HISTORY MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN...

Muslim History: 50 Rupees for the Head of a Sikh by Rachel Molschky

The Muslim reward to behead Sikhs. It was just one episode in the long and brutal history of Islam on the Indian subcontinent...

By: Dr. Ranjit Singh Dhillon

"Fifty rupees for a decapitated head of a Sikh. Ten rupees paid to anyone giving information which leads to the arrest of a Sikh."

These were the rewards given by the Muslim governor of Punjab to exterminate the Sikhs from the 17th to 18th century.

Sikhism which originated in Punjab in the 16th century was in conflict with Islam because Sikh ethos of One God & One Humanity clashed with Islamic ideals of One Allah & two Humanities (Infidels and believers). The Islamic doctrine of bringing infidels to the fold of Islam forcefully, abduction of non-Muslim women and countless slaughters of infidels for centuries under Islamic rule were unacceptable to a new religion that was sprouting up in India, called Sikhism.

The teachings of Sikhism are spiritual and service to humanity in the form of free food to all, were much like Buddhism but after the brutal slaughter of the Sikh 5th Spiritual leader, Guru Arjun Dev; Sikhism began to encourage its followers to learn martial arts and make a huge army that stood up to the mighty Islamic empire in Punjab to save their Sikh ideals from extermination, putting a check on Islamic forced conversions and the abduction of infidel women.

From 1708 to until about the 1780's, the Sikhs passed through a very critical phase where they were legally hunted and killed, with prices having been fixed on their heads by Muslim rulers of Punjab. It is estimated at one point the entire Sikh community had been either exterminated or scattered in the forests. But Sikhs grew in numbers again, and Sikhism today is the fifth largest religion in the world. Free food is served 24/7 to anyone who enters in the Sikh shrines called GURUDWARAS worldwide.

Today Islam is unfolding its claws as in the medieval centuries, especially after the twin tower episode. Islamic doctrine by its definition is totalitarian and will topple democracy and freedoms of the West and enslave the Western citizens in an era of dark ages, turning Europe and America into another Afghanistan and Pakistan. Islam is very clear on its relationship with other religions: convert to Islam or pay Jaziya tax. Since Islam is very dear to Muslims, Muhammad's teachings of infidel hatred will be followed with full zeal by the devout Muslims, even if it means slaughtering a few million infidels, as evident from the history of Islamic conquest in Asia.

Therefore it is incumbent on Sikh ideals that we should stand up today once again to say no to Sharia and save our freedoms for which our ancestors had given huge sacrifices.

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For 700 years, until about end of 18th century, India was under strong Islamic rule. Various Muslim invaders and kings practiced Islamic sharia law upon the infidels of India according to his capacity. The lenient Muslim emperors only levied the jizya tax on infidels and sponsored mullahs and madrassas throughout the country to proselytize (dawah) the kuffars to the fold of Islam, whereas the more devout Muslim emperors who took Islam seriously, did all that and also slaughtered infidels in masses, converted village and town folk into Islam at the point of the sword, destroyed temples and Buddhist stupas and built mosques over them.

In this background, a new faith emerged in Punjab called Sikhism in the 15th century. Sikhism brought revolutionary ideas in the spiritual arena at that time such as the concept of one Formless God and one Humanity and no savior-cum-prophet as a mediator.

The Sikh Gurus (spiritual leaders) also put this theory of “one unified humanity” into practice by opening free food community kitchens called Gurudwaras, open 24/7 serving free meals for all people from all religious backgrounds. Now, this concept of one God and one Humanity was in stark contrast with the Islamic theory of One Allah and Two Humanities (Infidels & believers). While Sikhism espouses consideration of all humanity as one brotherhood, Islam not only limits the “Universal Islamic brotherhood” to only Muslims but Islam also propagates slaughters of infidels and their forced conversion to Islam and destruction of everything non-Islamic as laid out by Prophet Muhammad’s numerous verses in the Qur’an calling the believers (Muslims) to kill infidels. Further in Sikhism women and men were given equal standing, whereas under Islamicsharia law the value/worth/testimony of women is worth only half that of a Muslim man.

Naturally Sikhism and Islam came into conflict. More and more people were rapidly joining this new Sikh religion, and this slowed down the conversion of Hindus and Buddhists in India to Islam. This was reason enough to irk the ruling Islamic regimes and mullahs (Islamic clerics.)

Within the first 100 years of the birth of Sikhism, the Islamic regime made it their state policy to exterminate Sikhism. Even cash rewards of information leading to the capture of a Sikh, the price of beheading a Sikh was set. Sikhs were captured every now and then and given the usual sentence: accept Islam or face death.

