The Islamic Invasion of India (2): The "Great" Leaders

India is perhaps the only major civilization which has been conquered by Muslims but remains largely non-Muslim, a luxury many other ancient civilizations did not enjoy.  But this by no means is due to the Islamic rulers' generosity as many brainwashed people believe.  Nope, it is the exact opposite to say the least! 

In fact, it is estimated that during the period of around 5 centuries from 1000 to 1525 AD alone, the non-Muslim population in India decreased by 80 million!  So bad was the damages (physical, moral, and religious) created to such a noble civilization that this part of history is not even widely taught to pupils.  Ask your Muslim friends and chances are either they will respond by a blank stare at you or praise them as one of the greatest Muslim leaders known in history. 

Among the Muslim rulers of ancient India, Timur and Aurangzeb are among the most "celebrated" rulers for their success in annihilating the non-Muslim population in India, either by genocides or forced conversions.  I also decided to add Bakhtiyar Khalji, who did not cause as many casualties as the first two did but was responsible for perhaps one of the greatest loss of human history.  Below are just a few recorded examples of what they did:

Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb ruled from 1658 until his death in 1707 and went by the name Alamgir ("Conqueror of the World").  His father, Shah Jahan, was believed as the figure behind the building of Taj Mahal.  As the ruler of the Mughal Empire and a devout Sunni, he had clear distates towards non-Muslims and forcefully imposed strict shariah policies to ensure the conversion of India to an Islamic state.  His government was also noted to show hostility not only to Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, but even to Christians and Shiites.

It is said that he destroyed 10,000 Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples and often erected mosques on the sites.  He also imposed heavy jizya (taxes imposed to non-Muslims for being non-Muslims in an Islamic country) to non-Muslims in their own motherland.  It is worth noting that the policy of imposing jizya was aborted by his grandfather, Akbar (who promoted tolerance towards non-Muslims and finally ended up establishing his own teaching).

Aurangzeb was so engrossed in the idea of an Islamic India that forced conversion was not uncommon.  One of the most heart-wrenching forced conversion stories was of Tegh Bahadur, the ninth gurus of Sikhism. 

Guru Tegh Bahadur

Tegh Bahadur and three of his disciples were arrested and inhumanly tortured to death under Aurangzeb's order because he refused to willingly embrace Islam.  Even after witnessing his disciples being persecuted one-by-one in the most barbaric ways (burnt, sawn, and boiled to death), he did not abandon his faith and as a result, he too was beheaded.

Another prominent figure who was persecuted by Aurangzeb is Sambhaji, then the king of Marathi.  Along with his advisor, Kavi Kalash, he was tortured to death over a period of several days.  This unimagineable series of torture included plucking their eyes out, cutting their tongues and nails off, and other indescribable inhumane tortures.  Alike Tegh Bahadur, they too were offered two options; getting persecuted or embracing Islam, to which Sambhaji responded by singing praises to Lord Shiva.  Due to his bravery, Sambhaji is still revered as Dharmavir or the protector of Dharma/religion, something he had to pay dearly.

Timur

Known as Timur-i-Lang or Tamerlane is a Muslim ruler of Turk-Mongol descendant who conquested Northern India in the end of 14th century.  His mission to India was driven not only by the lure of conquest and jewels but also the opportunity to annihilate infidels (kafirun).  He regarded himself as a ghazi, a word to describe warriors who fight against infidels.  He was believed indeed as a very pious Muslim leader, frequently seeking omens from the Koran for guidance, such described in his autobiography, the Zafarnama below:

"About this time there arose in my heart the desire to lead an expedition against the infidels, and to become a ghazi; for it had reached my ears that the slayer of infidels is a ghazi, and if he is slain he becomes a martyr. It was on this account that I formed my resolution, but I was undetermined in my mind whether I should direct my expedition against the infidels of China or against the infidels and polytheists of India. In this matter I sought an omen from the Koran, and the verse I opened upon was this, 'O Prophet, make war upon infidels and unbelievers, and treat them with severity.' [Q66.9] My great officers told me that the inhabitants of Hindustan were infidels and unbelievers. In obedience to the order of Almighty Allah I ordered an expedition against them..."

This perhaps justified his instruction to send 100,000 Hindus "to hell" in one day because they are infidels who worship idols and the sun and refused to embrace Islam and their wives and children made slaves.  Thousands and thousands more of Hindus were murdered for the very same reason during his expansion to other parts of India.  The late Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru (himself not a Hindu believer) describes Timur in "Glimpses of World History" as follows: 

"wherever he went he went he spread desolation and pestilence and utter misery. His chief pleasure was the erection of enormous pyramids of skulls. … But Timur was much worse. He stands apart for wanton and fiendish cruelty. In one place, it is said, he erected a tower of 2000 live men and covered them up with brick and mortar." 

Bakhtiyar Khalji

Perhaps not responsible for a massacre as vast as the first two figures but nonetheless an equally barbarous ruler is Bakhtiyar Khalji, the first Muslim ruler of Bengal.  During his raid to Bihar in 1193, he burned and demolished Nalanda University.

Even at that time, Nalanda University was already one of the oldest universities (having been existing for over a millenium) and was also the most prominent Buddhist university in the world.  Apparently, Khalji instructed the destroying of this institution because it promoted un-Islamic teaching (obviously, being a Buddhist university and monastery!)  It is said that due to the vast collection of the university's library, it was completely destroyed only after three months since the incident took place.  One can only imagine how much damage this single act has cost the human race in general.

Not satisfied with burning Buddhist holy scriptures and the library collection, Khalji also ordered burnings and beheadings of thousands of monks in the monastery (an estimate puts the number of pupils and teachers in the university during its golden era to be more than 10,000).  Again, this piece of history is not widely known among Muslims.   

(to be continued)