“Had not the law [of Imam Hanifa] granted exemption from death by the payment of poll-tax, the very name of hind, root and branch, would have been extinguished.”

—  Amir Khusrow

Ashiqa of Amir Khusru, translated in Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, Volume III, pp. 545-46.
Context: “Happy Hindustan, the splendour of Religion. where the Law finds perfect honour and security. In learning Dehli can now compete with Bokhara, for IslAm has been made manifest by its kings. The whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors, has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire. The land has been saturated with the water of the sword, and the vapours of infidelity have been dispersed. The strong men of Hind have been trodden under foot, and all are ready to pay tribute. Islam is triumphant, idolatry is subdued. Had not the law [of Imam Hanifa] granted exemption from death by the payment of poll-tax, the very name of hind, root and branch, would have been extinguished. From Ghazni to the shore of the ocean you see all under the domination of Islam. Cawing crows see no arrows pointed at them; nor is the TarsA (Christian) there, who does not fear (taras) to render the servant equal with Allah; nor the Jew who dares to exalt the Pentateuch to a level with the Kuran; nor the Magh who is delighted with the worship of fire, but of whom the fire complains with its hundred tongues. The four sects of Musulmans are at amity and the very fish are Sunnis.”

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Amir Khusrow 23
Indian poet, writer, musician and scholar 1253–1325

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