"Of considerable numerical importance was probably the conversion of slaves and other captives, including harem inmates. Slaves had to be obtained ‘among infidels’ (min al-kuffàr), since there was a prohibition against enslaving Muslims—a prohibition that was enforced, albeit imperfectly. There is abundant evidence that during military campaigns large numbers of such ‘infidels’ were made captives, especially women and children, and that these were often enslaved. An unknown number of these slaves were transported westwards, as had been the case in earlier centuries. Tìmùr still carried off great numbers of enslaved captives to Samarqand. But in Hind itself there arose numerous specialized slave markets (bàzàr-i-burda), and by all accounts slavery was ubiquitous in a variety of contexts, including the military, and especially the domestic one. We are told there were 12,000 slaves at the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq. There were 180,000 slaves, according to 'Afìf, in Delhi and the various iq†à's under Firuz Shah Tughluq.In the Bahmanì empire there were 60,000 or 70,000 captives from Vijayanagara, mostly women. How many of these converted to Islam is not stated, but there are indications that many of them may have, possibly all of them. Of Muhammad bin Tughluq’s slave girls, it is stated, ‘many knew the Qur"àn by heart.’ Firuz Shah Tughluq, during his forty-year reign, ordered all his iq†à'dàrs to collect slaves wherever they were at war and send them to court; many of these, we are told, learned to read, and some entered into religious studies, memorizing the Qur"àn, and going on pilgrimage to Mecca, while they were employed in all sorts of occupations and married off to each other, and often sent back into the provinces. Village chiefs and headmen ‘were torn from their old lands’ in Sannam, Samana and Kaithal by Muhammad bin Tughluq, and carried off to Delhi, where they were converted, with their wives and children. In another instance, we are informed that eleven captive sons of a Hindu king became ‘Muslim amirs."