7th episode of sixth series of Great Muslim Biographies; Dr Muhammad Musa al Shareef unusual and wonderful personality if someone

ne master s the art of calligraphy and produces wonderful design, he becomes famous calligrapher if someone masters poetry, he becomes famous poet a great military leaer, distinguish himself in battle hailed as a seasoned warrior great conquerers or sultans who are good administrator tidak ramai muslim menyedari kehebatan beliau, malah tidak banyak kajian mendalam dilakukan mengenai beliau the word Aurangzeb means the ornament of the throne; the word zeb means ornament in Farsi, the Persian languange the Perrsian word Alamgir means the conquerer of the world or the ruler of the world the Aurang was a dynasty that consisted of a series of great rulers who ruled over India for more than a thousand years one of the great dynasties in world history during their reign, the Call to prayer(azan) echoed across India Islamic monotheism spread in India through India then abounded in many religions and language People there were idolaters and had no knowledge of Islamic monotheism but Muslim rulers propagated Islam there leaving behind great Islamic monuments that will forever be parts of Indias history Mohamad ibn Qassim al-Thaqafi, who was about the same age as any secondary school student today, nephew of Al-Hajjajs governor under Umayyad dynasty. Al-Hajjaj ordered him to join the Muslim army invading India; was only 18 years old at the time He was living in Shiraz and went to Sind(India) because some of the pirates in the waters of the Indian Ocean attacked a ship belonging to Muslims; that ship carrying daughters and widows of Muslim merchants Al-Hajjaj contacted Dahur, king of Sind, whose capital was Daibal and ordered him to release the Muslim woman who were held captive King Dahur said he had no power to control the pirates Al-Hajjaj got angry and contacted the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus and ordered Ibn Qassim to lead a great army of 12,000 soldiers from Shiraz Prophet Muhamad says ...12,000 will not be defeated by being outnumbered.; here Muhamad implies that such an army would not be outnumbered Ibn Qassim ordered the soldiers to march with arms to Daibal A large number of Indian outcast(Untouchable) joined them on the way The Hindus in India divided their society into 4 classes or caste; the highest caste was said to have been created from gods head; the lowest caste was said to have been created from gods feet They called the lowest caste that included prisoners; untouchable ; the untouchables were disaffected members of society

Mohamad ibn Qassim met them and they satrted to hear about Islam and the fact that Islam calls for justice , tolerance and generosity which convinced them to march with Ibn Qassim to Daibal The Muslim army was quite large and besieged Daibal, so King Dahur fled; dahur was killed later; This all occured a 1000 years before Aurangzeb So, Muhamad Ibn Qassim invade Daibal and pursued Dahur who was later killed in a battle Ibn Qassim went to Multan, a famous region in pakistan now; these are all places in modernday Pakistan Ibn Qassim headed towards Multan and managed to unite the people in Sind under Muslim rule; many people in the Sind region embraced Islam because of the generosity and tolerance Islam preaches and because of the wisdom of Ibn Qassim Ibn qassim was killed by Sulaiman ibn Abdul-Malik who hated Ibn Qassims relative, Al-Hajjaj and wanted to kill him; as he could not find Al-Hajjaj, he killed some of his kin After that incident, Islam ruler deteriot and it became geographically confined to the far west of India; geographically speaking, India extends from the Indian Ocean in the south reaching all the way to Pakistan and even close to afghanistan in the north. It extends from the bay of bengal to the borders of Iran. These were the Indian borders; this is called the Indian subcontinent So the muslim were living in the far west of India and had troubles after Ibn Qassims death as both the Qaisads and the Nazarids dynasties had disputes. Anyway, Muslim lived there in weakness and disorder and this lasted for more than two centuries until the great hero mahmoud of Ghazni appeared. He establised the Ghaznavids state in Ghazni which is located to the south of Kabul in Afghanistan Ghazni was ruled in the fourth century A.H. by a man called Sebuktegin who had Turkic origins. The words Turkis in those days did not refer to modern Turks . The Turks originally came from Central Asia especially from the five republics and Western Turkestan and Eastern Turkestan now called Xinchiang under Chinas control The early Turks came to Anatolia and establised Ottoman Empire but originally, the Turks came from central Asia. So, Sebuktegin was a Turkic origins and he managed to rule Ghazni which was later expanded by his son Mahmoud or as he was known the great Sultan mhmoud of Ghazni Mahmoud of Ghazni conquered Kherasan and other lands that are known as Western Turkestan and headed to Khyber Pass btween Pakistan and afghanistan the crossed the steep Hindu Kush mountains and headed to India. He invaded India 17 times over a span of 27 years. From this we can imagine how the early Muslim spreads Islam. The problem of Ghaznavids was they did not settle in India as its weather was scorching hot. The temperature in India sometimes exceeds 50 degree Celcius. Gahznavids couldnt stand it since Kabul and Ghazni were cooler. So, the soldiers refused to stay in Indias scorching weather but they frequently invaded India and left which led to instability. Then, Mahmoud of Ghazni died and his successor were weak, so the Ghurids, people of afghan origins come after them. So india was invaded by Arabs, then by Turks, then by afghan. Sultan Shahabuddin Mohamad Ghori managed to conquer Dehli which is known today as Delhi after British changed Dehli to Delhi. He was the fisrt to establish an Islamic government in the north of india Sultan ghori captured land and Sheikh Mouin Ad-din Al-Jashti captured peoples hearts. He guided million of Indians in the caste system to embrace Islam. Today there are 450 million

