Lecture 1

Comparative Analysis of Hindu and Muslim

Society and impact of Islam on Hinduism
 The advent of Islam in the sub-continent

 Islam was not an alien concept for the people of the sub-continent. The Arab traders
had been coming to Indian shore to sell their goods which brought them in close
contact with the local people. Whenever they came, they stayed for months on the
Indian soil for trade purposes.
 These Arab Muslim traders stepped on the Indian soil for the first time in the first Hijra
century. They impressed the local people by their fair dealings in business and made
an ever-lasting impact on their simplicity and piety of their personal lives.
 After a long time when Hajjaj bin Yousuf was the governor of Iraq and was known for
his strict administrative qualities at the time Sindh was ruled by the Hindu Raja Dahir.
Meanwhile an incident took place, within the domain of Raja Dahir, which made it
obligatory for the Muslims to take a strict action against Dahir. A number of ships
carrying Muslim widows, women and often children of Arab traders were sailing
towards Iraq.
 When the ships reached near Deebal(a seaport near Thatta), sea pirates
attacked them and took away everything, the women and children were taken
as prisoners where a widow cried out and appealed to Hajjaj to save them,
Hajjaj bin Yousuf then sent a messaged to Dahir to release the women and
children and to punish the pirates for their crimes, but Raja Dahir showed no
concern over the incident and replied that he didn’t have any control over
the pirates. This refusal of Raja Dahir was a big challenge to the pride of
Hajjaj and he decided to send his nephew, Muhammad bin Qasim who was
just 17 years old to attack Sindh.
 He attacked India on 10th of Ramzan ul Mubarak, 92 Hijri, 28th October 711
A.D. Eventually Deebal was conquered and Dahir was killed. Muhammad bin
Qasim a devout Muslim was thus the first Muslim commander to enter India as
a conqueror. He introduced Islam as a faith and a system in India. He
promulgated very wise enactments, treated the people with kindness and
leniency, and did justice to everyone, thus setting the glorious example of
Islamic Justice and Equality.
India before the advent of Islam

 The political condition of India was not good because there was no central
government for the whole of the country that would think and act for the entire
sub-continent. The country was divided into several small regions headed by a
Raja. The stronger regional states invaded the weaker ones at their will, because
of these unstable condition the Muslims didn’t much a position and conquered the
whole of India without any difficulties.
 At the time India was dominated by 3 major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Janism. The three religions of India lacked uniformity and suffered due to great
deal of differences amongst each other. Hinduism was the dominant and the main
religion of the people, and both, Buddhism and Janism, were on the decline.
 In the aspect of Social Conditions there was a total collapse of the social order.
The Hindu society consisted many casts and sub-casts.
 From economic point of view, the people could be divided into 2 categories. On
one hand there were the kings and the landlords, this class was quiet happy and
rich but the other class’ were poor and lived a simple life. Agriculture was their
main occupation.
 Impact of Islam on the Indian civilization
 Islam came as a blessing for the oppressed section of India, whose life had become
miserable because of the deep rooted caste system.
 It attracted many followers because of its simple and easily understandable
principles. The introduction of Islam completely transformed the Indian society.
 Islam brought a great change in the field of culture and civilization of Indian
society, the concept of freedom of thought and expression, respect for human
dignity, universal brotherhood and equality of opportunity had all their impact on
the Hindu culture. Unlike the Hindu religion the reward and punishment in Islam
doesn’t depend on their caste but on the good or the bad deeds that have been
committed by the person.
 There was a unique development in art during the Muslim rule. Muslim architecture
frequently mingled with the Hindu style of buildings. The Hindu temples, their
pillars, and their domes reflected some glimpses of Muslim architecture. In the new
buildings red stone and marbles were used which was a significant characteristic of
the Muslim way of construction.
 Historical literature which existed before the arrival of the Muslims was mostly
legendary and not authentic. When Arabs arrived in India they wrote Topography
entitled as ‘The Tarikh-al-Hind wa al-Sind’, which was later translated into Persian
and this version was called ‘Chach Nama’.
 The old languages, Sanskirit and Parankrit, had a tinge of Arabic, Persian and
later on the Turkish language. By the interaction of these languages, new
languages like Hindi and Urdu emerged.
 During the reign of Sher Shah Suri the public welfare sector was given special
attention.
 Comparative Analysis of Hindu and
Muslim Society
 Hindu and Muslim society stand poles apart in their attitude of life. The Hindu society
is based on the rigid caste system.
 Islam as a religion is strongly monotheistic, that led the believers to their own unity
which is expressed by expressed by their similarity of thought, similarity of behavior
and similarity of living.
 The greatest evil desire of man is possession of power and wealth. To achieve these,
man exploits man. Hinduism adopted this evil desire of man as the basis of its society
by giving religious sanctions to the principles of exploitation of man.
 In Hindu society the cow is a sacred deity to be worshipped but the Muslim society
believes that it is meant for the human service and comfort.
 The Muslim society believes that the world is unity, and the role of a Muslim in the
world is self affirmation and self assertion. To Hindu society the world is Maya and
illusion.
 For the Hindus their war and peace are for self preservation and personal ego to
enslave man to exploit him. For the Muslims, their war and peace are to establish the
kingdom of God.
 The Hindu and Muslim society have different cultural aspects. Muslims of India by
considered Urdu as their language, the Hindus had their own language Hindi.