India, the Land of the Impure!

The following was first posted as a comment here.

>> The Arabic conqueror, Muhammad Bin Qasim, established Islam in the Indian subcontinent by defeating King Dahar of Sindh in 711.

Although technically correct, I think this statement needs to be qualified. It should probably read “The Arabic conquerer, Muhammad Bin Qasim, annexed a Hindu kingdom in the Indian subcontinent by defeating King Dahar of Sindh in 711″. From that it can be deduced that Arabs introduced Islam to Pakistan in 711 and not to India!

Historians will know better, but its possible that Islam may have been introduced (as in glimpse) to peninsular India by the Arab traders before 711. Besides Arab conquest of India didn’t succeed. I doubt any Arab invader has ever set foot on Indian (not Pakistani) soil. Islam was not introduced (as in forced) in India atleast 250 years after Qasim’s conquest. As it were, India only got a second hand version of Islam from Turk, Mongol, Persian and Afghani invaders.

One of the pointers to Islamic introduction (as in force) to the subcontinent is the mass suicides of Hindu women (by burning) before their menfolk went to to fight the invading Muslims. Such suicides happened in Pakistan around 700s, in north India around 1000 and in the deccan around 1400s.

Its true that Pakistanis take pride in identifying themselves with invaders who killed, looted and raped their ancestors! Its indeed ironic that ‘India’ is the name of modern ‘Bharat’ and not the Indus (mostly) flowing Pakistan. But its true that Pakistan is the Land of the Pure (Arab Islam) and not India! [Pakistan means 'Land of the Pure']

In a similar vein, maybe its time the purists (Pakistanis) defeated the impurities (Taliban) around NWFP. But then such impurities are bolstered by the presence of super purists (Arabs)!

And btw, Wish you a very happy Deepavali - celebrating 2500 years of life, atheism and nirvana!