muslim in Indias subcontinent; more than 100 million in Pakistan, about 150 million in Bangladesh and 200 million in India; there are about half billion of muslim in these land Then Sultan ghori was succeeded by ?and he was a just ruler. The the Ghurid Empire deteriorated and wasruled by Turkish Mamluks; thus India was ruled by Turks again. Among those Mamluks, there ere great princes. The greatest of them was Shamsuddin al-Tomsh who was a just and a great sultan. He used to massage the feet of the religious scholar, Bukhtoyar Al-Kaki. Imagine that the sultan of India, a Turkic Mamluk at the timeused to massage the feet of religious scholar(alim). He used to weep at his feet, pleading that he would pray for him. This shows how humble he was. The sultan of India used to ask religious scholar to pray to allah for him. This was the high status of Muslim religious scholars at the time. After the deterioration of the Mamluks again, as to summarized here, the Khalji dynasty were founded and and the Khaljis had Afghan origins. The greatest of them was the famous Afghani sultan Alauddin Khalji who managed to cross Deccan for the first time in Indias history and his troops reached southern India. He subjogated all Indian subcontinent to the Islamic state something that happened for the first time in Indias history. This famous dignified sultan once asked a Muslim scholar to visit him but the scholar refused. This shows the great status Muslims scholar enjoys at the time. Alauddin Khalji was succedeed by the Tughluqs, a Turkey dynasty, so rule over India was fought over by more than one power. Their most famous sultan was Mohamad Tughluq. After the fail of the Tughluqi sultanate, India broke into principalities taifas. Thus the indian lands were fragmented starting from the third to the tenth centuries AH. In the 10th century AH, the Mughal dynasty emerged as their famous leader Babur appeared. His name was Zahiruddin Mohamad Babur and he was one of Tamerlanes descendents. Babur was a Turkic as Tamerlane was Turkic. His mother was a descent of Genghis Khan and his father was a Turkic. Babur like the Mongols more than the Turks, the ancestors of Mamluks as he aschewed affiliation with the Mamluks(Malik). He said he preferred to belong to his mothers side, as she was Mongol. Therefore his dynasty was called Mughal dynasty. Babur used to rule in Kabul. He managed to conquer the Lodi sultanate in Delhi and took full control of Delhi in the year 993 AH. He managed to established a kingdom that lasted for 300 years The Mughal kingdom was a great and vast Muslim empire which the Muslims themselves have since lost. It was a great empire we ourselves have wasted. Muslims cry over andalusia which is nothing when compared to India,Andalusias area is one tenth of the area of India. Muslims cry over Cordobas palace but they lost better palaces in India which were far greater in comparison to the palace that were lost in Alhambra, Cordoba, and Granada. Muslims forgets about India as they do not read Islamic history and do not know that Muslim history in India was bright, great and magnificient. Muslims should read about their history. Babur was succeeded by his son Humayun who was not as strong as his father and could not control the kingdom and therefore the sultanate fell apart. Then a great sultan who was known as Sher Shah of Suri from Sur conquered the Mughal state and ruled it for a while. After that Humayun and Sher shah died then Akbar, Humayuns son succeeded. Akbar was one of the great sultans in India. He was a good ruler and established a good system but something

