PART I.
 
A
 
HISTORY OF SIND.
 
VOLUME II.
 
CHAPTER I.*
 
KHALÍFAHS OR SUCCESSORS OF MUHAMMAD AND
THEIR LIEUTENANTS IN SIND.*

As has been related at the close of the First Volume,

Lieutenants of Ummeide Khalífahs in Sind.

after the conquest of Sind by Muhammad Kásim and the death of that General, agents appointed by him remained in charge of different divisions of Sind, and of these Ahnaf son of Kais son of Rawáh As-adí was then the governor of Alór, which was the chief division. For two years, these gov­ernors continued quietly to rule the country; but after that period, rebellion began to spread throughout the kingdom. However, the part of the country, from Debál­pur* to the seashore remained in the possession of the governors of Islám. Soon after, Abú Hafas Kutaibiah son of Muslim was sent by Hajjáj, the governor of Irák, and he compelled those of the tribes that had not yet become converts to Islám, to pay the fixed tribute, and then went away to Khurásán, leaving agents to make the collections. Shortly after, Tamím son of Zaid came for the same purpose on behalf of Hajjáj. In 96 A. H. (714 A. D.) in the reign of Khalífah Sulaimán, Ámir son of Abdulláh was appointed to the Government of Sind, and in 100 A.H. (A.D. 718), in the reign of Khalífah Umar son of Abdul Azíz, Umar son of Muslim was sent to carry on a religious war in Hind, and he succeeded in capturing several towns and converting several princes of Sind to Muhammadanism, who, however, reverted to their religion in the reign of Khalífah Hashám. Hashám’s son Sulaimán, being defeated by the army of Marwán, fled to Sind, where he remained till the Khalifate fell to the lot of Saffáh, the first of the Abbáside Khalìfahs, when he hastened back home and joined him, as will be noticed below. Finally Marwán sent Abdul Khattáb on his behalf to Sind.

Thus ended the rule of the lieutenants of the Ummeide Khalífahs in Sind, which lasted for 40 years, from 93 to 133 A. H. (711 to 750 A. D.) Then followed the lieuten­ants of Abbáside Khalífahs. But before we proceed to give an account of these, it would be better to give by way of recapitulation, the names of the Ummeide Khalí­fahs in succession, and to describe the last event by which the Khalifate passed from their hands to those of the Abbáside Khalífahs.

We have seen that the first four successors of the

Ummeide Khalífaha enu­merated,

Arabian Prophet, Muhammad, were Abú Bakr, Umar, Usmán and Alí. Alí was succeeded by his eldest son Hasan, who was compelled to abdicate in favour of Muáwiyah son of Abí Sifián, the governor of Shám (Syria), who thus became the first of the Ummeides.* That line of Khalífahs consisted of the following 14 men:—

1. Muáwiyah bin Abí Sifián, died A.H. 60 (A.D. 679).
2. Yazíd bin Muáwiyah A.H. 64 (A.D. 683).
3. Muáwiyah bin Yazíd A.H. 64 (A.D. 683).
4. Marwàn bin Hakam A.H. 65 (A.D. 684).
5. Abdul Malik bin Marwán A.H. 86 (A.D. 705).
6. Walíd bin Abdul Malik A.H. 96 (A.D. 714).
7. Sulaimán bin Abdul Malik A.H. 99 (A.D. 717).
8. Umar bin Abdul Azíz bin Marwán A.H. 101 (A.D. 719).
9. Yazíd bin Abdul Malik A.H. 105 (A.D. 723).
10. Hashám bin Abdul Malik A.H. 125 (A.D. 742).
11. Walíd bin Yazíd A.H. 126 (A.D. 743).
12. Yazíd bin Walíd bin Abdul Malik A.H. 127 (A.D. 744).
13. Ibráhím bin Walíd A.H. 127 (A.D 744).
14. Marwán bin Muhammad bin Marwán A.H. 132 (A.D. 749).

