At a glance
Era 2- Dates
- c. 695-715 CE
- Who
- Umayyad commander who brought Sindh into the caliphate at about seventeen
- Era
- The Umayyads
ProfileMuhammad ibn al-Qasim
Muhammad ibn al-Qasim was a young relative of al-Hajjaj, the powerful governor of Iraq. In 711, when he was only about seventeen, al-Hajjaj sent him with an army to Sindh, the lower Indus valley, after pirates there had seized Muslim ships and travellers.
He took the port of Debal and then moved up the Indus. In 712 he defeated Raja Dahir, the king of Sindh, and took the cities of the region, including Multan. He made agreements with the local people that allowed Hindus and Buddhists to keep their temples and their faith in return for paying tax, as People of the Book were treated elsewhere.
His career ended suddenly. When the caliph al-Walid died in 715, the new caliph, an enemy of al-Hajjaj, recalled him, and he died in prison in Iraq while still a young man. Sindh remained Muslim, and it became a door for Islam into South Asia.
Meet them inWhere they appear on the road
SourcesSources for this profile
The books, lectures and maps behind this page are listed on our Sources page.