Islam in South Asia

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Muslims in South Asia
South Asia UN.png
United Nations cartographic map of South Asia
Total population
c. 652.8 million (2019)
(32% of the population) Increase2.svg [1] [2] [3]
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan 240,760,000 [4] (2024)
India 200,000,000 [5] (2021)
Bangladesh 150,400,000 [6] (2022)
Afghanistan 41,128,771 [7] [8] (2022)
Sri Lanka 2,131,240 [9] (2023)
Nepal 1,483,060 [10] (2021)
Maldives 560,000 [11] [12] (2021)
Bhutan 727 [13] [14] (2020)
Religions
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Languages
Liturgical (Universal)
Common (Regional)
Traditional (Community)

Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, with more than 650 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. Islam first spread along the coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, almost as soon as it started in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Arab traders brought it to South Asia. South Asia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with about one-third of all Muslims living here. [17] [18] Islam is the dominant religion in half of the South Asian countries (Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). It is the second largest religion in India and third largest in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Contents

On the Indian subcontinent, Islam first appeared in the southwestern tip of the peninsula, in today's Kerala state. Arabs traded with Malabar even before the birth of Muhammad. Native legends say that a group of Sahaba, under Malik Ibn Deenar, arrived on the Malabar Coast and preached Islam. According to that legend, the first mosque of India was built by the mandate of the last King of Chera Perumals of Makotai, who accepted Islam and received the name Tajudheen during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632). [19] [20] [21] On a similar note, Tamil Muslims on the eastern coast also claim that they converted to Islam in Muhammad's lifetime. According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad , the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in Indian Subcontinent. [22] [23] [24] Historicaly, the Barwada Mosque in Ghogha, Gujarat built before 623 CE, Cheraman Juma Mosque (629 CE) in Methala, Kerala and Palaiya Jumma Palli (630 CE) in Kilakarai, Tamil Nadu are three of the first mosques in South Asia. [25] [26] [27] [28] [23]

The first incursion occurred through sea by Caliph Umar's governor of Bahrain, Uthman ibn Abi al-As, who sent his brother Hakam ibn Abi al-As to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region [29] around 636 CE or 643 CE long before any Arab army reached the frontier of India by land. Al-Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, who attacked Makran in the year 649 AD, was an early partisan of Ali ibn Abu Talib. [30] During the caliphate of Ali, many Hindu Jats of Sindh had come under the influence of Shi'ism [31] and some even participated in the Battle of Camel and died fighting for Ali. [30] According to popular tradition, Islam was brought to Lakshadweep islands, situated just to the west of Malabar Coast, by Ubaidullah in 661 CE. After the Rashidun Caliphate, Muslim dynasties came to power. [32] [33] Since 1947, South Asia has been largely governed by modern states. [34] [35]

Origins

Islamic influence first came to be felt in the Indian subcontinent during the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region to trade even before Islam had been established in Arabia. Unlike the coasts of Malabar, the northwestern coasts were not as receptive to the Middle Eastern arrivals. Hindu merchants in Sindh and Gujarat perceived the Arab merchants to be competitors.

According to Historians Henry Miers Elliot and John Dowson in their book The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians , the first ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 CE. The first Indian mosque is thought to have been built in 629 CE, purportedly at the behest of an unknown Chera dynasty ruler, during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 571–632) in Kodungallur, in district of Thrissur, Kerala by Malik Bin Deenar. In Malabar, Muslims are called Mappila.

Henry Rawlinson, in his book Ancient and Medieval History of India ( ISBN   81-86050-79-5), claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century. This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals, [36] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV. [37]

The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went. [38] It was, however, the subsequent expansion of the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent over the next millennia that established Islam in the region.

According to Derryl N. Maclean, a link between Sindh and early partisans of Ali or proto-Shi'ites can be traced to Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, who traveled across Sind to Makran in the year 649AD and presented a report on the area to the Caliph. He supported Ali, and died fighting on his behalf alongside Sindhi Jats. [39]

During the reign of Ali, many Jats came under the influence of Islam. [40] Jats fought against the Muslims in the battle of Chains in 634 [41] and later also fought on the side of Ali in the Battle of the Camel in 656 under their chief, Ali B. Danur. [42] After the Islamic conquest of Persia was completed, the Muslim Arabs then began to move towards the lands east of Persia and in 652 captured Herat. [43]

