ISLAM AND JIHAD 223with religious law. But the way of granting pardon prescribed by the law
is different from the one adopted by you, for you go on giving pardon to
everybody, high or low, without any discretion between a friend and a
foe. The great Allah says in the Koran [Surah XLVII, 4]: ‘O True believ-
ers, when you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads.’ The above
command of the Great Allah is a great command and must be respected
and followed. You should not be so fond of showing mercy, as to nullify
the virtue of the act. Henceforth grant pardon to no one of the enemy and
spare none of them, or else all will consider you a weak-minded man.
Concluded with compliments. Written by Nafia in the year ninety three
[A.D. 715].”
In a later letter Hajjaj writes: “My distinct orders are that all those who
are fighting men should beassassinated,and their sons and daughters
imprisoned and retained as hostages.” Serious note needs to be taken of
the wordassassinated.This clearly shows that Hajjaj understood the na-
ture of the act he was ordering. The operation had ceased to be purely
military and had become religiously supported murder.
His orders in hand, Qasim arrived at the town of Brahminabad and
ordered all the men of the military classes beheaded. It is said that about
6,000 fighting men were massacred on this occasion, some say 16,000.
The survivors were then forced to submit to the will of Hajjaj, through
his lieutenant Qasim.
Qasim’s invasion was but the prelude of Islamic incursions into India.
The true conquest began in the eleventh century when Mahmud of Ghazni,
head of the Turko-Afghan dynasty, passed through India like a whirlwind
destroying, pillaging, and massacring, all of which he justified by constant
references to the Koranic injunctions to kill idolaters, whom he had vowed
to chastise every year of his life. Mahmud was a most zealous Muslim
and of the ferocious type prevalent at that time. He believed it a duty as
well as pleasure to slay idolaters.
Surah IX, 5. And when the forbidden months have passed,slay the idolaters
wherever you find them[italics for emphasis] and take them captive, and
beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if
they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zaka ́t, then leave their way
free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.With that Koranic verse in hand, effectively acarte blancheto slaughter
idolaters, it mattered little that Mahmud was also greedy for treasure and
took good care to derive a handsome profit from his holy wars. Besides,