The Islamic Jihad is the largest, bloodiest and most permanent imperialist project ever devised. Modern day 'terrorism' is simply an expression one can find throughout Islamic history over 1400 years. The expression of endless war and violence is premised upon the Koranic injunction to dominate, humiliate and kill non-Muslims. It is really that simple. If you wanted to understand the Nazi program you would have read Mein Kampf. If you want to understand Islam for what Islam truly stands for, you must read Mein Koran and the history of imperialist Islam.
The 12th century was certainly no different than the previous five – all of which are covered [7 c., 8 c., 9 c., 10-11 c.]. We can list some of the more lurid and well known examples of the Muslim Jihad:
-Almohad terror throughout North Africa and Spain is well documented, proving the myth about Islamic tolerance in Spain, to be nothing less than the most distorted of ignorant beliefs. Tens of thousands of non-Muslims were murdered and hundreds of thousands enslaved as the Almohad 'wave' of 'radical' uncompromising Al-Ghazali/Asharite based Islam took over the vestiges of the Ummayyid empire during the 12th century.
-Forced conversions of Jews were legion within Almohad Islam. According to Stillman [The Jews of Arab Lands], there were forced conversions of Jews under the Almohad caliphs, al-Mumin (d 1165), Abu Yakub (d 1184) and al-Mansur (d 1199).
-The Christians of Grenada were deported to Morocco by the Almoravids rulers in 1126.
-Jews in Yemen in 1165 were given choice of death or conversion to Islam. A similar demand was made upon the Jews of Aden in 1198.
-In India under Turkish Sultan Muhammad Ghauri the Muslims launched one of the bloodiest campaigns of conquest in history directed against the Sirsuti, Samana, Khuhram and Hansi regions. This genocide was punctuated by a ruthless slaughter and a general destruction of temples and their replacement with mosques. Similar events followed in Ajmer and Delhi later on [KS Lal, Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India, p. 21].
-The first Muslim ruler of India soon followed the Ghauri-inspired holy war. Ghauri’s general Aibak, succeeded him and became the first sultan of India. Aibak waged war in the east of India to consolidate his empire and led expeditions in the north and central parts of the country to wipe out opposition. The slaughter was complete. When Aibak captured Kol (modern Aligarh) in 1194 there were, “those of the garrison who were wise and cute were converted to Islam, but those who stood by their ancient faith were slain with the sword.” [Hasan Nizami, Taj-ul-Maasir, E.D., H, 222]
The 13th century saw the Muslim imperialist project continue on all fronts.
-The Christians of Damascus were killed or sold into slavery in the early 13th century, and their Churches burnt down.
-Sir Steven Runciman records that Sultan Baibars had promised the safety of the Latin garrison of Safed if they surrendered to the Muslims. When they surrendered, the Muslims fell upon the population and massacred them.
-At the capture of Antioch by the Muslims, “Even the Muslim Chroniclers were shocked by the carnage that followed”, says Runciman.
-The Jews of Marrakesh were massacred in 1232.
-In Morocco Jews were constantly persecuted, forced to convert or exiled with their property forfeited and seized by Muslims. The Jews of Tabriz for example, were obliged to convert in 1291 CE [Ibn Warraq; p. 227]
In India the carnage continued as indeed it would up to the present time:
-In Aibak’s attack of Kalinjar in 1202, 50,000 slaves were captured and, “The temples were converted into mosques,” writes Hasan Nizami, “and the voices of the summoners to prayer ascended to the highest heavens, and the very name of idolatry was annihilated.” Muhammad Farishtah specifically mentions that during the capture of Kalinjar “fifty thousand kaniz va ghulam, having suffered slavery, were rewarded with the honor of Islam” – which meant that enslaved captives were forced into conversion to Islam and conversion accelerated the growth of Muslim population in India.
-Forced conversion was legion within India. After a campaign against the Hindus in Khokhar and their total defeat, the result was not only a great plunder and many captives sold as slaves but also, according to Farishtah, some 300 to 400 hundred thousand Khokhars were converted to Islam by the Turkish Muslim commander – on pain of death.
-In 1202 CE, Khajli another Turk commander, marched into Bihar province and attacked the University centers at Nalanda, Vikramshila and Uddandpur. The Buddhist monks and Brahmans, identified by their shaved heads, were taken as idolaters, massacred. Innocents and civilians were captured and enslaved. Ibn Asir says that Aibak made ‘war against the provinces of Hind. He killed many, and returned with prisoners and booty.” In Banaras, according to the same author, “the slaughter of the Hindus was immense; none was spared except women and children”. Fakhr-i-Mudabbir informs us that as a result of the Turkish achievements under Muizzuddin and Aibak, even a poor (Muslim) householder became an owner of numerous slaves.”
-After Aibak, Sultan Iltutmish (rule 1210-1236) continued the imperialist war against the Indian infidels and their territories which revolted, including Ranthambhor (1226), Mandor (near Jodhpur), Gwalior and Ujjan (1234-35). According to contemporary chroniclers Minhaj Shiraj and Muhammad Farishtah, every campaign led to general massacres of those who resisted and the women and children were taken captives and assets of the infidels were looted.
-The Turkish Jihad against the Hindus and Buddhists lasted 2 generations. In 1253, the Turk Khan Balban in his campaign against Ranthambhor killed and enslaved hundreds of thousands. In 1259, in an attack on Haryana, many women and children were enslaved. Twice Balban led expeditions against Kampil, Patiali, and Bhojpur, and in the process enslaved a large number of women and children. In Katehar, he ordered a general massacre of the male population over eight years of age and carried away the women and children. In 1260 Balban marched with a large force on a campaign in the region of Ranthambhor, Mewat and Siwalik. He made a proclamation that a soldier who brought a live captive would be rewarded with two silver tankahs and one who brought the head of a dead one would get one silver tankah. Soon 300-400 living and dead were brought to Balban everyday for many months.
-A second Sultan Khalji (1290-1296) intensified the attacks against non-Muslims in Katehar, Ranthambhor, Malwa, and Gwalior. According to Amir Khasrau [Miftah-ul-Fatuh], Khajli sacked temples, took booty and captured slaves making a “Hell of Paradise”.
-Khalji's successor led a large army to Gujarat in 1299 in which all the major towns were sacked, temples destroyed, wealth looted and large number of slaves of both sexes captured [Khwaja AM Isami, Futu-us-Salatin, p. 243 ; Ziauddin Barani, Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi, pp. 251-52]. Hundreds of thousands were killed, most likely millions enslaved.
These are just some of the better known Muslim atrocities perpetrated in the name of the Jihad, over the 12th and 13th centuries. Books need to be written about this endless carnage. The butchery and the enslavement emanated from Islamic doctrine and racist-supremacist ideals contained in the Koran, the life of Mohammed and the Hadiths. To say otherwise is crass ignorance and it defames the memory of the 150 million Indians killed over 1200 years by the Arabs and Turks in history's largest and least recorded genocide.