History of Islamic Genocide In India

Genocide is the worst crime against humanity.

Girish Karnad once went after the author VS Naipaul at the Mumbai LitFest and argued why it was wrong to honor Naipaul with the Lifetime Achievement award.

He targeted Naipaul for his “faulty” understanding of the Muslim contributions to India and how Naipaul was stuck in a narrative that suggested Muslim Invaders ravaged the pristine India and made it poorer.

Referring to the analysis of Indian culture and music by certain Indologists, Mr. Karnad said the whole matrix was already there — the foreigners came, they looked at Indian culture, they saw pristine Hindu culture, they saw that it was corrupted and it was corrupted by Muslims. “Anyone who has read Naipaul’s books will immediately recognise this matrix, which, he claims, he arrived at himself but it is already there in any Indological study long before Naipaul, nearly 200 years before he wrote his books… He writes, for instance, India was ravaged by the Muslim invaders. They ruled it severely, ravaged it for five or six centuries, and they left nothing and they brought poverty to India and so on.”

Not only was he backed by career “leftists” and Muslim celebs, but he said that he proudly stood by his utterances.

Well, let us first start with understanding at the “contributions” to the Hindu society by the Muslim invaders and how they propagated Islam in India.

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A Genocide that is denied by the “Secular” elite.  And that makes me wonder if the Girish Karnads and the left-liberals have been the Ahmednijads of Indian Secularism?  After all Ahmednijad ALSO, despite overwhelming and unequivocal evidence of millions of Jews being slaughtered denied the Jewish genocide by the Nazis and continued to live and thrive in a Wonderland of his own making.  Karnads, and even Javed Jaffri, who backed Karnad on his remarks, demonstrate similar traits.

The Genocide of Hindus by Muslims

Let us articulate the list of Genocides that were perpetrated against Hindus with the specific intent of annihilating them.

In 712 CE, Muhammad bin-Qasim attacked Sindh and demolished many temples and slaughtered and conducted mass executions of the resisting Sindhi forces and made their dependent as Slaves.  This was specifically intensive in the coastal town of Debal. (Chach Nama or Tarekh-e-Hind wa Sindh)

When Muhammad Kasim invaded Sind in 711 AD, Buddhism had no resistance to offer to their fire and steel. The rosary could not be a match for the sword and the terms Love and Peace had no meaning to them. They carried fire and sword wherever they went and obliterated all that came their way. Muhammad triumphantly marched into the country, conquering Debal, Sehwan, Nerun, Brahmanadabad, Alor and Multan one after the other in quick succession, and in less than a year and a half, the far-flung Hindu kingdom was crushed, the great civilization fell back and Sind entered the darkest period of its history. There was a fearful outbreak of religious bigotry in several places and temples were wantonly desecrated. At Debal, the Nairun and Aror temples were demolished and converted into mosques.[Resistors] were put to death and women made captives. The Jizya was exacted with special care.[Hindus] were required to feed Muslim travellers for three days and three nights. (Sindhi Culture by U.T. Thakkur, Univ. of Bombay Publications, 1959)

Slaughter and subjugation of Hindus, including demolition of temples by the invading Muslims started within 80 years of the death of Mohammad!

Hundreds of Hindu temples were destroyed and plundered by Mahmud in his Jihad campaign – including the ones in Mathura (Saunders, Kenneth. A Pageant of India. H. Milford, Oxford University Press pg. 162.) apart from slaughtering and putting to sword thousands of Hindus and making a pastime out of “raising pyramids of the skulls of the Hindus” (Karan, Pradyumna. The Non-Western World:Environment, Development and Human Rights. Routledge pg. 344. and Barron, Milton (1967). Minorities in a Changing World. Knopf p54.)

