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8/6/2019 Ghazwa Hind
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The myth of Ghazwa-tul-Hind
Religion has quite frequently been used as an excuse for military motives. Talking specifically
about Islam, hadees has been used as a tool to invent excuses for political motivations andmilitary interventions/attacks as and when required.
There has been enormous hue and cry over Ghazwa-tul-Hind for years. This was probably first
used by self-styled Jihadi activists in Pakistan for getting public support in Pakistan and raising
funds to be used in their attacks in Kashmir with the aim of conquering India and creating what
they call dar-ul-Islam. It is very interesting to note that neither Arabs nor the Mujahideen of
Afghanistan made use of these ahadees to wage a war against India. Pakistan Army, ISI and the
local Jihadis have a monopoly over Ghazwa-tul-Hind for now, although they don’t talk
specifically about Green Pakistani Jihadis waging the war.
Ghazwa-tul-Hind: Pakistani flag hoisted at Red Fort, Delhi, India. This image was created and
circulated by the Brasstacks.biz (ISI mouth-piece Zaid Hamid's organization) team.
Islamists and right-wing-military-apologists have fallen to the propaganda of Pakistan Army and
ISI when they propagate waging a war against the neighboring country India, finding excuses for
ding so throughhadees. Zaid Hamid, the mouth-piece of ISI and Pakistan Army has been makinguse of Ghazwa-tul-Hind (6 hadees in total), promoting hatred against Hindus and war hysteria.
These hadees are available here.
Are they authentic ?
1. Just a brief look at these will make it clear that none of these five ahadees are found
in Sihah-e-Sitta. Two of these appear to be in the collections of ahadees by Imam Nisai but
not in Sunan an-Nisai al Sughra, the book considered to be among the Sihah-e-Sitta, the six
books considered most reliable by main-stream Muslims.
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2. The others are not even found in the reliable collections of respected muhadiseen.
3. Note that Imam Nisaidied in 915. The years of death of other respected muhadiseen to
whom Sihah-e-Sitta are attributed to: Imam Bukhariin 870, Imam Muslimin 875, Abu
Daud in 888, al-Tirmizi in 892, Imam Malik in 796, Ibn Majain 886. All of them died
before Imam Nisai. It does not make much sense that we have these ahadees being narrated
through Imam Nisai but not through any of the other respected muhadiseen who lived beforehim.
4. They are narrated through a single chain. Reported only once through one companion of the
Prophet.
5. Considering the reward for participating in this war and the importance of it, as
these ahadees tell, they should have been narrated by more companions of the Prophet and
should have been there in more books of ahadees.
6. It is very important to note that none of these are found in any of the collections
of ahadees which theShia Muslims consider authentic. This raises the question if they were
invented by the Ummayads/Abbasids considering their expansionist designs? This is also to
be noted that Ummayads did reach Sindh, a part of Hind back then.
7. One must also note the fact that we don’t have any history report telling us about the use of theseahadees in the past by Muslim rulers or conquerors, even those who did invade India or
waged a war on it. If they were respected and authentic ahadees, we should have such
history reports.
Fourthly, it must be remembered that it would have been very easy for Muslim conquerors of
India in the past, men like Mahmud of Ghazni, Shihabuddin Ghori, Timur, Nadir Shah and so on,
to present the hadith about the ghazwat ul-hind and wield it as a weapon to justify their attacks
on the country. The corrupt ulema associated with their courts could well have suggested this to
them had they wished. However, no such mention is made about this in history books. In the
eighteenth century, the well-known Islamic scholar Shah Waliullah of Delhi invited the Afghanwarlord Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade India and dispel the Marathas, which he accepted, but yet
Shah Waliullah, too, did not use this hadith as a pretext for this. [1]
What if they are authentic ?
It is also pertinent to examine how some well-known contemporary Indian ulema look at this
hadith report.
1. Maulana Abdul Hamid Numani, a leading figure of the Jamiat ul-Ulema-i Hind, opines
that this hadith was fulfilled at the time of the ‘Four Righteous Caliphs’ of the Sunnis , soon
after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad, when several companions of the Prophet came
to India, mainly in order to spread Islam. [1]
2. Mufti Sajid Qasmi, who teaches at the Dar ul-Uloom in Deoband, is also of the same
opinion, although he believes that it might also refer to the invasion of Sindh by the Arabs
under Muhammad bin Qasimin the eighth century. [1]
3. On the other hand, Maulana Mufti Mushtaq Tijarvi of the Jamaat-i Islami Hind believes that
it is possible that this hadith report is not genuine at all and that it might have been fabricated
at the time of Muhammad bin Qasim’s invasion of Sindh in order to justify it. [1]
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Scholars and historians argue that even if they are considered as authentic, it might be the case
that they talk about an event which has already happened.
1. On the other hand, if this hadith report is indeed genuine — which it might well be — in my
view, the battle against India that it predicted was fulfilled in the early Islamic period itself,
and is not something that will happen in the future. This, in fact, is the opinion of themajority of the ulema, qualified Islamic scholars. And this view accords with reason as well.
