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Some Important Historical Episodes in Muslim India
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
The construction of Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world
On May 9, 1653 AD, the construction of Taj Mahal, which is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and among the best examples of Islamic architecture in India, ended after twenty-two years.
Shah Jahan, the 5th Great Moghul Emperor of the Timurid Dynasty of the Subcontinent (present day northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the eastern part of Afghanistan) built it in memory of his wife of Iranian origin, Arjmand Banu Begum, who died while giving birth to her fourteenth child.
This beautiful mausoleum in the city of Agra on the banks of the River Jamuna, is made of white marble, with ayahs of the holy Qur’an inscribed on its façade and interior. It incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian architecture and earlier Mughal architecture.
The best architects of the Mughal Empire along with those of Iran, like Eisa Isfahani, were employed to construct it. Today it is regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Empress Noor Jahan of the Mughal Empire of the subcontinent
On May 31, 1577 AD, Empress Noor Jahan of the Mughal Empire of the subcontinent was born as a commoner in Qandahar to the Iranian refugee, Mirza Ghiyas Beg Tehrani, who was fleeing Safavid Persian to India following the fall from grace of his aristocratic family. Named Mehr on-Nisa at birth she was the fourth child of her father, whose talents were welcomed in India by Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar who appointed him minister and conferred the title upon E’temad od-Dowla upon him. Mehr on-Nisa was brought up at the Mughal court and was married to an Iranian émigré, Ali Quli, titled Sher-Afgan for his bravery.
Her husband died in a skirmish and the widow returned along with her orphaned daughter to the Mughal court where Emperor Noor od-Din Jahangir enamoured by her beauty proposed marriage to her. He subsequently made her the empress with the official title Noor Jahan (Light of the World). She was noted for her wisdom, astute policies, administrative abilities, and scholarly pursuits. She was actually the power behind the throne. Although she didn’t bear the emperor any child, she remained loyal to him even after his death, and was later buried in the same mausoleum in Lahore in what is now Pakistan.
Her brother Asef Khan rose to become minister, while she arranged for her daughter from her previous marriage to marry Jahangir`s youngest son, Prince Shahryar and her niece Arjmand Banu (later Mumtaz Mahal buried in the famous Taj Mahal) to marry Prince Khurram, (the future Emperor Shah Jahan). Noor Jahan died on 17 December 1645 at age 68.
Hassan Gangu Bahmani, the Founder of Bahmani Dynasty in Deccan
On August 3, 1347 AD, Hassan Gangu Bahmani titled Zafar Khan, was unanimously elected as king with the title Ala od-Din Shah, following his victory over rivals, who two years earlier had joined together to declare the Deccan (south India) independent from the tyrannical rule of Sultan Mohammad bin Tughlaq of Hindustan (northern subcontinent) by placing Naseer od-Din Ismail as the Shah at Daulatabad. Ala od-Din Shah Bahmani, who claimed descent from the legendry Iranian king, Bahman son of Isfandiyar, shifted his capital further south to Gulbarga, and expanded his kingdom in all directions during his 11-year rule.
The dynasty he founded ruled for over 170 years (first from Gulbarga and then from Bidar), promoting Islam and Persian language, culture and architecture in southern India, by virtue of its direct sea-route contact with Iran, from where poets, scholars, artists, statesmen, traders and soldiers of fortune flocked to the Bahmani court. The Bahmani Sultans respected Sufi saints and greatly revered Shah Ne’matollah Wali of Kerman and his devotion to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The Bahmani Empire – that stretched from the western to the eastern coasts of Peninsular India – split into five independent Persianate kingdoms that ensured the independence of the Deccan from Hindustan for another 170 more years until the conquest by Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor.
Of these five, the three powerful dynasties (Nizamshahis of Ahmadnagar, Adelshahis of Bijapur and Qutbshahis of Golkandah-Haiderabad) followed the Shi’ite Muslim creed and regarded the Safavid rulers of Iran as their emperor, rather than the Mughal Emperors.
