and Agra.¹⁴⁷ His notable structures in Delhi are the Moth ki Masjid and the mosque attached to the Bara Gumbad. The Lodi rulers, indeed all Afghan ruling elite, observed the five-time namaz and presided over Friday service.

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*Protest against Iconoclasm*

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Mughal kings, queens, princes and princesses, all built congregational mosques in many important places in the country. Most of these were constructed at the sites of old Hindu temples. Muslim rulers made it a point to construct large congregational mosques and idgahs after destroying magnificent Hindu temples found in places held specially holy by the Hindus. The smaller temples were replaced by ordinary mosques. Consequently we shall also confine our examples to a few well-known temples which were razed or turned into mosques. Somnath, a very famous temple on the west coast, was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni and several other Muslim kings. Babur built the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on the temple site of the birthplace of Lord Ram (Ramjanambhumi). In the reign of Akbar, a mosque was built in 975 H/1567-68 CE at Jaunpur. It merits mention because the details of the undertaking show how the owner was dispossessed of his property and how the officer completing the task was rewarded. The mosque was built by Nawab Mohsin Khan. The materials for the mosque were "taken from those of the temple of Lachman Das, Diwan of Khan-i-Zaman Ali Quli Khan... Akbar made over all the property of the Diwan to Nawab Mohsin Khan," for "thanks that by guidance of the Everlasting and Living (Allah), this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer (i.e. Mosque). As a reward for that the generous Lord, constructed an abode for its builder in paradise."¹⁴⁸ Akbar took great interest in conserving, repairing and adding to the Dargah of Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer which is also built on a Dev temple.¹⁴⁹

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Jahangir was not wanting in the performance of his duty in this regard while Shahjahan was quite zealous. Of course the puritanical Aurangzeb chose the most renowned sites of Hindu worship to construct congregational mosques Ayodhya, Mathura and Banaras. Saqi Mustaad Khan, the author of *Maasir-i-Alamgiri* writes: "His majesty, eager to establish Islam, issued orders to the governors of all the provinces (imperial *farman* dated April 9, 1669) to demolish the schools and temples of the infidels and put down with the utmost urgency the teaching and the public practice of the religion of these misbelievers." Soon after "it was reported that, according to the Emperor's command his officers had demolished the temple of Vishwanath at Kashi". "The reviver of the faith of the prophet, issued orders for the demolition of the temple situated at Mathura, famous as the Dera of Kesho Rai. In a short time by the great exertions of his officers the destruction of this strong foundation of infidelity was accomplished, and on its site a lofty mosque was built at the expenditure of a large sum." "Praised be the august God of the faith of Islam that... such a wonderful and seemingly impossible work was successfully accomplished. On seeing the strength of the emperor's faith... the proud Rajas were stifled... the idols, large and small... were brought to Agra, and buried under the mosque of the Begum Sahib (Jahanara Begum), in order to be continually trodden upon. The name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad."[150]

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Friday service is an article of faith with Muslims. It has three components - congregational namaz, sermon by the imam and, under Muslim rule, an ever rising number of *namazis*. Congregational mosques could be built without destroying Hindu temples. But in Islam, breaking the shrines of the people of other faiths is advocated by Hadis and Sunnah. Provocative acts of iconoclasm were therefore freely indulged in India without any regard to the feelings of the non-Muslims. Muslim chroniclers have written dozens of accounts about how Hindu temples and monasteries were razed to the ground and how images of Hindu gods and goddesses were destroyed or desecrated. Commandments of Allah (Quran) and precedents set by the Prophet (Sunnah) are frequently cited by them in support of what the Muslim warriors did both in times of war and of peace. But they do not mention Hindu response to such malevolent acts. Hindu Rajas were not stifled; Hindu resistance never slackened. They did react for years, for decades and for centuries, as best as they could, under the circumstances. We shall confine our notice to the only four renowned temples - Somnath, Ayodhya, Banaras, and Mathura - held specially sacred by the Hindus. The bitter memories of their destruction still linger in the Hindu mind.