Of course, Mahmud also plundered and demolished the great Somnath Temple taking away the gems and precious stones while demolishing the Shiva Lingam of the temple. (Kakar, Sudhir. The Colors of Violence: Cultural Identities, Religion, and Conflict. University of Chicago Press P 50)

“The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously at Thanesar that the stream was discolored, not withstanding its purity, and people were unable to drink it. The Sultan returned with plunder which is impossible to count. Praise be to Allah for the honor he bestows on Islam and Muslims.” (Thaneswar)

“The Muslims paid no regard to the booty till they had satiated themselves with the slaughter of the infidels and worshipers of sun and fire…. The number of infidels killed exceeded 50,000” (Somnath)

“The infidels…deserted the fort and tried to cross the foaming river…but many of them were slain, taken or drowned… Nearly fifty thousand men were killed.” (Mathura)

20,000 Hindu prisoners were slaughtered and their heads offered to crows by Mohammad Ghori in Aligarh, Varanasi, and Kalinjar. (Rashid, A. (1969). Society and Culture in Medieval India, 1206-1556 A.D. (Excerpt from Taj-ul-Maasir). Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay)

Let us read specific contributions of Ghori in these places:

•  Aligarh: “those of the horizon who were wise and acute were converted to Islam, but those who stood by their ancestoral faith were slain with the sword”
  • 20,000 prisoners were taken and made slaves: ‘Three bastions were raised as high as heaven with their heads and their carcases became food for the beasts of prey
• Kalinjar: 50,000 prisoners were taken as slaves

Varnasi or Kasi (Benaras) :(Records of Kamil-ut-Tawarikh of Ibn Asir): “The slaughter of Hindus (at Varanasi) was immense; none were spared except women and children,(who were taken into slavery) and the carnage of men went on until the earth was weary.”

It is fashionable to talk highly of the Sufis.  And Girish Karnad had predictably done the same.

Little known fact – the famous Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti came to India along with Mohammad Ghori’s Army from Persia in 1192 AD.  Some extracts from the book “The shrine and cult of Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer” by PM Curie

“It is told that once when he went to perform the pilgrimage to the holy tomb of the Prophet Muhammad, one day from the inside of the pure and blessed tomb a cry came:‘Send for Muinuddin’. When Muinuddin came to the door, he stood there and he saw that presence speak to him.“Muinuddin, you are the essence of my faith, but must go to Hindustan. There is a place called Ajmer, to which one of my sons (descendants) went for a holy war, and now he has become a martyr, and the place has passed again into the hands of infidels. By the grace of your footsteps there, once more shall Islam be made manifest, and the Kafirs be punished by God’s wrath.”

“Accordingly, Muinuddin reached Ajmer in Hindustan. There he said:‘Praise be to God, May he be exalted, for I have gained possession of the property of my brother. Although, at that time there were many temples of idols around the lake, when the Khwaja saw them, he said:‘If God and His Prophet so will, it will not be long before I raze to the ground these idol-temples.’”

“This is followed by tales of Khwaja coming over those Hindu deities and teachers who were strongly opposed to his settling down there”

“It appears that shorn of miracles the story simply suggests that Khwaja came to India determined to eradicate idolatry and paganism and establish Islam in its place. He met with a lot of resistance from the local governor of Rai Pithaura besides resistance from Rai Pithaura himself. With the help of the immense treasure at his disposal and having converted many gullible Hindus to his faith, he became strong enough to invite Rai Pithaura to convert to Islam. Having failed to persuade him, Khwaja sent a message inviting Sultan Shahabuddin Ghori to attack India. Shahabuddin made unsuccessful invasions. Rai Pithaura always allowed him to go back unmolested after his defeat. Ultimately, however, he defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan and killed him”.

Also read about his strategy of using cow slaughter to humiliate the Hindus – Why Cow Slaughter Represents Regressive Minds and Hegemonic Ideology

Khwaja Amir Khurd, disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya (Khwaja Chisti’s disciple) wrote in ‘Siyar-ul-Awliya ’ – a history of the Chistiya School about the Khwaja’s exploits amogst the Hindus and his attempts to establish Islam in India.

