Chapter IX · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN INDIA.
Reading edition
The Muhammadan invasions of India and the foundation and growth of the Muhammadan power in that country, have found many historians, both among contemporary and later writers. But hitherto no one has attempted to write a history of the spread of Islam in India, considered apart from the military successes and administrative achievements of its adherents. Indeed, to many, such a task must appear impossible. For India has often been picked out as a typical instance of a country in which Islam owes its existence and continuance in existence to the settlement in it of foreign, conquering Muhammadan races, who have transmitted their faith to their descendants, and only succeeded in spreading it beyond their own circle by means of persecution and forced conversions. Thus the missionary spirit of Islam is supposed to show itself in its true light in the brutal massacres of Brahmans by Maḥmūd of G͟haznạ̄, in the persecutions of Aurangzeb, the forcible circumcisions effected by Ḥaydar ʻAlī, Tīpū Sulṭān and the like.
Rather later in the same century, a native of Persian ʻIrāq, by name Abū ʻAlī Qalandar, came into India and took up his residence at Panipat, where he died at the ripe age of 100, in A.D. 1324. The Muslim Rajputs of this city, numbering about 300 males, are descended from a certain Amīr Singh who was converted by this saint. His tomb is still held in honour and is visited by many pilgrims.
It is this absence of class prejudices which constitutes the real strength of Islam in India, and enables it to win so many converts from Hinduism.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Census of India, 1891. General Report by J. A. Baines, p. 167. (London, 1893.) ↑Note 2 · Id. pp. 126, 207. ↑Note 3 · Elliot, vol. ii. p. 448. ↑Note 4 · Muḥammad b. Qāsim invited the Hindu princes to embrace Islam, and the invaders who followed him were probably equally observant of the religNote 5 · Or Baran, the old name of Bulandshahr. ↑Note 6 · Elliot, vol. ii. pp. 42–3. ↑Note 7 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. iii. part ii. p. 85. ↑Note 8 · “The military adventurers, who founded dynasties in Northern India and carved out kingdoms in the Dekhan, cared little for things spiritual;Note 9 · Firishtah, vol. i. p. 184. ↑Note 10 · Ibn Baṭūṭah, tome iii. p. 197. ↑Note 11 · Elliot, vol. iii. p. 386. ↑Note 12 · Mankind and the Church, p. 286. (London, 1907.) ↑Note 13 · Sir Richard Temple: India in 1880, p. 164. (London, 1881.) Punjab States Gazetteers, vol. xxxvi A, Bahawalpur, p. 183. ↑Note 14 · Manual of Titles for Oudh, p. 78. (Allahabad, 1889.) ↑Note 15 · Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh, vol. i. p. 466. ↑Note 16 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. iii. part ii. p. 46. ↑Note 17 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. xiv. part ii. p. 119. In the Cawnpore district, the Musalman branch of the Dikhit family observes Muhammadan cNote 18 · Ibbetson, p. 163. ↑Note 19 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. vi. p. 64. Compare also id. vol. xiv. part iii. p. 47. “Muhammadan cultivators are not numerous; they are usuaNote 20 · Ibbetson, p. 163. ↑Note 21 · Indeed Firishtah distinctly says: “Zealous for the faith of Mahommed, he rewarded proselytes with a liberal hand, though he did not choose tNote 22 · The Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xxii. p. 222; vol. xxiii. p. 282. ↑Note 23 · Innes, pp. 72–3, 190. ↑Note 24 · Sir W. W. Hunter: The Religions of India. (The Times, February 