Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Qutb ud-Din Aibak" in English language version.
In the winter of A.D. 1194–1195 Shihabuddin once more marched into Hindustan and invaded the Doab. Rai Jai Chand moved forward to meet him....then description of Chandwar struggle (...) Shihabuddin captured the treasure fort of Asni and then proceeded to Benaras, 'where he converted about thousand idol-temples into house for the Musalmans.
The areas of Meerut, Baran (modern Buland sher) and Koli (modern Aligarh) in upper doab had been under the control of Dor Rajputs, had been occupied by the Turks shortly after the battle of Tarain
And then, in 1193, Qutb-ud-din Aibek, the military commander of Muhammad of Ghor's army, marched towards Varanasi, where he is said to have destroyed idols in a thousand temples. Sarnath very likely was among the casualties of this invasion, one all too often seen as a Muslim invasion whose primary purpose was iconoclasm. It was of course, like any premodern military invasion, intended to acquire land and wealth
Mahmud of Ghazni, for example is said to have destroyed 10,000 temples in Kanauj and 1,000 in Mathura, his grandson in Ibrahim 1,000 in Delhi doab and another 1,000 in Malwa. Aybek 1000 in Delhi, and Muhammad Ghuri another 1,000 temples in Benaras-figures that Hindu nationalists like Sita Ram Goel have accepted at face value
We do not know much about the first Muslim raid on Benares, by Ahmad Nayaltigin in 1033 AD, which appears merely to have been a plundering expedition. When Muhammad Ghuri marched on the city, we are merely told that after breaking the idols in above 1000 temples, he purified and consecrated the latter to the worship of the true God
