The Great Arab Conquests (56 page)
Read The Great Arab Conquests Online
Authors: Hugh Kennedy
The Brahmins then explained how they had been much honoured and revered in the old kingdom. Muhammad said that they should be allowed the same privileges and status as they had enjoyed under King Chāch, Dāhir’s father. This status was to be inherited by their children. The Brahmins then spread out as revenue collectors. They were allowed to keep their customary dues from the merchants and artisans.
More complaints were raised by the keepers of Buddhist temples.
24
They had previously survived on charitable donations but these had dried up because the people were afraid of the Muslim soldiers. ‘Now’, they lamented, ‘our temples are lying desolate and in ruins and we have no opportunity to worship our idols. We beseech that our just governor will allow us to repair and construct our Buddhist temples and carry on worship as before.’ Muhammad wrote to Hajjāj, who replied that, as long as they paid their tribute, the Muslims had no further rights over them, so they should be allowed to maintain their temples as before. In a meeting held just outside the town, Muhammad gathered all the chiefs, headmen and Brahmins and permitted them to build their temples and carry on commerce with the Muslims. He also told them to show kindness to the Brahmins and to celebrate their holy days as their fathers and grandfathers had before and, perhaps most importantly, to pay three out of every hundred dirhams collected in revenues to the Brahmins and send the rest to the treasury. It was also settled that the Brahmins (presumably those who did not benefit from the tax revenues) would be allowed to go around begging from door to door with copper bowls, collecting corn and using it as they wished.
24
They had previously survived on charitable donations but these had dried up because the people were afraid of the Muslim soldiers. ‘Now’, they lamented, ‘our temples are lying desolate and in ruins and we have no opportunity to worship our idols. We beseech that our just governor will allow us to repair and construct our Buddhist temples and carry on worship as before.’ Muhammad wrote to Hajjāj, who replied that, as long as they paid their tribute, the Muslims had no further rights over them, so they should be allowed to maintain their temples as before. In a meeting held just outside the town, Muhammad gathered all the chiefs, headmen and Brahmins and permitted them to build their temples and carry on commerce with the Muslims. He also told them to show kindness to the Brahmins and to celebrate their holy days as their fathers and grandfathers had before and, perhaps most importantly, to pay three out of every hundred dirhams collected in revenues to the Brahmins and send the rest to the treasury. It was also settled that the Brahmins (presumably those who did not benefit from the tax revenues) would be allowed to go around begging from door to door with copper bowls, collecting corn and using it as they wished.
A further problem was the status of the Jats.
25
Muhammad’s advisers described their low status and how they had been discriminated against in the reign of King Chāch: they had to wear rough clothing; if they rode horses they were not allowed to use saddles or reins but only blankets; they had to take dogs with them so that they could be distinguished; they were obliged to help as guides for travellers day and night; and if any of them committed theft, his children and other members of his family were to be thrown into the fire and burnt. In short, ‘they are all of the wild nature of brutes. They have always been refractory and disobedient to rulers and are always committing highway robberies’. Muhammad was easily convinced that these were ‘a villainous set of people’ and that they should be treated accordingly.
25
Muhammad’s advisers described their low status and how they had been discriminated against in the reign of King Chāch: they had to wear rough clothing; if they rode horses they were not allowed to use saddles or reins but only blankets; they had to take dogs with them so that they could be distinguished; they were obliged to help as guides for travellers day and night; and if any of them committed theft, his children and other members of his family were to be thrown into the fire and burnt. In short, ‘they are all of the wild nature of brutes. They have always been refractory and disobedient to rulers and are always committing highway robberies’. Muhammad was easily convinced that these were ‘a villainous set of people’ and that they should be treated accordingly.
These discussions are very interesting, not because they are necessarily an accurate record of what happened but because of what they tell us of the Muslim settlement and how people viewed it. At the most obvious level, it shows how the Muslims took over the existing administrative personnel and left prevailing social structures largely intact. The accounts serve a twin purpose, of explaining to a Muslim audience how it was that Brahmins continued to be so influential under an ostensibly Muslim government, and why temples should be tolerated. They also showed how the Buddhists were to be tolerated and allowed to practise their religion. For all the non-Muslims, they showed how their status had been accepted by the founding father of Sindi Islam, Muhammad b. Qāsim, and his great adviser, Hajjāj himself. To the unfortunate Jats, they simply showed that the coming of Islam was to bring them no benefits at all.