His [Muinuddin’s] blessed tongue uttered spontaneously,‘We have handed over Pithora alive to the army of Islam.’ In those very days, Sultan Muizuddin Sam arrived in Ajmer from Ghazni. Pithora had to face the army of Islam. He was captured alive by Sultan Muizuddin… The Khwaja [Muinuddin] was a worker of great wonders. Before he reached Hindustan, all its cities right up to the point of sunrise were sunk in tumult and infidelity and were involved with idols and idolatry. Everyone among the rabble [Gods] of Hindustan claimed to be the great God and a co-sharer in the divinity of Allah. The people paid homage to stones, sods of clay, trees, quadrupeds, cows and bulls and their dung. The darkness of infidelism had made still more firm the seals on their hearts… Muinuddin was indeed the very sun of the true faith. As a result of his arrival, the darkness that had spread over this country was dispelled. It became bright and glowed in the light of Islam… Anyone who has become a Musalman in this country will stay a Musalman till the Day of Dissolution. His progeny will also remain Musalman… The people [of Hindustan] will be brought out of Darul-harb into Darul-Islam by means of many wars.”(Amir Khurd, Siyar-ul-Awliya, New Delhi, 1985, pp. 111-12)

All that you need to know about contributions of Sufis to India is that FOUR of the main Sufi saints – Moinuddin (d. 1233 in Ajmer), Qutubuddin (d. 1236 in Delhi), Nizamuddin (d.1335 in Delhi) and Fariduddin (d.1265 in Pattan now in Pakistan) – who are held as epitome of Secularism in India accompanied invaders with the sole purpose of establishing Islam in India.

Quwwat-al-Islam – the mosque built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak was built by demolishing a Hindu temple earlier built by Prithviraj Chauhan (Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai “Hindustan Islami Ahad Mein” (Hindustan under Islamic rule), Eng Trans by Maulana Abdul Hasan Nadwi).

Qutb-ud-din took special interest in demolishing the temples and idols of idolatrous Hindus!

Timur, the Lame has written in his memoirs several times about his hatred for the “Idolatrous Hindus”, and slaughtered the inhabitants of villages and towns he captured in India, as well as how his Army raped the women and the entire villages and towns were pillaged.   Timur writes in Tuzk-Timuri about his “contributions” to the lives of Hindus in India.

In a short space of time all the people in the [Delhi] fort were put to the sword, and in the course of one hour the heads of 10,000 infidels were cut off. The sword of Islam was washed in the blood of the infidels, and all the goods and effects, the treasure and the grain which for many a long year had been stored in the fort became the spoil of my soldiers. They set fire to the houses and reduced them to ashes, and they razed the buildings and the fort to the ground….All these infidel Hindus were slain, their women and children, and their property and goods became the spoil of the victors. I proclaimed throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners should put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death.

One hundred thousand infidels, impious idolators, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasiruddin Umar, a counselor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives….on the great day of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not be left with the baggage, and that it would be entirely opposed to the rules of war to set these idolaters and enemies of Islam at liberty…no other course remained but that of making them all food for the sword. (Volume III: To the Year A.D. 1398, Chapter: XVIII. Malfúzát-i Tímúrí, or Túzak-i Tímúrí: The Autobiography of Tímúr. Page: 389 (please press next and read all pages in the online copy) (1. Online copy, 2. Online copy) from: Elliot, Sir H. M., Edited by Dowson, John. The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period; published by London Trubner Company 1867–1877. (Online Copy: The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period; by Sir H. M. Elliot; Edited by John Dowson; London Trubner Company 1867–1877 – This online Copy has been posted by: The Packard Humanities Institute; Persian Texts in Translation; Also find other historical books: Author List and Title List)

Feroz Shah Tughlaqhas also left numerous accounts of his atrocities on Hindus in his memoirs of “Tarikh-i-Firuz Shah”.

An order was accordingly given to the Brahman and was brought before Sultan. The true faith was declared to the Brahman and the right course pointed out. but he refused to accept it. A pile was risen on which the Kaffir with his hands and legs tied was thrown into and the wooden tablet on the top. The pile was lit at two places his head and his feet. The fire first reached him in the feet and drew from him a cry and then fire completely enveloped him. Behold Sultan for his strict adherence to law and rectitude. (Banerjee, Jamini (1967). History of Firuz Shah Tughluq. Munshiram Manoharlal.)

Tughlaq had imposed Jizya on the Hindus and if any Hindu in his rule would build a temple, the temple would be broken down and also the person building the temple would be persecuted.  In Gohana, a village in Haryana for example, when the villagers created a temple and installed their deity in the temple, they were arrested, brought to the court in palace and executed en-mass. (“Insha-i-Mahry”, by Amud Din Abdullah bin Mahru)

The Mughal rule, from Babar to Aurangzeb is the bloodiest in the history of mankind when it comes to targeted genocide.