Malik ut-Tujjar Mahmoud Gawan, the sagacious Iranian migrant statesman in Deccan (India)
On July 30, 1463 AD, Shams od-Din Mohammad Shah III, son of Humayun Shah, ascended the Turquoise Throne of the Bahmani Kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (southern India) at the age of 10, following the sudden death of his elder brother, Nizam od-Din Ahmad Shah III, after a reign of only two years. He was assisted by a regency council made up of his mother, Makhdouma-e Jahan Nargis Begum and the two venerable descendents of the Prophet, (probably of the Ne’matollahi Sufi Order of Kerman, Iran), Shah Mohibollah and Seyyed Hanif.
Mohammad Shah got married at the young age of 14, and gradually took over state affairs, naming the sagacious Iranian migrant statesman, Malik ut-Tujjar Mahmoud Gawan as Prime Minister. Gawan, who was from Gilan on the Caspian Sea coast, helped the Bahmani State attain prosperity unequalled in the whole of its history during his almost 20-year role in state affairs. During this period Parenda Fort, the Great College, and Madarsa at Bidar were built. Kapileswar of Orissa was defeated in 1470 in the east, while Goa on the west was annexed. The boundaries of the Bahmani Kingdom now touched the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Arabian Sea in the west.
Gawan was one of the first ministers in Medieval India to order a systematic measurement of land, fixing the boundaries of villages and towns and making a thorough enquiry into the assessment of revenue. He invited scholars from Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia to launch a cultural renaissance. Some jealous nobles at the court of Bidar, however, conspired against him and prepared a false paper claiming he wanted the Deccan to be partitioned between him and the ruler of Orissa. Mohammad Shah III made the fatal mistake of sentencing the 73-year loyal minister to death, a measure that brought about the decline and fall of the Bahmani Kingdom, although later he discovered the truth and rued his decision. Mohammad Shah, also known as Lashkari for his military exploits that were largely the result of Gawan’s sound strategy, died after a reign of 19 years, following which the kingdom splintered into five independent sultanates during the long but nominal reign of his son and successor, Mahmoud Shah.
The Nizam-Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar
On 3rd of the Islamic month of Rajab in 895 AH, Ahmad Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri defeated Sultan Mahmud Shah II of the declining Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan in south-central India, to establish the Nizam-Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar (comprising parts of present day Maharashtra), and took the title of Ahmad Nizam Shah.
He was the son of Hassan Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri, a Kanarese Brahmin who embraced the truth of Islam and was appointed as governor of the northern parts of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin. Although two years later Ahmad Nizam Shah died, the dynasty he founded continued to rule with fluctuating fortunes for over 125 years, until its annexation by the Mughal Empire of the northern Subcontinent. The second king of the dynasty, Burhan Nizam Shah, became a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad, because of the influence of Iranian migrant religious scholar, Seyyed Shah Taher Hussaini.
The Nizam-Shahis, like the other two Shi’ite Muslim sultanates of the Deccan – the Adil Shahis of Bijapur and the Qutb-Shahis of Golconda-Haiderabad – maintained cordial relations with the Safavid Emperors of Iran, exchanging ambassadors, hosting Iranians of various walks of life, and patronizing Persian literature, art, and architecture.
Nizam ul-Mulk Asef Jah I, the founder of the kingdom of Hyderabad-Deccan
On June 1,1948 AD, Qamar od-Din, titled Chin Qilich Khan Nizam ul-Mulk Asef Jah I, the founder of the kingdom of Hyderabad-Deccan in south India, passed away at the age of 77 and was buried in the city of Aurangabad. A scion of the Persianate family of Samarqand (presently in Uzbekistan) tracing its descent to the Iranian mystic, Ziya od-Din Abu'n-Najeeb Suhrawardi (not to be confused with Suhrawardi the Philosopher), he was thus a direct descendent of Mohammad ibn Abu Bakr – the first caliph’s son who was loyal to the cause of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).
Born in Agra on 20 August 1671 to Ghazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung I who served as general to Emperor Aurangzeb and later as governor of Gujarat, his mother was Wazir un-Nisa Begum the daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan’s minister, Sa’dullah Khan. Nizam ul-Mulk was one of the ablest generals and statesmen of the late Mughal period, and disillusioned with the sorry state of affairs in Delhi decided to concentrate on the Deccan where in 1924, he declared his independence.
During the invasion of Nader Shah, he was recalled to north India, and so greatly impressed the Iranian king in the negotiations, that he was offered the rule of all India but politely refused. He was an accomplished poet in Persian and used the pennames Asef and Shakir in his two Divans. The dynasty which he founded ruled for 224 years until its merger in the Indian Union in 1948, a year after end of British rule.
