Historically, how did Muslims interact with Hindus?

[Egyptian Phoenix]

I admit I don't know a whole lot about India's history, and really only have limited knowledge of Hinduism itself. I had a question, but didn't want to put it in a DIR, because I want it open.

Historically, how did Muslims interact with and treat Hindus when they came into contact with each other? Did Muslims attempt to give them peace before the wars started, or did they just regard them as Polytheists and start fighting?

[Mahatma Gandhi]

Originally Posted by Egyptian Phoenix

I admit I don't know a whole lot about India's history, and really only have limited knowledge of Hinduism itself. I had a question, but didn't want to put it in a DIR, because I want it open.

Historically, how did Muslims interact with and treat Hindus when they came into contact with each other? Did Muslims attempt to give them peace before the wars started, or did they just regard them as Polytheists and start fighting?

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

[Egyptian Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Mahatma Gandhi

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

Oh really? I didn't know. I'd always heard otherwise. So Muslims and Hindus co-existed fine?

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Mahatma Gandhi

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

I am assuming that you are kidding or are you splitting hairs between religion and politics? The point is, in Islam, there is no division between religion and politics, so I don't see how one could argue that religion was not a factor.

I hate using Wiki for details, but it is a fairly good read on the situation.

It took several centuries for Islam to spread across India and how it did so is a topic of intense debate. Some quarters hold that Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam by the establishment of Jizya and Dhimmitude favoring Muslim citizens, and the threat of naked force. Others hold that it occurred through inter-marriage, conversions, economic integration, and through the influence of Sufi preachers.[2]

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[LuisDantas]

MG, when do you consider that to have happened? When did India become independent with a Hindu leadership?

[kai]

Originally Posted by Mahatma Gandhi

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

This might be of interest:

"the bloodiest story in history"

India's Holocaust - Magazine Archives > March 1999 - Publications - Hinduism Today Magazine

[A-ManESL]

Originally Posted by Mahatma Gandhi

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

At the grass root level all over India, you would still find this harmony prevailing. Only when those with hatred in their hearts against either Hinduism or Islam stir up trouble do some people get duped.

[Mahatma Gandhi]

Originally Posted by kai

This might be of interest:

"the bloodiest story in history"

[.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=4465]India's Holocaust - Magazine Archives > March 1999 - Publications - Hinduism Today Magazine

That's not accepted by mainstream historians at all. It's just a story circulated by Hindu fundamentalists to justify their genocide against the Muslims. It's a well-known fact that India was peaceful and prosperous under Islamic rule. Only later did the relationship deteriorate, and that was mostly because of Hindu nationalists.

[Wannabe Yogi]

Originally Posted by Mahatma Gandhi

There was no fight between them; Hindus and Muslims were peaceful most of the time and, if at all there were wars, they were political rather than religious. There was total harmony among them for centuries; all this changed once India became independent with a Hindu leadership.

I am sorry but this just is not true. Were did you get this from?

"The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history". The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride of the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD.

Will Durant The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage page 459

Irfan Husain columnist from Pakistan said this
”While historical events should be judged in the context of their times, it cannot be denied that even in that bloody period of history, no mercy was shown to the Hindus unfortunate enough to be in the path of either the Arab conquerors of Sindh and south Punjab, or the Central Asians who swept in from Afghanistan.

The Muslim heroes who figure larger than life in our history books committed some dreadful crimes. Mahmud of Ghazni, Qutb-ud-Din Aibak, Balban, Mohammed bin Qasim, and Sultan Mohammad Tughlak, all have blood-stained hands that the passage of years has not cleansed. Indeed, the presence of Muslim historians on their various campaigns has ensured that the memory of their deeds will live long after they were buried.

Seen through Hindu eyes, the Muslim invasion of their homeland was an unmitigated disaster. Their temples were razed, their idols smashed, their women raped, their men killed or taken slaves. When Mahmud of Ghazni entered Somnath on one of his annual raids, he slaughtered all 50,000 inhabitants. Aibak killed and enslaved hundreds of thousands. The list of horrors is long and painful

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Islam had a great history of tolerence in spain. But we must not turn a blind eye to history.

[Egyptian Phoenix]

Wannabe Yogi thank you for posting that, and thanks for the article Kai. Indeed this is terrible

Surely though, Muslims don't try to deny this went on, or try to justify it?