The foundation of an Islamic state in indo-pak sub continent was laid by the youngest conqueror in the world Muhammad Bin qasim.
The unusual military achievements of Muhammad Bin qasim a young lad of hardly 17 years of age , against the most powerful force that the sub-continent could assemble and his amazing success with a small army of six thousand, in less than two years ,forms a golden chapter in the history of warfare during the medieval times . according to the well know British historian, Lane Poole, it's a "fascinating romance of history".
Muhammad Bin qasim was born at the time when the Islamic rule had been established over the three known continents. In the west,Musa bin Nasir had conquered the whole of North africa.he and his able lieutenant, Taiq bin Ziyad ,had occupied the Iberian peninsula with lightning speed.
In the east kutaiba ibn Muslim had crushed the tartar opposition and had brought Central Asia under the banner if Islam .in Sindh , Muhammad Bin qasim appeared in 712 A.D and in less than two years captured the entire baluchistan, Sindh and bhawalpur up to multan.the state ruled by raja dahir was the most powerful state of the sub continent .it compromised the whole of Sindh , baluchistan,makran,Gujrat,marwar,and half of thepunjab.its capital was Debal, situated on the bank of river Indus near the sea coast.
Raja Dahir was a very arrogant ruler .he had given shelter to a number of rebels of the caliph of Islam. moreover,his men had looted the property of Muslim traders near dehal ,who were on their way to Arabian from Ceylon.
The men of raja Dahir had taken away not only the marchandise of muslim merchant but also took into custody their children and women.in spite of a complaint from the caliph,, the raja refused to release them.this was the cause of the invasion of Sindh.Hajjaj bin Yusuf ,the Umayyad viceroy of Iraq, was the uncle and father in law of Muhammad Bin qasim.he organized the entire campaign and entrusted to young Qasim the command of a well equipped small army of six thousand men .the Young general marched with lightning speed and laid siege to Debal.
He had brought two new weapons with him a huge catapult and a fire ball. The former rained stone while the latter fired at the enemy.his force was small, while opposing him was a formidable force of more than a hundred thousand men supported by ear elephants and an array of excellent archers.
Raja Dahir was not alone.He had the support of his fellow Hindu rulers spread all over the sub continent. His usual tactic were to exhaust and finish the enemy.He had shut himself inside the impregnable wall of Debal.
The Muslim victory at Debal is credited to the gaint catapult named "Uroos". A stone hurled by"Uroos"brought down the banner flying on the top of debal's biggest temple.the Orthodox people considered it anill omen .they came out in open and were defeated with terrible losses.
During a short span of two years,from 712 to 714A.D., Muhammad Bin Qasim fought and won eleven bloody battles against the formidable force of raja Dahir and his suppu.in spite of heavy odds and with a small force ,he was never defeated.
After capturing Debal, he marched towards nerwan which surrendered without any opposition .then he marched in to bherah where he defeated raja Vijay ray.next ,he captured sehwan,fort of sesame and ashiha without much opposition. She had been moving on the Western side of river Indus .near jhimpir he came across a strong force of raja Dahir under the command of hai Singh .hai Singh was stationed in the Eastern side of the river Indus.
Muhammad Bin Qasim made a unique plan to cross the broad stream of river .he had boast tied in a length which was equal to the breadth of river .he manned each boat with five selected archers and the front boat with "Uroos" .He ordered the boast toove on the streme .the boats moved systematically and showered arrows upon the enemy.the formidable force of the enemy commanding the other side of the river were pushed back.soon the catapults were landed and the Muslim troooigot down on the river bank.they fell upon the enemy and severely defeated them.
The Muslim forces captured jhimpir and followed the forces of raja Dahir who was in fort rawar .Here was fought the Hindus were defeated and raja Dahir was killed. Another fierce battale was fought by Muhammad Bin qasim at Brahamanabad where Jai Singh faced him with forty thousand men .Having been defeted badly,he fled to Kashmir.
Muhammad Bin Qasim was great both in war and peace . He proved himself an able administrator.his two years of wise and just rule, his agricultural reforms and liberal policies Soo. Endeared him to his Muslim and non- muslim subject.
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