Muhammad b. Qāsim’s march now became something of a triumphal progress, and at one point the Muslims were greeted by the people dancing to the music of pipes and drums. When he enquired, Muhammad was told that they always greeted their new rulers in this way.
26
The next main objective was al-Rūr, described as the biggest town in Sind. Dāhir’s son Fofi had fortified himself in the city and intended to resist. According to the Chāchnāmah,
27
Fofi and the people of al-Rūr believed that Dāhir was still alive and that he would soon come to rescue them. Even when Muhammad produced his widow Lādī and assured them that he was dead, the defenders accused her of conspiring with the ‘cow-eaters’ and reaffirmed their faith that he would come with a mighty army to save them. According to this imaginative account, they were convinced only by the testimony of a local sorceress. When consulted, she retired to her chambers and emerged after a few hours saying that she had travelled the whole world looking for Dāhir, producing a nutmeg from Ceylon as proof of her voyages, and had seen no sign of him. This intelligence persuaded many of the inhabitants that they should open negotiations with Muhammad, whose reputation for virtue and justice was well known. That night Fofi and his entourage slipped away, and when the Arabs began to assault the city the next day, the merchants and artisans opened negotiations, saying that they had given up their allegiance to the Brahmins and were convinced that the forces of Islam would triumph. Muhammad accepted their overtures, after receiving assurances that they would abandon all military operations. The population gathered at a shrine called the Nawbahār (the same name as the great Buddhist shrine at Balkh) and prostrated themselves before the marble and alabaster image. Muhammad asked the keeper of the temple whose image it was. He also took one of the bracelets from the arms of the statue. When the keeper noticed that it had disappeared, Muhammad teased him, asking how it could be that the god did not know who had taken the bracelet. Then, laughing, he produced it and it went back on the arm.
26
The next main objective was al-Rūr, described as the biggest town in Sind. Dāhir’s son Fofi had fortified himself in the city and intended to resist. According to the Chāchnāmah,
27
Fofi and the people of al-Rūr believed that Dāhir was still alive and that he would soon come to rescue them. Even when Muhammad produced his widow Lādī and assured them that he was dead, the defenders accused her of conspiring with the ‘cow-eaters’ and reaffirmed their faith that he would come with a mighty army to save them. According to this imaginative account, they were convinced only by the testimony of a local sorceress. When consulted, she retired to her chambers and emerged after a few hours saying that she had travelled the whole world looking for Dāhir, producing a nutmeg from Ceylon as proof of her voyages, and had seen no sign of him. This intelligence persuaded many of the inhabitants that they should open negotiations with Muhammad, whose reputation for virtue and justice was well known. That night Fofi and his entourage slipped away, and when the Arabs began to assault the city the next day, the merchants and artisans opened negotiations, saying that they had given up their allegiance to the Brahmins and were convinced that the forces of Islam would triumph. Muhammad accepted their overtures, after receiving assurances that they would abandon all military operations. The population gathered at a shrine called the Nawbahār (the same name as the great Buddhist shrine at Balkh) and prostrated themselves before the marble and alabaster image. Muhammad asked the keeper of the temple whose image it was. He also took one of the bracelets from the arms of the statue. When the keeper noticed that it had disappeared, Muhammad teased him, asking how it could be that the god did not know who had taken the bracelet. Then, laughing, he produced it and it went back on the arm.
After the surrender, Muhammad ordered a number of executions of fighting men, but Lādī interceded, saying that the people of the town were ‘good builders and merchants, who cultivated their lands well and always kept the treasury full’, so Muhammad spared them. Once again the narrative points to the compromises and working relationships that accompanied the conquests: the temple was undisturbed and the livelihoods of most of the inhabitants continued uninterrupted. The Muslim conqueror was celebrated, not for his zeal in the rigid enforcement of Islamic norms, but for his tolerance and easygoing humour. This is also in marked contrast with the destruction of temples and religious figures during the Arab conquest of Transoxania at exactly the same time. It is difficult to know whether this was the result of the pacific approach of the Buddhists or simply because the Muslims were too few in number to challenge existing customs. When the town had submitted completely, Muhammad left two of his Arab followers in charge, exhorting them to deal kindly with the people and look after them.
