Muḥammad b. al-Ḳāsim al-Thaḳafī

Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī (b. 691×96, d. 715 CE) was a general of the Umayyads, noted for leading the Arabic conquest of Sind. He is one of the main characters of the Chach Nama, which is in turn the main source for his life.

Ibn al-Qāsim was from the Banū Thaqīf, and prestigious enough that Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf "considered him a suitable match for his sister Zaynab".

Al-Ḥajjāj gave Ibn al-Qāsim command of an expedition to Sind sometimes between 708 and 711 CE when Ibn al-Qāsim was only 15-17 years old, apparently because two previous Umayyad commanders 'failed to punish Dāhir, the ruler of Sind, for his inability (or unwillingness) to restrain pirates who had interfered with Muslim shipping near the coast of his province'. Proceeding by land, with naval support, from Persia to Sind across the Makran desert, Ibn al-Qāsim first took port of Daybul, at the mouth of the Indus, then proceeded north-east, defeating and killing Dāhir in battle. Among other places, Ibn al-Qāsim conquered the city of Multān, which was a key site in the Hindu religion.

On the accession of Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Malik 715 CE, however, Ibn al-Qāsim, like other supporters of al-Malik's predecessor, was imprisoned and tortured to death. In the account of the Chach Nama, however, this was because Dāhir's daughters, 'seeking vengeance for their father’s death, falsely accused him of indecency towards them while they were in his custody before being sent to the court of the caliph'.

While Ibn al-Qāsim's warring was clearly at times brutal, he is supposed to have said of Hinduism that 'the idol temple is similar to the churches of the Christians, (to the synagogues) of the Jews and to the fire-temples of the Zoroastrians' (mā al-budd illā ka-kanāʾis al-naṣārā wa ’l-yahūd wa-buyūt nīrān al-madjūs). This 'seems to be the earliest statement justifying the inclusion of the Hindus in the category of ahl al-dhimma', leading Ibn al-Qāsim to be viewed by many modern Muslims as a paragon of religious tolerance.

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