Muhammad ibn Qasim (Arabic: محمد ابن القاسم, romanized: Muḥammad ibn Qāsim; c. 695 – 715), was an Arab military commander in the service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh from the last Hindu king, Raja Dahir in the battle of Aror. He was the first Muslim to have successfully captured Hindu territories and initiate the early Islamic India in 712 CE.
Qasim was born in 695 and belonged to the Banu Thaqif tribe. He was assigned as the Governor of Fars in Iran, likely succeeding his uncle Muhammad ibn Yusuf. In 708–711, Qasim led an expedition to Sindh and defeated the Brahman King Raja Dahir, successfully conquering the region. He established Caliphate rule throughout Sindh and functioned as its governor from 712 until his death in 715. He died in Mosul, Iraq and sources record that his body was buried in Makran in Balochistan at the Hingol National Park.
Qasim's full name is Muhammad ibn Qasim. In Arabic, the name Qasim means "One Who Distributes". One of his famous titles Al-Laqab means "Title". One on his other titles Imad ad-Din means "Pillar of the Faith".
Muhammad ibn Qasim belonged to the Abu Aqil family of the Banu Awf in the Thaqif tribe. The members of the Thaqif embraced Islam in c. 630, and gradually rose in ranks in the nascent Caliphate. They played the important roles in the early Muslim conquests, particularly in Iraq, and in early operations against the Indian subcontinent. In c. 636 the Thaqafite governor of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia), Uthman ibn Abi al-As, dispatched naval expeditions against the Indian ports of Debal, Thane and Bharuch. The tribe's power continued to increase with the advent of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661.
The Abu Aqil family gained prestige with the rise of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the paternal first cousin of Qasim's father Muhammad ibn al-Hakam. Al-Hajjaj was made a commander by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) during the Second Muslim Civil War and killed the Umayyads' chief rival for the caliphate, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, in 692, and two years later was appointed the viceroy of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. Following his promotion, al-Hajjaj became a patron of the Thaqif and appointed several members to important posts in Iraq and its dependencies. Qasim's father was appointed the deputy governor of Basra, though his career was otherwise undistinguished. According to a letter between Qasim and al-Hajjaj cited by the Chach Nama, Qasim's mother was a certain Habibat al-Uzma (Habiba the Great). The Chach Nama also indicates Qasim had a similar-aged brother named Sulb and Arabic sources indicate he had a much younger brother named al-Hajjaj, who served as an Umayyad commander during the Alid revolt of 740.
Qasim was born in c. 694. His birthplace was almost certainly in the Hejaz (western Arabia), either in Taif, the traditional home of his Thaqif tribe, or in Mecca or Medina. According to historian Nabi Bakhsh Baloch, Qasim most likely grew up partly in Ta'if and then Basra and Wasit, the provincial capital of Iraq founded by al-Hajjaj in 702. Qasim's time in Basra, a military and intellectual center of the Islamic world at the time, may have widened Qasim's career horizons, while at Wasit he was likely educated and trained under al-Hajjaj's patronage. Al-Hajjaj was highly fond of Qasim, and considered him prestigious enough to marry his daughter Zaynab. The Kitab al-aghani refers to Qasim at the age of 17 as "the noblest Thaqafite of his time". In the summation of Baloch, "Qasm grew up under favorable conditions into an able, energetic and cultured lad of fine tastes".
Qasim's first assignment was in the province Fars in modern Iran, where he was asked to subjugate a group of Kurds. After the successful completion of the mission, he was appointed as the governor of Fars.[16] He likely succeeded his uncle Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, a brother of al-Hajjaj, who was previously a governor.