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Somnath was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 in the reign of Bhim Deva (1022-64 CE). It was rebuilt by Raja Kumarpala (1143-74). Gujarat was again invaded by a general of Alauddin Khalji in 1299, and the temple sacked again. The wealth of the temple was seized, its idol broken and carried to Delhi on bullock carts where it was thrown at the steps of the Congregational Mosque to be trampled under the feet of the faithful. After the destruction of the temple by Ulugh Khan in 1299, Chudasena, the Raja of Junagarh (1270-1333), again restored the edifice. In the middle of the nineteenth century it stood in a mutilated form, but "the whole of the buildings are most elaborately carved and ornamented with figures single and in groups of various dimensions."[151] This shows that it had a chequered history of destruction and restoration from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. After about a thousand years of its first destruction, it has been rebuilt for the seventh time as a magnificent temple dedicated to Lord Somnath in the middle of this twentieth century.

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In 1528-29 Mir Baqi, a Mughal official, by Babur's orders destroyed the temple at Ayodhya commemorating Lord Rama's birthplace, built a mosque in its place as attested to by an inscription on it.¹⁵² But the Hindus continued to struggle to reclaim it and worship there. Aurangzeb destroyed it once again when, writes Niccolao Manucci, "all of them (temples at Hardwar and Ayodhya) are thronged with worshippers, even those that are destroyed are still venerated by the Hindus and visited by the offering of alms."¹⁵³ Finally Hindus, working on the principle that "revenge is a kind of wild justice," have destroyed the Babri structure on December 6, 1992 and are striving to build the Ramjanambhumi temple at its original site.¹⁵⁴

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The desecration and conversion of the temple of Bir Singh Bundela at Mathura built at a cost of thirty-three lakh rupees sent a wave of consternation in the contemporary Hindu mind. The idol was removed by its priests and taken to Rajasthan. Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar installed it in a tiny village of Sihar on 10 March 1672.¹⁵⁵ Sihar has now grown into an important town, which named after the deity, is now known at Nathdwara. At Banaras the temple of Bisheshwar was built by Rani Ahilya Bai of Indore near the place of the one converted into a mosque by Aurangzeb. Maharana Ranjit Singh of Punjab mounted a gold plate on its shikhara. Marathas, Sikhs, Bundelas and Jats joined the crusade against the Mughals. Like Somnath and Ayodhya, Hindus want ' to get back the temple sites of Banaras and Mathura also. It is a struggle in contemporary Indian politics and therefore we shall stop here.¹⁵⁶

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In the capital of the empire, generally the emperor used to lead the Friday prayer as was done by Akbar in March 1579. Citing the authority of Faizi Sarhindi, Sri Ram Sharma says that while playing the role of the imam, Akbar was only following in the footsteps of his predecessors.¹⁵⁷ So also did his successors. Elsewhere in the empire governors, military commanders, qazis and other high officers led the Friday prayers in congregational mosques. Akbar's famous Mahzarnama or the infallibility Decree was issued in such a congregational assembly between August and September 1579. His policy of *Sulehkul* too would have found a mention in the Friday *Khutbas*. Similarly, Aurangzeb's reversal of this policy would have found a reflection in the Friday sermons. That is how one Friday when he went to public prayer in the Jama Masjid of Delhi, a vast multitude of Hindus thronged the road from the palace to the mosque, with the object of seeking relief (from the Jiziyah). The protest was crushed, but the emperor also got perturbed and stopped going to lead the Friday prayer at the congregation mosque. He prayed in the small mosque of marble inside the Red Fort called Moti (Pearl) Masjid, built for his private service. However, as said earlier, little is known about Friday sermons in the medieval period. But if the Friday sermons in present times reflect the trend, it can be surmised that in the medieval period also references would have been made to day-to-day political and religious problem. It has been found that these sermons result in working up the feelings of the namazis, and sabre-rattling and street riots generally take place on Fridays after the afternoon prayer.

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*Friday Service and Growth of Muslim Population*

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As said earlier, Friday service added to the number of worshippers because of many reasons. The rise in the number of Muslims in medieval India has been dealt with by us in a separate monograph.¹⁵⁸ We have seen how in the reign of Firoz Tughlaq two congregational mosques in Delhi could accommodate 10,000 worshippers each. Such was the rapid growth of Muslim population during Muslim rule. A pronounced feature of Muslim chroniclers is a description of how the Hindus were converted by force, how Hindu temples and monasteries were razed or converted into Muslim places of prayer. Very often the unlettered Hindu worshippers continued their prayers at these very spots. But now they prayed as Muslims at places that were so sacred to them but which had been converted into mosques. Today the descendants of these converts insist on their separate and different identity. As I have said elsewhere,¹⁵⁹ no community, however newly born, however weakly constituted it may be, exists without a moral power which animates and directs it. After the passing of a few generations, Indian Muslims have forgotten the circumstances of their conversion, and developed a sense of oneness amongst themselves. With time, they began to insist on being considered a distinct and separate entity in Indian society.

