QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA http://www.themodernreligion.com/quotations_muslims_india.

htm

Islam - The Modern Religion

QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA

Dr. Z. HAQ
(Copyright 1990, 1997, All Rights Reserved)

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
Humayun Kabir
N.S. Mehta
Prof. K.M. Panikkar
Babar (Mughal Dynasty)
Dr. Gustav le Bon
Sir William Digby
Brooks Adams
Muslims in India - An Overview

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (India's Prime Minsiter 1947-64) in ‘The Discovery of India,’ 1946, p. 218, 225.
“The impact of the invaders from the north-west and of Islam on India had been considerable. It had pointed out and shone up the a buses
that had crept into Hindu society - the petrification of caste, untouchability, exclusiveness carried to fantastic lengths. The idea of the
brotherhood of Islam and the theoretical equality of its adherents made a powerful appeal especially to those in the Hindu fold who were
denied any semblance of equal treatment.”

“...his (Babar’s) account tells us of the cultural poverty that had descended on North India. Partly this was due to Timur's destruction,
partly due to the exodus of many learned men and artists and noted craftsmen to the South. But this was due also to the drying up of the
creative genius of the Indian people.”

1 of 5 11/16/2007 2:45 AM
QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA http://www.themodernreligion.com/quotations_muslims_india.htm

“The coming of Islam and of a considerable number of people from outside with different ways of living and thought affected these
beliefs and structure. A foreign conquest, with all its evils, has one advantage: it widens the mental horizon of the people and compels
them to look out of their shells. They realize that the world is a much bigger and a more variegated place than they had imagined. So the
Afghan conquest had affected India and many changes had taken place. Even more so the Moghals, who were far more cultured and
advanced in the ways of living than the Afghans, brought changes to India. In particular, they introduced the refinements for which Iran
was famous.”

Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Presidential Address to the Fifty-fifth Session of the Indian Congress, Jaipur,
1948.
“(The Muslims had) enriched our culture, strengthened our administration, and brought near distant parts of the country... It (the Muslim
Period) touched deeply the social life and the literature of the land.”

Humayun Kabir in 'The Indian Heritage,' 1955, p. 153.

“Islam's democratic challenge has perhaps never been equaled by any other religious or social system. Its advent on the Indian scene was
marked by a profound stirring of consciousness. It modified the basis of Hindu social structure throughout northern India.”

N.S. Mehta, in 'Islam and the Indian Civilization,' reproduced in 'Hindustan ke Ahd-i-Wusta ki ek Jhalak,'
by S.A. Rahman.
“Islam had brought to India a luminous torch which rescued humanity from darkness at a time when old civilizations were on the decline
and lofty moral ideals had got reduced to empty intellectual concepts. As in other lands, so in India too, the conquests of Islam were more
widespread in the world of thought than in the world of politics. Today, also, the Islamic World is a spiritual brotherhood which is held
together by community of faith in the Oneness of God and human equality. Unfortunately, the history of Islam in this country remained
tied up for centuries with that of government with the result that a veil was cast over its true spirit, and its fruits and blessings were hidden
from the popular eye.”

Prof. K.M. Panikkar in 'A Survey of Indian History,' 1947, p. 163.

“One thing is clear. Islam had a profound effect on Hinduism during this period. Medieval theism is in some ways a reply to the attack of
Islam; and the doctrine of medieval teachers by whatever names their gods are known are essentially theistic. It is the one supreme God
that is the object of the devotee's adoration and it is to His grace that we are asked to look for redemption.”

2 of 5 11/16/2007 2:45 AM
QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA http://www.themodernreligion.com/quotations_muslims_india.htm

Zaheeruddin Babar in his Autobiography 'Tuzuk-i-Babari,' (Founder of Mughal Dynasty, Ruled India
1526-1530).
“There are neither good horses in India, nor good meat, nor grapes, nor melons, nor ice, nor cold water, nor baths, nor candle, nor
candlestick, nor torch. In the place of the candle, they use the divat. It rests on three legs: a small iron piece resembling the snout of a
lamp... Even in case of Rajas and Maharajas, the attendants stand holding the clumsy divat in their hands when they are in need of a light
in the night.

“There is no arrangement for running water in gardens and buildings. The buildings lack beauty, symmetry, ventilation and neatness.
Commonly, the people walk barefooted with a narrow slip tied round the loins. Women wear a dress ...”

Dr. Gustav le Bon in 'Les Civilisations de L'Inde' (translated by S.A. Bilgrami).

"There does not exist a history of ancient India. Their books contain no historical data whatever, except for a few religious books in
which historical information is buried under a heap of parables and folk-lore, and their buildings and other monuments also do nothing to
fill the void for the oldest among them do not go beyond the third century B.C. To discover facts about India of the ancient times is as
difficult a task as the discovery of the island of Atlantis, which, according to Plato, was destroyed due to the changes of the earth... The
historical phase of India began with the Muslim invasion. Muslims were India's first historians."

Sir William Digby in 'Prosperous India: A Revelation,' p. 30.

"England's industrial supremacy owes its origin to the vast hoards of Bengal and the Karnatik being made available for her use....Before
Plassey
was fought and won, and before the stream of treasure began to flow to England, the industries of our country were at a very low ebb."