The dynasty, which hosted a large number of Iranian émigrés including statesmen, scholars, artists, and businessmen, greatly contributed to Persian literature, Islamic sciences, architecture, infrastructural-industrial development projects, and later with the establishment of Osmania University in 1918 to the promotion of Urdu language. Hyderabad-Deccan which was closely linked to the Safavid Iran is today the seat of the Iranian Consulate-General for South India.
Indian indentured labourers in Fiji
On May 14, 1879 AD, the first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrived in Fiji. Today Indians comprise around 38 percent of this Pacific Archipelago's population of around 900,000, of whom some 10 percent are Muslims. The indentured labour system started in 1826 and continued till 1920, with tens of thousands of Indians transported to various colonies of European powers to provide cheap labour for the plantations in diverse places such as the French Indian Ocean islands of Reunion and Mauritius, the British colonies of West Indies in the Caribbean Sea, South Africa, and Dutch-controlled Surinam.
The contract was for five years, renewable for further five year terms, with pay of eight rupees per month and rations provided. This was actually bonded labour and the Indians were seldom repatriated as per the contracts, whose terms were rarely met by the greedy colonialists. They settled in the lands where they went for work, and this explains the millions of people of ethnic Indian origin living in the countries of the Caribbean Basin, Fiji, South Africa, and other places.
Some of the Historical Events in Muslim India
On May 20, 1378 AD, Daud Shah, who over a month earlier had usurped the throne of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin of the Deccan (South India) by treacherously assassinating his nephew King Mujahid Shah, was killed on the orders of his niece Rouh Parwar Agha (sister of the deceased Mujahid Shah) and replaced by her younger brother, Mohammad Shah II. The court language of the Bahmanis, who traced their origin to the pre-Islamic Iranian hero Bahman, was Persian, and they promoted Iranian culture, art and architecture.
On May 20, 1421, Khizr Khan, who governed Delhi, Punjab and parts of northern India, as viceroy of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and after him of his son and successor, Shahrukh, died in Delhi. Two days later he was succeeded by his son, Mubarak Shah, in whose reign the famous Persian history “Tarikh-e Mubarak Shahi” was written in India.
On May 28, 1998, Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India 17 days earlier with five of its own, codenamed Chagai-I. Pakistan celebrates this event every year as Youm-e Takbir or Day of God’s Majesty. By conducting simultaneous atomic testing of the five nuclear devices, Pakistan became the seventh nuclear-armed power. Both India and Pakistan have refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
On 21st of the Islamic month of Rajab in 799 AH, Mahmud I (also known as Mohammad II), the 5th king of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (southern India) passed away in his capital Gulbarga after a reign of 19 years. His son Ghiyas od-Din succeeded him, but was blinded and imprisoned by the Turkish slave Lalchin Khan, who placed the younger brother, Shams od-Din on thethrone. Five months later, Lalchin and his puppet were deposed by Mahmoud Shah’s cousin Taj od-Din Firouz Shah, the greatest ruler of the dynasty who reigned for 25 years. The Bahmanis patronized and promoted Persian language and poetry, as well as Iranian art, culture, and architecture in the Deccan by inviting from Iran thousands of qualified persons in various fields. The famous Iranian poet Hafez Shirazi was also invited, but changed his mind midway through the journey, sending an excellent piece of poetry to the Bahmani court. The famous Gnostic of Kerman, Shah Ne’matollah Wali, was also requested to come to the Deccan, and instead sent his grandson – and later son – who preached the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt in the Bahmani kingdom.
On June 3, 1502 AD, the Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, massacred people in the port of Calicut, southern India. Calicut, which is now called Kozhikode, was the first location occupied by Vasco da Gama in 1498, after he discovered the sea route to India via the southern coast of Africa, with the help of Muslim Arab navigators, whom this treacherous Portuguese killed. Vasco da Gama was a murderous person, and on one occasion, when 800 Arab merchants landed on the southern Indian coast for buying rice, he seized them; tortured them to death by cutting their hands, ears, and noses, and burned their ships.