During this time, Sikhs at different periods suffered brutal deaths under the Mughal rule but did not accept Islam even for a moment to save their lives and remained a Sikh to their last breath of torture. Some martyrdom incidents involve one Sikh, while some incidents involve up to a mass slaughter of up to hundreds or thousands of Sikhs.

Bhai Taru Singh (born 1720) was one such Sikh who lived in a village in Punjab alongside Muslim and Hindu neighbors. His cordial relation with even Muslims is recorded when one day his Muslim friend, Rahim Baksh, complained that his daughter had been abducted and the local governor would do nothing to save her. At this, Bhai Taru Singh reassured him and informed of Rahim Baksh’s ordeal to a band of Sikh horsemen who in those days used to create menace to the local Mughal government to avenge the Sikh deaths.  Sikhs found out the girl’s whereabouts and returned Rahim Baksh’s daughter to him. Bhai Taru also ran a Sikh community kitchen (Gurudwara) in his own house serving free food to people from any religion.

As the news of the saving of Rahim Baksh’s daughter spread far and Bhai Taru Singh’s running a Gurudwara kitchen which was even getting Hindu and Muslim followers, came to the attention of the local kotwal (police station). Bhai Taru was arrested and after some days of torture, was brought in front of the Governor of Punjab, Zakarya Khan (who along with his successor Mir Mannu were notorious for the slaughter of Sikhs and causing two Sikh holocausts). The governor hoping that Bhai Taru Singh would help in arresting other Sikhs if he would embrace Islam, tried to persuade Bhai Taru Singh to accept Islam to save his life from unnecessary torture and live as a free man once again.

Several attempts to bring Bhai Taru Singh to the fold of Islam having failed, he was finally given the usual sentence: accept Islam or face death. On this Bhai Taru Singh reportedly said “Ser jaave tan jaave par mera Sikhi sidak na jaave” (Cut my head off if you will, but never will I leave my Sikh faith.) Upon this he was told since the symbol of Sikh faith- his long uncut hair on his head- is so dear to him it would be removed along with the scalp and top part of Bhai Taru Singh’s head.

Bhai Taru Singh was tied in chains, and an executioner was called who started cutting the sides of Singh’s forehead above the eyebrows, by hammering a sharp wedge/chisel while Bhai Taru Singh was still alive. During this painful ordeal he kept repeating Sikh religious hymns that he once used to sing while serving free food to people in the kitchen of his house. After the chisel went around his head and while still alive and drenched in blood all over, the executioner pulled off Bhair Taru Singh’s long hair along with the scalp.

After a few days of living in excruciating pain, Bhai Taru Singh died. Incidentally, Zakarya Khan, the governor who ordered the execution also died the same day (July 1745.)

The news of Bhai Taru Singh’s martyrdom inspired many others to join the Sikh cause and put up a stiff resistance to the brutal Islamic empire. Sikh history is full of many such selfless martyrdom from time to time who laid down their lives but remained true to their principles and conviction to their religion and did not convert to Islam even for a moment, as was already  the norm for many Indians who readily converted to Islam to save their necks (the ancestors of modern day South Asian Muslims.)

Is your faith in your principles, convictions or religion strong enough that you will even die for it? The incidents of Muslim terrorists who willingly and even happily blow themselves up along with innocent infidels on suicide jihad missions are well known these days. LITTLE  KNOWN to most of the world is the fact that Sikhism has produced several Sikh martyrs, the Khalsa (Saint-Soldiers) who laid down their lives fighting against the unjust Islamic oppression, just as “happily as the Muslim terrorists” but for a universal cause- to check the spread of Islam and its infidel hating sharia law, around the world.

These numerous Sikh martyrdom incidents turned the saintly Sikhs into Saint-Warriors (Khalsa.) Highly outnumbered as Sikhs were only a few thousand, fought against the mighty but now crumbling Mughal Empire (due to Maratha and Afghan invasions) and installed the first ever Sikh Empire by the end of the 18th century.

For the first time in history, an Indian empire turned the wave of Afghan invasions back to Muslim heartlands Westwards through the Khyber pass after a millennium. Also for the first time in history, a minority religion not only ruled the majority Muslim population but also put a stop to Islamic conversions and closed several mosques which bred terrorism (such as the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore which was closed down by Ranjit Singh, the emperor of the Sikh Empire; along with many madrassas for causing terror and anti-government activities.)

Surely the Sikh Empire was the first empire in history which saw Islam for what it really is and treated it the way Islam tr