Arab Conquest of Sindh

In 711 CE, Muhammad bin Qasim, a 17-year-old general of the Umayyad Caliphate, led an army of 6,000 Syrian cavalry and 6,000 camel-mounted infantry across the Makran coast and into Sindh (in present-day Pakistan). His campaign was ostensibly to rescue Arab traders held captive by Raja Dahir, the Hindu king of Sindh. Bin Qasim defeated Dahir at the Battle of Aror, where the raja was killed. Within two years, the young general had conquered the entire Indus valley up to Multan. The conquest introduced Islam to South Asia — a transformation of world-historical significance. Bin Qasim established a relatively tolerant administration, granting Hindus and Buddhists dhimmi status and allowing local customs to continue. Though the Arab hold on Sindh remained limited geographically, the cultural and religious seeds planted in 711 would grow over centuries into one of the defining features of South Asian civilization.