Ramadan Day 17 thought for the day from my new book The History of Jihad: during Ramadan in 1504, the Delhi sultan Sikandar Lodi, in the words of the contemporary Muslim historian Niamatullah, “ordered the temples and idols to be demolished, and mosques to be constructed.” Then he “moved out on a plundering expedition into the surrounding country, where he butchered many people, took many prisoners, and devoted to utter destruction all the groves and habitations; and after gratifying and honouring himself by this exhibition of holy zeal he returned to his capital Bayana.”
Yes, plundering, butchering, and destroying temples was, as far as Niamatullah was concerned, an “exhibition of holy zeal.” Niamatullah wrote admiringly of Sikandar Lodi that “the Islamic sentiment [in him] was so strong that he demolished all temples in his kingdom and left no trace of them. He constructed sarais, bazars, madrasas and mosques in Mathura, which is a holy place of the Hindus and where they go for bathing. He appointed government officials in order to make sure that no Hindu could bathe in Mathura. No barber was permitted to shave the head of any Hindu with his razor. That is how he completely curtailed the public celebration of infidel customs. If a Hindu went there for bathing even by mistake, he was made to lose his limbs and punished severely. No Hindu could get shaved at that place. No barber would go near a Hindu, whatever be the payment offered.”
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