1. WHY INDIA DID NOT BECOME MUSLIM

By the end of rule of Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, whole of Arab was unified under Islam. Unified Arabs under banner of Islam was a devastating force. Arabs fanned out to neighbouring countries. In one century Arabs conquered whole of central Asia, North Africa, south-east Europe and bordering states of China and India. Islam followed Arab army. Where ever Arab forces conquered, they massacred the local population or forced them to convert. Once local population converted, they also followed the same path. Islam’s policy of allowing believers to keep the loot from un-believers and even enslaving women and children of conquered community, were attracting quick followers. Newly converted Muslims were always more jealous and more enthusiastic in spreading Islam.  India was conquered not by Arabs but by Turks, Afghans and Mongols. These people were later converts and eager to spread Islam by strength of sword and rewarding themselves from riches of the victims.

India had first braces of Islam in 711 AD within 100 years of advent of Islam. Arab army led by Muhammod Bin Kasem captured Sindh, defeating king Dahir. Whole of Sindh and Multan were brought under Ummyyad domination by 712 AD. However further progress of Arab domination was stopped in Battle of Rajasthan. While Sindh remained under Muslim occupation, rest of India carried on its business the way it had for centuries. Mahmoud of Gajani’s forays to Somnath and other religious places and minor skirmishes with Muslim forces were not given due importance. Then came Mohammed Ghori. Ghori’s first attack on Delhi was repulsed and his army decimated but he was allowed to return unharmed. Ghori in his second attempt overrun Delhi. That was 1186 AD. Very soon Muslim forces occupied whole of north India including Bengal. They also occupied central India in another fifty years. Southern India continued to resist Muslim occupation till Mugol period. However, whole of India was never under Muslim occupation at any point of time. All the time there were rebellions against Muslim rule and independent native kingdoms established and even sometime flourished. By the end of seventeenth century several Hindu kingdoms were ruling almost half of India. Among them Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs were noteworthy. Also European powers started coming to India for trade from 15^th century onward . They needed rule of law for carrying out business which was lacking in general at that time. So these traders started forcible occupation of land for defending their pockets of influences.

In 1757 East India Company defeated Nawab of Bengal in battle of Plassy and occupied Bengal which is equivalent to present day Eastern India and Bangladesh combined. Slowly East India Company defeated Indian states and either integrated them in British India or made pacts with these states to become protectorates of British India. In this way, whole of India was unified in one administrative unit. There were a large number of native rulers, both Hindu and Muslim but they were protectorates of East India Company/ British and did not have much freedom. East India Company also defeated other foreign powers, wanting to get a pie of India. Now India was free from general Muslim subjugation after about six centuries. India was under British rule.

But most of India remained under Muslim rule for six centuries. Sindh was under Muslim occupation for close to 1000 years. All this time forcible conversion was in practice. Only exception was the rule of great Mogul King, Shahenshah Akbar though even Akbar once killed 30,000 unarmed Hindu peasants after victory of Chittor. Today, we find India is still Hindu. Only 25% of Indian population were Muslim in 1947. Truncated India had about 9% Muslim population in 1947. In 2011 Muslim population in India is 13% (Census of 1941 & 2011).

The question is why? Why India is not a Muslim country like Egypt, Iran or Iraq?  Every place which came under Muslim occupation, the entire population have been replaced or converted. Christians and Jews were not spared even though they are privileged people according to Islam, being from the books. People from the books can maintain their religions though they must remain submissive. In practice, entire Jewish population of Muslim dominated area vanished. Christians did not fare better. Two million Armenian Christians were butchered by Turkish Government with wholehearted support of Turkish and Kurd people in not so distant past (1918). This was an act as heinous as that of massacre of Jews by Hitler. In fact Hitler was inspired by Armenian massacre and replicated by killing six million Jews over 5 years between 1941 and 1945. But such massacres had been routine over fourteen hundred years in Islamic states.The first massacre is recorded in Koran. Qurayzah, a Jew tribe of Medina was massacred under supervision of Mohammed himself. Nine hundred adult men were beheaded in one night. Women and children were enslaved. Mohammed kept one for himself. Another recorded late nineteenth century massacre was that of idol worshipers of Kafiristan in Afghanistan in 1895. In one stroke, whole history, culture, language and people of Kafiristan vanished from the face of earth. Such methodical massacres of non-Muslim community are abundant in world history. And it continues. Yazidis of Iraq or Christians of Sudan, the fate is similar. Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and various animists groups slowly disappeared in Muslim land. That is why it is all the more important to know what is so different in India which withstood six hundred years of persecution and still remained Hindu. What is there in Hinduism or India? Why Hindus did not select easier way out? Why they preferred to remain hungry, tolerated humiliation and torture but largely continued in their faith.

India was too populous

India was too populous a country for a small band of Muslim soldiers to decimate. Automatically this small band became the aristocracy and they started living in luxury in cities. Real India shifted to villages with its tradition and heritage. Since it was in the interest of Muslim aristocracy that source of supply of their riches remains intact, they did not interfere with village affair. Hindus embraced poverty. Elaborate puja rituals gave way to simple puja. Food became simple. All luxuries of life like good food, good dress, and palatial buildings became prerogative of Muslim aristocracy. Muglai cuisine of today has its root in Indian cuisine. Urdu developed as court language though initially Persian was used in court. Dances and music remained in Court. Artists and artisans need support for their guild. They continued with cities. They had to convert under duress. But the peasant and supporting communities withstood the pressure of conversion. Agile Brahmin community shifted to village to remain with India and to provide moral strength to real India amidst abject poverty. Business community and Kayasth community managed their identity and proved themselves an asset to Muslim rulers by providing finance and administrative skill to the rulers.

