The roots of the Muslim-Sikh antagonism were the assassination of the Gurus, further atrocities by Banda Singh Bahadur Bairagi and Mir Mannu, and the Muslim invasions by Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Abdali, his son Timur Shah and grandson Shah Zaman in which the Muslim support was unleashed in favour of the Muslim invaders. A look at the period from the advent of Guru Nanak Dev to the end of the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh explains ups and downs of the nature of the Muslim-Sikh relations in the Punjab because religion, a deep- seated factor, many times overrode the cultural bonds and disturbed the peace of the region. Unavailability of communicating sources like print media strictly contained the hatred and the news of any friction could not travel from one to another place. The limited resources along with illiteracy kept the religious communities unaware about any communal problem occurred anywhere in the region. The people used to get information regarding any religious clash after a long time which was too late to disturb the communal patch-up between the communities.

- Dr. Akhtar Hussain Sandhu, http://www.pscpesh.org/PDFs/PJ/Volume_50/14_Akhtar.pdf