why didn't arabs conquer India?

Hello to you all

 

Well there are many reasons for this, first was the civil war and then fall of the Ummayyads. The Umayyads were agressive conquerors, they succeeded in conquering all the lands they sent armies to except Byzantium. Muhammad bin Al-Qasim wante to go to India because of the enormous wealth there and because pagans accepted Islam much easier than Christians or Zoroastrians. Native population of Sindh and southern Punjab welcomed Arabs and allied themselves with them, this no doubt encouraged Muhammad to plan for further incursion into India especially after the successful naval operations against Gujurat and the arrival of new troops. But the death of Al-Walid I spelt doom for ibn Al-Qasin and his conquest. For a very weak charge he was tried and killed. His troops were withdrawn for war effort in the Byzantine front and even after the failure of the siege of 717, new problem started, civil war in spain, major revolts in Khurasan, Mazandran and transoxania and then the great Khazar invasion which threatened the very existance of the Ummayyad empire. All that lead to the withdrawall of all the troops in Sindh. When the Abbasids came, they had little attention payed to conquest and focused on preserving what was already in their hands. Later, they allowed the existance of client dynasties that became responsible for securing the realm of Islam, these clients soon became fully independet and started the long and bloody process of conquering India.

 

Al-Jassas 

     I think that your assertion is a bit of an over-generalization.  

 

     That proverb is hosted on this site.

 

       And most of the population which was converted to Islam was actually Bhuddist. And the population which was converted to Islam was converted to Sufi islam, of which most arabs are not very big fans, who prefer Wahabism instead. 

 

          I have to say that you also know very little about the subcontient culture. Islam did enter India before the Sufis but it was the Sufis who really converted the local poulation. Since you are not a Pakistani therefore you don't the know the Sufi influence here, it is everywhere from music to shrines and folk poetry and all. And i know for a fact that many so called teachers of Islam went to the Arab countries and were greatly influenced by Wahabism and then going back to the subcontinent caused immense social strife there. 

 

         And about your claim that Persia was not really mostly muslim until about 1000 A.D. Well that is strange, i have read 1001 Arabian nights, which is actually 1001 Persian nights from around 800 A.D and Persia is as Muslim as it could be there with no signs of Zoarastrianism anywhere. Read it, you will know what i mean. 

Only the Buddhists actually, who were quite happy to get rid of the Brahmin rule. Nearly the whole of the Buddhist population converted over time, that is still evident in the demographics of india. The current muslim population is quite proportional to ancient buddhist populations.

I think the effect of Sufis is greatly overstated.