Whether it is a king, raja, or emperor, the battles generally had no religious roots with no purpose other than to expand their kingdoms and remain in power.
The Battle of King Yazid and Murder of Imam Hussein
In the previous part, I had promised to convey to you some information about the arrival of Hazrat Ali’s daughter, Hazrat Ruqaiya binte Ali. As storiesgoes, the son-in-law of the Prophet Hazrat Muhammad, the son of the Caliph Hazrat Ali and the Prophet’s Imam Hussein were surrounded by a huge army of the Syrian ruler Yazid in the field of Karbala. In this battle, Imam Hussein was accompanied by only 72 men besides women and children. The sole reason for capturing Imam Hussein was because Imam Hussein did not agree to recognize Yazid as an Islamic ruler. Yazid’s vast army surrounded and killed Imam Hussein and his companions. After the war, the Yazidi army entered Imam Hussein’s camps on horses, wildly looting, setting fire to camps, terrifying children in chaos rushed to the forests.
After burning the camps, Yazid’s soldiers captured the family members of Hazrat Hussein, including the relatives of Prophet Muhammad, as captives.
Reports say that two children of another daughter of Hazrat Ali, Ruqaiya, went missing during this commotion. It should be noted that Hazrat Ruqaiya binte Ali was married to Hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel, the nephew of Hazrat Ali and they had four sons. The two sons accompanied their father to Kufa before the incident of Karbala where Hazrat Muslim and both the children were martyred. Two children were in Karbala with their mother (Hazrat Ruqaiyya) who had gone missing after the army entered the Shivars. When Hazrat Imam Hussain’s family was released from prison and all returned to Medina, both the missing children of Hazrat Muslim were reported to be in India after which Hazrat Ruqaiya was accompanied by some of his family members, sisters of Hazrat Muslim and his daughters in India, and reached Lahore, the city of undivided India. However, the children were missing and later, it was discovered that they all died there under mysterious circumstances. Later, Kumar Vikram Sahi, the son of the ruler of Punjab, built a tomb on their grave. This spot became the center of theirfaith.
After This Event More Muslims Took Refuge in India
During this time, more Muslims continued to take refuge in India. There is historical evidence of the arrival of many Muslims in the border states of India, Baluchistan, Sindh and Punjab, who were given refuge by the kings of India. When Muhammad Alfi, an Arab chieftain, who had revolted in Makran province during the era of the cruel ruler of Bani Umayyad Hajjaj bin Yusuf, took refuge in the Kingdom of Raja Dahir, the ruler of Sindh, along with his companions, not only did he give refuge but also included Alfi and his comrades in his cabinet revealing how excellent the Hindu-Muslim relations were.
Bani Umayyad and King Dahir
Later, the rulers of the Bani Umayyad attacked King Dahir raising up different accusations, and one of his generals, Mohammad bin Qasim occupied a large area of land. Some people consider this a war between Islam and Hinduism; however, this war was not fought in the name of religion but was a military campaign of Umayyads against a Hindu king who was giving refuge to some Muslims.
Bani Umayyads killed multiples of holy devotees including Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, while he himself launched numerous campaigns against Muslims darkening the historical era of Bani Umayyad with blood. Similarly, King Dahir himself also fought many battles with the rulers of other states of India, spilling rivers of blood of the people. It is necessary to mention here that Sindhi Muslims in Pakistan have been demanding for a long time that an idol of Raja Dahir be built reflecting how greatly the Muslims revered King Dahir.
The Battles Were Never For Religious Reasons but for Conquest and Power
Whether it is a king, raja, emperor, the battles generally had no religious roots with no purpose other than to expand their kingdoms and remain in power. Therefore, it is a totally misguided judgment to associate any military campaign of an emperor or king with religion. Emperors were good as well as bad, they were merciful and cruel, and they were prayer-readers and also drunken kebabs, so it is absolutely erroneous to associate any military campaign of any emperor, raja or king with religion.
It must be noted that when Prophet took over the reins of Islamic rule along with the propagation of religion, a completely new system of governance was presented to the world. In the next part, I will explain the difference between an Islamic system of government and a monarchy.
(To be continued)