142 ALA- AD -DIN'S CONQUESTS IN THE DECCAN stanch Mohammedan orthodoxy of the author is mani- fest from the exultant note which marks the opening paragraph of his description of the conquest of Ma' bar, an event which he regards as a memorable victory of Islam over the Hindu religion. His account follows. 6 The tongue of the sword of the caliphate of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illu- mination of its guidance. On the one side an iron wall of royal swords has been raised before the infidel Ma- gog-like Tartars, so that all of that God-forsaken tribe drew their feet within their skirts among the hills of Ghazni, and even their advance-arrows had not strength enough to reach into Sind. On the other side so much dust arose from the battered temple of Somnath that even the sea was not able to lay it, and the army has conquered right and left from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus, in which Satanism has prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished. All these impurities of unbelief have been cleansed by the Sultan Ala-ad-din's destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first holy expedition against Deogir, and now the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries, and places are exalted on high for the criers to prayer, and prayers are read in mosques. God be praised! Now, the country of Ma* bar is so far distant from the city of Delhi that a man travelling with all speed could reach it only in a journey of twelve months, nor had the arrow of any holy warrior as yet reached there,
