Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique or Abu-Bakar-Sadeeq was the first caliph and one of the closest companions of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). His real name was Abdullah and he belonged to the sub-tribe of Quraish. Below is the picture of his 1400 years old house. This shows the First caliph of Islamic state lived with simplicity.

Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi (Arabic: محمد بن قاسم‎) (c. 31 December 695–18 July 715) was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born & raised in the city of Taif (in modern day Saudi Arabia). Qasim’s conquest of Sindh and Punjab laid the foundations of Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent.

A member of the Thaqeef tribe, which is still settled in and around the city of Taif ( a city in modern day saudi arabia) to this very day , Muhammad bin Qasim’s father was Qasim bin Yusuf[citation needed] who died when Muhammad bin Qasim was young, leaving his mother in charge of his education. Umayyad governor Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, Muhammad bin Qasim’s paternal uncle, was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governance. Muhammad bin Qasim married his cousin Zubaidah, Hajjaj’s daughter, shortly before going to Sindh. Another paternal uncle of Muhammad bin Qasim was Muhammad bin Yusuf, governor of Yemen. Under Hajjaj’s patronage, Muhammad bin Qasim was made governor of Persia, where he succeeded in putting down a rebellion
Military and political strategy
The military strategy had been outlined by Hajjaj in a letter sent to Muhammad bin Qasim:

The Arabs’ first concern was to facilitate the conquest of Sindh with the fewest casualties while also trying to preserve the economic infrastructure. Towns were given two options: submit to Islamic authority peacefully or be attacked by force (anwattan), with the choice governing their treatment upon capture. The capture of towns was usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among the enemy, who were then extended special privileges and material rewards. There were two types of such treaties, “Sulh” or “ahd-e-wasiq (capitulation)” and “aman (surrender/ peace)”. Among towns and fortresses that were captured through force of arms, Muhammad bin Qasim performed executions as part of his military strategy, but they were limited to the ahl-i-harb (fighting men), whose surviving dependents were also enslaved.
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Mahmud of Ghazni (Persian: محمود غزنوی Maḥmūd-e Ghaznawī)(Mahmood / Mehmood) (November 2, 971 – April 30, 1030), also known as Yāmīn al-Dawlah Maḥmūd (in full: Yāmīn al-Dawlah Abd al-Qāṣim Maḥmūd Ibn Sebük Tegīn) was the Turkic founder of the Ghaznavid Empire, which he ruled from 997 until his death. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (now in Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which extended from Afghanistan into most of Iran as well as Pakistan and regions of North-West India. He was also the first ruler to carry the title Sultan (“authority”), signifying the extent of his power, though preserving the ideological link to the suzerainty of the Caliph.

Military campaigns
In 994, Mahmud joined his father Sebüktigin in the capture of Khorasan from the rebel Fa’iq in aid of the Samanid Emir, Nuh II. During this period the Samanid state became highly unstable, with shifting internal political tides as various factions vied for control, the chief among them being Abu’l-Qasim Simjuri, Fa’iq, Abu Ali[citation needed], the General Behtuzun as well as the neighbouring Buyids and Qarakhanids. Sultan Mahmud’s first campaign, in which he was defeated, was against the Qarakhanid Empire who controlled the northern portion of his Empire.

There is considerable evidence from writings of Al-Biruni, Soghidan, Uyghur and Manichean texts that the Buddhists, Hindus and Jains were accepted as People of the Book and references to Buddha as Burxan or as a prophet can be found. After the initial destruction and pillage, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus were granted protected subject status as Dhimmis. By that time, however, most of the centers of buddhist and Hindu learning were already destroyed.

Ghaznavid campaigns in the Indian Subcontinent
The Indian kingdoms of Nagarkot, Thanesar, Kannauj, Gwalior, and Ujjain were all conquered and left in the hands of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Kings as vassal states and he was pragmatic enough not to shirk making alliances and enlisting local peoples into his armies at all ranks.

A statue of Sultan Mehmood Ghaznavi at Pakistan Monument Museum, (Shakar-pariyan, Islamabad, Pakistan)

The later invasions of Mahmud were specifically directed to temple towns as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth and the Economic and Ideological Centers of Gravity for the Hindus, Destroying them would destroy the will power of the Hindus attacking the Empire since Mahmud never kept a permanent prescience in the Subcontinent; Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath were all thus raided. Mahmud’s armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, Narunkot and Dwarka. During the period of Mahmud invasion, the Sindhi Swarankar Community and other Hindus who escaped conversion fled from Sindh to escape sectarian violence, and settled in various villages in the district of Kutch, in modern-day Gujarat, India.

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