More than thirteen centuries ago, Muslims started their military campaigns towards India to quell Indian pirates who attacked Arab trade vessels, and to attack the ruler of Sindh who assisted the Persians against Muslims in the Battle of Qadisiyyah (16 AH/637 AD).
Other campaigns ensued, until the first organized Muslim conquest took place with the Umayyad campaign of Mohamed bin Al-Qasim Al-Thaqafi on Sindh and Punjab (92 AH/710 AD), which he undertook as a revenge against the king of Sindh who sheltered pirates attacking Muslim ships. His campaign initiated Muslim movement into, and settlement in, India.
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Political upheavals had a negative impact on Muslim presence in Sindh, which made some Hindu rulers see an opportunity to quell Muslim rule by initiating a campaign on the Indian city of Sindan, and they captured its Muslim governor and killed him.
The entry of Turkic peoples into Islam gave an impetus for the Muslim conquests, which reached its peak with Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (387-421 AH/997-1031 AD) — the founder of the Ghaznavid Empire that covered most of today’s Afghanistan — who undertook many campaigns against kings in India.
The organized conquest of North India took place during the Ghurid dynasty of Afghanistan leading to the establishment of a Muslim sultanate with Delhi as its capital.
Muslims treated Hindus with care, and many Muslim rulers exerted effort bringing them closer and employing them in good positions. (Reuters)
Following the Ghurids, several sultanates ruled India:
- The Mamluk dynasty: founded by Qutbuddin Aybak (602-607 AH/1206-1210 AD), a Mamluk for the Ghurids who defended Delhi against Hindu rulers, and who was succeeded by many strong figures, most famously Ghiyasuddin Balban who pushed back a Mongol campaign.
- The Khilji dynasty (689 AH/1290 AD): the most famous ruler of whom was Alauddin (695-715 AH/1295-1316 AD) who faced the Mongols and quelled Hindu campaigns, and whose death signaled the end of the Khiljis.
- The Tughlaq dynasty: founded by Sultan Ghazi Tughlaq (720 AH/1321 AD), who was known for military skill and defeated the Mongols 29 times. His son Mohamed succeeded him and invested in Indian construction, arts, and science, but was a military fail, which led eventually to the his fall against Tamerlane who occupied Delhi in 801 AH/1297AD. India was then divided into several dynasties until the Mughals united most of it in the 10th century AH/16th AD.