25th, 1888.) ↑Note 25 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. vi. p. 518. ↑Note 26 · Gazetteer of the N.W.P., vol. v. part i. pp. 302–3. ↑Note 27 · Sir Alfred C. Lyall: Asiatic Studies, p. 236. ↑Note 28 · A tomb in the cemetery of Pantalāyini Kollam bears an inscription with the date A.H. 166. (Innes, p. 436.) ↑Note 29 · Zayn al-Dīn, pp. 34–5. ↑Note 30 · Id. p. 36 (init.). ↑Note 31 · Id. p. 21. ↑Note 32 · The modern Madāyi. ↑Note 33 · Zayn al-Dīn, pp. 23–4. ↑Note 34 · Id. p. 25. ↑Note 35 · Innes, p. 41. ↑Note 36 · Id. p. 398. ↑Note 37 · Ibn Baṭūṭah, tome iv. pp. 82, 88, etc. ↑Note 38 · Innes, p. 190. ↑Note 39 · Oboardo Barbosa, p. 310. Similarly it has been conjectured that but for the arrival of the Portuguese, Ceylon might have become a MuhammadanNote 40 · Qurʼān, xvi. 126. ↑Note 41 · ʻAbd al-Razzāq: Maṭlaʻ al-saʻdayn, fol. 173. ↑Note 42 · They are found chiefly in the Tamil-speaking districts of Madura, Tinnevelly, Coimbatore, North Arcot and the Nilgiris. ↑Note 43 · The Imperial Gazetteer of India (vol. xxiv. p. 47) spells his name Nādir Shāh; Qādir Ḥusayn K͟hān calls him Nathad Vali. ↑Note 44 · Madras District Gazetteers. Trichinopoly, vol. i. p. 338. (Madras, 1907.) Qādir Ḥusayn K͟hān: South Indian Musalmans, p. 36. (Madras, 1910.)Note 45 · Qādir Ḥusayn K͟hān, pp. 36–8. ↑Note 46 · Qādir Ḥusayn K͟hān, op. cit. pp. 39–42. Madras District Gazetteers. Anantapur, vol. i. pp. 193–4. (Madras, 1905.) ↑Note 47 · Zayn al-Dīn, pp. 33 (l. 4), 36 (l. 1). ↑Note 48 · Innes, p. 190. Census of India, 1911. Vol. xii. Part. I. p. 54. ↑Note 49 · Report on the Census of the Madras Presidency, 1871, by W. R. Cornish, pp. 71, 72, 109. (Madras, 1874.) ↑Note 50 · Report of the Second Decennial Missionary Conference held at Calcutta 1882–3 (pp. 228, 233, 248). (Calcutta, 1883.) ↑Note 51 · Ibn Baṭūṭah, tome iv. p. 128. Ibn Baṭūṭah resided in the Maldive Islands during the years 1343–4 and married “the daughter of a Vizier who wNote 52 · H. C. P. Bell: The Maldive Islands, pp. 23–5, 57–8, 71. (Colombo, 1883.) ↑Note 53 · Memoir on the Inhabitants of the Maldive Islands. By J. A. Young and W. Christopher. (Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society from 1Note 54 · Innes, pp. 485, 492. ↑Note 55 · Masʻūdī, tome ii. pp. 85–6. ↑Note 56 · The Bombay Gazetteer, vol. x. p 132; vol. xvi. p. 75. ↑Note 57 · Id. vol. xxiii. p. 282. ↑Note 58 · Sometimes called Sayyid Mak͟hdūm Gīsūdarāz. ↑Note 59 · The Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xviii. p. 501; vol. xxi. pp. 218, 223. ↑Note 60 · Id. vol. xiii. part i. p. 231. ↑Note 61 · Id. vol. xxii. p. 242. ↑Note 62 · Id. vol. xvi. pp. 75–6. ↑Note 63 · Id. vol. xxi. p. 203. ↑Note 64 · At the time of the Arab conquest the dominions of the Hindu ruler of Sind extended as far north as this city, which is now no longer includeNote 65 · Balād͟hurī, p. 441 (fin.) ↑Note 66 · Elliot, vol. i. pp. 185–6. ↑Note 67 · Probably the Sindān in Abrāsa, the southern district of Cutch. ↑Note 68 · Balād͟hurī, p. 446. ↑Note 69 · Iṣṭak͟hrī, pp. 173–4. ↑Note 70 · Balād͟hurī, p. 446. ↑Note 71 · Iṣṭak͟hrī, loc. cit. Ibn Ḥawqal, p. 230 sq. Idrīsī (Géographie d’Édrisi, traduite par P. A. Jaubert, vol. i. p. 175 sqq.). ↑Note 72 · Masʻūdī, vol. i. p. 207. ↑Note 73 · Elliot, vol. i. p. 273. ↑Note 74 · Bombay Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 93. ↑Note 75 · Khojā Vṛttānt, p. 208. Sir Bartle Frere: The Khojas: the Disciples of the Old Man of the Mountain. Macmillan’s Magazine, vol. xxxiv. pp. 431Note 76 · Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix. part ii. p. 26. ↑Note 77 · K. B. Fazalullah