Arrival of Islam

A manuscript written during the Abbasid Era.In 711 AD, Muhammad bin Qasim led an Umayyad force of 20,000 cavalry and 5 catapults. Muhammad bin Qasim defeated the Raja Dahir, and captured the cities of Alor, Multan and Debal. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad Caliphate and was referred to as "Al-Sindh" on Arab maps, with lands further east known as "Hind". Muhammad bin Qasim built the city of Mansura as his capital; the city then produced famous historical figures such as Abu Mashar Sindhi, Abu Ata al-Sindhi, Abu Raja Sindhi and Sind ibn Ali. At the port city of Debal most of the Bawarij embraced Islam and became known as Sindhi Sailors; they became famous due to their skills in navigation, geography and languages. After Bin Qasim left the Umayyads ruled Sindh through the Habbari dynasty.
By the year 750 AD, Debal was second only to Basra; Sindhi sailors from the port city of Debal voyaged to Basra, Bushehr, Musqat, Aden, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Sofala, Malabar, Sri Lanka and Java where Sindhi merchants were known as the Santri. During the power struggle between the Umayyads and the Abbasids. The Habbari Dynasty became semi independent and was eliminated and Mansura was invaded by Mahmud Ghaznavi. Sindh then became an eastern most province of the Abbasid Caliphate ruled by the Soomro Dynasty until the Siege of Baghdad (1258).It should be noted that Mansura was the first capital of the Soomra Dynasty and the last of the "Habbari dynasty". Muslim geographers, historians and travelers such as al-Masudi, Ibn Hawqal, Istakhri, Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi, al-Tabari, Baladhuri, Nizami, al-Biruni, Saadi Shirazi, Ibn Battutah and Katip Çelebi wrote about or visited the region, sometimes using the name "Sindh" for the entire area from the Arabian Sea to the Hindu Kush.