Babar: He used to derive sadistic pleasure by watching heads of slaughtered Hindus. “I ordered that a tower of Hindu heads be set up on the ground.” (Babur Nama, translated into English by A.S. Beveridge, p. 370)

Akbar:  He was the slaughterer of Hindus. His son, Jahangir, whose earlier name was Salim, wrote in his autobiography “Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi” that under Akbar and Jahangir “five to six hundred thousand (500,000 to 600,000) Hindus were killed.” (Tarikh-i-Salim: Trans. By Price, pp. 225-6).

In relation to Akbar’s conquest in Chittor (Rajputana), Abul Fazl recorded that “following Akbar’s order, eight thousand Rajput warriors were first disarmed and then slain and along with them forty thousand peasants were also slain.” (Akbarnama by Abul Fazl translated into English by H. Beveridge)

Abbas Khan Sherwani in his chronicle Tarikh-i-Farishtah recorded: “The Hindoos were pursued and slain by (Muslim) allies with such success, that the river was dyed red with their blood. It is computed by the best  authorities, that above one hundred thousand (100,000) infidels were slain during the action and in pursuit.”

Akbar – who is supposed to be the epitome of Secularism in the Mughal Rule, wrote this letter – Fatehnama-i-Chitor – after his victory in Chittor against the Rajputs:

in conformity with the happy injunction of the Quran (27:40)…[he was busy] in subjugating the localities, habitations, forts and towns which are under the possession of the infidels…may God forsake and annihilate all of them, and thus raising the standard of Islam everywhere and removing the darkness of polytheism and violent sins by the use of sword. We destroy the places of worship of idols in those places and other parts of India. The praise be to Allah, who hath guided us to this, and we would not have found the way had it not been that Allah had guided us…. in accordance with the imperative Command – and kill the idolaters all together (Quran 9:36), those defiant ones who were still offering resistance having formed themselves into knots of two to three hundred persons, were put to death and their women and children taken prisoners.

After the victory, there were still 22,000 to 40,000 women, children and old/sick still inside the fort as Akbar’s Army entered it and followed up with mass slaughter of the inhabitants. (Blochmann, H., “Ain-e-Akbari,” translation of Abul Fazal’s Persian text, 2nd Edition, Bibliotheca Indica Series, published by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal); and Akbar wrote in his Fatehnama:

According to the promise – Allah promised you many acquisitions which you will take (Quran 48:20), immense booty and spoils in cash and kind were acquired.

Akbar was a Jihadi and he used Islamic injunctions to slaughter and kill defenseless Hindu women, children and old proudly!

Tipu Sultan’s reign was marked by demolition of hundreds of temples in his kingdom and had issues a special edict to destroy the Hindu Temples (Kareem, C.K (1973) [1973]. Kerala Under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan P187. Kerala History Association : distributors, Paico Pub. House. p. 322).  Specifically during his invasion of the Malabar, he took special interest in converting the Namboodhiri Brahmins there!

Noted historian HC Rao asserts the following about Tipu Sultan:

religious fanaticism and the excesses committed in the name of religion, both in Mysore and in the provinces, stand condemned for all time. His bigotry, indeed, was so great that it precluded all ideas of toleration. (Rao, Hayavadana C.. History of Mysore 1399-1799: Incorporating the latest Epigraphical, Literary and Historical Researches Vol. 3 pgs 1047-53. Bangalore Government Press.)

During his rule, Tipu Sultan is known to have massacred thousands of Hindus (Brittlebank Tipu Sultan pp1-3; Phillip B. Wagoner “Tipu Sultan’s Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain by Kate Brittlebank (Review)” The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 58, No. 2 (May, 1999) pp. 541-543).

His so-called “Tolerance” of the Hindus only happened AFTER the Anglo-Mysore War to obviate any insurrection by the populace in alliance with the British.

Kashmir’s history FAR from being the example of Secular Kashmiriyat, has been a history of connivance between bloody Kings and bigoted Sufis to orchestrate one of the most extensive Jihad and destruction of Hindu temples.