Lutfullah conjectures that Nūr Satāgar came to India rather later, in the reign of Bhīma II (A.D. 1179–1242.) (Bombay GazetNote 78 · Khojā Vṛttānt, p. 154–8. ↑Note 79 · Nūr Allāh al-Shūshtarī: Majālis al-Muʼminīn, fol. 65. (India Office MS. No. 1400.) ↑Note 80 · A town ten miles south-west of Ahmadabad. ↑Note 81 · Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix. part ii. pp. 66, 76. ↑Note 82 · Bombay Gazetteer, vol. v. p. 89. ↑Note 83 · Id. vol. ii. p. 378; vol. iii. pp. 36–7. ↑Note 84 · So Firishtah, but see H. Blochmann: Contributions to the Geography and History of Bengal. (J. A. S. B., vol. xlii. No. 1, pp. 264–6. 1873.) Note 85 · J. H. Ravenshaw: Gaur: its ruins and inscriptions, p. 99. (London, 1878.) Firishtah, vol. iv. p. 337. ↑Note 86 · Wise, p. 29. ↑Note 87 · Census of India, 1901, vol. vi. part i. p. 170. ↑Note 88 · Id. p. 30. ↑Note 89 · Charles Stewart: The History of Bengal, p. 176. (London, 1813.) H. Blochmann: Contributions to the Geography and History of Bengal. (J. A. SNote 90 · The Indian Evangelical Review, p. 278. (January 1883.) ↑Note 91 · Sir W. W. Hunter: The Religions of India. (The Times, February 25, 1888.) See also Wise, p. 32. ↑Note 92 · Wise, p. 37. ↑Note 93 · Blochmann, op. cit. p. 260. ↑Note 94 · Wise, pp. 48–55. ↑Note 95 · G͟hulām Sarwar: K͟hazīnat al-Aṣfīyā, vol. ii. p. 230. ↑Note 96 · Otherwise known as Shayk͟h Bahā al-Dīn Zakariyyā. ↑Note 97 · Ibbetson, p. 163. ↑Note 98 · Aṣg͟har ʻAlī: Jawāhir-i-Farīdī (A.H. 1033), p. 395. (Lahore, 1884.) ↑Note 99 · Elliot, vol. ii. p. 548. ↑Note 100 · Punjab States Gazetteers, vol. xxxvi A. Bahawalpur State. (Lahore, 1908), p. 160 sqq. The names of some of the tribes who ascribe their convNote 101 · Id. p. 171. ↑Note 102 · Ibn Baṭūṭah, tome iv. p. 217. Yule, p. 515. ↑Note 103 · The Indian Evangelical Review, vol. xvi, pp. 52–3. (Calcutta, 1889–90.) The Contemporary Review, February 1889, p. 170. The Spectator, OctobNote 104 · Garcin de Tassy: La Langue et la Littérature Hindoustanies de 1850 à 1869, p. 343. (Paris, 1874.) ↑Note 105 · Mawlavī Ḥasan ʻAlī furnished me with these figures some years before his death in 1896. In an obituary notice published in “The Moslem ChronNote 106 · Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xii. p. 126. ↑Note 107 · Id. vol. xvi. p. 81. ↑Note 108 · Tuḥfat al-Hind, p. 3. (Dehli, A.H. 1309.) ↑Note 109 · The Indian Evangelical Review, 1884, p. 128. Garcin de Tassy: La Langue et la Littérature Hindoustanies de 1850 à 1869, p. 485. (Paris, 1874Note 110 · Ibbetson, p. 184. ↑Note 111 · The Rajputana Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 90; vol. ii. p. 47. (Calcutta, 1879.) ↑Note 112 · On these as they affect the Muhammadans, see the Census of India, 1901. Vol. vi. p. 172. ↑Note 113 · E. T. Dalton, p. 324. ↑Note 114 · For an account of such Hinduising of the aboriginal tribes see Sir Alfred Lyall: Asiatic Studies, pp. 102–4. ↑Note 115 · E. T. Dalton, p. 89. ↑Note 116 · The Missionary Review of the World, N.S. vol. xiii, pp. 72–3. (New York, 1900.) ↑Note 117 · Sir Alfred Lyall (Asiatic Studies, p. 29) speaks of the perceptible proclivity towards the faith of Islam occasionally exhibited by some of Note 118 · Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh, vol. i. p. xix. ↑Note 119 · To give one instance only: in Ghātampur, in the district of Cawnpore, one branch of a large family is Muslim in obedience to the vow of theiNote 120 · Instances of such causes of conversion are given in the Census of India, 1901. Vol. vi. Bengal, part. i, Appendix II. ↑Note 121 · Report on the Census of the N.W.P. and Oudh, 1881, by