Editing Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (section)

===Mahmud of Ghazni===

In 1020–21, Mahmud of Ghazni led a campaign against Kafiristan and the people of the "pleasant valleys of Nur and Qirat" according to Gardizi.<ref name=Saran>{{cite book|title= A Comprehensive History of India|publisher=Orient Longmans|author=Ram Sharan Sharma|page=357|author-link=Ram Sharan Sharma}}</ref> The Persian chronicles speak of Qirat and Nur (or Nardin), which [[H. M. Elliot]] on authority of [[Al-Biruni]] identifies with Nur and Kira tributaries of Kabul river.<ref name=Habib2>{{cite book|title= Politics and Society During the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib, Volume 2|publisher=People's Publishing House|author=Mohammad Habib|pages=58–59, 100|author-link=Mohammad Habib}}</ref> Ferishta wrongly calls these two valleys as "Nardin" and Qirat and confuses this conquest with the one against "Nardin" or [[Nandana]]. He also wrongly mentions that it took place after 412 AH.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw1EBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|title= The Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author=Muhmmad Nazim|pages=74–75|isbn= 9781107456594|date= 2014-08-13}}</ref> [[Alexander Cunningham]] identifies the places conquered as "[[Bairat]]h" and "Narayanpura".<ref name=Narayanpura>{{cite journal|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|title=Identification of 'Naraina': A famous political|author=Richard N. Frye|page=153|publisher=[[Indian History Congress]]|author-link=Richard N. Frye}}</ref>

These people worshipped the lion.<ref name=Nazim>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw1EBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|title= The Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author=Muhmmad Nazim|page=75|isbn= 9781107456594|date= 2014-08-13}}</ref> While [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth]] considers that Mahmud attacked "pagan [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghans]]", Joseph Theodore Arlinghaus of [[Duke University]] does not consider it correct because his source [[Gardizi]] simply calls them "pagan (kafiran)" and not "pagan Afghans", as they were not known to be pagan or live on borders of Nuristan in the 11th century.<ref>{{cite book|title= The transformation of Afghan tribal society: tribal expansion, Mughal imperialism and the Roshaniyya insurrection, 1450-1600|publisher=Duke University|author=Joseph Theodore Arlinghaus|page=132}}</ref> [[Mohammad Habib]] however considers that they might have been worshipping Buddha in the form of a lion (''Sakya Sinha'').<ref name=Habib2/> [[Ramesh Chandra Majumdar]] states that they had a Hindu temple which was destroyed by Mahmud's general.<ref name=amirrc>{{cite book|title=The History and Culture of the Indian People: The struggle for empire|author=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar|page=13|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|year=1966|author-link=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar}}</ref> [[Ram Sharan Sharma]] meanwhile states that they may have been Buddhist.<ref name=Saran/> Cunningham claims based on the reporting of Ferishta that the place was plundered by 'Amir Ali after being taken.<ref name=Narayanpura/>

According to Gardizi, while returning from his recent invasion of India, Mahmud had heard about the Kafirs and the chief of Qirat surrendered without any struggle and accepted to convert, with the inhabitants converting as well. Nur however refused to surrender and his general 'Amir Ali led an attack on it, forcing its people to convert.<ref>{{cite book|title=Studies in Medieval Indian History|author=Sri Ram Sharma|page=28|publisher=Dayanand College|year=2006}}</ref> According to Firshta, the rulers of both of them submitted and accepted Islam in 1022.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uQ7k2vQlYxEC&pg=PA123|title=Al-Hind: The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th-13th centuries|author=André Wink|page=123|publisher=Brill|year=2002|isbn=0391041746}}</ref> He adds, "On breaking a great temple situated there, the ornamented figure of a lion came out of it, which according to the belief of the Hindus was four thousand years old."<ref name=Habib2/>

However, no permanent conquest was attempted.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&pg=PA172|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4|author=Richard N. Frye|page=172|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|author-link=Richard N. Frye|isbn=9780521200936|date=1975-06-26}}</ref> ''Iqbal namah-i-Jahangiri'' stated that Kafirs still lived in Darrah-i-Nur which Mahmud of Ghazni had claimed to have converted. The [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Jahangir]] had received a delegation of these pure Kafirs in [[Jalalabad]] and had honoured them with gifts.<ref name=Peristan/>