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Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India
Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India is a book by historian K. S. Lal published by Aditya Prakashan in 1999. It is a study on Muslim administration in India.
In the first part of the book, Lal writes about the obligations, income and expenditure of the Muslim government in India. The expenditure for monuments, for the army, for "royal benevolence" and for gifts to Caliphs and to Mecca are discussed. In the second part he writes about the concept of "Muslim State" in today's India. The third part of the book contains reviews of some of Lal's books and his reply to them.
During his research for this book, K. S. Lal has read and consulted six authentic Hadis, the Bukhari, Muslim, Nasai, Sunan Abi Da'ud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, as well as the Quran and biographies of Muhammad.
In the first part of the book, Lal writes about the obligations, income and expenditure of the Muslim government in India. The expenditure for monuments, for the army, for "royal benevolence" and for gifts to Caliphs and to Mecca are discussed. In the second part he writes about the concept of "Muslim State" in today's India. The third part of the book contains reviews of some of Lal's books and his reply to them.
During his research for this book, K. S. Lal has read and consulted six authentic Hadis, the Bukhari, Muslim, Nasai, Sunan Abi Da'ud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, as well as the Quran and biographies of Muhammad.
410 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 1999
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December 12, 2019
This book is a study on Muslim administration in India. Lal writes income and expenditure of the Muslim government in India. The expenditure for monuments, for the army, for "royal benevolence" and for gifts to Caliphs and to Mecca are discussed. This is another book of K.S. Lal i thoroughly enjoyed reading. His books are no non sense and direct into details.
These barbaric islamic invaders always have an agenda proselytization, desecrating and demolishing the temples of non-Muslims. India too suffered terribly as thousands of Hindu temples and sacred edifices disappeared in northern India by the time of Sikandar Lodi and Babur. In Delhi, after the demolition of twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples, the materials of which were utilized to construct the Quwwat-ul-Islam masjid, it was after 700 years that the Birla Mandir could be constructed in 1930s. Sita Ram Goel has brought out two excellent volumes on Hindu Temples: What happened to them. These informative volumes give a list of Hindu shrines and their history of destruction in the medieval period on the basis of Muslim evidence itself. This of course does not cover all the shrines razed. Muslims broke temples recklessly. Those held in special veneration by Hindus like the ones at Somnath, Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, were special targets of Muslims, and whenever the Hindus could manage to rebuild their shrines at these places, they were again destroyed by Muslim rulers. From the time of Mahmud of Ghazni who destroyed the temples at Somnath and Mathura to Babur who struck at Ayodhya to Aurangzeb who razed the temples at Kashi Mathura and Somnath, the story is repeated again and again.
Even these Muslims pridely chronicles about forcible conversions by rulers and nobles. It is written in quite detailed in al-Kufi's Chachnama (for Muhammad Qasim in Sindh), Utbi's Tarikh-i-Yamini (for Mahmud of Ghazni) Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir (for Muhammad Ghauri, Qutbuddin Aibak etc.) and Minhaj Siraj's. Tabqat-i-Nasiri (for the early years of the Sultanate period).
Author give sufficient historical evidence has been set forth for any demographic behaviour and on that basis he has arrived at the conclusion that the population of India in A.D. 1000 was about 200 million and in the year 1500 it was 170 million. The loss of Indian population during Mahmud of Ghaznavi's invasions was about 2 million.
Akbar abolished Jiziyah in 1564. In all probability many of his 'devout' officers in far off regions, did not care to enforce this anti-Islamic measure. Therefore, ten years later he once again issued orders for its abolition. Badaoni tells us that it was customary "to search out and kill heretics" (Shias), let alone non-Muslims as late as 1574. Hemu's father, when captured, was offered his life if he turned Muslim. Abdun Nabi executed a Brahman for blasphemy on the complaint of a Qazi. Husain Khan, the governor of Lahore ordered Hindus to stick patches on their shoulders so that no Muslim could be put to the indignity of showing them honour by mistake, nor did he allow Hindus to saddle their horses. Jihad was practiced as usual, massacre at Chittor was done in true Jihadist spirit. Even iconoclastic zeal did not disappear under Akbar. Kangra was invaded in 1572-73, and even though Birbal was in joint command, the umbrella of the Goddess was riddled with arrows, 200 cows were killed and Muslim soldiers threw their shoes full of blood at the walls and doors of the temple. A Mughal officer, Bayazid, converted a Hindu temple into a Muslim school. Jain idols in Gujarat could not escape vandalism. Such seem to have been and continued to be the popular prejudices against the Hindus, under Akbar and his successors
Aurangzeb's order says that "Jiziyah lapses on death and on acceptance of Islam". During the course of the year some people used to die and some used to convert, but the amount of Jiziyah for the place remained unaltered. "The non Muslim should himself bring the Jizyah; if he sends it through his deputy it should not be accepted. At the time of payment the non-Muslim should keep standing, while the chief should keep sitting. The hand of the non-Muslim should be below and that of the chief above it. Aurangzeb thus imposed it in the true spirit and letter of the tax.
