Islam in South Asia

Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, with more than 600 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. History of Islam in South Asia started 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.^[14][15] 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.

Muslims of South Asia

United Nations cartographic map of South Asia
Total population
c. 600+ million approx. (2020) (32% of the population) ^[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan	234,000,000^[1] (2022 est.)
India	200,000,000^[2]^[3] (2021 est.)
Bangladesh	150,400,000^[4] (2022 census)
Afghanistan	38,200,000^[5] (2022 est.)
Sri Lanka	1,970,000^[6] (2012 census)
Nepal	1,160,000^[7] (2011 census)
Maldives	560,000^[8]^[9] (2021 census)
Bhutan	727^[10]^[11] (2020 est.)
Religions
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Languages
Liturgical Quranic Arabic^[12] Common Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Dari (Persian), Kashmiri, Balochi, Maldivian, and other languages of South Asia^[13] Traditional Arabi Malayalam, Arwi, Beary and others

According to legend, the first Indian Masjid was built in 624 AD at Kodungallur in present-day Kerala with the mandate of the last the ruler (the Cheraman Perumal), who converted to Islam during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632). On a similar note, Tamil Muslims on the eastern coast also claim that they converted to Islam in Muhammad's lifetime. The local mosques date to the early 700s. Malik Dinar was one of the first known Muslims to have come to India in order to propagate Islam in the Indian Subcontinent after Cheraman Perumal.^[16][17] 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.^{[18][19] [20]} 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.^{[21][22][23][24][19]}

The first incursion occurred through sea by Caliph Umar's governor of Bahrain, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region^[25] around 636 CE or 643 AD 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.^[26] During the caliphate of Ali, many Hindu Jats of Sindh had come under the influence of Shi'ism^[27] and some even participated in the Battle of Camel and died fighting for Ali.^[26] 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, the role of Islam was significantly diminished throughout the Muslim world including South Asia as Muslim political dynasties came to power.^{[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]}

Origins

Main articles: Muhammad in Islam, Rashidun Caliphate, History of Islam, and Spread of Islam

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. According to Historians Elliot and 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.

H. G. 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,^[38] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.^[39]

The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went.^[40] 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.^[41]

During the reign of Ali, many Jats came under the influence of Islam.^[42] Harith ibn Murrah Al-abdi and Sayfi ibn Fil' al-Shaybani, both officers of Ali's army, attacked Sindhi bandits and chased them to Al-Qiqan (present-day Quetta) in the year 658.^[43] Sayfi was one of the seven partisans of Ali who were beheaded alongside Hujr ibn Adi al-Kindi^[44] in 660AD, near Damascus. 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.^[45]

Political dynasties (Umayyads - 1947)

Main articles: List of Muslim states and dynasties § South Asia, Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent, and Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent

 

The Age of the Islamic Gunpowders dominating the western, central and South Asia.

Under the Umayyads (661 – 750 AD), many Shias sought asylum in the region of Sindh, to live in relative peace in the remote area. In 712 CE, a young Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered most of the Indus region for the Umayyad Empire, to be made the "As-Sindh" province with its capital at Al-Mansurah.^{[46][47][48][49][50]} Arab tribes became rebellious in Sindh in the early 9th century during the Abbasid period. During a period of strife in 841-2 between Yemeni and Hijazi tribes, 'Umar bin Abdul Aziz al-Habbari's Hijazi faction assassinated the pro-Yemeni Abbasid governor of Sindh, Imran bin Musa Barmaki,^[51] leaving Umar bin Abdul Aziz al-Habbari as the de facto governor of Sindh. According to al-Ya'qubi, Umar's request to be formally appointed governor was granted in 854 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil.^[52] Following the death of Al-Mutawakkil in 861, 'Umar bin Aziz al-Habbari then established himself as an independent ruler, although he continued to read the Friday prayers in the name of the Abbasid caliph, thereby nominally pledging allegiance to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad.^{[citation needed]}

