Muslims ruled over India for nearly 800yrs(not counting the arab conquest of sind) so why were we not able to convert the majority of the local pagan people to islam?
In contrast the europeans withen a few hundred yrs converted nearly all of western and central europe to christianity.Where did our sultans/Badshahs go wrong?
Re: What did we do wrong?
Muslims didn't rule over all of India!
It also disproves hindu theories of muslims being some gangrapist evil satanic people who only cared about their sexual and material needs as otherwise not a lot of hindus would survive (a lot of europe converted as kings were defeated / converted so population coverted as well).
Re: What did we do wrong?
IMO biggest mistakes by muslim rulers
Granting a dhimmi like status to pagans in india
Too much in-fighting between the various ethnic groups
assimilation in the Pagan culture
Re: What did we do wrong?
YOU don’t convert, you are NOT responsible to convert ANYONE. YOU are responsible to CONVEY the message of Allah swt, simple.
Re: What did we do wrong?
So is that how you convey the message? by becoming just like them?
and the Pagans are not people of the book they cannot be granted the dhimmi
Re: What did we do wrong?
who said you have to become “like them”? how good of a “Muslim” those rulers really were? besides, those “Inquisitions” (?) were different from “Muslim” rulers of sub-continent.
“dhimmi” status is only for People of the Book?
Re: What did we do wrong?
Yes dhimmi as far as I know was only for people of the book but that defination was changed by theologians in muslim india.otherwise why didnt the kuffar of arabia who were pagans like the hindus become eligiable for the dhimmi status?
True the muslim rulers of India were not real practicising muslims but they represented Islam as a political force.They should have taken more steps to propogate islam in lands under their control.
which inquisition r u talking about?
Re: What did we do wrong?
Muslim rulers didn't want to risk a hindu revolt. They didn't believe they had the military power to deal with a large scale rebellion and were generally dependent on docile cooperation from their hindu majority subjects.
Re: What did we do wrong?
This question can be answered in many ways which are all the same.
Firstly, sultans and badshahs mostly did not serve this deen into spreading it.
Islam is spread in the Indian subContinent via the Awliya Allah, the sufis, ahl-altasawwuf, the people who practice shari'ah and who strive for spiritual excellence. This is why you can find the noble maqams of hundreds of thousands of Awliya Allah all over India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Islam is not the faith of compulsion. It is the faith in which man strives to choose between right and wrong with the will of Allah subhanahu ta'ala
The SubContinent is the home of the great Men Awliya Allah such as
Sayyiduna Khawaja Mu'inuddin Chishti raziAllahu anhu
Sayyiduna Data Ganj Bakhsh raziAllahu anhu
Sayyiduna Bahauddin Zakariya raziAllahu anhu
Sayyiduna Ashraf Jahangir Semnani raziAllahu anhu
Sayyiduna Shah Baybani raziAllahu anhu
Sayyiduna Shah Jalal raziAllahu anhu
and numerous other, all may be pleased with them all
Secondly, it is Allah's will that Islam comes to who ever it comes to. So, this is why a large proportion (perhaps majority) of the Sub Continent population did not accept Islam and rejected it. This on the other hand, kills the arguments by todays Hindus and Sikhs, that Islam spread by sword.
As for the Europeans succeeding in spreading Christianity, you will see most of it was by sword (South America, Africa, Asia, Spain, Sicily etc) and other places by the efforts of missionaries. That has been possible because of the missionaries having access to the whole world, which is divided among the super powers, except China and Japan, which have remained un-christian.
Re: What did we do wrong?
Thaqib bro I do acknowledge the immense contribution of the sufis and Awliyas in spreading the faith.Infact theirs was the only way to spread faith among the masses but hardly any of them were given state patronage and muslim sultans/amirs spent much of their time fightiong each other than the pagans.
Regarding hindu revolts I will say that they happened in every reign regardless the religious policy of the sultan esp. the rajputs.Probably the Pagans saw the muslim rulers as too lenient and tried to take their chances with every ruler.
Why was the Rajput menace not dealth with strongly? If all their strongholds had been destroyed and they would only have been given two choices convert or continue fighting they would have taken the easier way out and converted and as the rajas converted thousands of thier followers would have followed their examples(like charlemagne did to the germans).
Regarding the Hindu propoganda that Islam was spread by sword obviously there is no historical truth in it(it was as u mentioned mainly due to the Awliyas) even then they continue to propogate this myth,so we would have been better of spreading it by the sword atleast to the pagans who do not qualify for the dhimmi status.
Re: What did we do wrong?
Spreading a religion by disregarding it own rules?
Re: What did we do wrong?
I think he is making a comparison to other religions like chrisitianity that say ‘peace, peace’ while they spread it by murder, genocide, or money hook by crook.
Re: What did we do wrong?
dhimmi status is only for the people of Book????
now where did that come from????
dhimmi means, IMO, any non-muslim citizen of an Islamic state....
Re: What did we do wrong?
Exactly thanks for clarifying that.If these sultans and badshahs were not good muslims to begin with and had no qualms about slaughtering people in cold blood why were their victims mostly other muslims?They would have been much better of doing it to the pagans.
Re: What did we do wrong?
This is from wikipedia
The Arabic word “dhimmi” is an adjective derived from the noun “dhimma”, which means “being in the care of”. The term initially applied to "**People of the Book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book)" living in lands under Muslim rule, namely Jews](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew) and Christians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity). Over time Muslims extended this category to **Zoroastrians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrian), **Mandeans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandean), and Sikhs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh). Many, but not all, extend this to **Hindus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindus).
Although the dhimma status is never mentioned in the Qur’an, some Islamic jurists justify it with a line from Sura 9, specifically 9.29, which calls for Muslims to fight against the People of the Book in times of war until they pay the jizya head tax and are humbled.[1]](http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=9&tid=20980)
In the Middle Ages, the dhimmi concept was tolerant by the standards of other monotheistic religions. Christians and Jews were allowed to live in peace within Muslim societies, on the condition (also required of Muslim subjects) of submission to their rulers.
Re: What did we do wrong?
Hmm.. Isn't wikipedia editable by anyone who wishes it be???
Re: What did we do wrong?
I understand by their primary task was to deal with heretics withen their own faith rarely they persecuted muslims(except spain)
Re: What did we do wrong?
Are you talking mongols, afghans???
I think many of these rulers were there more to make a buck for themselves (booty) than to spread Islam!
I mean look at Timur Lane and how he made a minar of skulls (of sorts) in delhi in his wars!
Re: What did we do wrong?
as long as you have the references.
Were any pagan arabs in arabia given the dhimmi status?
I dont know maybe somone can help me here if so then we can make an argument whether it should be extended to hindus or not.