Amir Khusrau Quotes

The Sultan reached Jhain in the afternoon of the third day and stayed in the palace of the Raya… He greatly enjoyed his stay for some time. Coming out, he took a round of the gardens and temples. The idols he saw amazed him… Next day he got those idols of gold smashed with stones. The pillars of wood were burnt down by his order… A cry rose from the temples as if a second Mahmud had taken birth. Two idols were made of brass, one of which weighed nearly a thousand mans. He got both of them broken, and the pieces were distributed among his people so that they may throw them at the door of the Masjid on their return [to Delhi]…

If a Khurasani, Greek or Arab comes here,
he will not face any problems,
for the people will treat him kindly, as their own,
making him feel happy and at ease.
And if they jest with him,
they do so with blooming smiles.

The fire-worshipping Rai, when he learnt that his idol temple was likely to be converted into a mosque, despatched Kisu Mal to ascertain the strength and circumstances of the Musulmans, and he returned with such alarming accounts that the Rai next morning despached Balak Deo Naik to the royal canopy to represent that “your slave Billal Deo is ready to swear allegiance to the mighty emperor, like Laddar Deo and Ram Deo, and whatever the Sulaiman of the time may order, I am ready to obey. If you desire horses like demons, and elephants like afrits, and valuables like those of Deogir, they are all present. If you wish to destroy the four walls of this fort, they are, as they stand, no obstacle to your advance. The fort is the fort of the king; take it.” The commander replied that he was sent with the object of converting him to Muhammadanism, or of making him a Zimmi.. and subject to pay tax, or of slaying him, if neither of these terms were assented to. When the Rai received this reply, he said he was ready to give up all he possessed, except his sacred thread.

Capture of Southern Mathra (Madura) After five days, the royal canopy moved from Birdhul on Thursday. the 17th of Zi-l ka’da, and arrived at Kham, and five days afterwards they arrived at the city Mathra (Madura), the dwelling-place of the brother of the Rai Sundar Pandya. They found the city empty, for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had left two or three elephants in the temple of Jagnar (jagganath). The elephants were captured and the temple burnt... When the Malik came to take a muster of his captured elephants they extended over a length of three parasangs, and amounted to five hundred and twelve, besides live thousand horses, Arabian and Syrian, and five hundred mans of jewels of every description-diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and rubies...

Amir Khusrau writes that under Jalauddin Khalji (1290-96), after a battle, “whatever live Hindu fell into the hands of the victorious king was pounded to bits under the feet of the elephants. The Musalman captives had their lives spared”.

Because of the shortage of stone, people scurried hither and thither throughout the kingdom in search of it. Some struck the base of mountains, so much were they enamoured of their search for stone that they tore at the mountain like lovers. Some were keener than steel in up- rooting the foundations of unbelief. Having sharpened their steels they applied them in holy war to the idol temples of the rais and with blows of iron they devoted their strength with as much vigour as possible to the breaking of the stones. Wherever an idol temple had engaged in an act of devotion the strong tongue of the spade in well founded argument removed the foundations of infidelity from the heart so that, at once, that idol temple in gratitude performed the Muslim rite of bowing in prayer.

[Then in a single campaign Ranthambhor was conquered and] ‘ by the decree of God the land of infidelity became the land of Islam’. [In Amir Khusrau’s words,] ‘ When the sky-rubbing canopy of the Shadow of God cast its shade over the hill of Ranthambhor, the conqueror of the world, like the sun, stood over the unfortunate in his heat, and cast the days of their lives into decline.’

But the country of Ma’bar, which is so distant from the city of Dehli that a man travelling with all expedition could only reach it after a journey of twelve months, there the arrow of any holy warrior had not yet reached; but this world-conquering king determined to carry his [p. 91] army to that distant country, and spread the light of the Muhammadan religion there. Malik Naib Barbak was appointed to command the army for this expedition, and a royal canopy was sent with him. The Malik represented that on the coast of Ma’bar were five hundred elephants, larger than those which had been presented to the Sultan from Arangal, and that when he was engaged in the conquest of that place he had thought of possessing himself of them, and that now, as the wise determination of the king had combined the extirpation of idolaters with this object, he was more than ever rejoiced to enter on this grand enterprise....

So the temple of Somnath was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath… It seemed as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: 'So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it.' Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the Medina of Islam. The followers of Abraham now acted as guides in place of the Brahman leaders. The robust-hearted true believers rigorously broke all idols and temples wherever they found them. Owing to the war, 'takbir,' and 'shahadat' was heard on every side; even the idols by their breaking affirmed the existence of God. In this ancient land of infidelity the call to prayers rose so high that it was heard in Baghdad and Madain (Ctesiphon) while the 'Ala' proclamation (Khutba) resounded in the dome of Abraham and over the water of Zamzam… The sword of Islam purified the land as the Sun purifies the earth.