Bahador Shah Zafar, the last Emperor of Mughal Dynasty in India
On 13th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban in 1274 AH, the British formally deposed Bahador Shah Zafar from the Mughal throne of Delhi and exiled him to Rangoon, Burma, thus ending over three and a quarter centuries of the shrinking rule of the Timurid dynasty, founded by Zaheer od-Din Babar.
The aging Bahador Shah was accused of helping the uprising against British rule the previous year, and his sons and grandsons were shot in cold-blood by the British, who sadistically send their heads to the Mughal king as gifts on the day of Nowrouz, the Spring Equinox, when traditional celebrations were in progress at the court for the New solar hijri year. Bahador Shah Zafar was an accomplished poet in both Persian and Urdu.
The fall of the British garrison of Fort William in Calcutta
On June 20, 1756 AD, with the fall of the British garrison of Fort William to Mirza Mohammad Siraj od-Dowla, the 18-year old Nawab of Bengal, John Zephaniah Holwell invented the myth of the "Black Hole of Calcutta" to tarnish the image of the Indian people by alleging that 146 Englishmen were crammed in a 14 by 18 feet (4.3 × 5.5 m) dungeon that resulted in the death of 123 of them. Holwell, who claimed to be a survivor, has long been disproved by historians and researchers. R.C. Majumdar in his book "An Advanced History of India" has dismissed the Black Hole story as entirely baseless. British scholar J.H. Little in his article, titled "The 'Black Hole'—The Question of Holwell's Veracity", argues that Holwell's version is nothing but "a gigantic hoax" – invented to rouse sentiments in Britain for military intervention in India.
Fort William was set up to protect the British East India Company's trade in Bengal from European rivals such as the French and the Dutch. Siraj od-Dowlah, who was the local ruler of Iranian origin, objected to the British interference in the internal affairs of Bengal, perceiving the militarization of Fort William as a threat to its independence. He ordered an immediate stop to military enhancement and when the British paid no heed, he laid siege and seized the fort. In 1757, the British sent a military force under Robert Clive and by bribing officers of Bengal including the Prime Minister, defeated Siraj od-Dowla in the Battle of Plassey, and later murdered him.
Prominent philosopher of the Indian Subcontinent, Professor Seyyed Zafar ul-Hassan
On June 19, 1949 AD, prominent philosopher of the Subcontinent, Seyyed Zafar ul-Hassan, passed away in Lahore, Pakistan, at the age of 64 years. He was educated at Allahabad and obtained doctorates from the universities of Erlangen and Heidelberg in Germany. He then became the first Muslim Scholar of the Subcontinent to obtain a PhD from Oxford University in Philosophy.
He started teaching at Aligarh Muslim University, India in 1911, and in 1913 became professor of philosophy at Islamia College, Peshawar in what is now Pakistan. From 1924 to 1945 he was professor of philosophy at the Aligarh Muslim University, where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Philosophy.
In 1939, he put forward the 'Aligarh Scheme' along with Dr Afzaal Hussain Qadri, titled "The Problem of Indian Muslims" proposing three independent states in the Subcontinent.
From 1945 until the partition of the country, he was Emeritus Professor at Aligarh. In August 1947, he migrated to Pakistan. He wrote many books including "Revelation and Prophet", "Message of Iqbal", and "Philosophy of Islam"
Muzaffar Shah II of Gujarat
On 6th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban in 880 AH, Khalil Khan, the fourth son of Sultan Mahmud Beghara of Gujarat (western India), and his eventual successor as Muzaffar Shah II, was born. He ascended the throne in 917 AH and rule for 15 years. He was an accomplished poet in Persian, the official language of the Muslim kingdom of Gujarat, where even Hindus learned Persian because of constant trade and cultural contacts with Iranians.
Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty, sent an embassy with rich presents to congratulate Muzaffar Shah II on his accession and also to announce the grand victory of the Iranian forces over the Uzbek ruler Mohammad Khan Shaibani at the Battle of Merv on 30th Sha’ban 916 AH. At first, the Persian envoy was honorably received, but subsequently, his entourage was attacked and his property destroyed by a mob inflamed either by anti-Shi’ite feeling, or, according to one version, by the machinations of Saheb Khan, the exiled prince of the Malwa.
Muzaffar Shah II was compelled to pay heavy compensation for the losses suffered by the Iranian envoy. Iranians from different walks of life migrated and settled in Gujarat, both during the 175 years of its existence as an independent sultanate and its subsequent role as a Mughal province that served as the centre of trade with the Muslim World through the sea route.