Brooks Adams in 'The Law of Civilization and Decay,' London, 1898, pp. 313-17.
"Very soon after Plassey
the Bengal plunder began to arrive in London, and the effect appears to have been instantaneous, for all authorities agree that the
Industrial Revolution, the event that has divided the l9th century from all antecedent time, began with the year 1760....Plassey was fought
in 1757, and probably nothing has ever equaled the rapidity of th e change which followed....In themselves inventions are passive, many
of the most important having laid dormant for centuries, waiting for a sufficient store of force to have accumulated to have set them
working. That store must always take the shape of money, and money not hoarded, but in motion.

"...Before the influx of the Indian treasure, and the expansion of credit which followed, no force sufficient for this purpose existed....The
factory system was the child of 'Industrial Revolution,' and until capital had accumulated in masses, capable of giving solidity to large
bodies of labour, manufactures were carried on by scattered individuals....Possibly since the world began, no investment has ever yielded

3 of 5 11/16/2007 2:45 AM
QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA http://www.themodernreligion.com/quotations_muslims_india.htm

the profit reaped from the Indian plunder, because for nearly fifty years Great Britain stood without a competitor."

Muslims in India - An Overview

The Muslims entered Sind, India, in 711 C.E., the same year they entered Spain. Their entry in India was prompted by an attempt to free
the civilian Muslim hostages whose ship was taken by sea pirates in the territory of Raja Dahir, King of Sind. After diplomatic attempts
failed, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, the Umayyad governor in Baghdad, dispatched a 17-year-old commander by the name Muhammad bin Qasim
with a small army. Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir at what is now Hyderabad in Pakistan. In pursuing the remnant of Dahir's
army and his son’s supporters (Indian kings), Muhammad bin Qasim fought at Nirun, Rawar, Bahrore, Brahmanabad, Aror, Dipalpur and
Multan. By 713 C.E., he established his control in Sind and parts of Punjab up to the borders of Kashmir. A major part of what is now
Pakistan came under Muslim control in 713 C.E. and remained so throughout the centuries until some years after the fall of the Mughal
Empire in 1857.

Muhammad bin Qasim’s treatment of the Indian population was so just that when he was called back to Baghdad the civilians were
greatly disheartened and gave him farewell in tears. There was a Muslim community in Malabar, southwest India as early as 618 C.E. as a
result of King Chakrawati Farmas
accepting Islam at the hands of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Muslim presence as rulers in India dates from 711 C.E. Since then,
different Muslim rulers (Turks of Central Asia, Afghans, and the descendants of the Mongol - the Mughals) entered India, primarily
fought their fellow Muslim rulers, and established their rule under various dynastic names. By the eleventh century, the Muslims had
established their capital at Delhi, which remained the principal seat of power until the last ruler of Mughal Dynasty, Bahadur Shah Zafar,
was deposed in 1857 by the British. A few British visitors were given permission by Akbar to stay in Eastern India more than two
centuries before. The British abused that privilege, and within a few decades the British began to collaborate with Rajas and Nawabs in
military expeditions against the Mughals and Muslim rulers of the east, southeast and south India. After two centuries of fighting, the
British succeeded in abolishing the Mughal rule in 1857.

Muslims were a minority when they ruled major parts of India for nearly a thousand years. They were well liked generally as rulers for
their justice, social and cultural values, respect for freedom to practice religion as prescribed by the religion of various communities,
freedom of speech, legal system in accordance with the dictates and established norms of each religious community, public works and for
establishing educational institutions. In their days as rulers, the Muslims constituted about twenty percent of India's population. Today,
Indian Muslims constitute about fifteen percent of India's population, about 150 million, and they are the second largest Muslim
community in the world.

The region now part of Pakistan and many other parts of India were predominantly Muslim. After the British takeover in 1857, many of
these areas remained under loose control of Muslims. When the British decided to withdraw from India without a clear direction for the
future of Muslims (former rulers), a political solution was reached for some of the Muslim majority areas. This resulted in the division of
India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

Among the famous Muslims scientists, historians and travelers who visited and lived, though briefly, in India were Al-Biruni,
Al-Masu'di, and Ibn Battuta. Their writings illuminate us with the Indian society and culture. Al-Biruni stayed in India for twenty years.

4 of 5 11/16/2007 2:45 AM
QUOTATIONS ON MUSLIMS IN INDIA http://www.themodernreligion.com/quotations_muslims_india.htm

Ibn Battuta, an Andalusian who was born in Morocco, served as a Magistrate of Delhi (1334-1341) during the reign of Sultan
Muhammad Tughluk. It is conceivable that Ibn Battuta’s description of Muslim India inspired Ferdinand and Isabella who had taken over
the last Muslim kingdom of Granada, Spain in 1492. That same year Columbus received the permission in the Alhambra palace (of
Granada) and made his famous voyage bound for India in search of gold and spice but he landed in the Americas.

Quotations on Islamic Civilization

Quotations on Moorish (Islamic) Civilization
What Non-Muslims Say About Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Taken from the "Islamic Civilization"

Copyright © 1992, 1997 Dr. A. Zahoor
All Rights Reserved

The "What's New?" Table Islam - The Modern Religion

5 of 5 11/16/2007 2:45 AM