“On Wednesday, the 20th of Jamadi-ul Awwal in AH 698 (23 February, 1299), the Sultan sent an order to the manager of the armed forces for despatching the army of Islam to Gujarat so that the temple of Somnat on its shore could be destroyed. Ulugh Khan was put in charge of the expedition. When the royal army reached that province, it won a victory after great slaughter. Thereafter the Khan-i-‘Ãzam went with his army to the sea-shore and besieged Somnat which was a place of worship for the Hindus. The army of Islam broke the idols and the biggest idol was sent to the court of the Sultan.”70

During the attack, the catapults were busily plied on both sides… ‘Praise be to God for his exaltation of the religion of Muhammad. It is not to be doubted that stones are worshipped by Gabrs,74 but as the stones did no service to them, they only bore to heaven the futility of that worship, and at the same time prostrated their devotees upon earth’…

They have four books in that language (Sanskrit), which they are constantly in the habit of repeating. Their name is Bed (Vedas). They contain stories of their gods, but little advantage can be derived from their perusal.

After returning to Birdhul, he again pursued the Raja to Kandur, and took one hundred and eight elephants, one of which was laden with jewels. The Rai again escaped him, and he ordered a general massacre at Kandur. It was then ascertained that he had fled to Jalkota, an old city of the ancestors of Bir. There the Malik closely pursued him, but he had again escaped to the jungles, which the Malik found himself unable to penetrate, and he therefore returned to Kanaur, where he searched for more elephants. Here he heard that in Brahmastpuri there was a golden idol, round which many elephants were stabled. The Malik started on a night expedition against this place, and in the morning seized no less man two hundred and fifty elephants. He then determined on razing the beautiful temple to the ground, –You might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddad, which, after being lost, those hellites had found, and that it was the golden Lanka of Ram. The roof was covered with rubies and emeralds,-in short, it was the holy place of the Hindus, which the Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care, and the heads of the Brahmans and idolaters danced from their necks and fell to me ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents. The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo, which had been a long time established at that place, quibus, mulieres infidelium pudenda sua affricant,12 these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break. The Musulmans destroyed all the lings, and [p. 97] Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had fixed their seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high that at, one leap they reached the fort of Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand on. Much gold and valuable jewels fell into the hands of the Musulmans, who returned to the royal canopy, after executing their holy project on the 13th of Zi-l ka’da, 710 H. (April, 1311 A.D.). They destroyed all the temples at Birdhul, and placed the plunder in the public treasury.

Conquest of Chitor On Monday, the 8th Jumada-s sani, A.H. 702, the loud drums proclaimed the royal march from Delhi, undertaken with a view to the capture of Chitor. The author accompanied the expedition. The fort was taken on Monday, the 11lth of Muharram, A.H. 703 (August, 1303 A.D.). The Rai fled, but afterwards surrendered himself, and was secured against lightning of the scimitar. The Hindus say that lightning falls wherever there is a brazen vessel, and the face of the Rai had become as yellow as one, through the effect of fear... After ordering a massacre of thirty thousand Hindus, he bestowed the Government of Chitor upon his son, Khizr Khan, and named the place Khizrabad. He bestowed on him a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold, and two standards – one green, and the other black – and threw upon him rubies and emeralds. He then returned towards Delhi. “Praise be to God that he so ordered the massacre of all the chiefs of Hind out of the pale of Islam, by his infidel-smiling sword, that if in this time it should by chance happen that a schismatic should claim his right, the pure Sunnis would swear in the name of this Khalifa of God, that heterodoxy has no rights.”

Happy Hindustan, the splendour of Religion. where the Law finds perfect honour and security. In learning Dehli can now compete with Bokhara, for IslAm has been made manifest by its kings. The whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors, has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire. The land has been saturated with the water of the sword, and the vapours of infidelity have been dispersed. The strong men of Hind have been trodden under foot, and all are ready to pay tribute. Islam is triumphant, idolatry is subdued. Had not the law [of Imam Hanifa] granted exemption from death by the payment of poll-tax, the very name of hind, root and branch, would have been extinguished. From Ghazni to the shore of the ocean you see all under the domination of Islam. Cawing crows see no arrows pointed at them; nor is the TarsA (Christian) there, who does not fear (taras) to render the servant equal with Allah; nor the Jew who dares to exalt the Pentateuch to a level with the Kuran; nor the Magh who is delighted with the worship of fire, but of whom the fire complains with its hundred tongues. The four sects of Musulmans are at amity and the very fish are Sunnis.