[1]
2. It is quite likely that the ghazwat ul-hind that this report predicted took the form of the attack
by an Arab Muslim force on Thana and Bharuch, in coastal western India , in the 15th year
or the Islamic calendar in the reign of the Caliph Umar. [1]
3. Equally possibly, it could have been fulfilled in the form of the missionary efforts of some of
the Prophet’s companions soon after, in the reign of the Caliphs Uthman and Ali, in Sindh
and Gujarat .[1]
4. Some other ulema consider this hadith to have been fulfilled in the form of the attack and
occupation of Sindh by Arab Muslims led by Muhammad bin Qasim in the 93rd year of the
Islamic calendar, which then facilitated the spread of Islam in the country. [1]
5. This might well be the case, for the hadith report about the ghazwat ul-hind contained in the
Masnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a well-known collection of Hadith narratives attributed to the
Prophet, mentions that the Muslim army that would attack India would be sent in the
direction of Sindh and Hind. [1]
Opinion of the religious scholars
I inquired about the authenticity of these ahadees from a few religious scholars and would like toshare their opinion in this regard:
Ayotullah Fadlallah, Lebanon
Such things exist in the hadith collections, which are often either placed or mounted on a
symbolic meaning, or they talk about something historic which has happened in the context of
what we believe in self-defense. Further, the hadith in question can be doubted about their
autenticity as they are not found in any reliable and agreed upon source. The chain of narrators is
weak to be considered authentic.
In this day and age what would govern the relations of Muslims and followers of other religions,
are the international treaties and covenants that ensure the state security, peace and freedom of
belief for all human beings.
These treaties are binding on Muslims, especially as they are consistent with the approach of
Islam declared in the Qur’an about the obligation to respect the religions and the freedom and
security of other peoples.
Hence, the use of such hadith for political or military motives is discouraged.
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The Office of the referenda for Religious Authority
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah
Research Wing, Al-Mawrid Institue
assalaam o alaykum
I have tried to find out the sources of these traditions. None of these traditions is found in reliable
soruces like Bukhari, Muslim, Mu’atta etc. If we suppose them to be reliable they talk about an
even that has happened already. They do not talk about Pakistanis fighting Indians. They talk
about Arabs on an expedition to India and conquering it.
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Associate Editor
Khalid Zaheer, Al-Mawrid, Lahore, Pakistan
SalaamAll these ahadith refer to troops going from Palestine and Syria and returning to those
regions. Even if these ahadith were authentic, and they are indeed found in reliable books, theyhave nothing to do with any possibility of an Indo-Pak war.
The other important thing to note is that Abu Huraira, the companion-narrator is suggesting that
it was something that was about to happen during his lifetime. it is quite likely that Muhammad
Bin Qasim’s conquest of Sind was being prophesied in these ahadith.
The third important matter to note is that a message as important as the one mentioned in these
narratives is described in all different versions through only one companion. Clearly, if the
message was important, there should have been several narrators mentioning it.
This message therefore cannot be employed as an excuse to fight against India. We can fight
against India or any other nation only if conditions of Jihad are satisfied, which are: it should be
declared by a Muslim ruler, Muslims should be at least half as militarily strong as their enemies,
and the enemy should be guilty of blatant injustice against a group of people. Any individual or
group of people cannot declare Jihad on their own against anyone; if they do, they will be guilty
of creating fasaad fil ‘ard (mischief on earth). [2]
Information on the ahadees available at http://www.ghazwatulhind.com/
Hadees No. 1
Important References Provided : Masnad of Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, Sunan al-Mujtababa and Sunanaal-Kubra of Imam Nisai
Hadees No. 2
Important References Provided : Masnad of Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, Sunan-al-Kubra of Imam Nisai
Hadees No. 3
Important References Provided : Naeem bin Hammad in Kitab-al-Fattan
Hadees No. 4
Important References Provided : Naeem bin Hammad in Kitab-al-Fattan
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(The name of one of the ravi is missing from the chain of narrators, hence this is to be ignored
technically)
Hadees No. 5
Important References Provided : Naeem bin Hammad in Kitab-al-Fattan
Sources:
[1] http://madrasareforms.blogspot.com/2009/01/maulana-waris-mazhari-countering.html Maulana Waris Mazhari, a graduate of the Dar ul-Uloom at Deoband, is the editor of the Delhi-
based ‘Tarjuman Dar ul-Uloom’, the official organ of the Deoband Graduates’ Association. He
can be contacted on [email protected]
[2] http://www.khalidzaheer.com/qa/399
Dr Khalid Zaheer is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of University of Central
Punjab since July 1, 2009. Prior to joining UCP, he was the Director Education, Al-Mawrid,
which is an NGO established to promote research and education on Islam. Prior to joining Al-
Mawrid in September 2006, he was an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Ethics at
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He has a teaching experience of more than
20 years.