Then Muhammad Kásim called his dragoman, and told him: “Ask this man what kindness he did to the prisoners.” The man replied: “Make that enquiry from the prisoners themselves that the real state of things and the truth of my assertion may become known to His Highness.” Thereupon, Muhammad Kásim ordered the prisoners to be brought to him. He then asked them: “What kindness and sympathy has this Kublah shown to you, oh prisoners?” All of them said: “We are much obliged to him. He did all he could to mitigate our misery and to comfort us. He used, at all times, to console us by giving us hopes of the speedy arrival of the army of Islám and of the conquest of Debal.” Muhammad Kásim then called upon him to accept the religion of Islám, and on his agreeing to the proposal Kublah was exalted to the honour of Islám, by his repeating the formula of the Mussalman faith regard­ing his belief in the unity of God and the prophetship of Muhammad.* He was appointed superintendent over the accountants or revenue officers of Debal, who were now or lered to seek his advice in administrative matters, and to render account of the collections as well as of the expenditure to him, while Hamíd son of Daraá Najdí was made a supervising officer over them all, and the entire administration of the province was entrusted to him.

It is related by the writers of history, on the authority of Hakam son of Urwah, who heard it from his father and grandfather, that the name of the Brahmin who had prayed for and received pardon was Sud-dev,* and that it was from him that Hakam's grandfather received the following piece of information, namely: When Debal was conquered and the Mussalman prisoners were released, the slaves were brought out, and Muhammad Kásim ordered one-fifth of the spoils to be set apart in obedience to the religious law, and sent to the royal treasury. Accordingly the fifth part of the booty secured at Debal was sent to the treasury of Hajjáj, while the booty secured at the conquest of Arman Belah was distributed among the troops, according to their merit and rank—a horse­man receiving double the share of a c??melman or a foot soldier. What remained of the cash and slaves and other spoils was collected and sent to Hajjáj along with the two daughters of the ruler of Debal.

The historian goes on to state, on the authority of Hakam, that when Rai Dáhar re­ceived the news of the conquest of Debal by the army of Islám, and the flight of the ruler of Debal to Jaisiah at Nerún, and also heard a good account of the bravery and prowess of the Arabs and the Syrians and the complete success of their arms, he wrote a letter to Jaisiah, who was in the fort of Nerún, ordering him, on reading the letter, to cross the Mehrán and go to the ancient city of Brahmanábád, leaving the Samani in charge of Nerún, with instructions to take care of the fort, and protect it against the attacks of the enemy.

Muhammad Kásim now determined to carry on war at Arman Belah, in order to clear his way for his advance into the interior of the country. When he reached his camp, he received a letter which Rái Dáhar had written to him. The letter ran thus: “In the name of the great God, the lord of Unity and the God of Seláij.* This is a letter from Dáhar son of Chach, the King of Sind, and the Sovereign of Hind and the ruler over land and water, to Muhammad Kásim, the vain insane one who is fond of killing and slaughtering people, and is merciless towards his own army and has brought ruin on many other men. Some time ago another person had also come hither in the same manner with absurd dreams in his head, and with an awful and terrible presence. Abilás son of Hakam had also joined him, and he was led away by the vain idea of conquering Hind and Sind, and bringing those countries under his sway. But one or two of our meanest Thakurs, who then happened to go on a hunting excursion in the vicinity of Debal, killed him and his army was put to flight. It appears that the same mad thoughts have risen in Muhammad Kásim's head, and he will ultimately bring ru?? upon himself and his army owing to his foolhardiness. Be it known to you that the fortified town of Debal which you have taken is an insignificant town, where only traders and artisans reside. It contained neither a strong fortress, nor was it occupied by a garrison of any import­ance with whom it was worth your while to fight. If there had been a single note-worthy warrior in it, there would not have been left a rack of you behind. If I had sent against you Rái Jaisiah who is the most victorious of all the rulers on the face of the earth, and who can wreak vengeance on the strongest men of this age, or the king of Kashmír who is the mighty possessor of a crown, kettle drums and standards, on whose royal threshold the other rulers of Hind have placed their heads, who sways the whole of Hind and even the country of Makrán and Turán, whose chains a great many noblemen and grandees have willingly placed on their knees, who is the owner of one hundred elephants and is the rider of a white elephant, whom neither a horse can stand against, nor a man can put pressure upon; if I had sent these heroes against you, you could not have done the slightest harm to them and no army would have dared to pass through the remotest limits of this country, till the end of the world. Do not flatter or deceive yourself with vain dreams, since the end of your enterprise will be the same as Bazíl's. You can never stand against us in battle, nor should you hope to return safe from our wrath.”

When Muhammad Kásim received this letter of Dáhar, he had it translated to him by his dragoman, and learning its contents, he dictated the following reply:—

“In the name of the most merciful and gracious God. Letter addressed by Muhammad Kásim Sakifí, the avenger of Mussal-máns, to the haughty, the rebellious, the crafty Brahmin Dáhar son of Chach, a foolish, stub­born and vainglorions infidel. This is to inform you that I have received your letter, which you have written out of excessive ignorance and folly, being led away by a weak and miserable policy, of which you have evidently become madly proud. I have acquainted myself with its contents, express and implied, and have in ormed myself of every thing that you have written relating to your power and pomp and numbers and weapons and elephants and horsemen and followers. We depend entirely upon the grace of God for power and strength, and on the favour of our sovercign for the number of our forces and for glory. ‘There is no power nor virtue but in God, the great and glorious one.* They play a trick with thee in their own way* and then they do not depend upon it. Verily I trust fully in God, who is my maintainer as well as yours.* They lay a plot for them, but God is the best layer of plots.* The plot of the wicked does not recoil except upon those that lay it.* If God wishes it, a small number of men overpowers a large number; and God is with the patient.’* You are proud of men and horses and elephants, but what are they? The biggest elephant is the weakest and most helpless of all creatures. He can­not get rid of a gnat, which is the smallest and weakest of all animals. As for horses and horsemen, whom you admire so much, they are an army of God. ‘But mind, God has many armies which are most poworful;* the league of God and its Judgments are always successful.’ As to what you say about our coming, with armies arrayed for battle, know that that is wholly the result of your wicked deeds and bad manners and vain-glory, for you seized and detained the boats conveying valuable property from Sarandeb, and made the Musalmans prisoners. All the countries of the world acknowledge the rule and superiority of the Khalífah, who is the vicegerent of the Prophet. All pay allegiance to him, while you turn your head from him and rebel against him. All the former rulers and kings regularly paid tribute to his royal treasury, while you have stopped it. As you have thus befouled yourself with ugly manners and unpleasant habits like these, and have swerved from the path of obe­dience, and have taken such bad behaviour to be un­objectionable, I have received the ever-to-be-obeyed mandate from the Khalífah to exact vengeance for those wicked deeds of yours, and to carry on war with you (to the bitter end). I do hope that, with the help of the great God, who is the most powerful of all, in whatever place you may meet us and oppose us, I shall defeat and degrade you, and ultimately take your head to Irák, or sacrifice my life in the cause of the great God. I consider it my bounden duty to carry on this religious war, in obedience to the orders of God who says in the Koran: ‘wage war against the infidels and dissemblers’;* and I have undertaken this task simply to secure divine pleasure. I expect fully from the unbounded kindness of God. that He will help us and give us victory over you, God's will be done. Written in the 73rd year.”*