Islam in bengal

‘ BENGAL’ at the advent of islam
Introduction:
discord and strife in the political as well as religio-social life,
there was no political unity in the land and as such strife and confusion prevailed all throughout,
the existing religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism failed to hold an ideal before the people and to meet their spiritual and material needs.
Buddhism:
The Buddhists suffered persecution under the domination of Brahmanical Hinduism.
The Buddhists were in a flourishing condition upto the beginning of the Gupta rule (unto 5 th century)
The Gupta Emperors were Brahmanical Hindus and there was the ascendancy of the Brahmins in the state and society which accounted for the decline of Buddhism in Bengal.
Buddhism had also become divided into several sects, such as Hinayana, Mahayana Vajrayana and Sahajayana. Some of these were influenced by the Hindu beliefs and practices.
The Hindu belief in the worship of female deity found way into the Mahayana Buddhism. To then Buddha and Buddhachitta become gods, and Tara, as the mail power of Buddha, appeared as a female deity.
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Hinduism:
A. In the caste-ridden Hindu society the Brahmins enjoyed the monopoly of all privileges and the lower caste people lived under their bondage. Inequalities and injustices held away in the Hindu society of the time.
In the pre-Muslim period, the Hindus believe in idolatry. They worshipped many gods and goddesses including all images…
The Hindus of the time divided into many castes and sub-castes. The Brahmins, Vaidyas, and Kayasthas belonged to the upper class of the Hindu society. There were a few Khatriyas in Bengal, and rest were Shudhrahs.
The Caste System was characterized by with its elaborate code of purity and untouchability
The position of women was much more inhuman and degraded (without independence, inheritance, being cremated along with husbands, serving husbands’ brothers after their death as female-slaves, marriageable age ration 1:3…
Immoralities and sensual excesses including perverted sexuality
Another evil was the custom to dedicating young girls, popularly known as devadasi (female attendant to the deity) for service in temples, who were eventually converted into sex-girls.

Jainism:
The Jains gradually declined. The Nirgranthas, who later on came to be known as Jainas lost much of their influence in Bengal during subsequent ages, due to many reasons:
D.)
Muhammad (sa)_ Harshavardhan Brahman Ratt dynasty Khadga Dynasty
(Northern India), (Eastern Bengal) ( south-eastern Bengal)
Hindu Hindu Buddhist
Deva Dynasty (Buddhist)
Pala Dynasty (Buddhist)
In the time of the great Prophet, Harshavardhan was the Emperor of Northern India (A.D.606-647) with his capital at Thaneswar and Kanouj. Southern India was divided into a number of kingdoms. Eastern Bengal was under the rule of the Brahman Ratt dynasty. The rulers of these dynasties were Hindus. A Buddhist family known as the Khadga Dynasty ruled over south-eastern Bengal in the second-half of the seventh century. This was followed by another Buddhist dynasty of the Deva family which ruled in the second half of the eighth century. About this time the Kingdom of the Palas, a Buddhist family, was established in Western and Northern Bengal.

Advent of Islam in Bengal
In fact, there are three ways by which the religion of Islam found its way into Bengal:
Arab Trades:
Islam entered this land with the Arab trade in the East. In the eighth and ninth centuries, the Arabs were the foremost sea-faring and maritime people of the world, sailed across all waters to far off countries of the East, conquered Sind and Multan in 712 A.D., a few Arabs settled in Ceylon and the Malabar coast. The eastern trade of the Arabs flourished so much that the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal turned into Arab lakes.
The writings of Arab geographers reveal that Arab traders had frequented the Bengal coast long before the Turkish conquest, like their identifying this area as Samandar for today’s Sandip.
The Arab writers’ mention of Samrup and the kingdom of Ruhmi, the latter is identified with the kingdom of Dharmapal of the Pal dynasty.
The coin of Khalifs Harun'-ur Rashid, dated 172 H/788 A.D. found at Paharpur in the Rajshahi district, and the coin of one of his successors discovered at Mainamati in the Comilla.
The facial resemblance's of the people of Chittagong, the mixture of Arabic words in the Chittagonian dialect, and place names in and around the port city, Arabicization of Chittagong and Eastern Bengal is greater than in North and West Bengal…

