Note 3 — ARAB REFERENCES.1

Al Biláduri3 (a.d. 892) states that the first Islámic expedition to India was the one despatched against Táná4 (Thána) by Usmán, son of Al-Ási the Thakafi, who in the fifteenth year of the Hijrah (a.d. 636) was appointed governor of Bahrein and Umán (the Persian Gulf) by the second Khalífah Umar, the son of Khattáb. On the return of the expedition, in reply to his governor’s despatch, the Khalífah Umar is said to have written:5 “Oh brother of Thakíf, thou hast placed the worm in the wood, but by Alláh, had any of my men been slain, I would have taken an equal number from thy tribe.” In spite of this threat Usmán’s brother Hakam, who was deputed by the governor to the charge of Bahrein, despatched a force to Bárúz6 (Broach). Al Biláduri does not record the result of this expedition, but Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. mentions a more successful one to Debal at the mouth of the Indus sent by Hakam under the command of his brother Mughaira. On the death of his uncle Al-Hajjáj (a.d. 714; H. 95) Muhammad the son of Kásim the Arab conqueror of Sindh, is said to have made peace with the inhabitants of Surast or Káthiáváḍ with whom he states the people of Bátia7 that is Bet to the north of Dwárka were then at war. Al Biláduri describes the Bátia men as Meds seafarers and pirates. In the reign of Hishám (a.d. 724) Junnaid, son of Abdur Rahmán Al Murri, who was appointed to the frontier of Sindh is stated to have conquered Jurz (Gujarát) and Bárús (Broach).8 A more permanent result followed a great expedition from Mansúrah in Sindh. This result was the overthrow, from which it never recovered, of the great seaport and capital of Vala or Valabhi.9 Al Biláduri’s next mention10 of Gujarát is in connection with the conquest of Sindán in Kachh and the founding there of a Jámá mosque by Fazl, son of Mahán in the reign of the Abbási Khalífah Al Mámún (a.d. 813–833) the son of the famous Hárún-ur-Rashíd. After Fazl’s death his son Muhammad sailed with sixty vessels against the Meds of Hind, captured Máli11 apparently Mália in north Káthiáváḍ after a great slaughter of the Meds and returned to Sindán.