Caste System

The second reason was caste system. Hindus are divided in caste system. Every caste has its definite standing. Brahmin is of course at the top of the order. But every caste has a position. It is above some caste and below some caste. This relative position can change with change of economy and importance of occupation. Castes are not limited to Vedic period. New group can join Hinduism as a new caste. It is to be understood that a Hindu is a Hindu by birth. No individual can be converted to Hinduism. But a community or tribe can be converted. It is not strictly conversion. Hinduism absorbs. A new community or tribe with all its traditions, practices and Gods can be absorbed in Hinduism. The new community becomes another caste and is assigned a position depending upon its status. Nobody is converted. No pledge is taken. Such absorption happens over years. Jains or Buddhists are just considered as different castes and considered part of Hindu diaspora. Muslims and Christian also could have been assimilated in Hindu India, but for their practice of conversion.

Indians were accustomed to caste system and everybody is proud of his caste. He is bound by rules and practices of his caste. He is not only Hindu but he also belongs to a caste. This caste also decides his occupation among other things. He cannot be converted alone. The whole community must be converted. One or two persons can be converted by force. But converting a whole community was difficult. Individuals who got converted and separated from the community never felt happy. Caste system was a big dis-incentive to conversion to Islam.

India is a vast country

The third reason is the vastness of the country. No part of India was continuously under Muslim rule for the entire period. Hindu kings, jaminders and tribes regained independence. Rajput’s, Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Cholas continuously troubled Muslim rulers till very end. Specially, Odisha, part of Andhra, part of Tamilnadu, inaccessible parts of Kerala & Karnataka and Himalayan belt from Himachal to Assam were practically independent throughout Muslim period. The great Vijayanagara kingdom thrived during Muslim period for two hundred years.

People continuously migrated. If persecution is intolerable in a place then a community, a caste or a village will simply leave that place and take shelter in another part of India which is not under Muslim control. There are hundreds of examples of population migration within India throughout Muslim period. 

Flexible Hindu

Fourth reason was flexibility of Hinduism. Hinduism is a product of five thousand years of ancient civilization. This is a religion which has evolved.  There is no single prophet, there is no single book and there is no single God. You can be an atheist and a Hindu. You can be devoted Vaishnav and believe only in Shri Krishna and be a Hindu. You can be Jain, Buddhist, Sikh or Brahmo or Arya-samaji or anything, you will still be a Hindu. A Hindu is by birth secular. He does not oppose anybody following any religion. If it is not to his liking he will just avoid. He cannot kill others. He cannot convert others. Hinduism once freed from its caste system which has anyway lost its utility today, it will become religion of mankind. A number of saints during Bhakti movement preached the same. Chaitnyadev, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Bhakt Haridas, Meerabai, Great Baru Chandidas and scores of other saints from Hindu community spread the message of unity in diversity and basic philosophy of Hinduism. Hindu absorbed the essence of Islam to compete Islam.

Change of social rules

Hindus closed their open society in response to Islamic terror. Strict rules were applied to maintain caste purity. Harsh rules like sati established in the society. Any contact with Muslims was frowned upon. Eating together with a Muslim was equal to conversion. Hindus became very sensitive and practically closed themselves to outsiders. Even caste to caste relationship reduced to minimum contact. This was a negative reaction to counter Islamization. It resulted fragmentation of society. It also resulted in numerous India and Pakistan all over India. To say British created Hindu- Muslim rift is to say the untruth. Hindu could survive during 600 long years of Muslim rule by ghettoization and fragmentation. 

Violent Islam

Violent nature of Islam also helped preserve Hinduism. If any country allows growing of poppy seeds for heroin export for consumption of American people, can that country remain insulated from heroin addiction? Muslims adopt violent means for converting people worshipping idols or following other religions. They follow the same violence among Muslims of different sects. Each is opposed to others and ready to take up arms to kill other sect people. Today, we receive daily information about sectarian violence among Muslims somewhere or other in a Muslim country. There is no reason that in mediaeval period such violence did not exist. Furthermore, Muslim kingdoms fought with each other, brothers fought among themselves for capturing throne and even son fought father to capture power. These fights resulted in large loss of human life, loss of young Muslim soldiers and sometimes revenge killing of entire population of city. This is one reason why Muslim population did not increase faster than it could.

Europeans came

Last but not the least reason was arrival of European traders in fifteen century. They also tried to convert but both Hindus and Muslims. Here the two communities had one common adversary. It naturally gave respite to otherwise continual pressure for conversion to Islam. Conversion stopped altogether with East India Company taking over the reins of power of India. British India under company rule or under Queen’s rule did not officially interfere with the religion of Indian subjects. Hindus could again perform their religious activities with freedom. So much so Hindus forgot history of six hundred years of subjugation and humiliation.

These were the main seven reasons why Hinduism did not vanish from the face of earth like many other religions. Looking back one need to appreciate courage, resilience, tolerance and commitment of our distant forefathers without which today we all would have been Muslims. A great civilization of 5000 years would have been forgotten. Cultural and linguistic diversity of India would have been a thing of past. At the same time we might thank East India Company for helping Hinduism to survive even if it was not their intention.

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