The Delhi Sultanate(Rise of Islam in India)

When Emperor Harsha Vardhan was ruling in India, a new religion was rising in distant Arabia and it was 'Islam'.Prophet Mohammed, the founder of this great religion, was born in 570AD. and died in 632AD. The followers of Islam became famous as Muslims. The principles of Islam were simple and within a short period, it spread outside Arab like Persia, Syria, Egypt, Spain, northern belt of Africa etc.

     The followers of Islam also looked towards India. It was not only to spread the religion but also prepared a ground for strong political system. It was in the early part of 8th century, when the Muslims began to appear on the soil of India.

The coming of the Muslims to India: At first, the Muslim traders came by sea to the Malabar Coast of India to preach their religion. Gradually,they came to know about the fabulous wealth of India and thought of invading this land.

• Who was the first Muslim to invade India?
• Ans: An Arab commander named Muhammad Bin Kasim was the first Muslim to invade Sindh in the year 712AD. But his invasion had no lasting result. Historian Stanley Lane Poole described, the Arab invasion of Sindh was only "an episode in the history of India and of Islam, a triumph without results".
• After Muhammad Bin Kasim, the next invasion came from the Muslim Turks much later in 1000AD. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni invaded the north-western parts of India for 17 times in twenty-five years. His targets were wealthy temples including Somnath temple. Mahmud did not try to establish an empire in India but to create a large army and a splendid capital city at Ghazni. His invasions, thus, left no permanent results.
• Nearly two hundred years later of Mahmud Ghazni's invasion, the third wave of Muslim invasion came and left lasting results. Muhammad Ghori from Ghor kingdom of Afganisthan raided India in the year 1191 during the reign of Prithviraj Chouhan. In the year 1191, in the battlefield of Tarain, both sides met and fought. Md. Ghori was defeated but in the next year in 1192,again he came with a larger army to the same battle ground and Md. Ghori got victory over Pritviraj Chouhan and killed him there.
• Rise of the Slave Dynasty: The second battle of Tarain was a turning point in history as Turkish rule as it was establised on a vital part of India. Though Ghori returned to his country, his general Qutbuddin Aibak began to rule over the Indian territories from Delhi.