EARLY MUSLIM RELATIONS WITH INDUS VALLEY AND THE EXPEDITIONS DURING THE GUIDED CALIPHATE PERIOD

The glorious past of the Indus valley has experienced a settlement of the civilization that was at its peak in the era before Christ. People had developed societies living with peace and prosperity. However, time changed and the decline of Indus valley civilization occurred. After that, up to the middle of the 7th century A.D many other nations came and captured the area. It is being perceived as a common concept that Islam came into the Indus valley by the conquest of Muhammad bin Qasim(d.96/715) at the beginning of 8th century during the Umayyad period and started spreading in the region with the effort of Sufi saints. But literature presents some evidence on the presence of Islam in Indus valley even before Muhammad bin Qasim. The purpose of this study is to find out the entrance and existence of Islam in Indus valley during the domination of the Guided Caliphate. To support the claim and analyze the issue the study follows the contemporary as well as the main Arabic sources of Islamic history. It has been found that, with the expansion of the Islamic state, the religion of Islam had also spread up to its vast boundaries along the cardinal directions. However, due to many unsuccessful military expeditions caused by the unfair policies and wrong strategies towards local masses, the impact of the spread went unnoticed. On the contrary, Muhammad bin Qasim was fair enough to the local people and gave them respect as well as high-rank positions in his administration resulting in his quick and comprehensive conquest of the region. It shows that Islam itself and the assimilation potential of people towards it was already there which became a part of Muhammad bin Qasim success in the region