- The Arabs were the first Muslims to cast their covetous eyes on India and attack it.
- Sind was ruled by a king named Dahir.
- Incensed by certain pirates of Debal, Al-Hajjaj, the governor of Iraq, sent Muhammad bin Qasim to punish the Indian king. In 712 AD, Dahir was killed near the fort Raor.
- Subuktagin attacked Jayapala, the Shahiya ruler, and succeeded in forcing the latter to conclude a humiliating treaty.
- After Subuktagin, Mahmud Ghazni became the king. In 1001 AD, he defeated Jayapala, who burnt himself in the funeral pyre.
- His main objective was to destroy Hindu temples and plunder the wealth of the country. He destroyed the morale of the Indian armies.
- Al-Beruni was in the court of Mahmud Ghazni. He came to India with his ruler and wrote the famous treatise Kitabul-Hind. Firdausi ( the author of Shahnama) and Utbi also adorned Ghazni’s court.
- Mahmud Ghazni died in 1030.
- Md. Ghori, the ruler of Ghor, a small principality in Afghanistan, laid the foundation of Muslim rule in India.
- He made his first invasion in 1175 AD.
- He then marched towards Gujarat in 1178 but Raja Bhimadeva II gave him a crushing defeat.
- He attached Delhi from the north-west region and met Prithviraj Chauhan in the First Battle of Tarain in 1191.
First Battle of Tarain – 1191 – Between Pr it hvir aj Chauhan and Mohd. Ghori
Second Battle of Tarain – 1192 – Between Pr it hvir aj Chauhan and Mohd. Ghori
Battle of Chandawar – 1194 – Between Jaichand and Mohd. Ghori
- Mohd. Ghori was defeated by Prithviraj in the First Battle of Tarain.
- Ghori never forgot his defeat, and in 1192 (Second Battle of Tarain), he marched once again against Prithviraj Chauhan at the invitation of Jaichand of Kanauj and defeated Prithviraj.
- In the Battle of Chandawar, Jaichand was defeated by Mohd. Ghori.
- Before leaving for his empire in Ghor, he left Qutbuddin Aibak as incharge of his possessions.