Conquest of Sindh

The conquest of Sindh under the young Umayyad general Muhammad ibn Qasim, just seventeen years old at the time, brought the Indus Valley into the Muslim world. The campaign was triggered by attacks on Muslim merchant ships by pirates under Sindhi jurisdiction. Governor Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf of Iraq dispatched Muhammad ibn Qasim with a professional army of approximately 6,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. The decisive engagement was the Battle of Aror (Rohri) in 712 CE, where Raja Dahir was killed. Muhammad ibn Qasim's administration was notable for its pragmatism: Hindus and Buddhists were treated as dhimmis — protected peoples — allowed to continue their religious practices and maintain their temples. This policy laid the foundations for centuries of Muslim rule in the subcontinent. The conquest opened the doorway to Islam's spread across South Asia. Tragically, Muhammad ibn Qasim was later executed on the orders of a new Umayyad governor.