Muhammed bin Qasim brought Islam to India in the year 711. He was just seventeen then.
You might be interested to know that he came from a city called Taif, Saudi Arabia. Those who are familiar with the seera (life story) of the prophet (pbuh) will know that Taif was the city that violently rejected the prophet. The people of Taif, mostly children, were sent to stone the prophet and banish him out of the city.
Instead of getting angry with the people of Taif, who all they had to was say ‘no’ to the prophet, the prophet made a historic dua.
In this dua, while bleeding heavily, the prophet asks Allah to guide the people of Taif, to guide their children to Islam. Allah (swt) instantly answered the dua of the prophet, since change was happening in the hearts and minds of the people of Taif as soon as the dua was made.
It culminated into the Taif entering Islam just few years after the the hijra (immigration) to Madina. But, when the people of Taif entered Islam it was through deep conviction. So deep that they were the only three cities that didn’t rebel after the death of the prophet.
After the prophet died, Abu Bakr took over as the Caliphah (leader) of the Muslims. He had control of the entire hijaaz (Arabian Peninsula) but only had full loyalty from Medina, Makkah, And Taif.
It was one of the children of Taif who took it upon himself to go out and take the message of Islam to a whole new world, the world of Al-Hind (India). Muhammed (son of Qasim) opened the doors of India to Islam quite early on. But, the spread of Islam to all four corners of India was left to others.
Then came Makhdum Jalal ad-Deen bin Muhammad, known to people of Bengal (Eastern India) as Shah Jalal. It was Shah Jalal who took Islam to Sylhet (where I come from originally), after waging war against the oppressive hindu Raja (King) Gaur Govinda.
as salam walekum,people say that khwaja garib nawaz of ajmer brought isam to india.how true is this?