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On the other hand, the Hindus were so well organized in their social and religious life,¹⁶⁰ that a few conversions had not even made a dent in their social organization, and gradually they would have tended to become indifferent towards those who had become Muslamans. As the influence of the parent society on them declined and the influence of Muslim regime and religion increased, the Indian Muslims began to look more and more to Muslim ruling and privileged classes abroad for guidance, help and protection and in return gave them their unflinching cooperation. Much more important than the recession of Hindu moorings and the ascension of Muslim beliefs and culture in their life and thought, is the fact that these Muslims are governed by a new set of laws - the Shariat. They pray in a different fashion now, in congregation and several times a day. They marry amongst themselves. The magic word 'Islam' gives them a unity of thought, interest and action. Of the three components associated with congregational prayer, two still adversely contribute to the political scene in India the problem of minorities and the unforgettable vandalism of Muslim iconoclasm.

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¹ Ruben Levy, op. cit., p. 293.

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² Malik, The Quranic Concept of War, p. 44.

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³ Ibid., p. 43 quoting from Quran, Nisaa: 95.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 20.

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⁵ Anfal: 12.

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⁶ Al-Imran: 151.

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⁷ Ahzab: 26-27.

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⁸ Malik op. cit., pp. 59-60. The Quranic quotations are given by Malik.

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⁹ Ibid., pp. .27-28 quoting from the Quran, Baqara:193; Anfal:39. Consequently "each country has its own account of horrors (of forced conversions and persecutions). in the eighth century we had massacres in Sindh. In the ninth century there were the massacres of Spanish Christians in and around Seville. In the tenth, the persecutions of non-Muslims under the Caliph al-Hakim are well known. In the eleventh, the Jews of Granada and Fez met their fate... Mahmud destroyed the Hindus and their temples during the same period. In the twelfth, the Almohads of North Africa spread terror wherever they went. In the thirteenth, the Christians of Damascus were killed or sold into slavery and their churches burned to the ground..." The blood-soaked story goes on and on. Ibn Warraq, pp. 233-237.

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¹⁰ Anwar Shaikh, Islam, pp. 42, 49, 51.

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¹¹ T.P. Hughes, p. 243.

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¹² "The Holy Quran issued instructions to the Muslims about the selection of their objectives, 'Smite ye above their necks', it said, 'and smite all their finger tips off them' (Anfal: 12). The most sensitive parts lie above the neck. An effective strike against these parts can finish off the opponent completely. At Badr, however, most of the Koraish warriors were wearing armour. The Holy Quran counselled the Muslims to smite the finger tips off such opponents... our effort should be to choose those targets which when struck, will deprive him of his ability to use his weapons..." S.K. Malik, The Quranic Concept of War, pp. 64-65.

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¹³ Ibn Majah, vol. II, pp. 188-89, hadis 636.

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¹⁴ Sahih Muslim, hadis 4311. This definition of war is found in all Hadis collections, e.g., Mishkat, vol. II, p. 61.

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¹⁵ Ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 429, hadis 1605.

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¹⁶ Arun Shourie, The World of Fatwas, p. 576, quoting Sahih-ul-Bukhari, vol. IV, p. 41 and Sunan Abu Daud, vol. II, pp. 756-58. But

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this hadis is found in all collections, e.g. ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 171, hadis 562; p. 183, ahadis 613-615.

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17 Sahih Muslim, hadis 4636.

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¹⁸ Ibid., hadis 4314.

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¹⁹ Quran, cited in Muir, Life of Mahomet, pp. 74-75; Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 449.

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²⁰ Ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 602 hadis 2142 has it that a Mujahid will get 72 women, seventy of whom belonging to Kafirs in Hell will be transferred for the Muslims in Paradise. Which means that "all ahl-i-jannat will be masters of the women of Kafirs". This in part explains the determination of Muslims to fight and kill Kafirs - to possess their women.

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²¹ Ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 169, hadis 556; pp. 174-75, ahadis 576-78; Quran 61:10-13.

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²² Sahih-ul-Bukhari, vol. IV, p. 36.

