ABSTRACT
The Abbasid empire, at the height of the ninth century ad, ruled from Constantinople and Egypt to Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. But they were mostly interested in subduing the heathen Turks and expanding towards the West. According to Minhaj-i Siraj, historian of the Delhi Sultanate, Sultan Giyasuddin and his brother Muizuddin were Karmathians. The overseas commerce of India would have been affected too but the Arab sea traders revived it and helped to strengthen the Indian commerce with West Asia, countries of South-East Asia and China. The historian K. S. Lal has proved that the dates of the Indian expeditions of Sultan Mahmud has been wrongly given by Feristah, the Persian historian. The expeditions of Sultan Mahmud to India became successful due to the lack of unity among the Indian kings.