strange happened during his reign. Akbar abandoned his faith in Allah during the last days of his life and established Ad-Din Al-illhi or the so-called divine faith. Akbar wanted to combine all creeds in india; he wanted all people to believe in one faith and named it divinefaith. He called people to worship God Alone but through wrong beliefs. Not only did the people in india rejects his divine faith but theys started to revert back to idol worship. At the same time, Muslims and their faith are weakening in india. In Akbar last days, he renounced(keluar dari agama) his faith in God. He met with Christians and Hindus people and learned about their faith. Akbar also used to meet different Hindu sect and worshippers of idols then one day deluded by satan, he declared his so-called divine faithand force people to adopt it. At that time, there was a great shaikh called Ahmad As-Sarhandi. Heahd Quraisy origins ashe was descendents of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Ahmad As-Sarhandi could not oppose Akbar as Akbar was the greatest Sultan ruling the whole India but he could inflame the religious zeal of young leaders and sheikh. Ahmad As-Sarhandi preached to them about the meaning of true faith and the fruits of his efforts were reaped later when Aurangzeb Alamgir ruled later. Afterwards Sultan akbar died and was succeeded by his son jahangir. The word Jahangr means the king of the world, Persian word. So, Jahangir was succeeded by his son, Shah jehan. Shah jehan married a woman called Mumtaz Mahal. She was a beautiful woman and he loved her so much then she died and Shah Jahan became so depressed that he isolated himself from people and his kingdombegan to deteriorate and Indias enemy started to come out of the woodwork. The Hindus king and prince revived their ancient feuds. India was in danger and Shah jahan was still in mourning for his wife. He even built for his dead wife the greatest shrine in the world regarded as one of the greatest monument, known as taj mahal. Taj mahal was built in agra near delhi and still there today. Tourist from everywhere around the world go to India so they can see this great monument. Taj mahal was built in 7 years by twenty-thousand workers. Thus the efforts of the Muslims were wasted in building such a shrine which was against Islamic beliefs as it squandered so much wealth. Shah jahan had four son. They were Shouja the ruler of Bengal(now Bangladesh), Murad Bakshah, the ruler of Gujerat, Aurangzeb the ruler of Deccan, and Darashkob who was the crown prince and Sultan Shah Jahans heir. Shah Jahan felt hesitate to Darashkob who was the next in line to the throne of india. But his brothers disputed this gathering armies they marches to Delhi. Aurangzeb was taught horsemanship, chivalry,and recitation of the Quran. He was brought up at the hands of Ahmad As Sarhandis grandson, Saifuddin ibn M. Masum ibn As Sarhandi. Aurangzeb was a prince but he was not the crown prince. One day, his father, Shah Jahan was watching a parade of elephants while his sons were on their horses standing among Indians. Suddenly an elephant was spooked and lunged towards Aurangzeb. The elephant swung its trunk at Aurangzebs horse. The elephant charged the horse and tossed it aside Aurangzeb fell to the ground; he was only 14 years old at the time. So, he unsheated his sword to start fighting the elephant. Aurangzeb wanted to fight the elephant but of course he couldnt. The servant quickly to push the elephant away from Aurangzeb. This reflects how strong and courages Aurangzeb was. When his father saw that, he appointed him a ruler of Deccan for 8 years and became familiar with the condition in ares ruled by Hindus princes and the condiotios=ns of people there as the majority of Indians were Hindus.