It was in the time of the last Khalífah, Marwán, who

Passing of the Kálifate from the Ummeides to the Abbásides.

had received the nickname of Al Himár (or the Donkey), that Zahhák of the family of Bakr son of Wábil raised the standard of revolt, and about 10,000 men joined him and proclaimed Sulaimán son of Hashám to be the rightful Khalífah. Sulaimán, with 70,000 men under him, marched against Marwán but was defeated by him. 30,000 men were killed in this battle and a large number of the rebel army fell into the hands of Marwán who killed all the freemen and sold all the slaves. Sulaimán collected another army, and once more marched against Marwán. This time too he was defeated. He now went and joined Zahhák and took Kúfah. Proceeding to Músal he killed Zahhák. Being still pursued by Marwán’s troops he fled to to Khurásán and thence to Sind.

About the same time Abú Muslim revolted in Khurásán. He sent a strong army to irák, where it joined the other rebels, and appointed Saffáh Abbásí to be the Khalífah at Kúfah. Saffáh sent a large army under his uncle Abdul­láh son of Alí Abbásí to Músal to fight against Marwán. Here many battles were fought that ended in the defeat of Marwán, who fled to Syria, pursued by an army of Abdullàh. From Syria Marwán crossed to Africa, where in a village on the Nile he was murdered by Ámir son of Ismáíl, one of Abdulláh’s men, who had come to the place for the purpose. This was in 132 A. H. (749 A.D.)

After Saffáh was proclaimed Khalífah, Sulaimán bin Hashám returned from Sind and joined Saffáh, but he was soon killed. And thus ended the line of Baní Ummiah the Khalifate of which is said to have lasted for one thousand months.

We have seen that Saffáh was the first Abbáside Kha­lífah.*

The Abbáside Khalífahs enumerated.

In all, 37 Khalífahs from this line occupied the throne. During the time of the first 25, Sind remained in the hands of their lieutenants, and then it passed away to other princes. We shall therefore enumerate here the first 25 Khalífahs only, giving their short titles only by which they are generally known, and not their full names.* They are,—

1. Saffáh, who got the throne in 126 A. H. (743 A.D.) and died in 136 A. H. (753 A.D.)
2. Mansúr* (Saffáh’s brother) died in 158 A.H. (774 A.D.)
3. Mahdí bin Mansúr 169 (785).
4. Hádí bin Mahdí 170 (786).
5. Rashíd (or Hárún Al Rashíd) bin Mahdí 193 (808).
6. Amín bin Hárún Rashíd 198 (813).
7. Mamún bin Hárún 218 (833).
8. Muatasim bin Hárún 229 (841).
9. Wásik bin Muatasim 233 (847).
10. Mutawakkil bin Muatasim 247 (861).
11. Muntasir bin Mutawakkil 248 (862).
12. Musta-ín bin Muhammad bin Muatasim 251 (865).
13. Muta-izz bin Mutawakkil 255 (868).
14. Muhtadì bin Wásik 256 (869).
15. Muatamid bin Mutawakkil 279 (892).
16. Muatazid bin Mutawakkil 289 (901).
17. Muktafí bin Muatazid 295 (907).
18. Muktadir bin Muatazid 320 (932).
19. Káhir Billáh bin Muatazid 321 (933).
20. Rází bin Muktadir 329 (940).
21. Muttakí bin Muktadir 333 (944).
22. Mustakfí bin Muktadir 334 (945).
23. Mutíi bin Muktadir 363 (973.)
24. Táyei bin Mutíi 382 (992).
25. Kàdir Billáh bin Ishák bin Muktadir 422 (1030).

We need not mention here the remaining 12 Khalífahs of this line, as we are not concerned with them. It will be enough to say that the last of them Mustaasim Billáh died in 651 A. H. (1253 A. D.), and that it was in his reign that the celebrated Tartar prince Halákú Khán, by order of his brother Mankú Káán* marched against Bagh­dád with a large army and dethroned that last Abbáside Khalífah, and took possession of his country. The remaining Abbáside princes then continued their rule only in Andalusia (Spain).