Sultãn Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413) was the worst of the lot and his “contributions” to Kashmiriyat have been well recorded in Tarikh-i-Firishta:

“Many of the Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mahomedans. After the emigration of the Bramins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down. Having broken all the images in Kashmeer, (Sikandar) acquired the title of ‘Destroyer of Idols’”

We have discussed this topic in detail in our earlier series on Kashmir (Definitive Story of Kashmir: Part I).  Here is the relevant extract –

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Large scale conversions of Hindus in Kashmir started with the arrival of a popular Sufi “saint” Sayyid Ali Hamdani. He first made his living quarters on the site of a demolished temple [Baharistan, p. 36]. The reigning ruler, Sultan Qutbud-Din, was not as aggressive in the propagation of Islam as the Sufi may have wanted it. His work was later on picked up by his son, Amir Sayyid Muhammad, another “Sufi saint”. He found a ready partner in Sultan Sikander. Under the “Sufi’s” influence Sikander issued an order to aggressively impose Islam.

…proscribing the residence of any other than Mahomedans in Kashmeer; and he required that no man should wear the mark on his forehead… Lastly, he insisted on all golden and silver images being broken and melted down, and the metal coined into money. Many of the bramins [Brahmins], rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mahomedans. After the emigration of the bramins, Sikundur [Sikandar] ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down… Having broken all the images in Kashmeer, he acquired the title of the Iconoclast, Destroyer of Idols.

(History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India by Muhammad Farishtah (d. 1614), Vol. IV, 1997 imprint, p. 268)

The author of Baharistan-i-Shahi lays the credit of “…the credit of wiping out the vestiges of infidelity and heresy from the mirror of the conscience of the dwellers of these lands, “goes to Sufi saint Sayyid Muhammad” [p. 37].

There was a brief respite for the Hindus and other non-Muslims during the rule of Sultan Zainul Abedin, only to be attacked again during the times of rulers Malik Raina and Kaji Chak. Again, this round of Jihad war was waged on the instigation of another “Sufi saint” Amir Shamsud-Din Muhammad Iraqi.

Amir Shamsud-Din Muhammad undertook wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses as well as total ruination of the very foundation of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayers after the Islamic manner. (Baharistan-i-Shahi [p. 93–94])

This reign of terror started during Raina’s time was continued in the time of Kaji Chak under the tutelage of Iraqi.

one of the major commands of Amir Shamsud-Din Muhammad Iraqi carried out by him [Kaji Chak] was the massacre of the infidels and polytheists of this land (Baharistan-i-Shahi [p. 116])

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Contributions to India really?!

The contribution of the Islamic invaders and the Muslim rule over the last so many centuries has been a regular, relentless and unequivocal GENOCIDE.  To deny it is to do an Ahmednijad in face of Jewish Holocaust.

The reason why Jewish Holocaust is remembered and not denied, while Hitler is denied ANY ground of humanity is because the world should remember the cruelty of Nazi Holocaust and all measures be taken to avoid and indeed quash any such occurrence again!

There is a reason why no monument in memory of Hitler is allowed to be erected in Germany or anywhere in Europe.  There is a reason why the Jews, and indeed the Germans do NOT forget the horror of Jewish Genocide by Nazis.

A baggage of ideology that rejoiced in the slaughter of ONE community because of what they worshipped has to be borne by the entire humanity and one should make sure that such things never occur again.

If India was Germany and if Muslim invaders were treated the same way as Hitler – as THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN, given their sick and inhuman record, then State and not BJP or “Hindu Fanatics” would have demolished the so-called Babri-Masjid – because it was a monument which was erected as a symbol of Babar’s victory and his joy over slaughter of the Idolatrous Hindus!

India has it totally wrong.  Indian Secularists are sick and Jihadi saviors who have no qualms in Denial and Negationism of arguably the GREATEST GENOCIDE perpetrated by any Ideological force in the History of mankind and PROUDLY recounted by the barbarians in their OWN MEMOIRS!

Yet, we have the boorish example of a so-called intellectual elite doing, what that moron Ahmednijad does with little legitimacy – DENIAL and LEGITIMIZE GENOCIDE – but alas, with ringside cheerleaders like Javed Jaffri and SAHMAT egging him on!