Lesser Known Fact:

According to archaic texts parts of Pakistan, specifically Northern Punjab and possibly southern KPK, had an indigenous Islamic kingdom in 830 CE due to conversion of its ruler to Islam.

Short thread on Pakistan and the Country of Al-Usaifan 1/n

One the primary and largest authorities and sources of our understanding of early Islamic history comes from the book ‘Futuh Al Buldan’ (Conquest of the Lands) by Baladhuri which gave detailed accounts of areas and how they were incorporated into the Islamic world.

The book is also one of the strongest and most detailed sources on the incorporation of the Indus region (Pakistan) into the Islamic world, as it speaks of the conquests of both Makran and Sind under the Rashiduns and Ummayads.

However an interesting note found in the work is of the ‘country of Usaifan’. A region somewhere in modern Pakistan which has to itself a specific story narrated by a slave as to how its ruler had a turn of hearts and came towards Islam.

Al Baladhuri writes that the country of Usaifan is found between Kashmir, Kabul and Multan. Thus placing it somewhere in the region of Taxilla or in its vicinity. (Northern Punjab-South eastern KPK)

The country was ruled by an unnamed ‘wise king’ who was of ‘good understanding’

The book narrates that the king’s son fell ill and thus he called upon his priests and monks to plead and beseech the idols that they worship for them to heal his son. After a while, the priests returned telling him that his son would be fine. However -

The son of the King died which severely infuriated the king. He is said to have demolished and destroyed his own temple and massacred and killed all his monks and ministers. He afterwards called upon Muslim merchants for them to explain monotheism to him.

The merchants sermons worked and the king is said to have seen the unity of God and thus accepted Islam. This in turn converted his kingdom into an Islamic kingdom and thus Punjab contained an indigenous Islamic Kingdom while the rest of the Indus Valley was under the Abassids.

Now bare in mind that this story was narrated by a slave who very seldom are taken as strong accounts on history by historians since their accounts contain certain problems. Let’s analayse some of this one.

1) Punjab during that era was under an indigenous kingdom known as the Takka kingdom, known to Muslims as the Bilad i Takkiya. The name is ultimately seen to be derived from Takkesar which itself is taken to come from Takshasila (Taxilla) making Taxila its capital.

The Takka Kingdom, before its decline and fall to the Hindu Shahis, was quite a large kingdom. A conversion of this level would’ve had strong affects and many historians would’ve wrote of it, however the Kingdom of Usaifan doesn’t find a mention anywhere.

It could be possible that this King was a vicegerent or possibly a vassal of the King of the Takkas and though his conversion brought change in his area, the greater realm stayed unaffected and thus not much was written of this.

Another theory of the 11th century historian Yaqut Al Hamawi is that the name of Usaifan is a later corruption. The original name was a reference to Al Qiqan, a historic region on the Indus periphery seen by mant historians to be the region of modern Quetta in Pakistan.

From my own knowledge, there’s another account of a king in northern Punjab accepting Islam secretly and not revealing it to anyone. He had requested for the Muslims of the Indus Valley to translate a Quran in his language, which was 1 of the first translations in South Asia.

Could it be that both these kings are the same? Could be, could be not. I hope someday I can reach that level in my dealing and understating of history that I could discover such a connection and unravel a very lesser known portion of our history.

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Reference:

Futuh Al Buldan - Baladhuri

The Punjab Past and Present.

Culture and History of Kapisa and Gandhara.

The last 2 dynasties of the shahis- Abdur Rehman