4.  Afghan Resistance

After the death of Mohammed, the first Caliph had the first task to restore order in Arabia and reconfirm Islamaization of Arab tribes. This is called ‘war against apostasy’ (Ridda war). Once completed, a new savage force of united Arab tribes under Islamic doctrine burst out on neighbouring lands. Unfortunately, just then Sassanid Empire had exhausted itself by a 30 year war with Byzantine Empire. Arab Muslims defeated the Sassanid Empire at the battles of Walaja, al-Qadisiyyah and Nahavand within a couple of years and Persia was conquered. Then Islamic forces turned towards Afghanistan, east of Persia.

The Muslim Arabs captured the city of Herat in 652 A.D. General Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived from Zaranj to the Zunbil capital of Zamindawar with an army of around 6,000 Arab Muslims. The General started destroying temples and enforcing conversion. The people of southern Afghanistan began accepting Islam from this date onward. Muslim forces continued to move east till 667 A.D. and occupied large tract of Afghanistan including Kabul. But Afghans could not accept the persecution and Islamaization and Kabul revolted in 683 A.D. and completely routed the invading army, led by the Governor of Seistan. Though on the western periphery of the Afghan area, the districts of Herat and Seistan continued to be ruled by Arab governors but in the east, in the mountains and in the cities Afghans rose in revolt and regained independence. Whenever any area regained independence, the converted returned to their old beliefs. The harshness and vicariousness of Arab rule produced such unrest among people that native rulers once again established themselves independent.

Afghanistan will continue to resist Arab aggression and defy Arab forces for two hundred years, keeping most of Afghanistan free. It was not until 870 A.D. that Afghanistan was brought under control by the Saffarids. In 870 A.D., Yaqub bin Laith as-Saffar, a local ruler from the Saffarid dynasty of Zaranj, Afghanistan, conquered most of present-day Afghanistan in the name of Islam. He adopted convert or die policy. It was a hide and seek situation. Large number of population was killed and enslaved. Many migrated to India. Some converted. But in many cases, the people he conquered had rebelled against their Islamic overlords and reverted to prior forms of worship. As a whole, Afghans continue to oppose Islamaization but was forced to retreat to inaccessible areas. Pathan tribes in the hills continued their religion for very long period. But again, Hindu Shahi of Punjab slowly re-conquered Afghanistan and established a multi religious country with Kabul as capital. 

Rule of Hindushahi extended from Punjab to Afghanistan extending into the Himalayas. Hindu Shahi had been ruling parts or full of Afghanistan for more than 500 years and was entrenched there when Islam knocked the door in Afghanistan. Though Muslim army defeated and conquered many parts of Afghanistan from time to time, they could not retain occupancy as Kings of Hindu shahi and the general population continuously opposed and fought back. At the close of 10^th century, Muslim army came face to face with Hindu shahi army.

This last and final Muslim lunge towards Afghanistan was not led by Arab Muslims, but they were the Persian, Turkish and Mongol converts to Islam. The first Turko-Persian Muslim chieftain to attack the Hindu domains was named Sabuktagin. He ruled from Ghazni and had forced his way up to the domains of Jayapala Shahiya (Hindu-shahis) the Hindu Raja of Kubha (later renamed as Kabul by the city’s Muslims occupiers). Sabuktagin learnt Hindu ways of war. He found Hindu kings are vainglorious and can be easily provoked to accept challenges. Hindus also fight from dawn to dusk and rests in the night. He used subterfuge to defeat Hindu army.

The crafty Muslim chieftain decided to use this practice of the Hindus against them. He challenged Jayapala Shahiya to open warfare and decided the place and date of the war. True to his word the Hindu king reached the appointed place one day before the day of the war. This was in the year 980 A.D. The Muslims too had assembled at the appointed place and the two adversaries exchanged ambassadors and decided that the hostilities would commence at sunrise the next day. After the Hindus retired for the night, the Muslims started preparing for a night assault. While the Hindu army was in deep slumber, except for a few scouts, the Muslim army attacked by taking cover of the dark and stormy night. The storm entirely camouflaged the advance of the Muslims as they stealthily crept towards the Hindu camp, after crossing the few hillocks that separated the two camps.