Conversions

The Islamic ambitions of the sultans and Mughals had concentrated in expanding Muslim power and looting, not in seeking converts. Evidence of the absence of systematic programs for conversion is the reason for the concentration of South Asia's Muslim populations outside the main core of the Muslim polities [44] in the northeast and northwest regions of the subcontinent, which were on the peripheries of Muslim states. [45]

The Sufis did not preach egalitarianism, but played an important role in integrating agricultural settlements with the larger contemporary cultures. In areas where Sufis received grants and supervised clearing of forestry, they had the role of mediating with worldly and divine authority. Richard M. Eaton has described the significance of this in the context of West Punjab and East Bengal, the two main areas to develop Muslim majorities. [46] The partition was eventually made possible because of the concentration of Muslim majorities in northwest and northeast India. [47] The overwhelming majority of the subcontinent's Muslims live in regions which became Pakistan in 1947. [48]

These nominal conversions to Islam, brought about by regional Muslim polities, were followed by reforms, especially after the 17th century, in which Muslims integrated with the larger Muslim world. Improved transport services in the nineteenth century brought Muslim masses into contact with Mecca, which facilitated reformist movements stressing Quranic literalism and making people aware of the differences between Islamic commands and their actual practices. [49]

Islamic reformist movements, such as the Faraizi movement, in the nineteenth century rural Bengal aimed to remove indigenous folk practices from Bengali Islam and commit the population exclusively to Allah and Muhammad. [50] Politically the reform aspect of conversion, emphasizing exclusiveness, continued with the Pakistan movement for a separate Muslim state [49] and a cultural aspect was the assumption of Arab culture. [51]

Demographics

Muslim Percentage by Country
CountryPercent
Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives [52] [53]
 
100%
Flag of the Taliban.svg  Afghanistan [54]
 
99.7%
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan [55]
 
96.47%
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh [56]
 
91.04%
Flag of India.svg  India [57]
 
14.12%
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka [58]
 
9.8%
Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal [59]
 
5.09%
Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan
 
0.1%

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the Maldives are Muslim-majority countries. The Muslim population in India is 14.12%, which still makes it the largest Muslim population outside the Muslim-majority countries. [60]

See also

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    Shia Islam or Shi'a Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and the Imam after him, most notably at the event of Ghadir Khumm, but was prevented from succeeding Muhammad as the leader of the Muslims as a result of the choice made by some of Muhammad's other companions at Saqifah. This view primarily contrasts with that of Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor before his death and consider Abu Bakr, who was appointed caliph by a group of Muhammad's other companions at Saqifah, to be the first rightful (rashidun) caliph after Muhammad. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shia Muslims.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim world</span> Muslim-majority countries, states, districts, or towns

    The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries in which Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion. The term Muslim-majority countries is an alternative often used for the latter sense.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in India</span>

    Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the third-largest number of Muslims in the world. The majority of India's Muslims are Sunni, with Shia making up around 15% of the Muslim population.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Bangladesh</span>

    Islam is the largest and the state religion of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. According to the 2022 census, Bangladesh had a population of about 150 million Muslims, or 91.04% of its total population of 165 million. Muslims of Bangladesh are predominant native Bengali Muslims. The majority of Bangladeshis are Sunni, and follow the Hanafi school of fiqh. Bangladesh is a de facto secular country.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Pakistan</span> Role and impact of Islam in Pakistan

    Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan has over 236 Million adherents of Islam. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Malabar Muslims</span> Muslim community

    Malabar Muslims or Malabar Mohammadens or Muslim Mappila or Muhammaden Mappila, is a member of the Muslim community found predominantly in Kerala and Lakshadweep islands in Southern India. The term Mappila is used to denote Muslims of middle eastern descent in Northern Kerala, and in Southern Kerala for Saint Thomas Christians. Muslims of Kerala make up 26.56% of the population of the state (2011), and as a religious group they are the second largest group after Hindus (54.73%). Muslims share the common language of Malayalam with the other religious communities of Kerala.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahl-i Hadith</span> Islamic religious movement in South Asia

    Ahl-i-Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teachings of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, Syed Nazeer Husain and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan. It is an offshoot of the 19th-century Indian Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya movement tied to the 18th-century traditions of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and the Wahhabi movement. The adherents of the movement described themselves variously as "Muwahideen" and as "Ahl e-Hadith."

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent</span>

    The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place between the 13th and the 18th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests in the subcontinent include the invasions which started in the northwestern subcontinent, especially the Umayyad campaigns during the 8th century. Mahmud of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, preserved an ideological link to the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate and invaded vast parts of Punjab and Gujarat during the 11th century. After the capture of Lahore and the end of the Ghaznavids, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor laid the foundation of Muslim rule in India in 1192. In 1202, Bakhtiyar Khalji led the Muslim conquest of Bengal, marking the easternmost expansion of Islam at the time.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Husayniyya</span> Ceremonial gathering hall in Shia Islam

    A husayniyya a building designed specifically for gatherings of Shia Muslims for spiritual practice, religious education and commemoration ceremonies, especially the Mourning of Muharram. The Husayniyya is a multipurpose hall for the commemoration rituals of Shia and gets its name from Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. They are referred to as Takya among Sunni Muslims and have common origin.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Koyilandy</span> Town in Kerala, India

    Koyilandy is a major town municipality and a taluk in Kozhikode district, Kerala on the Malabar Coast. The historical town is located right in the middle of the coast of Kozhikode district, between Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kannur, on National Highway 66.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Kerala</span> Overview of Islam in the Indian state of Kerala

    Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam-speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants. The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheraman Juma Mosque</span> Claimed oldest mosque in Indian subcontinent

    The Cheraman Juma Mosque is a popular pilgrim centre in Kodungallur in Thrissur district. According to hagiographical legends, it is claimed that the mosque was built in 629 CE by Malik Bin Dinar.

    In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus, about 510 million Muslims, over 27 million Sikhs, 35 million Christians and over 25 million Buddhists. Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population, while Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, and Christians constitute most of the rest. The Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and Christians are concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (91%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%).

    The term Gujarati Muslim is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the state of Gujarat in western coast of India. Most Gujarati Muslims have the Gujarati language as their mother tongue, but some communities have Urdu as their mother tongue. The majority of Gujarati Muslims are Sunni, with a minority of Shi'ite groups.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Kerala</span> Overview of religion in the Indian state of Kerala

    Religion in Kerala is diverse. According to 2011 census of India figures, 54.73% of Kerala's population are Hindus, 26.56% are Muslims, 18.38% are Christians, and the remaining 0.33% follow other religions or have no religion. As of 2020, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others account for 41.5%, 43.9%, 13.9% and 0.7% of the total child births in the state, respectively.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Habbari dynasty</span> 9th-century Arab-Muslim dynasty in Sindh

    The Habbari were an Arab dynasty that ruled much of Greater Sindh, as a semi-independent emirate from 854 to 1024. Beginning with the rule of 'Umar bin Abdul Aziz al-Habbari in 854 CE, the region became semi-independent from the Abbasid Caliphate in 861, while continuing to nominally pledge allegiance to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Habbari ascension marked the end of a period of direct rule of Sindh by the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, which had begun in 711 CE.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengali Muslims</span> Bengalis who follow Islam

    Bengali Muslims are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Muslims after Arabs. Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.

    Madayi Mosque is mosque at Pazhayangadi in Kannur district, northern Kerala, India. It is one of the oldest mosques in Kerala, with local legends dating back to the 7th century AD. It is believed to have been established by Malik ibn Dinar and contains a block of white marble said to have been brought from Mecca by ibn Dinar. It is one of the several mosques around Pazhayangadi/Payangadi. It is situated on the banks of Kuppam River, which joins Valapattanam River at its estuary.

    The spread of Islam spans over 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred after 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, conquering a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories and building imperial structures over time. Most of the significant expansion occurred during the reign of the rāshidūn ("rightly-guided") caliphs from 632 to 661 CE, which were the first four successors of Muhammad. These early caliphates, coupled with Muslim economics and trading, the Muslim Golden Age, and the age of the Muslim gunpowder empires, resulted in Islam's spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world. The Islamic conquests, which culminated in the Arab empire being established across three continents, enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for the emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic teachings. Trade played an important role in the spread of Islam in some parts of the world, such as Indonesia. During the early centuries of Islamic rule, conversions in the Middle East were mainly individual or small-scale. While mass conversions were favored for spreading Islam beyond Muslim lands, policies within Muslim territories typically aimed for individual conversions to weaken non-Muslim communities. However, there were exceptions, like the forced mass conversion of the Samaritans.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinduism in South Asia</span> Overview of Hinduism in South Asia

    Hinduism is the largest religion in South Asia with about 1.2 billion Hindus, forming just under two-thirds of South Asia's population. South Asia has the largest population of Hindus in the world, with about 99% of all global Hindus being from South Asia. Hinduism is the dominant religion in India and Nepal and is the second-largest religion in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.

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