Radical Islam and internal security

[Bodhi]

Sample four of the most liberal Moslems of Medieval India:

1. Ziauddin Barani, the sufi, in Fatawa-i-Jahandari:

“If Mahmud had gone to India once more, he would have brought under his sword all the Brahmans of Hind who, in that vast land, are the cause of the continuance of the laws of infidelity and of the strength of idolators, he would have cut off the heads of two hundred or three thousand Hindu chief. He would not have returned his “Hindu-slaughtering” sword to its scabbard until the whole of Hind had accepted Islam…It is not lawful to accept jizya from the Hindus as they have neither a prophet nor a revealed book.”

2. Amir Khusro, the sufi, in Mathnawiyy-i-Dawal ani Khizir Khan:

“The Whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors, has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire. The land has been saturated with the water of the sword, and the vapours of infidelity have been dispersed. The strong men of India have been trodden under foot, and all are ready to pay tribute. Islam is triumphant, idolatry is subdued. Had not the law granted exemption from death by payment of poll-tax the very name of Hind, root and branch, would have extinguished.”

3. Jehangir, the liberal Moghal Emperor, in Tarikh-i-Farsi

“Five-sixths of the people of Hindustan are idol worshipping Hindus. Most of the work of agriculture, cloth weaving and crafts is in their hands. If we try to make all of them Muslims that is not possible except by killing them, which too is impossible. It is impossible to carry out a general slaughter.”

4. And experiencing the Moslem rule under Alauddin Husain Shah, the Sultan of Bengal, considered the most enlightened and tolerant of them all, wrote Ishana Nagara in advaita prakasha:

“The wicked mlecchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day. They break the images of the gods into pieces and throw away the articles of worship. They throw into fire Srimad Bhagavat and other holy scriptures, forcibly take away the conch-shell and bell of the Brahmanas and lick the sandal paint of their bodies. They urinate like dogs on the sacred Tulasi plant, and deliberately pass faeces in the Hindu temple. They throw water from their mouths on the Hindus engaged in worship, and harass the Hindu saints as if they were so many lunatics at large.”

(From 'Myths of Hindu-Muslim syncretism in medieval India', Dr. Saurav Basu, 2009)