“Pakistan Ka Matlab Kiya?” Omar hollered at the top of his lungs, while waving Pakistan’s flag.
“La Ilaha Illa Allah!” shouted Ali.
“Why are you both yelling?” Samrah Apa was annoyed as she needed peace and quiet for her Zoom class. Omar and Ali were too excited to listen. They both kept waving their flags and chanting slogans, running all around the house.
Samrah Apa furiously marched into the kitchen to complain to Mom: “Mom, I have to complete an assignment and we are having an important Zoom meeting. Can you, please, tell the two of them to keep it down?”
“What is the topic of your assignment?” Mom asked, casually.
“Muhammad bin Qasim! We are researching how Islam came to the subcontinent.”
“What a motivating hero,” replied Dadi, who had actually witnessed the migration at the time of Pakistan’s independence. “Call the boys and I will tell them an interesting story.
“Story time, story time!” Hannah ran after the boys. Soon, all the kids, including Samrah Apa, had gathered in a circle around Dadi. Dadi smiled at the children and asked them: “Do you know why the answer to ‘Pakistan Ka Matlab Kiya?’ was ‘La Ilaha Illa Allah?’”
“Islam was the reason why Pakistan was created,” Samrah Apa said wisely.
“Yes, well done, and do you know who brought the light of Islam to Hindus in the subcontinent? Quaid-e-Azam said: ‘The Pakistan Movement started when the first Muslim put his foot on the soil of Sindh, the Gateway of Islam in India.’”
“The first brick in the foundation of Pakistan was laid in 712 AD, when Muhammad bin Qasim anchored at Debal Port (now known as Karachi), freed the Muslim women and children from the prisons of Raja Dahir and constructed the first mosque at the town,” Samrah Apa read out proudly from the notes she had been preparing.
“Dadi, what about the story?” Ali asked impatiently.
“Well, this is a story of how a brave young orphan boy became the commanding general of Muslim army and conquered the forts of unpopular tyrant Hindu rajas.”
“Yay, yippie!” Hannah jumped up and down. She loved action movies.
Dadi began: “Twelve hundred years ago in the eighth century, Arabs traded with India and Eastern Asia. The trade was carried through sea route, but the route was unsafe due to the plunder of pirates from Sindh. The Arab rebels also took refuge in Sindh. Thus, the Muslim rulers wanted to secure the trade route.”
“During Hajjaj’s governorship, the Mids of Debal (some pirates) plundered the gifts of Ceylon’s ruler to Hajjaj and attacked Arab ships that were carrying the orphans and widows of Muslim soldiers which had died in Sri Lanka. This gave the Umayyad caliphate a genuine reason to attack the Makran and Sindh regions.”
Mom also joined the circle of listeners.
“For attacking Sindh, the Umayyad caliphate chose seventeen-year-old Muhammad bin Qasim to lead an army of six thousand Arab soldiers: an advance guard, six thousand camel riders and five catapults (Manjaniks). Muhammad bin Qasim first captured Debal. Then his army marched along River Indus and was met by the tyrant Hindu Raja Dahir’s forces at Rohri. Dahir died in the battle, his forces were defeated, and Muhammad bin Qasim took control of Sindh,” Dadi beamed proudly.
“Did Muhammad bin Qasim conquer Sindh only? How long did he stay here? Why did he leave?” Samrah Apa had so many questions popping in her head.
Muhammad bin Qasim entered Debal in 712 AD. After he succeeded in capturing Debal, he continued his progress towards Nirun fortress (called Sikka), Brahmanabad, Alor, Multan and Gujarat. After the conquest of Multan, he carried his army to the borders of Kingdom of Kashmir, but his dismissal stopped the further advance. Now Muslims were the masters of whole Sindh and a part of Punjab up to the borders of Kashmir in the north.
“Did they conquer Kashmir too?” Omar imagined the whole scene in his mind.
“No! But after the conquest, he adopted a conciliatory policy, asking for acceptance of Muslim rule by the natives in return for non-interference in their religious and cultural practices. He also established peace with a strong taxation system. In return, he guaranteed security of life and property for the natives. His forgiveness and merciful character impressed many natives and they accepted Islam.”
Mom served some warm milk to Dadi. Dadi seemed a bit tired now, so Mom continued with the story: “Did you know that this young lion of Islam was the fruit of our beloved Prophet Muhammad’s (sa) Dua and optimistic vision? When the hooligans hatefully hurled rocks and furiously chased Prophet Muhammad (sa) out of Taif, he remained optimistic, and when Allah (swt) sent angels to destroy the people of Taif, he said mercifully: ‘No, I hope that God will bring out from their offspring people, who worship Him alone and associate no partners with Him.’”
“Muhammad bin Qasim was born in Taif who, within 80 years, brought Islam to the South Asia, which is now home to almost one-third of all Muslims in the world. The seventeen-year-old Muhammad bin Qasim was the son of the Thaqafi tribe of Taif, the same city where the Prophet (sa) could not find a single believer, but was hopeful that one day, their children would find their way to Allah (swt). It was the kind and merciful character of Muhammad bin Qasim, which helped open the doors of Islam to the people of Sindh.”
“Why did he go back so soon?” Samrah Apa asked Mom.
“Muhammad bin Qasim’s uncle and mentor Hajjaj bin Yusuf died in 714,” Mom explained. “Later, when Caliph Walid bin Abdul Malik died, his younger brother Suleiman succeeded him. He was a bitter enemy of Hajjaj’s family. He recalled Muhammad bin Qasim from Sindh, who obeyed the orders as the duty of a general. When he came back, he was put to death on July 18, 715 AD, at the age of twenty.”
Mom and Dadi could not keep their tears of sadness hidden from the kids.
“It was this short rule that brought Islam to Sindh! This brave man’s small step was a giant leap for the Muslim Ummah,”
Samrah Apa wrote the conclusion of her assignment and read it out loud for everyone.
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