Politics Of Indian History -2

[Guest]

A passage from the <i>Khazain-ul-futuh </i>by Amir Khusro. The guy is regarded as a SECULAR and TOLERANT Muslim of the 13th Century:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Having described the dagger thrusts in many victories over the Mughals, I now come to the conquest of the Hind•s of Gujr•t:—* As the sword of the Emperor of land and sea had been plentifully smeared with the blood of the infidel Mughals, he wished to wash off this clotted impurity in the immense ocean.

Consequently, on Wednesday, the 20th Jamad•ul Awwal, 699 A.H., a fortunate day, he issued a firm•n to the ‘Ar•z-i W•la* to send an army, like clouds and rain, to the coast of Gujr•t to destroy the temple of Somn•th. Like an angel directing the clouds, the late Ulugh Kh•n (May God make him drink out of the fountain of His forgiveness!) was appointed to lead the victorious army. Resolved to conquer, the clouds moved towards the sea; and as the foundations of the temple were water-deep, they wished to bring its summit to the water also.

When the Imperial army reached the City of that land,* the sword of the
righteous monarch completely conquered the province, which, adorned like a bride, had escaped so many emperors of the past. Much blood was shed. A general invitation was issued to all the beasts and birds of the forest to a continuous feast of meat and drink. In the marriage banquet, at which the Hind•s were sacrificed, animals of all kinds ate them to their satisfaction.

Then the Kh•n-i ‘Azam* moved his army towards the sea.* Round the temple of Somn•th, which is the centre of Hind• worship, he drew a circle with his troops, and planted his Khat•• spear so high towards the centre that its sharp point almost pierced the sky. The banner of Isl•m was elevated to the equator, while every arch emerging from the two semi-circles, into which the army was divided, without fail passed its arrow through the black dot of infidelity.

So the temple of Somn•th was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath. The idols, who had fixed their abode midway to the House of Abraham (Mecca), and there waylaid stragglers,* were broken to pieces in pursuance of Abraham’s tradition.* But one idol, the greatest of them all, was sent by the maliks to the Imperial Court, so that the breaking of their helpless god may be demonstrated to the idol-worshipping Hind•s.

It seemed as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: ‘So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it.’* Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the Med•na of Islam. The followers of Abraham now acted as guides in place of the Brahman leaders. The robust-hearted true believers rigorously broke all idols and temples wherever they found them. Owing to the war, ‘takb•r,’ and ‘shah•dat’ was heard on every side; even the idols by their breaking affirmed the existence of God. In this ancient land of infidelity the call to prayers rose so high that it was heard in Baghd•d and Mad••n (Ctesiphon) while the ‘Al•• proclamation (Khutba) resounded in the dome of Abraham and over the water of Zamzam.*

As to the city of Nahrw•la and the city of Kamb•yat (Cambay), which the sea raises its head to swallow up, as well as the other cities situated on the coast—though the sea beats against them with force, yet the wave of the Muslim army did not turn to the sea to wash off the contamination of infidelity from the land, but cleansed the ground by a deluge of infidel blood; for if blood is not clean, and cannot cleanse, yet the sword is a purifier; and the sword having overcome the infidels, their blood became pure also.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This is bad enough but consider what a modern secular historian said to cover up these crimes:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Is this the trumpet-call of an aggressive and bloated fanaticism or the excruciating melody of the tragic muse? Was Am•r Khusrau praising the idol-breakers or bewailing their lack of true faith? It must not be forgotten that a courtier presenting an official history to the Sultan had no freedom either of opinion or speech; and Am•r Khusrau emphatically expresses his willingness to recast his book according to the Sultan’s wishes.

But as Mohammed ibn-i Khawend Shah (Mirkhond), the author of Rauzatus Safa,
remarks: “the official historian should by hints, insinuations, overpraise and such other devices as may come to hand, never fail to express his true opinion, which, while remaining undetected by his illiterate patron, is sure to be understood by the intelligent and the wise.”

Am•r Khusrau may, or may not, have wept tears of blood over the fall of an ancient civilization; but his mode of expression leaves little doubt that the greed of gain and not the service of the Lord was the inspiring motive of the invaders.

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This historian is MUHAMMAD HABIB, B.A. (Oxon) 1931 Professor of History, Muslim University, Aligarh.

But the following quote from him takes the cake:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->If Am•r Khusrau had been writing in the age of the Puranas, he would have represented Al•udd•n as an incarnation of Vishnu and described his opponents as malicious demons. That is how the Aryans blackened the character of their enemies and justified their aggression. A modern writer would have to white-wash the same cruelties by talking of liberty, justice, the duty of elevating backward races and, with solemn unconscious humour, advanced the most humane arguments to justify the inhumanities of war.

But Am•r Khusrau was not a hypocrite; he saw life through plain glasses and the traditions of his day made hypocrisy unnecessary. The Deccan expeditions had one clear object—the acquisition of horses, elephants, jewels, gold and silver. Why tell lies? The Mussalmans had not gone there on a religious mission; they had neither the time nor the inclination to enroll converts and they were too good soldiers to let irrelevant considerations disturb their military plans.

Of course the name of God was solemnly pronounced. The invaders built mosques wherever they went and the call to prayer resounded in many a wilderness and many a desolated town. This was their habit. Of anything like an idealistic, even a fanatic, religious mission the Deccan invasions were completely innocent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yes yes my dear historian but who created this "wilderness" and the "desolated towns" in the first place???

See it was just their "habit"...nothing fanatical about it!!

COMPLETELY innocent!!!

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