There are several episodes like this. Book quite an interesting. I can imagine the horror non muslim went through.
Its history is soaked in blood of the supposed enemies of Islam. But all this is denied by Marxists who always try to cover up the black spots of Muslim rule with thick coats of whitewash.
These barbaric islamic invaders always have an agenda proselytization, desecrating and demolishing the temples of non-Muslims. India too suffered terribly as thousands of Hindu temples and sacred edifices disappeared in northern India by the time of Sikandar Lodi and Babur. In Delhi, after the demolition of twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples, the materials of which were utilized to construct the Quwwat-ul-Islam masjid, it was after 700 years that the Birla Mandir could be constructed in 1930s. Sita Ram Goel has brought out two excellent volumes on Hindu Temples: What happened to them. These informative volumes give a list of Hindu shrines and their history of destruction in the medieval period on the basis of Muslim evidence itself. This of course does not cover all the shrines razed. Muslims broke temples recklessly. Those held in special veneration by Hindus like the ones at Somnath, Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, were special targets of Muslims, and whenever the Hindus could manage to rebuild their shrines at these places, they were again destroyed by Muslim rulers. From the time of Mahmud of Ghazni who destroyed the temples at Somnath and Mathura to Babur who struck at Ayodhya to Aurangzeb who razed the temples at Kashi Mathura and Somnath, the story is repeated again and again.
Even these Muslims pridely chronicles about forcible conversions by rulers and nobles. It is written in quite detailed in al-Kufi's Chachnama (for Muhammad Qasim in Sindh), Utbi's Tarikh-i-Yamini (for Mahmud of Ghazni) Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir (for Muhammad Ghauri, Qutbuddin Aibak etc.) and Minhaj Siraj's. Tabqat-i-Nasiri (for the early years of the Sultanate period).
Author give sufficient historical evidence has been set forth for any demographic behaviour and on that basis he has arrived at the conclusion that the population of India in A.D. 1000 was about 200 million and in the year 1500 it was 170 million. The loss of Indian population during Mahmud of Ghaznavi's invasions was about 2 million.
Akbar abolished Jiziyah in 1564. In all probability many of his 'devout' officers in far off regions, did not care to enforce this anti-Islamic measure. Therefore, ten years later he once again issued orders for its abolition. Badaoni tells us that it was customary "to search out and kill heretics" (Shias), let alone non-Muslims as late as 1574. Hemu's father, when captured, was offered his life if he turned Muslim. Abdun Nabi executed a Brahman for blasphemy on the complaint of a Qazi. Husain Khan, the governor of Lahore ordered Hindus to stick patches on their shoulders so that no Muslim could be put to the indignity of showing them honour by mistake, nor did he allow Hindus to saddle their horses. Jihad was practiced as usual, massacre at Chittor was done in true Jihadist spirit. Even iconoclastic zeal did not disappear under Akbar. Kangra was invaded in 1572-73, and even though Birbal was in joint command, the umbrella of the Goddess was riddled with arrows, 200 cows were killed and Muslim soldiers threw their shoes full of blood at the walls and doors of the temple. A Mughal officer, Bayazid, converted a Hindu temple into a Muslim school. Jain idols in Gujarat could not escape vandalism. Such seem to have been and continued to be the popular prejudices against the Hindus, under Akbar and his successors
Aurangzeb's order says that "Jiziyah lapses on death and on acceptance of Islam". During the course of the year some people used to die and some used to convert, but the amount of Jiziyah for the place remained unaltered. "The non Muslim should himself bring the Jizyah; if he sends it through his deputy it should not be accepted. At the time of payment the non-Muslim should keep standing, while the chief should keep sitting. The hand of the non-Muslim should be below and that of the chief above it. Aurangzeb thus imposed it in the true spirit and letter of the tax.
There are several episodes like this. Book quite an interesting. I can imagine the horror non muslim went through.
Its history is soaked in blood of the supposed enemies of Islam. But all this is denied by Marxists who always try to cover up the black spots of Muslim rule with thick coats of whitewash.
September 21, 2020
Excellent dissection of mughal history
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews