Islam in Punjab, India

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Islam in Punjab, India
Moorish Mosque.JPG
Moorish Mosque of Kapurthala
Total population
c.535,489 [1]
(~2% of the state population)
Regions with significant populations
Malerkotla, Qadian, Ludhiana, Amritsar
Religions
Allah-green.svg Islam
Languages
Punjabi, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu)

Islam is a minority religion in Punjab, India followed by 535,489 people constituting about 1.93 percent of the state population out of 27.7 million population as of 2011 census report. [2]

Contents

Islam has a strong historical presence in Punjab with many mosques, mausoleums and shrines. According to the 1941 census, Punjabi Muslims constituted approximately 38.4 percent of the population in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. [a] With violence and religious cleansing accompanying the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the vast majority departed the region en masse, migrating westward to the region of Punjab that would fall on the western side of the Radcliffe Line, in the contemporary state of Punjab, Pakistan. [3]

In the current era, much of the Muslim population of Punjab consists of migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and Bihar etc. [4] The native Punjabi Muslims predominantly resides in Malerkotla district and Qadian town. [5]

History

Muslim Population in Punjab, India
YearPop.±% p.a.
1881 2,440,888    
1901 2,898,114+0.86%
1911 2,515,774−1.40%
1921 2,686,598+0.66%
1931 3,072,619+1.35%
1941 3,748,410+2.01%
1947 90,172−46.27%
1951 110,160+5.13%
1961 181,234+5.10%
1971 252,688+3.38%
1981 321,287+2.43%
1991 390,077+1.96%
2001 382,045−0.21%
2011 535,489+3.43%
Source: Census of India [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [a]
A photo of the Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, India Moorish Mosque of Kapurthala in the state of Punjab 04.jpg
A photo of the Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, India

Islam first arrived in the Punjab region following the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712. The first permanent Muslim conquest of the Punjab was carried out by Mahmud Ghaznavi who made the whole of the Punjab a province of his empire with the headquarters at Lahore.

When the Ghaznavid Empire began to decline, the region was conquered by Muhammad Ghori. The conquest by Muhammad Ghori inaugurated a period of Muslim rule which lasted until the 18th century. The Mughals made most of East Punjab a part of the governorate of Sirhind.

The founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was born in Qadian, East Punjab in 1835.

According to the 1941 census, Muslims constituted approximately 38.4 percent of the population in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India, numbering around 3.75 million persons. [a] Following the Partition of Punjab, the population declined to 90,000 or 0.5% due to ethnic cleansing and large-scale mass migration of 3.66 million Muslims to Punjab, Pakistan in the violent events that have occurred during Partition. [15] [16]

Today, Muslims are scattered across East Punjab with small concentrations in the cities of Chandigarh, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Malerkotla and Qadian. Malerkotla is the only municipality in Indian Punjab that has a Muslim majority. [17] The migrant Uttar Pradeshi Muslims and Bihari Muslims labourers living in industrial city of Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar forms a large proportion of the Muslim population in the state. [18]

Geographical distribution

Colonial era

Muslims in the administrative divisions that compose the contemporary Punjab State, India region (1881–1941)
District or Princely State 1881 [6] [7] [8] 1901 [9] :341911 [10] :27 [11] :271921 [12] :291931 [13] :2771941 [14] :42
Pop. %Pop.%Pop.%Pop.%Pop.%Pop.%
Amritsar district 413,207474,976408,882423,724524,676657,695
Jalandhar district 358,601421,011357,051366,586419,556509,804
Patiala State 321,354357,334307,384330,341363,920436,539
Firozpur district 310,552447,615418,553482,540515,430641,448
Hoshiarpur district 290,193312,958281,805289,298328,078380,759
Gurdaspur district [g] 286,224348,182304,860316,709367,388440,323
Ludhiana district 213,954235,937176,043192,961235,598302,482
Kapurthala State 142,974178,326152,117160,457179,251213,754
Nabha State 50,17858,55046,03250,75657,39370,373
Faridkot State 29,03535,99637,10544,81349,91261,352
Malerkotla State 24,61627,22925,94228,41331,41733,881
Total Muslims2,440,8882,898,1142,515,7742,686,5983,072,6193,748,410
Total Population6,607,6997,679,6456,830,5077,262,8818,123,0769,757,161

Modern era

Muslims in the districts of the contemporary Punjab State, India region (1951–2011)
District 1951 [19] 1961 [20] [21] 1971 [22] 2011
Pop. %Pop.%Pop.%Pop.%
Barnala district 41,67313,100
Gurdaspur district 9,3705,5666,86827,667
Firozpur district 4,8053,3696,3406,844
Amritsar district 4,2372,4013,04412,502
Sangrur district 3,74155,73864,448179,116
Ludhiana district 3,3604,6865,62077,713
Patiala district 2,89311,71413,64440,043
Jalandhar district 2,5693,1843,36230,233
Fatehgarh Sahib district 2,26916,808
Hoshiarpur district 1,3537,0503,45623,089
Kapurthala district 85485685810,190
Bathinda district 4163,3403,82916,299
Rupnagar district 2,97814,492
Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district 29,488
Mansa district 10,375
Moga district 9,388
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district 6,829
Sri Muktsar Sahib district 4,333
Tarn Taran district 3,855
Faridkot district 3,125
Total Muslims77,54097,904114,447535,489
Total Population9,144,71611,497,82613,551,06027,743,338

Demographics

Language

Languages spoken among Punjab's Muslims (2011 Census) [23]
LanguagesPercent
Urdu/Hindi
58.57%
Punjabi
41.43%

Out of 5.35 lakh Muslim population in the state as of 2011 census, only 2.21 lakh Muslims are native and speaks Punjabi as their mother tongue and rest 3.13 lakh speaks Hindustani language mainly Urdu. [24]

Culture

Decadal percentage of Muslims in Punjab, India [25] [26] [27] [28]

YearPercentIncrease
1901 [c] 37.74%N/A
1911 [d] 36.83%-0.91%
1921 [e] 36.99%+0.16%
1931 [f] 37.83%+0.84%
1941 [a] 38.42%+0.59%
19470.5%-37.92%
19510.63%+0.13%
19610.82%+0.19%
19710.93%+0.11%
19811%+0.07%
19911.18%+0.18%
20011.57%+0.39%
20111.93%+0.36%

The Muslim percentage as total population have declined drastically from 38.38% in 1941 to 0.5% in 1947. But after Independence, Muslims have grown slightly from 0.63% in 1951 to 1.93% in 2011 census. [29]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 1941 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1941 census data here: [14] :42
  2. 1881 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1881 census data here: [6] [7] [8]
  3. 1 2 1901 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1901 census data here: [9] :34
  4. 1 2 1911 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1911 census data here: [10] :27 [11] :27
  5. 1 2 1921 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1921 census data here: [12] :29
  6. 1 2 1931 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of all districts (Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Firozpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Gurdaspur (minus Shakargarh Tehsil)), and princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Patiala, and Nabha) which are in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, India. See 1931 census data here: [13] :277
  7. Does not include Shakargarh Tehsil, which was awarded to Pakistan as part of the Radcliffe Line.

References

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  2. Punjab Population Sex Ratio in Punjab Literacy rate data 2011 ...
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  4. https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu  › ...PDF Punjab's Muslims: The History and Significance of Malerkotla
  5. Manish, Sai (24 May 2021). "How Punjab's latest Muslim majority district will encourage Hindutva forces". Business Standard India.
  6. 1 2 "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. I." 1881. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25057656 . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. II". 1881. p. 14. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25057657 . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  8. 1 2 "Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. III". 1881. p. 14. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25057658 . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Census of India 1901. [Vol. 17A]. Imperial tables, I-VIII, X-XV, XVII and XVIII for the Punjab, with the native states under the political control of the Punjab Government, and for the North-west Frontier Province". 1901. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25363739 . Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Census of India 1911. Vol. 14, Punjab. Pt. 2, Tables". 1911. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25393788 . Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  11. 1 2 Kaul, Harikishan (1911). "Census Of India 1911 Punjab Vol XIV Part II" . Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  12. 1 2 "Census of India 1921. Vol. 15, Punjab and Delhi. Pt. 2, Tables". 1921. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25430165 . Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Census of India 1931. Vol. 17, Punjab. Pt. 2, Tables". 1931. JSTOR   saoa.crl.25793242 . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  14. 1 2 India Census Commissioner (1941). "Census of India, 1941. Vol. 6, Punjab". JSTOR   saoa.crl.28215541 . Retrieved 19 January 2023.
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  17. "A renewed hate campaign". Frontline . 18 (11). 2001.
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  24. https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu  › ...PDF Punjab's Muslims: The History and Significance of Malerkotla
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