"[But, in spite of these alliances the power of the Arabs in Sindh continued to decline...] The people of India returned to idolatry with the exception of the inhabitants of Qassah. A place of refuge to which the Moslems might flee was not be found, so he built on the further side of a lake, where it borders on al-Hind, a city which he named al-Mahfuzah establishing it as a place of refuge for them, where they should be secure.... The governors kept fighting the enemy and seizing whatever came into their hands, and subduing the neighbourhood whose inhabitants rebelled."