By the mid-800s, the Banu Munabbih (also known as the Banu Sama), who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad's Quraysh tribe came to rule Multan, and established the Emirate, which ruled for the next century.^[53] At the opening of 10th century, Ibn Rusta was first to report a well established Emirate of Multan. Muhammad III, whose full name was Muhammad bin al-Qasim bin Munabbih, was reported by Al-Biruni to be the first of the Banu Munabbih (Samid) rulers of Multan - he conquered Multan and issued silver dammas bearing his Hindu epithet "Mihiradeva" ("Sun god") on the reverse.^[53] By the mid 10th century, Multan had come under the influence of the Qarmatians. The Qarmatians had been expelled from Egypt and Iraq following their defeat at the hands of the Abbasids there. They wrested control of the city from the pro-Abbasid Amirate of Banu Munabbih,^[54] and pledged allegiance to the Fatimid Caliphate based in Cairo instead of Abbasid Caliphate at Baghdad.^[55] By the end of the 10th century CE, the region was ruled by several Hindu Shahi kings who would be subdued by the Ghaznavids. Sunni Islam arrived in North India in the 12th century via the invasions of Ghurids conquest.

According to Ibn Batuta, the Khaljis encouraged conversion to Islam by making it a custom to have the convert presented to the Sultan who would place a robe on the convert and award him with bracelets of gold.^[56] During Delhi Sultanate's Ikhtiyar Uddin Bakhtiyar Khilji's control of the Bengal, Muslim missionaries in India achieved their greatest success, in terms of number of converts to Islam.^[57]

The Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, was able to conquer almost the entirety of South Asia. Although religious tolerance was seen during the rule of emperor Akbar's, the reign under emperor Aurangzeb witnessed the full establishment of Islamic sharia and the re-introduction of Jizya (a special tax imposed upon non-Muslims) through the compilation of the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri.^[58] The Mughals, already suffering a gradual decline in the early 18th century, was invaded by the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah.^[59] The Mughal decline provided opportunities for the Maratha Empire, Sikh Empire, Mysore Kingdom, Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad and Nizams of Hyderabad to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent.^[60] Eventually, after numerous wars sapped its strength, the Mughal Empire was broken into smaller powers like Shia Nawab of Bengal, the Nawab of Awadh, the Nizam of Hyderabad, and the Kingdom of Mysore, which became the major Asian economic and military power on the Indian subcontinent.^{[citation needed]} Muslim power quickly vaporized in the early 18th century after their defeat in wars^[61] and attacks.^[62] Mughals were replaced with Rajputs, the Marathas, Sikhs in Punjab, the Jats and smaller Muslim states competing for power with the British East India Company. Islamic scholars reacted slowly to the British rule. The British authorities' westernisation policies effectively destroyed the exclusive hold of the ulama over education and curtailed their administrative influence. After Mughal India's collapse, Tipu Sultan's Kingdom of Mysore based in South India, which witnessed partial establishment of sharia-based economic and military policies i.e. Fathul Mujahidin, replaced Bengal ruled by the Nawabs of Bengal as South Asia's foremost economic territory.^[63][64] The partition was outlined in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, i.e., Crown rule in India. Hyderabad, the last major Muslim princely state, was annexed in 1948 by the modern Republic of India.^[65]

 

A panorama in 12 folds showing a fabulous Eid ul-Fitr procession by Muslims in the Mughal Empire.

Modern states (1947 - Present)

Main articles: List of national constitutions § Codified constitutions (most recent, in use today); and Hindu–Islamic relations

The two self-governing independent Dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 14–15 August 1947. The partition of India displaced between 10 and 20 million people along religious lines with estimates of the loss of life up to two million in the newly constituted dominions. The ideological character of Pakistan has been disputed, with Jinnah's 11 August speech apparently supportive of the notion that the state was formed simply to protect Muslim interests but the ulama envisioning Pakistan as an Islamic state. After Pakistan's general election, the 1973 Constitution was created by the elected Parliament,^[66] which declared Pakistan as an Islamic Republic and Islam as its state religion. In the years preceding Zia-ul-Haq's coup, Pakistan's leftist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto faced vigorous opposition under the revivalist banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet").^[67] After Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation and Musharraf's military rule, the 2008 election brought back regular political parties instead of the religious parties.

