The Arab invasion of Sindh started soon after their first two naval expeditions against Thana on the coast of Maharashtra and Broach on the coast of Gujarat, had been repulsed in the reign of Caliph Umar (AD 634-644). The expedition against Debal in Sindh met the same fate The leader of the Arab army, Mughairah, was defeated and killed. Umar decided to send another army by land against Makran which was at that time a part of the kingdom of Sindh. But he was advised by the governor of Iraq that he should think no more of Hind.5 The next Caliph, Usman (AD 646-656), followed the same advice and refrained from sending any expedition against Sindh, either by land or by sea. The fourth Caliph, Ali (AD 656-661), sent an expedition by land in AD 660. But the leader of this expedition and those who were with him, saving a few, were slain in the land of Kikan in the year AH 42 (AD 662). Thus the four "pious" Caliphs of Islam died without hearing the news of a victory over Sindh or Hind. ~Sita Ram Goel
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 06:30:00 +0000