Muhammad Ali Kufi translated the Chuchnama (The History of Sindh), from Arabic to Persian in 1216. The name of its author remains unknown. However, some scholars have made an attempt to trace and determine the name of the author on the basis of the style of writing, and reached the conclusion that it might be written by al Mad’ini. The Chuchnama has important place in the historiography of Sindh, as it provides a brief history of Sindh before the Arab conquest and how they conquered this part of the Indian subcontinent. The history is written from the angle of the Arab conquerors, and the point-of-view of the vanquished is obviously neglected. An analysis of the text shows how the conquerors justify their invasion and condemn the defeated one.
As it is a well-known fact that every invader tries to find out moral justification of his invasion; so the Chuchnama is no exception. It is argued that the family of Chuch were not legal rulers, but usurped the throne by making conspiracy and deprived its lawful ruler from the throne. Therefore, such a ruler being expelled and thrown away from power is morally justified.
Secondly, Raja Dahar’s image was depicted in such a way that he appears a man who has the lust for power and is morally corrupt. He married his own sister just to save his throne, as astrologers predicted that her husband would become the king. Therefore, such a person did not deserve to be a ruler.
The Chuchnama also narrates the story of Muslim women and children captured by sea pirates and not released in spite of the Hajjaj’s request to Dahar. That became the main cause for the invasion. However, there is no mention of the economic motives of the Arabs, who wanted to dominate the Indian Ocean for the safety of their trade and commerce.
The battles that were fought between the Arabs and the people of Sindh are depicted as the conflict between ‘the just and the unjust’ or between ‘truth and falsehood’ (haq-o-batil). On one side were the forces of justice, while on the other were those who oppressed and exploited their own people. Raja Dahar is referred to as infidel and accursed. In the eyes of the Arabs, he was the symbol of evil and darkness. On the basis of these differences, it was concluded that the Arabs were supported by divine power, while infidels were condemned to lose. There are many examples of how the army of Islam was saved from catastrophe due to Divine blessing.
Once a tribal leader, Kaka bin Kotal, made an attempt to destroy the Arabs in a night attack, but he lost his direction and his army wandered here and there the whole night. When he concluded a peace treaty with the Arabs, he confessed that: “God misled them in their way, so they were wandering about the whole night in darkness and chagrin; and that the astrologers and credible persons of his country had found out by their calculations of the stars that this country would be taken by the Muhammadan army. He had already seen this miracle, and he was sure that it was the will of God, and no device or fraud would enable them to withstand the Muhammadans.”
There are many references in the Chuchnama in which the Sindhis confirmed that their astrologers predicted their defeat and therefore they had no choice but to surrender and recognize Arab rule. One of its examples is the Brahman who left the fortress of Debal and joined the Arab forces because he saw the Arab conquest had Divine support. He told them that the fortress could be occupied by demolishing the temple where a flag was hoisted. The Brahman referred to Muhammad Qasim as a ‘just leader’. So, on the one hand were the predictions of astrologers that convinced the Sindhis of their defeat and on the other was the belief of the Arabs that God was on their side and they would win because of Divine guidance. Therefore, once the country was conquered, they became its legitimate owners and had the right to rule the country and to acquire its wealth and resources as ‘war booty’.
However, the country was not conquered easily. Raja Dahar fought bravely and died fighting the Arabs. It meant that Sindh was occupied after resistance and not peacefully, that gave them the legitimate right to occupy and rule over it.
Historians, after analyzing the Chuchnama, have reached the conclusion that it is a mixture of history and myth. Most of the terms that are used in it did not exist during the Arab rule, such as shahna that was used during the time of the Suljuq period. The term iqta started to be used during the Buid rule. Similarly, to sew criminal in the raw hide of an animal was the custom of the Mongols. So, the whole story that Muhammad Bin Qasim was sewn up in rawhide as a punishment was not correct. He died as a disgraced person in prison (some historians believe that he committed suicide).
Sindh was the only part of the Indian subcontinent that was conquered by the Arabs. Later on, when it was ruled either by the indigenous rulers or Turkish origin kings, Muhammad Bin Qasim disappeared in the history books. He was resurrected in the 1920s when communalism spread throughout India and history was also communalized. The Muslims invented a history which provided them pride and strength to their identity. They started to call Sindh as ‘Dar-ul-Islam’ (entrance to Islam) and made Muhammad Bin Qasim as the young hero who defeated the armies of the infidels and converted Sindh as a Muslim part of the Abbasid Empire.
The image of Muhammad Bin Qasim and the Arab conquest of Sindh changed after 1955, when One Unit was declared and Sindh became a part of West Pakistan. Sindhi nationalism emerged as a response and attempts were made to reinterpret the history of Sindh. The voice of the vanquished, silenced by historians, was heard in the writings of the nationalist leaders of Sindh. They changed the character of Muhammad Bin Qasim to that of an aggressor and invader who invaded Sindh without any moral ground. Raja Dahar assumed the role of a hero who died defending his country.
It also changed the beginning of history from A.D. 711-12. Instead, the history of Sindh began from the Indus Valley civilization. Interestingly, the past that was once regarded un-Islamic and of no importance became a matter of pride. It secularized the historiography of Sindh.