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²³ Ibn Majah, vol. II, pp., 161-62, hadis 529; p. 175, ahadis 577-78. Mishkat, vol. II, p. 32.

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²⁴ Ibn Majah, vol. II, pp. 596-602, ahadis 2126-2142.

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²⁵ Dictionary of Islam, pp. 243-248, esp. p. 243.

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²⁶ The Indian Muslims, p. 68, also p. 71.

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²⁷ For jihad also see K.S. Lal, The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India, pp. 85-86; Arun Shourie, The World of Fatwas, pp. 573-82; Suhas Majumdar, Jihad, New Delhi, 1994, pp. 12, 16, 63.

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²⁸ Fatawa-i-Alamgiri, Matba al-Kubra, Egypt, 1310 H., vol. V, pp. 34648, quoted in Mujeeb, The Indian Muslims, p. 71.

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²⁹ S.R. Chowdhry, Al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Delhi University Press, 1976, p. 35.

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³⁰ Ibid., p. 145.

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³¹ Ruben Levy, The Baghdad Chronicle, Cambridge, 1929, p. 14.

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³² K.S. Lal, Early Muslims in India, pp. 16-22, 30-33; and Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, pp. 212-17.

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³³ Utbi, Tarikh-i-Yamini, E.D. vol. II, pp. 40-41, 49-50.

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³⁴ "Tamerlane systematically destroyed the Christians, and as a result the Nestorians and Jocobites of Mesopotamia have never recovered. At Sivas, 4,000 Christians were buried alive; at Tus there were 10,000 victims. Historians estimate the number of dead at Saray to be 100,000; at Baghdad 90,000; at Isfahan 70,000." Ibn Warraq, p. 235.

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³⁵ E.D. vol. IV, p. 547 n.

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³⁶ Farishtah, vol. I, p. 295; Robert Sewell, A Forgotten Empire, pp. 30-31, 38.

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³⁷ Amir Khusrau, Miftah-ul-Futuh, Aligarh text, 1954, p. 22; Lal, Khaljis, p. 250 and footnote.

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³⁸ Amir Khusrau, Khazain-ul-Futuh, trs., in E.D. vol. III, p. 77.

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³⁹ Amir Khusrau, Ashiqa, Aligarh, 1917, p. 46.

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⁴⁰ Barani, pp. 216-17, also pp. 41-42, 44, 72-75.

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⁴¹ Barani, Fatawa-i-Jahandari, pp. 46-48, also Introduction, p. v.

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⁴² Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 958. Abu Yusuf, Kitab-ul-Kharaj, cited in Tripathi, Some Aspects of Muslim Administration, p. 340.

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⁴³ Lal, Khaljis, p. 113.

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45 Mahdi Husain, Tughluq Dynasty, Calcutta, 1963, pp. 195-257.

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46 Robert Sewell, A Forgotten Empire, pp. 30-31.

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47 Farishtah, I, p. 295. Also Sewell, p. 38.

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48 Babur Nama, pp. 474-75 and n. Ahmad Yadgar, Tarikh-i-Salatin-i-Afghana, pp. 98ff. and trs. in E.D. vol. V, p. 30; K.S. Lal, Twilight, pp. 224-225.

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49 Babur Nama, pp. 554-55.

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50 Ibid., pp. 550-573. These pages in particular are full of quotations from the Quran.

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51 Ibid., pp. 574, 576.

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52 Ibid., pp. 483-84, 596.

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53 Badaoni, Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, vol. II, p. 383; Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, p. 108.

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54 Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, trs. Price, pp. 225-226.

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55 Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 185, hadis 624; p. 585, ahadis 2092-2095. Also Sunan Abu Daud, vol. II, p. 364.

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56 Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 248; Hitti, The Arabs, pp. 23-26.

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57 I am obliged to my friend Dr. S.P. Bhatnagar, A-98 Ashok Vihar, Phase II, Delhi, for lending me a typed copy of the pamphlet.

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58 Jama-i-Tirmizi, vol. I, p. 497.

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59 Barani, Fatawa-i-Jahandari, p. 16.

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60 Jadunath Sarkar, The Mughal Administration, p. 106.

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61 Quran, 24:2-5; Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, pp. 322-23, 337.

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62 Quran, 5:38-39; Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 117, also p. 104.

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63 Ram Swarup, op. cit., p. 87, 93, 96. Quran 2:282.