II) By Conquests:
The Muslim conquest of this land began in the thirteenth century. A large body of the Muslim Turks (10,000 armies while campaigning against Tibet) accompanied Ikhtiyaruddin Muhammad ibn Bakhtiyar Khalji in his conquest of Bengal from the hands of the powerful Hindu King Lakshmanasena.
There were many internal conflicts between the Muslim emperors in Delhi and the independent sultans of Bengal over the dominance of Bengal. With every new conquest, Bengal came to be inhabited by many Turks and others.
Balban sent his Governor Mughithu'd-Din Tughral to Bengal against the Khalji Maliks, Tughral became Khalji’s friend, Balban sent army against him, overpowered him and set up his son Bughra Khan as its governor.
Sultan Muhammad b Tughlaq, after transfer of capital from Daulatabad to Delhi, fell in a terrible famine, and then sent his people to Bengal.
The Afghans came to Bengal as hirelings in the army of the Khalji Mali and other generals and rulers of the Turks. The Habshi Sultan Muzaffar Shah had a few thousand Afghans in his service.
During the Mughal rule many officers and soldiers settled in Bengal. It is known from Akbarnama that Emperor Akbar liberally granted Jagirs to the officers and soldiers who served in these provinces.
Many-Persians came to Bengal during the period of Muslim rule as sufis, teachers, officers and soldiers. There was great flow of the Persian officers, teachers, physicians and traders in this province after the Mughal conquest.

III) By Sufi Preachers:
The Sufi and preachers had a large share in the spread of Islam in Bengal through their missionary and humanitarian activities.
Their Khnaqas were the great centers of spiritual, humanitarian, and intellectual activities.
Hundreds of Sufis came to Bengal in different times from the lands of Islam in Western and Central as well as Northern India.
It is impossible to say who was the first sufi to Bengal, but they came long before Turkish conquest.
Pirism is a popular form of sufism in India. Etymologically, the word "pir" means old. But it is generally used to denote the teachers who give spiritual guidance. Reverence to the pirs is not of Bangladesh origin--it was imported from Iran through northern India.

By Sufi Preachers:
Many saints and sufis are traced out to have come and preached Islam into various parts of Bengal. A sufi named Baba Adam came to Vikrampur of the Dhaka district, Muhammad Sultan Rumi is said to have come to Bengal in the middle of the eleventh century (1045 A.D.) and preached Islam in the Netrokona locality in the district of Mymensingh, Sufi Makhdum Shah is associated with the preaching of Islam in Pabna district, Makhdum Shah Mahmud Ghaznavi, better known as Rah Pir, is credited with the spread of Islam in the locality of the Burdwan district, the great sufi Bayazid Bistami (died in 874 A.D.) came to Bengal whose shrine is found at Nasirabad near Chittagong, Shaikh Jalal Uddin Tabrizi was the most celebrated of the early sufis of Bengal who came from Tabriz in Persia, he visited Delhi, came to Bengal and settled down in Pandua and established his Khanqah there. Shaikh Jalal Uddin popularly known as Shah Jalal was one of the great sufi preachers of this period who is credited with the acquisition of Sylhet and the spread of Islam in this region.
There are many other sufis and saints, some of them are known and some others are unknown, who immensely contributed to the spread of Islam in this region.

IV) By Other Ways:
The largest section of the converts to Islam came from the Buddhists and lower class Hindus to whom the simplicity, equality and brotherhood of the religious and social system of Islam appealed as a deliverance from the persecution and tyranny under the Brahmanical society.
There are instances which show that Islam gained a considerable number of converts through marriage in upper class Hindu families because of their political and social contracts with the Muslims…Like: Shamsu'd–Din Ilyas Shah (7434342-7581357) the Bengali Sultan, marring a beautiful Brahmin widow, who was known as Phulmati Begum, and left behind several sons by this Hindu wife.
There are instances of many upper class Hindus, being attracted by the superior ideals of Islam, accepted it.
The contemporary Bengali literature reflects that if a Brahmin accepted Islam, he persuaded his relations and brethren to come to the fold of Islam.

Islam in bengal

by International Islamic University Chittagong, Batch 28 A9

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