India


 * __ How Islam Spread __**
 * Muslim traders continually visited ports on the coast of India. Attacks by pirates from the Sind (in India) on the Arab traders, prompted the Umayyad Empire - under Muhammad ibn Qasim - to launch a military expedition of vengeance. After several fiercely fought battles, Muhammad ibn Qasim declared the entire region, including the Indus valley to the northeast, provinces of the Umayyad Empire. In many areas local leaders and the populace would surrender their towns willingly, in hopes of recieving the lighter taxation and greater religious freedom and tolerance that were promised. And truly, the Arab rulers were merciful and lenient, regarding even Hindus and Buddhists as protected "people of the book", despite those religions having no connection to the Bible. Although they had to pay special taxes like Christians and Jews (any non-muslims), they still enjoyed their freedom of worship. In other areas the Arabs allowed local leaders to remain in power which further reconciled them to Muslim rule. The status of the Brahman castes were respected and nearly all Arabs lived in special garrison towns. Where ever Islam went, urbanization of the region followed, including the syncratic architecture. More importantly however, because little effort was put into conversion of the conquered peoples, they remained mostly Hindu and Buddhist.[[image:pic-spread-muslimmap.gif width="720" height="425" caption="The spread of Islam into India took place during the expansion of the Umayyad and then the Abbasid Empires."]]

> > __** Growth of Trade Within the Islamic World **__ > >
 * __ Syncretism and Reactions to Islam __**
 * The impact of Islam on the Indian subcontinent was limited during this period. However, the Arab connections to Sind provided contacts through which Indian learning was transmitted to the Muslim centers in the Middle East. Due to these connections, the skills and discoveries of another great civilization enriched the Islamic World. Indian scientific learning was of paticular importance and was very advanced in the ancient world. Hindu mathematicians work on algebra and geometry were translated into Arabic, and Hindu astronomers had their instuments of celestial observation copied and improved by Arabs as well. Arab thinkers in all fields began to use the numerical system devised centuries earlier by Hindu scholars. Indian music, medicine, and many other subjects were adopted and used as well (including the Indian game of Chess!). Arabs who emigrated to Sind and other Muslim-ruled areas tended to adopt Indian dress and hairstyles, ate Indian foods, and rode elephants like the Hindu kings - or Rajas - did. The conquerors even adopted Indian building styles and artistic motifs. Buddhists made up the majority of those who converted to Islam because Indian Buddhism was no match for the enthralling and confident new religion of Islam. In contrast, Islam had little effect on the Hindu community as a whole. Although many Hindus were willing to accept positions of power as administrators in the bureaucracies of the Muslims and as soldiers in their armies. They even traded with Muslim merchants, but they remained extremely socially aloof. They were rather accurate in predicting that the Muslims would be absorbed by the sophisticated culture of India.
 * Throughout this era, additional Arab colonies were established in the coastal areas like Malabar and Bengal leading to increased trade which provided places from which Islam could be transmitted to island and mainland southeast Asia...