Edward White, p. 62. (Allahabad, 1882.) ↑Note 122 · Id. p. 63. ↑Note 123 · Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh, vol. i. p. xix. ↑Note 124 · Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh, vol. i. pp. xxiii–xxiv. ↑Note 125 · Khojā Vṛttānt, p. 141. ↑Note 126 · Or Shams al-Dīn, according to another account, see Muḥammad Haydar, p. 433 (n. 2). ↑Note 127 · Firishtah, vol. iv. pp. 464, 469. ↑Note 128 · F. Drew: The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories, pp. 58, 155. (London, 1875.) ↑Note 129 · Drew, op. cit. p. 359. ↑Note 130 · On this word see Yule’s Marco Polo, vol. i. p. 290. ↑Note 131 · Aḥmad Shāh: Four years in Tibet, pp. 45, 74. (Benares, 1906.) ↑Note 132 · Broomhall, p. 206. Tu Wen-siu, the leader of the Panthay rebellion from 1856 to 1873, who for sixteen years was practically Sultan of half tNote 133 · Mission d’Ollone, pp. 207, 226, 233. ↑Note 134 · Broomhall, p. 206. ↑Note 135 · A. Bastian: Die Geschichte der Indochinesen, p. 159. (Leipzig, 1866.) ↑Note 136 · R. du M. M., tome i. p. 275. (1907.) ↑Note 137 · But among the sixty-six millions of Indian Musalmans there are vast numbers of converts or descendants of converts, in whose conversion forcNote 138 · From the fifteenth year after the death of the Prophet, when an Arab expedition was sent into Sind, up to the eighteenth century, a series oNote 139 · These new converts probably took the earliest opportunity of apostatising presented to them by the retreat of the conqueror—a kind of actionNote 140 · But these conquerors would appear to have had very little of that “love for souls” which animates the true missionary and which has achievedNote 141 · As the Muhammadan power became consolidated, and particularly under the Mug͟hal dynasty, the religious influences of Islam naturally became Note 142 · A powerful incentive to conversion was offered, when adherence to an idolatrous system stood in the way of advancement at the Muhammadan couNote 143 · Official pressure is said never to have been more persistently brought to bear upon the Hindus than in the reign of Aurangzeb. In the easterNote 144 · Tīpū Sulṭān is probably the Muhammadan monarch who most systematically engaged in the work of forcible conversion. In 1788 he issued the folNote 145 · How little was effected towards the spread of Islam by violence on the part of the Muhammadan rulers may be judged from the fact that even iNote 146 · But though some Muhammadan rulers may have been more successful in forcing an acceptance of Islam on certain of their Hindu subjects than inNote 147 · The first advent of Islam in South India dates as far back as the eighth century, when a band of refugees, to whom the Mappillas trace theirNote 148 · The traditionary account of the introduction of Islam into Malabar, as given by a Muhammadan historian of the sixteenth century, represents Note 149 · In spite of the circumstantial character of this narrative, there is no evidence of its historicity. Popular belief puts the date of the eveNote 150 · But the legend certainly bears witness to the peaceful character of the proselytising influences that were at work on the Malabar coast for Note 151 · But there would appear to be no record of the individuals who took part in the propaganda, except in the case of the historian ʻAbd al-RazzāNote 152 · Another community of Musalmans in Southern India, the Ravuttans,42 ascribe their conversion to the preaching of missionaries whose tombs areNote 153 · Another group of Muhammadans in Southern India, the Dudekulas, who live by cotton cleaning (as their name denotes) and by