The other main city, Multān, fell soon after. The conquest, called ‘the opening of the house of gold’ by the victorious Arabs, marked the furthest point of the Muslim advance in Sind at this stage. The town was rich and the temple (
budd
) was a major pilgrimage centre. The inhabitants put up a stout resistance and the besieging Muslims ran very short of supplies, being obliged to eat their own donkeys. The end came when they were shown how drinking water entered the city and were able to cut off the supply. The people surrendered unconditionally. The men of fighting age and the priests were all put to death and the women and children enslaved. The Muslims acquired vast amounts of gold.
28
Curiously, there is an old tradition that Khālid b. al-Walīd, known to history as the conqueror of Syria, is buried in Multān and his supposed tomb is the oldest Muslim building in the city.
budd
) was a major pilgrimage centre. The inhabitants put up a stout resistance and the besieging Muslims ran very short of supplies, being obliged to eat their own donkeys. The end came when they were shown how drinking water entered the city and were able to cut off the supply. The people surrendered unconditionally. The men of fighting age and the priests were all put to death and the women and children enslaved. The Muslims acquired vast amounts of gold.
28
Curiously, there is an old tradition that Khālid b. al-Walīd, known to history as the conqueror of Syria, is buried in Multān and his supposed tomb is the oldest Muslim building in the city.
The conquests in India posed a new sort of problem for the victors. In most of the lands that the early Muslims conquered, the majority of the population could be considered ‘people of the Book’, which meant that they could be allowed to keep their lives, property and religious practices as long as they accepted Muslim rule and their status as
dhimmi
s. After the conquest of Iran, it had been gradually accepted that the Zoroastrians could be considered as ‘people of the Book’ too. The problem in Sind was that the population were mostly either Buddhists or Hindus. As far as most Muslims were concerned, Buddhists and Hindus, with their elaborate images and statues, were no more than idolators plain and simple, who could be exterminated at will if they did not convert to Islam. The Arab conquerors of Sind soon tempered their religious enthusiasm with pragmatism. After he had taken al-Rūr, Muhammad is said to have reasoned that ‘the
budd
are like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews and the fire-temples of the Magians’ and that they should be respected in the same way. In practice this meant that both Buddhists and Hindus should, in effect, be accepted as
dhimmis
. In many cases local Brahmins and Buddhist monks continued to run the local administration for their new Muslim masters.
dhimmi
s. After the conquest of Iran, it had been gradually accepted that the Zoroastrians could be considered as ‘people of the Book’ too. The problem in Sind was that the population were mostly either Buddhists or Hindus. As far as most Muslims were concerned, Buddhists and Hindus, with their elaborate images and statues, were no more than idolators plain and simple, who could be exterminated at will if they did not convert to Islam. The Arab conquerors of Sind soon tempered their religious enthusiasm with pragmatism. After he had taken al-Rūr, Muhammad is said to have reasoned that ‘the
budd
are like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews and the fire-temples of the Magians’ and that they should be respected in the same way. In practice this meant that both Buddhists and Hindus should, in effect, be accepted as
dhimmis
. In many cases local Brahmins and Buddhist monks continued to run the local administration for their new Muslim masters.
The initial conquests were brought to an abrupt end by events in the Muslim heartlands. In 715, when Muhammad had been in Sind for three and a half years, there was a major change of government. Hajjāj, his relative and patron, had died in 714 and the caliph Walīd I followed him the next year. The accession of Sulaymān to the Umayyad throne saw a violent reaction against Hajjāj and his officials. Muhammad was unceremoniously ordered back to Iraq, where he was imprisoned and tortured by the new governor and soon died in captivity. He deserved better. Like his contemporaries, Qutayba b. Muslim in Khurasan and Mūsā b. Nusayr in Spain, he found that his achievements in the service of Islam were no protection against vengeful political rivals.
Muhammad’s dismissal marked the virtual end of active campaigning. In the short period of his rule, Muhammad had laid the foundations for Muslim penetration of the subcontinent. He had established the legal framework and precedents that would allow Muslims to live at peace with Buddhists and Hindus. Compared with later Muslim invaders of the Indian subcontinent like Mahmūd of Ghazna in the early eleventh century, he left a reputation for mildness, humanity and tolerance, and the natives wept over his disgrace.