Malik Maqboul Telangani, Khawwam ul-Mulk
On June 17, 1326 AD, Malik Maqboul Telangani was made minister in Delhi by Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq and bestowed the title of Khawwam ul-Mulk. Born as Kattu Yugandhar in a noble Hindu family of Warangal in the Deccan, and made commander of the Kakatiya Kingdom with the title Ganna Nayaka by King Prataparudra, he was captured in battle by the army of the Delhi Sultanate, and embraced the truth of Islam.
Because of his sincerity and loyalty he won the confidence of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq and was appointed governor of Multan (in today’s Pakistan). His administrative abilities in the Punjab won praise and he was later sent to his native Deccan to deal with the rebellion of his former overlords, the Kakatiyas.
On return to Delhi he rose rapidly in ranks to the extent that the next king, Feroze Shah Tughlaq, made him finance minister and then vizier (prime minister) with the title Khan-e Jahan. He mastered the Persian language and accompanied the Sultan on the expedition to Gujarat and successfully subdued the rebels.
Feroz Shah would refer to him as “my brother” and during the Sultan’s six-month absence in Sindh, Khan-e Jahan Telangani ably administered Delhi. He never exceeded his powers, and had a strong desire to perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, which he couldn’t undertake because of state responsibilities. He built several mosques in and around Delhi as well as in Bengal and on his death his son, Jauna Khan, inherited his position as vizier. Built in 1388, his tomb adjacent to the Sufi shrine of Seyyed Nizam od-Din Awliya, was the first octagonal mausoleum in Delhi. The only other octagonal mausoleum predating it in the Subcontinent is the Sufi shrine of Shah Rukn-e Alam in Multan.
Zafar Khan, the founder of the Muzaffarid Dynasty of Gujarat
On June 30, 1342 AD, Zafar Khan, the founder of the Muzaffarid Dynasty of Gujarat, was born in Delhi to Wajih ul-Mulk, who before embracing the truth of Islam was a Rajput of the Tanka clan by the name of Sadharan. Wajih ul-Mulk’s sister was married to Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq, who in 1391 appointed his wife’s nephew Zafar Khan as governor of the western province of Gujarat.
When after the death of Feroze Shah, the subcontinent was invaded by the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur in 1398, and Tughlaq Sultante collapsed, Zafar Khan declared himself sultan of an independent Gujarat with the title Muzaffar Shah I. His son, Ahmad Shah I established the capital at Ahmadabad. Muzaffar Shah died in 1411 after a 20-year reign.
The dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, until the conquest of Gujarat by the Mughal Empire. The sultanate reached its peak of expansion under Mahmud Shah I Begara, reaching east into Malwa and west to the Gulf of Kutch. During the Muzaffarid rule, Ahmadabad grew to become one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, and the sultans were patrons of a distinctive architecture that blended Islamic elements with Gujarat's indigenous Hindu and Jain architectural traditions. The court language was Persian and the Sultans of Gujarat maintained infrequent ambassadorial relations with Iran.
Malik Ahmad Raja Faruqi, the founder of the Khandesh Sultanate of Central India
On 22nd of the Islamic month of Sha’ban in 801 AH, Malik Ahmad Raja Faruqi, the founder of the Khandesh Sultanate of Central India, died after a reign of 17 years as independent ruler, and was succeeded by his son, Nasser Khan. Son of Khan-e Jahan Faruqi, a minister in the court of Sultan Mohammad bin Tughlaq in Delhi, in 1347 on the separation of the Deccan or southern India, he cast his lot with Ala od-Din Hassan Bahman Shah, the general of Iranian stock who founded the Bahmani Dynasty, but in 1365 turned against his son, Mohammad Shah Bahmani, by joining the abortive rebellion of the governor of Daulatabad, Bahram Khan Mazandarani.
As a result, he fled the Deccan and settled in Thalner, which later, along with Karanda, was conferred upon him as fiefdom by Sultan Ferouz Shah Tughlaq of the northern subcontinent. He soon defeated the Raja of Baglana and subdued the neighbouring chieftains, prompting Ferouz Shah to raise him to the rank of Sipah-Salar or Commander-in-Chief.