The Muslims had muffled the sounds of their advance by covering the hooves of their horses with felt and cloth. Dressed in dark clothes the Muslims almost reached the Hindu camps at 2 A.M. at night. When they were spotted, the Hindu scouts raised a hue and cry to awaken their sleeping troops. But it was too late. Before any significant number of the Hindus could arise to don their armour and be ready to fight the Muslims, a large number of them were done to death while they were half awake and struggling to prepare themselves for war.

The entire Hindu army was caught unawares, but they still put up a stiff fight against their wily adversaries. The battle continued till past dawn, but the Hindu army had been overpowered, tricked as it had been to give the advantage of surprise to the Muslims. By late morning the remnants of the Hindu army retreated back to their capital Kubha (Kabul), with the Muslims in hot pursuit. The Muslims soon occupied Kabul and continued to push the Hindus eastwards. Hindu Shahi continued to rule West of Punjab extending up to Eastern part of modern Afghanistan. The Hindu Shahi was finally crushed in the early part of the 11th century by Mahmud of Ghazni who ruled between 998 and 1030. Ghazni adopted forced conversion as well as deportation. Hindus, Buddists and Zoroastrians were pushed out of Afghanistan. At this time both Buddhism and Zoroastrianism vanished from Afghanistan. Conversion was near complete in the valley but Pathan tribes in hills were not yet converted. They continued to resist Muslim aggression. Even in thirteen century many Pathan tribes were Hindu. A small group of people could withstand Islamaization till end of nineteenth century. Kafiristan held out till 1895. Emir Abdur Rahman Khan then conquered and massacred them all. Alas, British could not hold on to victory of Afganistan in 1880s. Under British rule, people of Kafiristan could have survived either as a minority in Afghanistan or sheltered in India during partition of India.

Mahmud of Ghazni, son of Sabuktagin and the most renowned ruler of the dynasty consolidated control over the areas south of the Amu Darya to Afganistan. He then carried out devastating raids into India. With his booty from India, Mahmud built a great capital at Ghazni, founded universities, and patronized scholars. By the time of his death, Mahmud ruled a vast empire that stretched from Kurdistan to the entire Hindu Kush region as far east as Punjab as well as territories far north of the Amu Darya. However, as occurred so often in this region, the demise in 1030 of this military genius who had expanded the empire to its farthest reaches was the death knell of the dynasty itself. The rulers of the Ghurids of Ghor in modern-day Afghanistan, captured and burned Ghazni in 1149, just as the Ghaznavids had once conquered Ghor.

In 1192 AD, according to Farishta, the army assembled by Muizz al din Muhammed bin Sam consisted of Turks, Tajiks and Afghans, and his opponent King PrithiRai assembled a force of Rajput and Afghan horsemen. Thus, in this Great War Muslims and Hindu Afghans are organised against each other as fighting men, which indicates that Afghanistan was not yet completely converted to Islam.

Al Beruni mentions the Afghans once, saying that in the western mountains of India live various tribes of Afghans who extend to the neighbourhood of the Sindh valley. Thus in the eleventh century when the Afghans are first mentioned, they are found occupying the Sulaiman Mountains now occupied by their descendants, the very tribes which the advocates of the exclusive claims of the Durannis will not admit to be true Afghans. Al Beruni no doubt also alludes to them in the passage where he says that rebellious savage races, tribes of Hindus, or akin to them inhabit the mountains which form the frontier of India towards the west.

Alas, no record is kept of the struggles of Afghan people against Islamization. British could not retain Afghanistan for long. Therefore, whatever is recorded by Muslim authors of Muslim courts are the only history known to outside world. Naturally, resistance to Islamization does not get a mention. Muslims took 330 years to subjugate Afghanistan. The Arabs could not succeed. It was Turko-persians who ultimately captured Afghanistan by deceit in 980 A.D. Though Arabs and Tuks both followed convert or die policy, it took another two hundred years to convert Afgans to Islam. Afghans accepted death but did not convert. Even those who accepted Islam tried to revert back to their original faith. Slowly a mixed population emerged where Muslim both of indigenous stock and descendants of conquerors constituted a sizable percentage. Thereafter, Mahmud of Gajani forced out all non-Muslims from the valley of Afghanistan. Afghanistan valley turned into 100% Muslim state. Pathan tribes in the surrounding hills continue to practice indigenous religions for another four hundred years except for Kafiristan which held out till 1895. History of conversion of Pathan tribes is totally unknown. If Kafiristan is considered, then it can be construed that each tribe were individually attacked, massacred and converted. Slowly over four hundred years all Pathan tribes were converted.

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