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64 Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 101.

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65 Sahih Muslim, ahadis 4130, 4132; Ram Swarup, op. cit., p. 89.

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66 Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, p. 576 and note.

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67 Manucci, vol. IV, p. 422.

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68 Barani, p. 318.

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69 Sale's Quran, p. 152.

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70 Barani, pp. 289, 382.

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71 Yahiya, Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, reproduced in Badaoni, Ranking, vol. I, pp. 318-19.

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72 Ibn Battutah, Def. and Sang., vol. III, p. 440, cited in Ishwari Prasad, Quraunab Turks, p. 273. Also trs. by Mahdi Husain, pp. 57, 85, 103-104.

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73 Fatuhat-i-Firoz Shahi, E.D. vol. III, p. 385.

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74 For references see Ishwari Prasad, Qaraunah Turks, pp. 270-74, esp. p. 273. Also Afif, p. 121.

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75 Ain., vol. I, p. 164.

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76 Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, trans. Price, p. 12.

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78 For details about Fatawa-i-Alamgiri see K.S. Lal, Muslim Slave System in Medieval India, pp. 139-42, 149. Also Ali Muhammad Khan, Mirat-i-Ahmadi, English trs. M.F. Lokhandwala, Gaekwad Oriental Series, Baroda, 1965, pp., 248-52. Also Jadunath Sarkar, Mughal Administration, pp. 109-115.

c7.s3.108

79 Travels of Pietro Della Valle in India, vol. I, pp. 66, 70.

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80 Ain., vol. III, pp. 132-33 and note.

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81 It is related by his own brother. A medical person with ten other Franks "sent for a large bowl and knife... actually severed head from the body, both the head and his blood being received in the bowl. When the bleeding had ceased they took away the bowl of blood, which they immediately poured into a pot of boiling oil brought for the purpose, stirring the whole together with a ladle until both blood and oil became completely amalgamated. Will it be believed, that after this they took the head and again fixing it exactly to the body, they continued to rub the adjoining parts with the mixture of blood and oil until the whole had been applied... At the expiry of three days from this," they sent for his brother who to his surprise "beheld my brother restored to perfect health... the instant he perceived me he drew his sword, and made a furious cut at me... The Portuguese physician was ordered to send for me, and applying some styptic to the wound it quickly healed." Jahangir thought that this could be effected by alchemy "known to be extensively practised among the Franks... (and) jugglers from Bengal". Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, trs. David Price as Memoirs of the Emperor Jahangueir, pp. 182-190.

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82 Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, pp. 166-96.

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83 Tuzuk, vol. I, pp. 123-24.

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84 Ibid., p. 174 and note.

c7.s3.114

85 Nasai records a case in the days of the Prophet. Hazrat Arfaja bin Sa'd lost his nose in the battle of Kalab. He began to wear a nose of sliver. It started emitting bad odour. The Prophet ordered him to get a nose of gold. In this probably no surgery was involved. Sunan Nasai Sharif, vol. III, pp. 456-57, hadis 5166.

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86 "The surgeons belonging to the country cut the skin of the forehead above the eyebrows, and made it fall down over the wounds on the nose. Then, giving it a twist so that the live flesh might meet the other live surface, by healing applications they fashioned for them other imperfect noses. There is left above, between the eyebrows, a small hole, caused by the twist given to the skin to bring the two live surfaces together. In a short time the wounds heal up, some obstacle being placed beneath to allow of respiration. I saw many persons with such noses, and they were not so disfigured as they would have been without any nose at all, but they bore between their eyebrows the mark of the incision." Manucci, vol. II, p. 301. Such restorations were done in Kangra also.

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⁸⁷ Barani, pp. 289, 382.

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⁸⁸ Lal, Khaljis, pp. 164, 176, 188.

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⁸⁹ Ibn Hasan, The Central Structure of the Mughal Empire, p. 336.

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⁹⁰ Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, p. 17.

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⁹¹ Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, vol. I, p. 345; vol. II, pp. 59-60.

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⁹² Nasai, vol. III, pp. 606~626, ahadis 5676ff. Also Sahih Muslim, vol. I, Part I, pp. 99.

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⁹³ Sahih Bukhari, vol. II, p. 67, hadis 80.

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⁹⁴ Tirmizi, vol. I, p. 545.