29
He had also made a vast amount of money. Hajjāj is reported to have made a simple balance sheet for the whole campaign. He reckoned he had spent 60 million dirhams on equipping and paying Muhammad’s forces, but his share of the booty had amounted to 120 million, a tidy profit by anyone’s standards.
30
As usual, the figures may well be exaggerated, but this is the only record we have of someone attempting such a clear calculation in the whole history of the early Muslim conquests. The sums make it clear that such expeditions could be a very useful way of generating revenue.
29
He had also made a vast amount of money. Hajjāj is reported to have made a simple balance sheet for the whole campaign. He reckoned he had spent 60 million dirhams on equipping and paying Muhammad’s forces, but his share of the booty had amounted to 120 million, a tidy profit by anyone’s standards.
30
As usual, the figures may well be exaggerated, but this is the only record we have of someone attempting such a clear calculation in the whole history of the early Muslim conquests. The sums make it clear that such expeditions could be a very useful way of generating revenue.
The Muslims were now in possession of most of the lower Indus valley. The area from Multān south to the mouth of the river was to be the limits of Muslim settlement on the Indian subcontinent. It was separated from the rest of India (Hind) by the deserts that now divide Pakistan from India to the east of the Indus. To the north of Multān, the Punjab was outside Muslim control until the early eleventh century, when the Ghaznevids from eastern Afghanistan extended Muslim rule further to the north and east.
There is an interesting footnote to the Arab conquest of Sind. As we have seen, some of the Zutt were already settled in Iraq before the coming of Islam. Many more seem to have arrived as a result of the Muslim involvement in their native lands in the Indus valley. Soon the Umayyad caliphs moved some of them to the hot plains around Antioch in northern Syria, along with their water buffalo. Some of those in northern Syria were later captured in a Byzantine raid on Ain Zarba and taken away with their women, children and their precious water buffalo. Gypsies under the Greek name of Atsinganoi appear in the neighbourhood of Constantinople in the eleventh century. The Zutt of Iraq remained as a restless element in the local population, but they disappear from history after the year 1000. In 1903 M. J. de Goeje, the great Dutch orientalist, published a monograph in which he suggested that these Zutt were the origin of at least some of the Gypsies of modern Europe.
31
The Gypsy language clearly originates from north-west India, and they may have emigrated from Syria through the Byzantine Empire to the Balkans, where they first appear in the fifteenth century. There is, however, no direct evidence for this, and the theory remains no more than an intriguing speculation.
31
The Gypsy language clearly originates from north-west India, and they may have emigrated from Syria through the Byzantine Empire to the Balkans, where they first appear in the fifteenth century. There is, however, no direct evidence for this, and the theory remains no more than an intriguing speculation.
The conquest of Spain and Portugal, known in the Arabic texts as al-Andalus, a word whose origins remain quite unclear, was extremely swift. Substantial Muslim forces first crossed the Straits of Gibraltar in 711, and by 716 most of the peninsula had come under Muslim rule in one form or another. Events in the Iberian peninsula are hardly noted in the great chronicles that form the basis of our understanding of the formation of the Muslim state in the Middle East. The Andalusi-Arab historical tradition was slow to get going. There is some patchy material, notably the work of the Egyptian Ibn Abd al-Hakam, from the ninth century, but it was not until the tenth century, 200 years after the original conquest, that an attempt was made, by a Persian immigrant called Rāzī, to collect the traditions, memories and legends of the conquest and to arrange them in chronicle form. It is not surprising that the accounts are short of specific detail and replete with legend and confusion. The Arabic sources can be compared to, and to some extent checked against, a so-called
Chronicle of 754
, named after the year of the last entry. This short Latin work provides a skeleton outline narrative. It was probably composed in Cordoba, possibly by a Christian working as a functionary in the local Muslim administration. The account of the Muslim conquest is curiously matter-of-fact and is concerned almost entirely with secular matters. At no stage does it mention that the invaders were Muslims or that they were of a different religion from the people of Spain.
Chronicle of 754
, named after the year of the last entry. This short Latin work provides a skeleton outline narrative. It was probably composed in Cordoba, possibly by a Christian working as a functionary in the local Muslim administration. The account of the Muslim conquest is curiously matter-of-fact and is concerned almost entirely with secular matters. At no stage does it mention that the invaders were Muslims or that they were of a different religion from the people of Spain.
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