In Afghanistan, the 1931 Constitution made Hanafi Shariah the state religion, while the 1964 Constitution simply prescribed that the state should conduct its religious ritual according to the Hanafi school. The 1977 Constitution declared Islam the religion of Afghanistan, but made no mention that the state ritual should be Hanafi. In Bangladesh, Islam became the state religion by a constitutional amendment in 1988. For Muslims in India, Pakistan was a triumph which instantly turned into a defeat.^[68] By voting in the 1945-6 elections they had stated that Islam required a state of its own.^[69] But they were to live an Islamic life without fulfillment after 1947.^[70] India, unusually for new countries in the 1950s, successfully sustained a lively democracy. Muslims in the 1960s voted for the Congress, which solicited them, but since then have voted for whichever party appears likely to cater to Muslim interests. Muslims were stereotyped negatively with disloyalty and Pakistani sympathies, particularly after the 1980s. This was partially a tactic to unite Hindus and partly a surrogate for government opposition.^[71] Hindu nationalist groups and complicit state officials campaigned against the Babri Mosque, allegedly constructed on Rama's birthplace.^[71] A pogrom took place in Gujarat in 2002.^[72] The defeat of the BJP brought in a more accommodating government under which a committee was created on the Muslims' socio-economic status. The committee's Sachar report refuted the perception of Muslim "appeasement" by showing the poor and underrepresented status of India's Muslims. Despite individual cases of success, the report pointed out significant barriers faced by the large Muslim population.^[73] In India, the administration of Islamic affairs in each state is headed by the Mufti of the State under the supervision of the Grand Mufti of India.^{[citation needed]}

Conversions

Main article: Islamic missionary activity § In South Asia

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^[74] in the northeast and northwest regions of the subcontinent, which were on the peripheries of Muslim states.^[75]

Another theory propounds that Indians embraced Islam to obtain privileges. There are several historical cases which apparently bolster this view. Ibn Battuta records that Khilji sultans rewarded converts with robes. Old censuses report that many landed north Indian families became Muslim to avoid penalties for failure to pay taxes. This view could encompass Sind's Amils, Maharashtra's Parasnis and the Kayasthas and Khatris who fostered Islamic traditions under government service. However, this theory cannot resolve the large amount of conversions in the peripheral regions of Bengal and Punjab because state support would diminish further out from their main areas.^[76]

One view among historians is that converts seeking to escape the caste structure were attracted to Sufi egalitarianism.^[74] This notion has been popular among South Asian, particularly Muslim, historians.^[77] But there is no relation between the areas with significant numbers of conversions and those regions with Brahminical influence.^[74] The areas which the 1872 census found to have Muslim majorities had not only been distant from the core of the Muslim states but had also not been assimilated into the Hindu and Buddhist communal structures by the time of Islam's advent in those areas. Bengali converts were mostly indigenous peoples who only had light contact with Brahmins. A similar scenario applied with the Jat clans, which ultimately made up the mass of the Punjabi Muslim community.^[78]

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.^[79] The partition was eventually made possible because of the concentration of Muslim majorities in northwest and northeast India.^[80] The overwhelming majority of the subcontinent's Muslims live in regions which became Pakistan in 1947.^[81]

The Islamisation of Bengal and South Asia in general was slow. The process can be seen to comprise three different features. Richard Eaton describes them, in order, as inclusion, identification, and displacement. In the inclusion process, Islamic agencies were added to Bengali cosmology. In the identification process, the Islamic agencies fused with the Bengali deities. In the displacement process, the Islamic agencies took the place of the local deities.^[82]