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⁹⁵ Ishwari Prasad, Medieval India, p. 293; Tarikh-i-Daudi, p. 37, trs. in E.D. vol. IV, p. 446.

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⁹⁶ Manucci, vol. II, p. 393.

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⁹⁷ Barani, p. 299.

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⁹⁸ Ibid., pp. 251-52.

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⁹⁹ For example Bernier, Travels, pp. 235-36; Finch in Purchas, vol. iv, pp. 72-73.

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¹⁰⁰ Jadunath Sarkar, Mughal Administration, p. 98.

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¹⁰¹ Terry, in Purchas, vol. IX, p. 47.

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¹⁰² Ibn Hasan, op. cit., p. 339.

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¹⁰³ Jafar Sharif, Qanun-i-Islam, trs. Herklots, p. 111.

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¹⁰⁴ William Muir, The Life of Mahomet, p. 188.

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¹⁰⁵ Sunan ibn Majah, vol. I, pp. 220-21; Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, pp. 212-13, and 397-424; Tirmizi, vol. I, p. 209; The Quran, Sale, p. 450n; Hughes, p. 131.

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¹⁰⁶ Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 248. Also Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 313, hadis 1131.

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¹⁰⁷ Ibid., p. 222; Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, pp. 212-13; Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 225, hadis 772. Also vol. I, p. 213.

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¹⁰⁸ Sunan ibn Majah, vol. I, p. 243, hadis 837, 81; Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, p. 234; Tirmizi, vol. I, p. 123.

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¹⁰⁹ Sunan ibn Majah, vol. I, p. 243, hadis 838.

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¹¹⁰ Ibid., p. 242, ahadis 832-35.

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¹¹¹ Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, pp. 404-405.

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115 S.K. Malik, The Quranic Concept of War, p. 70 quoting Fath:29.

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117 Hughes, p. 465.

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124 Tirmizi, vol. I, p. 125.

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126 Ibid., pp. 277-78, 281-82; Sunan ibn Majah, vol. II, p. 282, hadis 1002. Similar cases of 'pollution' of namaz are mentioned on pp. 281-286 of Sunan Abu Daud, vol. I, p. 284.

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128 Gillaume, The Life of Muhammad, being a translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, CUP, Eighth Impression, Karachi, 1987, p. 628.

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135 Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica, 1938, pp. 59-61.

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136 Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1959-60, p. 73.

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139 Barani, pp. 69-79; Bughra Khan to son, pp. 154-55; Wasaya also trs. in Nizami, op. cit., pp. 98-103.

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140 Chachnama, E.D. vol. I, p. 207.

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¹⁴³ Afif, pp. 254-60.

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¹⁴⁴ Ibid., pp. 367-69.

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¹⁴⁵ Ibid., p. 135.

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¹⁴⁶ Tabqat-i-Akbari, vol. I, p. 336; Makhzan-i-Afghani, fol. 76a. For detailed references see Lal, Twilight, pp. 232-33.

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¹⁴⁷ Archaeological Survey Report, No. XVII, p. 105.

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¹⁴⁸ Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1969, p. 69 and footnote 2.

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¹⁴⁹ P.M. Currie, The Shrine and Cult of Muin-al-din Chishti, p. 105.

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¹⁵⁰ Maasir-i-Alamgiri, English translation by Jadunath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 51-52, 55, 60. Also J. Sarkar, History of Aurangzib, vol. III, Calcutta, 1972, pp. 194-95.

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¹⁵¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1843, p. 73. See Lal, Khaljis, for copious footnotes and references on the history and many other aspects of the life at Somnath.

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¹⁵² Babur Nama, p. 656 and footnote.

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¹⁵³ Manucci, vol,. III, pp. 244-45.

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¹⁵⁴ Since the events leading to the destruction of the Babri structure are recent, a number of articles and books have lately appeared and are still appearing on the subject. One of the best books on this topic is Koenraad Elst's Ram Janmabboomi vs. Babri Masjid, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1990.

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Muntakhab al-tawārīkh — ʿAbd al-Qādir Badāʾūnī 1590, Persian
الجامع الصحيح — Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, Arabic
السنن الصغرى — Aḥmad b. Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī, Arabic
Epigraphia Indica
Khazāʾin al-futūḥ — Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī
Chachnāma — ʿAlī b. Ḥāmid al-Kūfī, Persian
Tārīkh-i Mubārakshāhī — Yaḥyā b. Aḥmad Sirhindī