Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 129
129 of Africa. The ir waves were already crashing agains t the mou ntains of Europe. During this early period there was a Muslim caravan , which left Ceylon. It held some gifts sent by t he Buddhist k ing of Cey lon to the Khalifa of th e time. It left Ceylon and was looted in Sind h where Raja Dahar was in power at that time. When it became widely known that the caravan had been looted, the ruler of Makraan received an order from the g overnor of Iraq to th e effect that, “We have received word that a Muslim caravan originating from Ceylon has been robbed and Muslim men and women have been taken prisoner. Go and investigate this matter and report back to me. ” The ruler of Makraan asked Raja Dahar about this. He [the Raja ] denied it. Since the Muslims were truthful , they assumed that other people were li kewise. When Raja Dahar denied [the incident] , they believed that what he said was true. Sometime later they [the Raja ’s men] attacked an other caravan in the same way a nd once again, they imprisoned a few of the women. One of the female prisoners asked another Muslim, who had either not been captured or had been captured and somehow released, to pass on her message to the Muslim nation, “We are prisoners here and it is the duty of the Muslim government to acknowledge us. ” At th e time the Banu U ma y ya h Khalif a was planning to invade Africa and schemes were being made to conquer Spain, and orders had already been issued for all available forces to be dispatched to join the battle in Africa. At that time , the mess age was delivered to the g overnor of Iraq, whose name was Haj j aj and who had an extremely bad reputation. He may have been ill reputed , but it would be hard to find a man in that era, who was more fearless and courageous, and who was more willing to sacrifice in the name of Islam. The messenger came and said to Hajjaj, “I have come from Sind h where two Muslim caravans have been looted, one after the other, and many Muslims have been taken prisoner. Raja Dahar has plainly lied to the g overnor of Makraan in stat ing that no such thing has happened. ” Haj j aj asked [the messenger] , “How can I possibly accept that what you say is really the truth? There should be clear proof of everything. Without any evidence, I cannot accept what you say. ” He [the messenger] said , “Whether you believe it or not, the truth is that he [the Raja of Dahar] is lying. ” Hajjaj replied, “First of all, there is no reason for me to believe you. We have written to the g overnor of Makraan and his response is the opposite to your account. Secondly, we should remember t hat the Khalifa