weaving coarse fabNote 154 · The history of Islam in Southern India by no means always continued to be of so peaceful a character, but it does not appear that the forcibNote 155 · In fact the Mappillas on the west coast are said to be increasing so considerably through accessions from the lower classes of Hindus, as toNote 156 · It was most probably from Malabar that Islam crossed over to the Laccadive and Maldive Islands, the population of which is now entirely MuslNote 157 · At Mālē, the seat of government, is found the tomb of Shayk͟h Yūsuf Shams al-Dīn, a native of Tabrīz, in Persia, who is said to have been a Note 158 · The introduction of Islam into the neighbouring Laccadive Islands is attributed to an Arab preacher, known to the islanders by the name of MNote 159 · The Deccan also was the scene of the successful labours of many Muslim missionaries. It has already been pointed out that from very early tiNote 160 · One of these Arab preachers, Pīr Mahābīr Khamdāyat, came as a missionary to the Deccan as early as A.D. 1304, and among the cultivating clasNote 161 · Another missionary movement may be said roughly to centre round the city of Multan.64 This in the early days of the Arab conquest was one ofNote 162 · That these conversions were in the main voluntary, may be judged from the toleration that the Arabs, after the first violence of their onslaNote 163 · During the troubles that befell the caliphate in the latter half of the ninth century, Sind, neglected by the central government, came to beNote 164 · It would be strange if these traders, scattered about in the cities of the unbelievers, failed to exhibit the same proselytising zeal as we Note 165 · Sind was also the scene of the labours of Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn, an Ismāʻīlī missionary, who was head of the Khojah sect about the year 1430. In aNote 166 · Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn was not however the first of the Ismāʻīlian missionaries who came into India. He was preceded by ʻAbd Allāh, a missionary seNote 167 · As Nūr Satāgar is revered as the first missionary of the Khojahs, so is ʻAbd Allāh believed by some to have been the founder of the sect of Note 168 · Several small groups of Musalmans in Cutch and Gujarāt trace their conversion to Imām Shāh of Pīrāna,80 who was actively engaged in missionaNote 169 · Many of the Cutch Musalmans that are of Hindu descent reverence as their spiritual leader Dāwal Shāh Pīr, whose real name was Malik ʻAbd al-Note 170 · It is in Bengal, however, that the Muhammadan missionaries in India have achieved their greatest success, as far as numbers are concerned. ANote 171 · Conversions, however, often took place at other times under pressure from the Muhammadan government. The Rajas of Kharagpur were originally Note 172 · Murshid Qulī K͟hān (son of a converted Brahman), who was made governor of Bengal by the Emperor Aurangzeb at the beginning of the eighteenthNote 173 · The Afg͟hān adventurers who settled in this province also appear to have been active in the work of proselytising, for besides the children Note 174 · The existence in Bengal of definite missionary efforts is said to be attested by certain legends of the zeal of private individuals on behalNote 175 · In the nineteenth century there was a remarkable revival of the Muhammadan religion in Bengal, and several sects that owe their origin to thNote 176 · Some account still remains to be given of Muslim missionaries who have laboured in parts of India other than those mentioned above. One of tNote 177 · The conversion of the inhabitants