The textbooks which might be taught to Pakistani youngsters recount exploits of quite a few previous Muslim heroes in them. Standing tall amongst these heroes is one Arab by the identify of Muhammad bin Qasim, born on 31 December 695 within the metropolis of Taif in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Following are simply a few of the tokens of Pakistanis’ veneration for his or her hero.
He’s generally known as ‘the primary Pakistani’. Port Qasim, Pakistan’s second main port is known as in his honour. PNS Qasim is the identify of a Pakistani Naval ship. Qasim is a reasonably frequent first identify for Pakistani male youngsters. The day of Yom-e-Babul Islam is noticed annually in Pakistan in reminiscence of Muhammad bin Qasim.
Now allow us to see what we’re instructed about this hero and what we’re not.
We’re instructed that Muhammad bin Qasim was an Umayyad basic who conquered the Sindh and Punjab areas, now part of Pakistan, alongside the Indus River. That on the tender age of simply seventeen, he was despatched by Caliph Al-Walid-I to steer a military in direction of South Asia to launch Muslim girls and kids who have been kidnapped by the Hindu Raja of the time. That it was attributable to his conquest of Sindh and Punjab that the period of Islamic rule in South Asia was first launched in actual earnest. This a lot we’re instructed. Pakistani youngsters are purported to memorize and be examined in.
What we’re not instructed is that the kidnapping occasion of girls and kids, although a historic taking place by itself, might have been solely part of the legend. That the Umayyad curiosity within the area might have stemmed extra from their want to manage the commerce route down the Indus River valley to the seaports of Sindh, an essential hyperlink within the historical Silk Street, than anything. That on sure earlier events too, they’d unsuccessfully sought to realize management of the route, by way of the Khyber Go, from the Turki-Shahis of Gandhara. That by taking Sindh, Gandhara’s southern neighbour, they have been finally capable of open a second entrance towards the Gandhara.
We’re additionally not instructed a few of the different doable causes for this marketing campaign. That the first motive cited within the Chach Nama, that genuine doc that recounts the historical past of Sindh in nice particulars, for the expedition by the governor of Basra, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, towards Raja Dahir was a pirate raid off the coast of Debal leading to items to the caliph from the king of Serendib (as we speak’s Sri Lanka) being stolen. That the Meds, a Sindhi tribe often known as Bawarij, had focused Sassanid delivery up to now too. That they sniped the commerce routes incessantly from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar.
We’re additionally not instructed that probably the true motive of the marketing campaign might have been purely financial through which the kidnapping of girls and kids was however one fateful act of those semi-nomadic tribes whose actions disturbed a lot of the Empire’s delivery commerce within the Western Indian Ocean. That the kidnapping incident might solely have offered a ‘simply motive’ to the rising energy of the Umayyad Caliphate to realize a foothold within the Makran, Baluchistan and Sindh areas–an space the Empire builders had been eyeing for a fairly very long time by then. That one different doable motive for the marketing campaign could possibly be the coverage of the native tribes of offering refuge to Sassanid and Arab rebels who fled the Arab advance and the accompanied Umayyad persecution in a quest to consolidate their rule. This we’re not instructed.
We’re instructed that he handled most kindly his new topics when he turned their governor. What we’re not instructed is that the place resistance was robust, long-drawn-out and rigorous, Muhammad bin Qasim’s response was fairly ruthless. By credible accounts, he inflicted 6,000 deaths at Rawar, between 6,000 and 26,000 at Brahmanabad, 4,000 at Iskalandah and 6,000 at Multan. And that he constructed many mosques upon the websites of razed Hindu temples.
We’re instructed that his nemesis Raja Dahir was a merciless and unjust ruler and was concerned in piracy. That he was the one which kidnapped and tortured the ladies and kids and refused to recant. That he was an immoral man that married his personal sister.
What we’re not instructed is that Raja Dahir can also be admired by many current day Sindhi Sunni and Shia Muslims. That he had given shelter in Sindh to a widely known follower of Imam Hussian, Muhammad Bin Allafi–a person a lot sought by the Umayyad of their lethal hunt for eliminating the final of the Ahl-e-Bait (Prophet Muhammad’s speedy household). That, based on another sources, Dahir had even provided asylum to Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, who was being persecuted at dwelling. That on account of this supply, Hussain was on his approach to Sindh when he was seized at Karbala in Iraq and killed most viciously. That based on G.M. Syed, the grand previous man of Sindh, “the Sindhis weep for Hussain ibn Ali and so they weep for Raja Dahir Sen.” This we’re not instructed.
However above all what we’re not instructed is the way of this hero’s loss of life and the occasions main as much as the event.
Chach Nama tells of an intriguing but broadly believed story of Muhammad bin Qasim’s loss of life. In line with this account, when Raja Dahir was killed within the battlefield, his daughters have been captured as struggle booty within the Islamic custom. The Governor, Muhammad bin Qasim, then despatched them as ‘presents’ to the Caliph of the time Khalifa Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, to change into part of his huge harem. In line with the narration, the ladies tricked the Khalifa into believing that Muhammad bin Qasim had violated them earlier than sending them on. Reportedly, the Khalifa obtained so incensed for having been despatched ‘tainted’ items that he ordered Muhammad bin Qasim returned to Syria wrapped in oxen hides, his exploits however. The journey is alleged to have resulted in his loss of life from suffocation.
The aforementioned model attributes the ladies’s motive for the ploy to exacting vengeance for his or her father’s loss of life. It additionally states that upon discovering the trick after the loss of life of Muhammad bin Qasim, the Khalifa deeply repented his motion and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall as a punishment.
The Persian historian Baladhuri, nevertheless, states that the Khalifa Abd al-Malik was a political enemy of Umayyad governor Al-Hajaaj ibn Yusuf, Muhammad bin Qasim’s paternal uncle. He persecuted all those that have been thought of near Hajaaj after his loss of life. Muhammad bin Qasim was subsequently recalled within the midst of a marketing campaign of capturing extra territory up north. An honourable man, he reported to his Caliph regardless of his loyal associates dissuading him from it. Upon arrival, he was promptly imprisoned in Mosul, Iraq. Intensely merciless torture on him began instantly afterwards. So extreme was this torture that on one sizzling July afternoon Muhammad bin Qasim breathed his final throughout essentially the most excessive of those periods.
Whichever account is true, we’re instructed none of those.
Two information, nevertheless, stay undisputed.
First, he was 22 years previous when his personal Caliph ordered him killed. Second, none have learn the tombstone marking his grave for none know the place he lies.
No tombstone for the hero?