Punjabis and Bengalis retained their pre-Islamic practices.^[83] The premier challenge to the purity of Islam in medieval South Asia had neither been from the court nor from the Maratha raids, but from the rural converts, who were ignorant of Islamic requirements, and from the influence of Hinduism in their lives.^[84] Punjabis, in the words of Mohammed Mujeeb, relied spiritually on magic^[85] while Bengali Muslims were reported to participate in Durga Puja, worship of Shitala and Rakshasa Kali and resorting to Hindu astrologers.^{[citation needed]} In both Punjab and Bengal, Islam was viewed as just one of several methods to seek redress for ordinary problems.^[86]

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.^[86]

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.^[87] Politically the reform aspect of conversion, emphasizing exclusiveness, continued with the Pakistan movement for a separate Muslim state^[86] and a cultural aspect was the assumption of Arab culture.^[88]

Islamic culture

Main articles: Naʽat and Islamic culture

Naʽat (Bengali: নাত; Punjabi and Urdu: نعت) is poetry in praise of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. The practice is popular in South Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan and India), commonly in Bengali, Punjabi or Urdu. People who recite Naʽat are known as Naʽat Khawan or sanaʽa-khuaʽan. Exclusive "Praise to Allah" and Allah alone is called Hamd, not to be confused with 'Na'at'.^[89][90][91]

In Arab countries, lyrics and praises said for Muhammad are called Madih nabawi.

Demographics

Main article: Islam by country

Muslims Percentage by Country^[92]^[93]^[94]^[95]^[96]^[97]^[98]^[99]^[100]
Country			Percent
Maldives			100%
Afghanistan			99.7%
Pakistan			96.47%
Bangladesh			90.9%
India			14.6%
Sri Lanka			9.7%
Nepal			4.4%
Bhutan			0.1%

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the Maldives are Muslim-majority countries. Muslim population in India is 14.5% which still makes them the largest Muslim population outside the Muslim-majority countries.^[101]

Movements

Main article: Sunni Islam

Deobandi

Main article: Deobandi

The British authorities' Westernization policies effectively destroyed the exclusive hold of the ulama over education and curtailed their administrative influence. In an environment where the Muslim community lacked power, the ulama invested their efforts into maintaining the Muslim society. The most significant efforts were spearheaded by those ulamas who followed Shah Wali Allah and were inspired by Sayyid Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi's jihad. However, the failure of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the British reaction ensured that their jihad would take a different form. Following Barelvi's reformism, they emphasized sharia and study of the revealed rather than rational sciences.^[102]

They shunned all British, Hindu and Shia influences and only permitted some Sufi practices while completely proscribing the concept of intercession at the shrines. These ulamas concentrated at the Deoband madrasa, which was established by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi in 1867. They stressed the scripture. According to them, knowledge of divine law and expected Muslim behavior was a prerequisite for conserving the Muslim community in the British era.^[102] Lacking state power, they also encouraged the role of the individual conscience to ensure compliance with the law.^[103] They urged followers to ponder over their actions and evoked judgement day.^[104]

Barelvi

Main article: Barelvi

A movement with Pre-reformist conceptions and fuelled by resistance to reform, was founded in the late 19th century by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi. He justified the traditional Sunni Islam associated with obtaining intercession to God from saints, with his scholarly Hanafi credentials. If Deobandis had wanted to preserve Islam as they perceived it to be in the Hanafi texts, the Barelvis desired to preserve Islam as they understood it in the nineteenth century subcontinent. They propagated their ideas eagerly and denounced, sometimes even with violence, the Ahl-i Hadith and Deobandis, rejecting their reformist ideas in favour of the Sufi practices that had been widespread in the Indian subcontinent for centuries.^[104]