of the western plains of the Panjāb is said to have been effected through the preaching of Bahā al-Ḥaqq ofNote 178 · One of the most famous of the Muslim saints of India and a pioneer of Islam in Rajputana was K͟hwājah Muʻīn al-Dīn Chishtī, who died in AjmīNote 179 · Of immense importance in the history of Islam in India was the arrival in that country of Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn, who is said to have been bornNote 180 · Another such was Shayk͟h Jalāl al-Dīn, a Persian who came into India about the latter half of the fourteenth century and settled down at SilNote 181 · In more recent years there have been abundant witnesses for Islam seeking to spread this faith in India—and with very considerable success; Note 182 · Mawlavī Baqā Ḥusayn K͟hān, an itinerant preacher, in the course of several years converted 228 persons, residents of Bombay, Cawnpore, AjmīrNote 183 · In Patiala, Mawlavī ʻUbayd Allāh, a converted Brahman of great learning, proved himself to be a zealous preacher of Islam, and in spite of tNote 184 · Many Muhammadan preachers have adopted the methods of Christian missionaries, such as street preaching, tract distribution, and other agenciNote 185 · Much of the missionary zeal of the Indian Musalmans is directed towards counteracting the anti-Islamic tendencies of the instruction given bNote 186 · Such movements and the efforts of individual missionaries are, however, quite inadequate to explain the rapid increase of the Muhammadans ofNote 187 · The escape that Islam offers to Hindus from the oppression of the higher castes was strikingly illustrated in Tinnevelli at the close of theNote 188 · Similar instances might be given from other parts of India. A Hindu who has in any way lost caste and been in consequence repudiated by his Note 189 · Love for a Muhammadan woman is occasionally the cause of the conversion of a Hindu, since the marriage of a Muslim woman to an unbeliever isNote 190 · Some striking instances of conversions from the lower castes of Hindus are also found in the agricultural districts of Oudh. Although the MuNote 191 · To complete this survey of Islam in India, some account still remains to be given of the spread of this faith in Kashmīr and thence beyond tNote 192 · It is difficult to say when this Islamising influence first made itself felt in the country. The first Muhammadan king of Kashmīr, Ṣadr al-DNote 193 · When under Akbar, Kashmīr became a province of the Mug͟hal empire, the Muhammadan influence was naturally strengthened and many men of learnNote 194 · To the north and north-east of Kashmīr, the provinces of Baltistan and Ladakh are inhabited by a mixed Tibetan race, among whom Islam has beNote 195 · Tradition ascribes to Muḥammad the saying, “Seek for knowledge, even unto China.”1 Though there is no historical evidence for these words haNote 196 · The Annals of Kwangtung thus record the coming of the first Muslims into China:—“At the beginning of the Tʼang dynasty there came to Canton Note 197 · The Chinese Muhammadans have a legend that their faith was first preached in China by a maternal uncle of the Prophet, and his reputed tomb Note 198 · But there is certainly no distinct evidence of any proselytising activity on the part of the Muslims in China, and indeed very little informNote 199 · The descendants of Sayyid Ajall played a great part in the establishing of Islam in China; it was his grandson who in 1335 obtained from theNote 200 · The Chinese historians of the reign of Qūbīlāy K͟hān make it a ground of complaint against this monarch that he did not employ Chinese offic