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Jan 1, 629
Cheraman Juma Masjid Mosque
Arabs had been trading with India from ancient times, so the connection with India was present long before Muhammad and the revelation of the Qur'an. When the first Muslim Arabs traveled to India, they brought the religion with them and began to spread it to that population. The Cheraman Juma Masjid was built in Kerala, India by Cheraman Perumal Bkaskara Ravi Varma (who was one of the first Indian Muslims), and it was the first mosque built in India (Alkhateeb). -
Jan 1, 711
Muhammad bin Qasim Appointed
The Umayyad Dynasty of caliphs appointed Muhammad bin Qasim to extend their control into the Sindh area. This was the region around the Indus river, which is located in what is now present day Pakistan. Some historians say that most cities in this region were Buddhist; they reached out in welcome, resigning peacably to Muslim rule (Alkhateeb). Many Hindu and Muslim historical records contain definitions of the destruction of temples and forced conversion in the name of Allah and jihad (Goel). -
Jan 1, 712
Battle for Sindh
Most of the Sindh region submitted peacefully to Muslim rule, but the Raja of Sindh did not like the expansion into his region. He mobilized his army against Muhammad bin Qasim's forces, and the two armies met in a battle in 712. The Muslim forces won the clear victory, and the last of the Sindh region came under Muslim control (Alkhateeb). -
Period: Jan 1, 1526 to
Mughal Dynasty
The Mughal Dynasty (also spelled Mogul and Moghul) was a Turkic-Mongol dynasty that took over a large part of northern India. Founded by Babur, a Turkic prince, the Mughal Dynasty successfully ruled India for two centuries, and attempted to get the Hindus and Muslims to working together and unite as a nation (Mughal). -
Taj Mahal Completed
Shah Jahan (emperor of the Mughal Dynasty from 1628-1658) built the Taj Mahal in memory of his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal. Mahal died at an early age in 1631, and her death greatly saddened the emperor. The Taj Mahal was a mausoleum in her memory, and took sixteen years of work and thousands of workers (FSTC). -
Dress Code
Against advice from his superiors, General Sir John Craddock, the leader of Madra Army, introduced a dress code that went against some of the religiously inspired dress of the Hindu and Muslim Indian soldiers (called sepoys). For example, the Hindu soldiers were forbidden from wearing earrings, and the Muslim soldiers were told to shave their bears. The sepoys feared the British were trying to subersively convert them to Christianity (Vellore). -
Vellore Mutiny
In response to the dress code imposed in 1805, rebel Indian soldiers launched an attack on the Vellore Fort, killing and wounding 200 British soldiers. The British quickly retaliated and recaptured the fort within the day, punishing most of the rebels with execution (Vellore). -
Indian Mutiny
Also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, this conflict was again a result of perceived intentions of the British ruling class to undermine the Hindu and Muslim relgions. The conflict began with a sepoy named Mangal Pandey attacking British officers at a garrison in Barrackpore. There was much bloodshed as sepoys typically started the revolts by rising up to kill their commanding officers (Indian Mutiny). -
Peace Declaration
After the campaigns of Sir Colin Campbell (winter 1857-1858) and Sir Hugh Rose in early 1858, peace was declared on July 8. The sepoys were punished with executions from bayonets and cannons. -
Muslim League
The British attempted to split the state of Bengal along the Hindu/Muslim lines in 1905. A group called the Indian National Congress (INC) that was dominated by the Hindus. The Muslim League was formed to protect the rights of Muslims in future conflicts and negotiations. It formed in opposition to the INC, but the two groups managed to work together against British rule (Szczepanski). -
Ghadar Conspiracy
The Ghadar party was a group of radical Indian workers living in the United States. During WWI, they attempted to use the absence of British troops in India to begin a revolution for Indian freedom. In their newspaper they asked worldwide readers to go to India to help out in the revolution. Instead, party members were arrested, and the uprising quickly failed. Some of the leaders of the party were Muslims (Islam). -
Salt Satyagraha
Salt production and distribution had for a long time been under control of a British monopoly. In protest of this and other repression by the British, Mahatma Ghandi organized a nonviolent protest where he and hundreds of followers of all religious backgrounds marched the cost of the Gulf of Khambhat. On April 6, they all gathered handfuls of salt along the shore, breaking the salt laws. They continued the protests for two months, with participants being arrested and beaten (Pletcher). -
Quit India Movement
On this date during WWII, Mahatma Ghandi, in his Do or Die speech, used the advances of the Japanese forces towards India to call for the British to voluntarily withdraw from India, and for passive resistance to British rule. Most of the INC was arrested the following day (1942). Some sources say the Muslims supported the British (Quit). Others say that it was a common goal of the INC and the Muslim League to remove British control of India (1942). -
Labour Party Election
The Labour Party was voted into British office towards the end of WWII. British opinion at the time was against the extra expenses and the split attention of Britain in trying to maintain hold over India. The Labour Party quickly called for independence for India. In response, the Muslim League’s Leader began a campaign for the formation of a separate Muslim state, while the INC campaigned for a unified India (Szczepanski). -
Direct Action Day
The conflicts between the Muslim and Hindu populations increased in the face of impending independence. The Muslim League called for a “Direct Action Day,” the results of which resulted in several thousand deaths. The religious disagreements continued and violence increased between the two sides (Szczepanski). -
Plans for Independence Announced
The British government announced that, by June of 1948, India would be an independent country. Government officials, particularly the Viceroy for India, tried to convince the INC and the Muslim League to agree on a unified country, but the two parties refused. The British government agreed upon the creation of two separate states, and due to the continued conflicts, the date for independence was moved up to August 15, 1947 (Szczepanski). -
Partition of India
Pakistan, the Muslim partition, celebrates its day of Independence on August 14. India, the Hindu partition, celebrates its Independence on August 15. Mass migrations of occurred, with people trying to get on their religious side of the disagreements, and more than 500,000 people were killed in the transitions (Szczepanski).