The first Khalífah of this line, Saffáh, in the year

Lieutenants of the Abbá­side Khalífahs in Sind.

133 A. H. (750 A. D.) sent an army to Sind and took by force that province from the lieutenants of the Ummeide Khalífahs. Four years after that, Khalífah Mansúr, (No. 2), sent another army for the same purpose to Hind and Sind. In the reign of Hárún Rashíd, (No. 5), Músá Barmakí was appointed Governor of Sind. As he was very liberal and gave away what he acquired, he was recalled and dismissed, and Alí son of Ísa son of Hámán was sent to succeed him. It was in his time that the fortified town of Tharrah in the district of Sakórah, the town of Bakár and some other places in the western part of Sind were taken by Shekh Abú Turáb, whose mausoleum, together with the tombs of some other persons slain at the time, is still visited. The dome over the remains of this great Shekh bears the date 171 A. H. (787 A. D.) denoting the year in which it was built. It was in this Shekh’s time that the ancient town of Bhanbhór whose founder is said to be king Bhanbhórái and some other towns were ruined by an earthquake. Alì was succeeded by Abul Abbás, who retained the governship for a long time. In the reign of Khalífah Mámún, (No. 7), some annexations were made to Sind from adjacent parts of Hind. After that time several members of the Tribe of Tamím were sent from Baghdád in succession, as lieutenants of the Khalífahs. About the same time many Arab families residing at Sámrah emigrated to Sind along with Tamím and his descendants and became permanent residents of that country. They were so domiciled and naturalized that from the name of Tamím, a native tribe of Thahíms sprang up and from the people of Sámarah a vast tribe of Súmrahs spread throughout the country, many of whom held chieftainships of different places, for a period of over 200 years, paying tribute to the Mussal­man rulers of the country. It was only after the lieutenants of the kings of Ghazní and Ghór had passed away, that they seized the reins of the Government of the country and became independent. We shall therefore speak of them later on.

In the year 381 A. H. (991 A. D.) Kádir Billáh became

Passing of the Governor­ship of Sind from the agents of the Khalífahs to those of the Kings of Dehli.

Khalífah.* He was contemporary with the celebrated Sultan Mahmúd of Ghazní, who invaded India twelve times. A rupture took place between those two contemporary princes originating in a litera­ry matter it ended in important political results. The event is well known to the students of Persian literature. It is this. Poet Firdósí of Tús, the author of Sháhnámah, had written that book at the request of Sultán Mahmúd and in the hope of receiving a princely reward that had been promised to him. But on his completion of the task which is said to have taken 30 years of his life, he got a very meagre compensation. Being annoyed at this, he wrote a very cutting satire on Sultán Mahmúd and then left his country. When the satire came to Mahmúd’s hands his rage knew no bounds. He sent his men to seize Firdósí, but he was out of his reach. That poet, after visiting some other places, betook himself finally to Baghdád, where he secured the protection and patronage of Khalífah Kádir Billáh. Mahmúd learning the where­abouts of Firdósí sent an envoy to the Khalífah requesting that the poet be given up to him, but this the Khalífah refused to do.* This enraged “The Lion of Ghazní.” He invaded the kingdom of the Khalífahs and took possession of certain parts. It was about the middle of the month of Ramazán 416 A. H. (1025 A. D.) that Sultán Mahmúd, starting from his mountanious home of Ghazní, in order to invade and conquer Hindustán, came to “the land of the five rivers” and took the forfeited towns of Multán and Uch, driving away the agents of Khalífah Kádir Billáh. From Multán he sent his Wazír Abdurrazák with an army to conquer Sind. During the course of the next year, the Wazír carried his successful arms to the towns of Sehwán and Tattà,* subduing the opposing tribes and driving away the Arabs from the country. From among those, who had formed their permanent homes there, and were harmless and deserving of patronage, he appointed officers with proper allowances on behalf of the Sultán and himself left the place.

Thus ended the rule of the Arabs in Sind, or rather of the lieutenants of the Abbáside Khalífahs, which is said to have lasted for 283 years.