By the conventional account, Islam arrived in India with Muhammad bin Qasim’s invasion of Sindh in 712 CE — an arrival many take to have rested on the power of the sword. Many modern historians and social scientists, however, do not agree.
In their view, the arrival of Islam in India was not the result of a single event. It was the outcome of a historical, social and economic process that ran over several centuries.
Trade played the most important role in Islam’s spread in India. From ancient times India was known worldwide for its black pepper. With the Arabian Sea calm, Arab traders had long held influence along this sea route. They would come to India during the monsoon and return to Arabia once their business was done.
According to the noted historian Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, the world’s most important trade routes came under Arab control after the advent of Islam. Long contact led to the development of a Muslim community in south India known as the Mappila Muslims.
The politician and writer Shashi Tharoor often notes that Islam came to the Malabar coast at the hands of familiar and trusted Arab traders. Islam did not reach Kerala by the force of any sword. Several theories exist about the arrival of Islam in south India.
By the first theory, Islam came to Kerala through the ancient port of Muziris within the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Cheraman Juma Mosque, built in 629 CE at the initiative of Malik bin Dinar, is major evidence for this claim. The story of the Kerala Hindu king Cheraman Perumal’s conversion to Islam is also bound up with the mosque’s founding.
According to Professor Ilyas, the Arabs came here mainly to trade in black pepper. Alongside trade they also taught methods of accounting, techniques of weighing and the technology of building better boats.
One section of historians sees Muhammad bin Qasim’s capture of Sindh and Multan in 712 CE, and the later establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, as political expansion. Modern researchers hold that the main purpose of these conquests was to establish power, not to convert people by force.
The Sufi movement also played a major part in Islam’s spread in India. After the 11th century, Sufi saints of the Chishti and Suhrawardi orders settled in various parts of India. Their khanqahs and dargahs became spiritual and social centres. The dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, visited by people of all religions, is a major example. Islam’s principles of equality, brotherhood and justice attracted people.
Scholars such as the historian Richard Eaton have offered another new theory. In their view, the spread of Islam in regions such as Bengal and Punjab was mainly linked to agricultural development and state policy. Muslim rulers would grant uncultivated land to Sufi khanqahs and mosques. As these institutions established new agricultural settlements, local farmers gradually accepted Islam as part of economic advancement. All told, Islam spread in this region through a long, mixed process of trade, spirituality, politics and social opportunity.
Source: BBC Bangla
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