Muhammad bin Qasim, born on 31 December 695 in the
city of Taif in modern day Saudi Arabia.
Aisha reported: She asked the Prophet, “Have you encountered a day harder than the battle of Uhud?” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “
Your tribes have troubled very much, and the worst was the day of Aqaba when I presented myself to Ibn Abd Yalail ibn Abd Kulal and he did not respond to what I intended. I departed, overwhelmed with excessive sorrow, and I could not relax until I found myself at a tree where I lifted my head towards the sky to see a cloud shading me. I looked up and saw Gabriel in it. He called me saying: Allah has heard your people’s saying to you and how they have replied, and Allah has sent the Angel of the Mountains to you that you may order him to do whatever you wish to these people. The Angel of the Mountains greeted me and he said: O Muhammad, order what you wish, and if you like, I will let the mountains fall on them.”
The Prophet said, “No, rather I hope that Allah will bring from their descendants people who will worship Allah alone without associating partners with him.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3059, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1759
Muhammad bin Qasim was an Umayyad general who conquered the Sindh and Punjab regions, certain earlier occasions too, they had unsuccessfully sought to gain control of the route, via the Khyber Pass, from the Turki-Shahis of Gandhara. That by taking Sindh, Gandhara’s southern neighbor, they were ultimately able to open a second front against the Gandhara.
local tribes of the region
Meds (a tribe of
Scythians living in Sindh) also known as
Bawarij had targeted Sassanid shipping in the past, from the
mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, from their bases at Kutchh, Debal and Kathiawar.
The expedition by the governor of Basra, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, against Raja Dahir, was a pirate raid off the coast of Debal resulting in gifts to the caliph from the king of Serendib (modern Sri Lanka) being stolen , Dahir's kingdom was invaded by King Ramal of Kannauj.
Chach (c. 631-711 CE) was a Brahmin who reigned as king of Sindh region of the Indian subcontinent in the mid-7th century CE. A former prime minister to the king Rai Sahasi II, Chach ascended to the throne. Rai Sahiras II was the second-last Buddhist ruler of the Rai Dynasty during early the 7th century. The Emperors of this dynasty were great patrons of Hinduism and
Buddhism. This is consistent with the historical accounts from the times of Emperor
Ashoka and
Harsha because Indian monarchs never sponsored a state religion and usually patronized more than one faith. Sahiras was killed in a battle with the King of
Nimroz and was succeeded by his son, the last Rajput ruler of
Sindh,
Raja Sahasi II.
Chach enlisted his brother
Chandar (also known as Chandra) to help him administer the kingdom. He then launched a campaign against a succession of autonomous regions; he defeated his opponents along the south bank of the
River Beas, at Iskandah, and at Sikkah. He sacked Sikkah, killing 5,000 men and taking the remainder of its inhabitants prisoners. A significant number of these captives were enslaved, and much booty was taken. After this victory, which he appointed a
thakur to govern from
Multan, and used his army to settle boundary disputes with
Kashmir. Chach also conquered
Siwistan, but allowed its chief,
Matta, to remain as his feudatory.
Later, he expanded his rule into Buddhist regions across the
Indus River. These efforts culminated in a battle at
Brahmanabad, in which the region's governor,
Agham Lohana, was killed. Chach remained in Brahmanabad for a year to cement his authority there, and appointed Agham's son Sarhand as his governor; Sarhand was also wed to Chach's niece. Chach took Agham's widow as his wife, as well.
From
Brahmanabad, he invaded
Sassanid territory through the town of
Armanbelah, marching from
Turan to
Kandahar. He exacted tribute from the latter before returning.
In 711 bin Qasim attacked at
Debal and, on orders of Al-Hajjaj, freed the earlier captives and prisoners from the previous (failed) campaign.
From Debal Hajaj moved on to Nerun for supplies; the city's Buddhist governor had acknowledged it as a tributary of the
Caliphate after the first campaign, and capitulated to the second. Qasim's armies then captured Siwistan (
Sehwan) received allegiance from several tribal chiefs and secured the surrounding regions. His combined forces captured the fort at Sisam, and secured the region west of the
Indus River.
By enlisting the support of local tribes
Jats,
Meds, and
Buddhist Jat rulers of
Nerun, Bajhra, Kaka Kolak and
Siwistan as
infantry to his predominantly-
mounted army, Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Dahir and captured his eastern territories for the
Umayyad Caliphate
