Fanaticism and fatalism are two conspicuously irreligious emotions,
and it is exactly these two emotions, which Islam understands how to
arouse in savage peoples, to which it owes the part it has played in
the history of the world, and the almost unprecedented success of its
diffusion in Asia, Africa and Europe.
About 1000 A.D. India was invaded by the Sultan Mahmud of Ghasna.
"With Mahmud's expedition into India begins one of the most horrible
periods of the history of Hindustan. One monarch dethrones another, no
dynasty continues in power, every accession to the throne is
accompanied by the murder of kinsmen, plundering of cities,
devastation of the lowlands and the slaughter of thousands of men,
women and children of the predecessor's adherents; for five centuries
northwest and northern India literally reeked with the blood of
multitudes."[1] Mohammedan dynasties of Afghan, Turkish and Mongolian
origin follow that of Ghasna. This entire period is filled with an
almost boundless series of battles, intrigues, imbroglios and
political revolutions; nearly all events had the one characteristic in
common, that they took place amid murder, pillage and fire.
[Footnote 1: E. Schlagintweit, _Indien in Wort und Bild_, II, 26 f.
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