 Though under Muslim ruler, the majority of the Indians were and still hindu. So Aurangzeb did not let Darashkob rule afterhis dad. But why?? While he(Darashkob) was the crown prince, darashkob wanted to revive the divine faith of his great grandfather, Akbar. He was son of Shah Jahan, the son son Jahangir, the son of Akbar. He was delude and wanted to revive divine faith of his great-grandfather . But aurangzeb being brought up to love Islam and Prophetic Tradition would not accept that his brother would rule. So, Aurangzeb said he would leave Deccan and go to Delhi, claiming that he wanted to visit his sick sister. This was because the princes dared not leave their towns unless they had permisson from sultan or they would be punished. Aurangzeb pretended he wanted to visit his sister to see the conditions in Delhi. His brother, Shouja and Murad left Bengal and gujerat and headed to Delhi as well and many things happened, complicated matters. But Aurangzeb managed to get rid of his brother Darashkob and his troubles; he imprisoned him and get rid of his other two brothers. One of them was fled and the other was murdered. Afterwards things settled down in Delhi. Aurangzebs father was isolated and helpless in his palace; he was mourning Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb had to let his father live under house arrest that lasted for 8 years in his palace. He stayed there until his death but he had been well looked after by his servant and by Aurangzebs sister who used to look after her father. Aurangzeb made a mirror for his father that still can be seen till today. In this mirror, Shah Jahan could see the taj mahal in Agra while lying in bed. Shah jahan spent the rest of his life gazing at the mirror. India was in chaos due to the wars with his brother over the sultanate. Aurangzeb had to restore stability acroos the sultanate. He spent 20 years consolidating power within his sultanate so as to protect it from external enemy. As for within his india state, he spent more than 27 years striving against hindus, the rafidites, a deviant shiite sect and all the different groups that had an interest in ruling india at the time. But aurangzebs leadership stymed their efforts to seize power. He used to do everything by himself and would not allow others to interfere in his affairs. That came from his experience as a ruller of Deccan and out of the islamic knowledge he had acquired. So aurangzeb made use of his experience and ruled india for 50 years. He even imprisoned two of his son,one for life and the other for 8 years because he had contacted his fathers enemies without his permissions. It was common then that the sultans sons rose against their father and sought help from the enemies. Aurangzeb punishes his son to put an end to such tendencies and he was so firm even with his children. Aurangzeb memorized Quran when he was 40 after he became sultan. Before becoming sultan, he compiled 40 Prophetic Saying in a book that similar with An Nawawi. So when he become sultan, he also compiles 40 Sayings. Aurangzeb used Persian, the language literature and science because Indian Sanskrit were not befit for that purposes. Therefore all the writers, Major figures and sultans learned Persian so they could express themselves well for it in rich language. So, aurangzeb complied 80 Prophetic Saying before and after being a sultan. He also wrote commentary on them. In addition , Sultan Aurangzeb was a very talented calligrapher. He was skilled in calligrahy that he even made copies of the Quran as a way to earn a living which shows his asceticism. Asceticism is not about being poor or destitute or isolated from the world. Rather it is about ruling a whole of a vast subcontinent; as aurangzeb did but not letting ones heart attached to it.

 Aurangzeb had a great wealth and was one of the greatest sultan ever. But still he used to write the copies of Quran as a way to earn his living. Imagine how humble he was. When he was about to die, he want to be buried in a simple shroud that he had bought for 5 indian rupees. Where did he get the money?? He used to knit caps and sell them in secrets so he could save 5 rupees for his burial shroud. When he dies, all he left behind was 300 rupees which he had said to be given to thepoor and needy. It is strange that a sultan with such great power led in such an ascetic life. Aurangzeb made 2 beautiful copies of Quran and decorated their covers with gold then sent one of them to Mecca and sent the other one to Medina. The binding of the 2 copies cost 7,000 rupees then. Before he became sultan, he wish to made visit to mecca but his father would nit allow him. As sultan, he dealt with unrest and chaotic situation that prevented him from travelling. In those days, travelling to Jeddah by sea took 3 month and there were many dangers on the way. For one, Portugese ships patrolled the waters. So aurangzeb could not make haji in such hard circumstances. Instead he helped those who wanted to do it and sent great gift to the poor and the scholar in the two Sacred Mosque ,Mecca and Medina In those days, sultan will taught their children to play music. But aurangzeb had been tutored in the hanafi school of jurisprudence so he said listening to musical instruments were forbidden. After he ascended the throne, he dismissed all singers and drove all dancers out of his land. An interesting story happened on his way to offer prayer at the mosque. He never missed solat jemaah especially Friday prayer. On his way, he came across musician crying over coffin. He asked wat they were crying over. They told him that they had buries all their musical instruments. Aurangzeb told them to bury them well so they might never rise

Aurangzeb digambarkan sebagai jika ada yang mahir pottery,