Harking Back: How the very first Muslims trickled into Lahore

Just how do we determine who the very first Muslim inhabitants and invaders of Lahore were? Most believe that come Mahmud, the Turko-Afghan invader from Ghazni, in 1021, that the first Muslims had arrived. This just belies serious research.

Before Islam spread to Lahore, our land experienced three major ‘invasions’ from the West as forces headed to the East from the mountain passes of the north-western passes, they being the Sakas, the Kushans and the White Huns. They are classified as being between the ancient and the medieval periods of Indian sub-continental history. What we do know about the Mauryas, the Sakas and the Kushans has been mostly derived from inscriptions and coins, which in their own right are of reasonable historic reliability, yet the White Huns, or the ‘third invasion’ brought forth the Rajput tradition, which is very much alive today.

The Huns hordes settled in the Khyber region and beyond in Punjab and further to Rajputana. The Huns were broadly divided into two sects, they being the Hun Jats who were primarily agricultural, and the Gujjars who were pastoral. Both are very closely related. A recent study of both these Huns sects thanks to DNA research shows them as very closely similar, with minor differences.

Moving northwards from Gandhara we have the Gujjars settling in Swat, Dir, Mardan and downwards towards Gujrat. It makes sense for these are the greenest north-western portions of the sub-continent and excellent for pastoral pastimes. On the other hand, the Huns Jats moved eastwards to settle in the plains watered by the rivers of Punjab. In that sense we see that Lahore and its surroundings were strictly Jat territory, and the ancient city of Lahore always had a Jat population with a Rajput ruler.

But the White Huns mingled with the local Dravidians, who over the centuries pushed eastwards. Mind you the very first humans to populate our sub-continent migrated from Africa, eons before the White Huns came, and moved along the coast and up the rivers. The oldest planned city in the sub-continent, probably also of the world, is Mehrgarh in Balochistan, where the population still to this day speak Brahui, a language with a Dravidian structure, and amazingly in isolation to the Indo-European languages surrounding them. Our ancient Punjabi language, as is the recently invented Urdu, as also Persian and Turkish, are all Indo-European in structure.

The best description of the Rajput Pathans and Punjabis has been provided by Olaf Caroe who writes: “… they are reckless and daring, loyal to the chiefs they trust, love sports, take offence quickly and when they have no enemies they quarrel among themselves”. Our rural population are even today known, once the annual crop money comes in, to pass their time in litigation after a deliberate fight.

Now before we dwell on the first Muslims to reach Lahore let us take a very brief look at the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia in 642 AD. After Hamadan was conquered, the flow of Arab and Turk Muslims were to influence Iranians life in a massive way. The flight of the Zoroastrians, mostly from Pars, hence Parsis, to avoid the onslaught of Muslim forces saw them settle all over the Indian sub-continent. The Iranians were profoundly influenced by this change, and it were they who moved eastwards.

Between the integration of the White Huns with the Dravidian population of our lands, we have a 400-year gap in which the White Huns disappeared as an entity, though their traits remains very much with us and within our genes. In those days Lahore was ruled by a Rajput Prithviraj Chauhan. This begs the question that just why did an Ajmer person come to rule Lahore. The reason is simple geography. Lahore was located on the highway linking India to the mountains in the West, and was an ancient trade route.

The constant invasions from Afghanistan needed a location to prepare for trade and military retaliation. Lahore was the ideal location. That is why the ancient epic of Mahabharata describes a war between the Kaurava and the Pandava princes on the banks of the River Ravi at Mahmood Booti in Lahore. It was a fight of the ruler of Lahore, Prince Bharata, for possession of the river trade port and the trade route to the east.

The Afghans and their tribal cousins living to the east of the Khyber Mountains, were constantly trying to possess the prized port and trade route of Lahore. In the year 682 AD, a major conversion to Islam took place among the Afghans, who till then were primarily Buddhists. But then, it seems, their growing population needed some economic means of sustenance. The wealth of Iran and more so of the sub-continent has always attracted the people of this landlocked country. Since those times religion has been used as an excuse to invade Punjab, more so Lahore.

The constant invasions by the Afghans forced the Rajput Chauhan ruler to move initially towards Sialkot, and then deeper into today’s India and Ajmer. We learn of Lahore remaining empty for almost two centuries, with local Rajput Jats with Gujjars uniting to repel foreign invaders.

According to Ferishta in 682 AD the newly-converted inhabitants started a series of wars to take over the lands and territories of Hindu rulers. Initially the newly-converted Pathans were repelled, but then they formed a critical alliance with the Ghakkars of the Salt Range, who were initially allies of Raja Prithviraj Chauhan, then changed sides and forced him to cede large tracts of land to the east. The move towards Lahore had started. The ancient epics talk of 70 major battles taking place before Mahabharata took place, in which the ruler of Lahore and his army roundly defeated an alliance of nine rulers, including from, and of, Waziristan, Kabul and Multan.

These battles were followed by others in which the Bussas of Lahore moved to defend Chittore against the Muslim invaders in 872 AD. After this battle scores of Afghan traders started trade ties with the stockists of Lahore. The first Muslims to come to Lahore came in the shape of traders, just as before them the Zoroastrians under Bhandara came and ruled Lahore.

We see a series of human movements of Afghans towards Lahore taking place, each one followed by invasions and then Afghan rule. Today we have almost 62 per cent of the inhabitants of the old walled city being Afghans. What will this mean for our future? Once the Taliban are established and recognised by the powerful western nations, will they threaten our land and city again? Will they start by not recognising our borders? To imagine that this is not on the mind of every thinking Pakistani is to live in a fool’s paradise.