Within a few years he mustered a force of twelve thousand cavalry, and by 1382 virtually became virtually independent. The 38-year reign of his son Nasser Khan saw fluctuating fortunes for the kingdom because of constant warfare with Gujarat and the Bahmani Kingdom. Khandesh, with its capital Burhanpur, was annexed by the Mughal Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar in 1601. The Sultanate was a Persianate society, and made rich contribution to Persian literature, art and architecture. Islam was also promoted through peaceful means, as is evident today by the large number of Tadvi Bhils, and Raj Gonds, who are Muslims.
Bahlul Khan Lodi, the founder of the Lodi Dynasty
On July 1, 1489 AD, Bahlul Khan Lodi, the founder of the Lodi Dynasty of parts of Hindustan (northern subcontinent), died after a reign of 38 years, and was succeeded by his son, Sikandar. Born into an Afghan family of traders, he became a renowned warrior and governor of Sirhind in Punjab, under Mohammad Shah of the Seyyed Dynasty of Delhi (appointees of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur), who having tested his valour and loyalty during the aggression of the ruler of Malwa, conferred upon him the title of Khan-e Khanaan.
He subsequently forced his benefactor’s son, Sultan Alam Shah to abdicate, and crowned himself king in Delhi on 19 April 1451 with the title Bahlul Shah Ghazi. He and his successors were patrons of Persian literature. The dynasty ended in 1526, with the defeat and death of Bahlul’s grandson, Ibrahim Shah Lodi, in the Battle of Panipat at the hands of Timur’s great grandson, Zaheer od-Din Babar, who went on to establish the famous Mughal Empire of the Subcontinent.
Indian Soldiers Mutiny in Vellore
On July 10, 1806 AD, the Indian sepoys (English corruption of the Persian word 'sipahi' for soldier), rose against the British East India Company in Vellore, south India, in the first instance of large scale resentment against European colonial rule in the Subcontinent, predating by half-a-century the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The crafty British, who entered as traders, had spread their political and military tentacles in different parts of India, including the Deccan or the South, after treacherously attacking Fath Ali Khan Tipu Sultan of Mysore and seizing his dominions. The Vellore uprising, though brief and brutally crushed by the British, was due to imposing of dress code on the sepoys that offended both the Muslims and Hindus, since it required Muslims to shave their beards, and the Hindus to wear European hats instead of the traditional turban.
This fueled the already simmering nationalist sentiments and the sepoys stormed Vellore Fort, killed or wounded 200 British troops, raised the flag of Mysore Sultanate, and declared Fath Haider the imprisoned son of the slain Tipu Sultan, as king. The uprising was poorly-organised and this enabled the British to rush reinforcements from nearby Madras and brutally crush the uprising, resulting in the death of over 800 Indians in a few hours.
Assassination of President Zia ur-Rahman of Bangladesh
On May 30, 1981 AD, President Zia ur-Rahman of Bangladesh was assassinated. A highly decorated officer of the united Pakistan army, he organized Bengali resistance against the brutal crackdown on what was then East Pakistan by the Pashtun-Punjabi army units of West Pakistan. Later he had the honour of announcing the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971 at Kalurghat, Chittagong, and the next day repeated an edited version of the declaration on behalf of independence leader, Sheikh Mujib ur-Rahman – who was killed in a coup in 1975.
On 21 April 1977, Major-General Zia ur-Rahman as Chief of Staff of the armed forces, took charge of the government, following Justice Sayem's resignation, and later in 1977 became the seventh President of Bangladesh. He issued a proclamation order amending the secular constitution drafted by Mujib ur-Rahman, by increasing the direct influence and role of Islam in state affairs. In the preamble, he inserted the salutation "Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim" (In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful). In Article 8(1) and 8(1A) the statement “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah” was added, replacing the commitment to secularism.
He further introduced provisions to allow Muslims to practice the social and legal injunctions of the Shari’ah and Sunnah. In Article 25(2), he introduced the principle that “the state shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity.” Islamic religious education was introduced as a compulsory subject in Bangladeshi schools, with provisions for non-Muslim students to learn of their own religions. He established a multiparty system, and also reached out to the hill tribes, the Hindu and Buddhist religious minorities, and the Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslim ethnic minority. His wife Begum Khaleda Zia is the opposition leader in Bangladesh after having served as the country’s president herself.
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