Significance:
It is no longer believed that the Arab conquest
of Sind was a mere episode in the history of India.
What this event reveals is the sea change that
cave over Hindu Civilisation by 1000 A.D. A few
Muslim traders earlier settled in the Malabar
region. But the might of Islam was experienced
in Sind. This challenge was met by rulers of the
day. It is now well-known that the political
ambitions of the successors of Muhammad-bin-
Kasim were check mated by Lalitaditya, Bhoja
and a few other rulers. This particular resistance
bears testimony to the political consciousness of
the day. It is this consciousness that was totally
absent in India when Mahumud of Ghazni
raided the country and soon he was followed
by Ghori who succeeded in establishing Islamic
rule in India. It is surprising to note that when
the Sahiyas checkmated the Arab penetration
in the north-west and rulers within India
contained the penetration of Arabs in Sind, no
concerted efforts were made by Indian rulers
after 1000 A.D. to defeat the invaders except for
the first battle of Tarain to some extent. Instead,
we hear that Hinduism retreated into its own
shell, a fact sharply revealed by the observations
of Alberuni.
Apart from this significance, the Arab rule
in Sind led to interaction between two cultures.
It is held by some historians that Sind was the
birth-place of later-day Sufism which in turn
occasioned the emergence of the famous bhakti
cult in the middle ages.
Apart from this consequence, the Arab
conquest of sind also led to the transmission of
Indian culture-Panchtantra and scientific lore of
ancient India like the digital system and
knowledge of medicine. It is to be kept in mind
that after the collapse of the Roman empire
intellectuals began to gather in Baghbad,
meaning city of god in Sanskrit. The intellectual
speculations that the city facilitated by the
interaction of Greek and Roman heritage with
that of the Indian lay at the base of the
Renaissance movement in Europe in the 16th
century. “We know definitely from Masudin Ibn
Hauqal that Arab settlers lived side by side with
their Hindu fellow-citizens for many years on
terms of amity and peace, and Amir Khusrav
mentions that the Arab astronomer Abu Mashar
come to Benaras and studied astronomy there
for ten years.
Finally, the significance of the Arab conquest
of Sind lies in the tolerance that was shown to
Hinduism by Islam. Although jaziya was
collected, the Arab governors chose to leave
Hindu religious practices untouched. What India
witnessed after the invasion of Mahmud of
Ghazni was not Islamic influence as pioneered
by the Arabs but central-Asian culture of the
Turkish, nomad who carried the banner of Islam.
In other words, what the history of Arabs in Sind
conveys is the fact that persecution of other
religious was not the avowed doctrine of Islam.
The Arabs had to leave India towards the
end of the 9th century. After the Arabs, the Turks
invaded India. They were attracted mainly by
the fabulous wealth lying in the garbhagriha of
the temples.