Ahmad Raza Khan sought to highlight even more highly the status of Muhammad. He emphasized the Sufi belief pertaining to Muhammad's light. By approving the shrines, Ahmad Raza Khan catered to the needs of the illiterate rural population. He shared with his contemporaries the emphasis on Muhammad, who stressed emulation of his life.^[105]

Ahl-e Hadith

Main article: Ahl-i Hadith

The Ahl-i Hadith shared the Deobandis' reformist and revivalist roots, but believed that they did not do enough. Their religious ideas were more radical, more sectarian, and they came from a more elite class. They shared the Deobandis' commitment to cleansing Muslim culture of acts not in compliance with the Sharia. But while the Deobandis espoused taqlid and embraced the Islamic scholarship they had inherited, the Ahl-i Hadith repudiated it and directly used the textual sources of the Quran and Sunnah and advocated deploying the methodologies used by the original jurists of the Islamic schools of thought. This methodology meant that the followers would have a heavy individual duty. To enforce this duty, the Ahl i Hadith completely spurned Sufism. They feared judgement day and the writings of Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan, a prominent member, reflected fear of doomsday.^[106]

Controversy

Main article: Caste system among South Asian Muslims

There is a recent contentious and politically politicized debate with regard to whether the correct descriptors are either historic socio-economic class based or Caste based. Muslim communities in South Asia apply a system of religious stratification.^[107] Caste among Muslims does not exist on the notion of pure and impure, unlike the Hindu caste system.^[108] It developed as a result of relations between the foreign conquerors/ Upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam (Ashraf) (also known as tabqa-i ashrafiyya^[109]) and the local lower caste converts (Ajlaf) as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system among local converts.^[110] Non-Ashrafs are converts.^[111] The neologism Pasmandas include Ajlaf and Arzal Muslims, and Ajlafs' statuses are defined by them being descendants of converts to Islam and are also defined by their pesha (profession).^[112] These terms are not used in local sociological vocabulary in places such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and therefore tell us very little about the functioning of Muslim society.^[112]

The Biradari System is how social stratification manifests itself in Pakistan, and to an extent also India.^[113] Ashrafism, Syedism, Zatism, Sharifism, Biradarism, and the Quom System are aspects of the caste system among Muslims in South Asia.^[114] The South Asian Muslim caste system also includes hierarchical classifications of khandan (dynasty, family, or lineage descent) and nasab (a group based on blood ties/lineage).^[112]

See also

• Islam in India
• Islam in Pakistan
• Islam in Bangladesh
• Chaand Raat
• Abdullah Shah Ghazi
• Ali al-Hujwiri
• Abu Tawwama
• Usman Bengali
• 'Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi
• ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni

Notes

References

Citations

1. "Pakistan". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
2. "India's Muslim correction". 16 July 2022.
3. "The countries with the 10 largest Christian populations and the 10 largest Muslim populations". Pew Research. 1 April 2019.
4. "Census 2022: Bangladesh population now 165 million". 27 July 2022.
5. "Afghanistan". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
6. Department of Census and Statistics,The Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka-2011 7 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine
7. Government of Nepal. National Planning Commission, National Population and Housing Census 2011 (PDF), Kathmandu, p. 4
8. "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
9. "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX). population.un.org ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
10. Pew Research Center - Global Religious Landscape 2010 - religious composition by country 5 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
11. "Kyrgyzstan". Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
12. Al-Jallad, Ahmad (30 May 2011). "Polygenesis in the Arabic Dialects". Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. BRILL. doi:10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_SIM_000030. ISBN 9789004177024.
13. Talbot & Singh 2009, p. 27, footnote 3.
14. Pechilis, Karen; Raj, Selva J. (1 January 2013). South Asian Religions: Tradition and Today. Routledge. ISBN 9780415448512.
15. "10 Countries With the Largest Muslim Populations, 2010 and 2050". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
16. Ibn Nadim, "Fihrist", 1037
17. . Malik Deenar Grand Juma Masjid. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
18. Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018. 98.
19. Kumar(Gujarati Magazine), Ahmadabad,July 2012,P 444
20. Metcalf 2009, p. 1.
21. "Oldest Indian mosque: Trail leads to Gujarat". The Times of India. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
22. "Oldest Indian mosque: Trail leads to Gujarat". The Times of India. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
23. Sharma, Indu (22 March 2018). "Top 11 Famous Muslim Religious Places in Gujarat". Gujarat Travel Blog. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
24. Prof.Mehboob Desai,Masjit during the time of Prophet Nabi Muhammed Sale Allahu Alayhi Wasalam,Divy Bhasakar,Gujarati News Paper, Thursday, column 'Rahe Roshan',24 May,page 4
25. Al Baldiah wal nahaiyah vol: 7 page 141
26. MacLean, Derryl N. (1989), Religion and Society in Arab Sind, pp. 126, BRILL, ISBN 90-04-08551-3
27. S. A. A. Rizvi, "A socio-intellectual History of Isna Ashari Shi'is in India", Volo. 1, pp. 138, Mar'ifat Publishing House, Canberra (1986).
28. Asher & Talbot 2006, p. 48.
29. Kulke 1998, p. 163.
30. Hardy 1972, p. 25.
31. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 15.
32. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 15-17.
33. Jalal & Bose 1998, p. 40.
34. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 17-18.
35. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 18.
36. Robb 2002, p. 97.
37. Asher & Talbot 2006, p. 226.
38. Sturrock, J., South Canara and Madras District Manual (2 vols., Madras, 1894-1895)
39. ISBN 81-85843-05-8 Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV
40. . JAIHOON.COM. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006.
41. Derryl N. Maclean (1989). Religion and Society in Arab Sind. E. J. BRILL. p. 126. ISBN 90-04-08551-3.
42. Ibn Athir, Vol. 3, pp. 45–46, 381, as cited in: S. A. N. Rezavi, "The Shia Muslims", in History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. 2, Part. 2: "Religious Movements and Institutions in Medieval India", Chapter 13, Oxford University Press (2006).
43. Ibn Sa'd, 8:346. The raid is noted by Baâdhurî, "fatooh al-Baldan" p. 432, and Ibn Khayyât, Ta'rîkh, 1:173, 183–84, as cited in: Derryl N. Maclean," Religion and Society in Arab Sind", p. 126, BRILL, (1989) ISBN 90-04-08551-3.
44. Tabarî, 2:129, 143, 147, as cited in: Derryl N. Maclean," Religion and Society in Arab Sind", p. 126, Brill, (1989) ISBN 90-04-08551-3.
45. "Afghanistan | history – geography". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
46. . Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
47. "Figuring Qasim: How Pakistan was won". Dawn. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
48. "The first Pakistani?". Dawn. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
49. "Muhammad Bin Qasim: Predator or preacher?". Dawn. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
50. Paracha, Nadeem F. "Why some in Pakistan want to replace Jinnah as the founder of the country with an 8th century Arab". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
51. Nadvi, Syed Sulaiman (1962). Indo-Arab Relations: An English Rendering of Arab Oʾ Hind Ke Taʾllugat. Institute of Indo-Middle East Cultural Studies.
52. Boivin, Michel (2008). Sindh Through History and Representations: French Contributions to Sindhi Studies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-547503-6.
53. Rafiq, A.Q.; Baloch, N.A. THE REGIONS OF SIND, BALUCHISTAN, MULTAN AND KASHMIR: THE HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SETTING (PDF). UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1.
54. Osimi, Muhammad (1992). History of Civilizations of Central Asia (vol. 4, part-1). Motilal Banarsidass, 1992. ISBN 9788120815957.
55. A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West ..., Volume 1 By H.A. Rose. 1997. p. 489. ISBN 9788185297682.
56. The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, p. 212
57. The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pp. 227-228
58. Jackson, Roy (2010). Mawlana Mawdudi and Political Islam: Authority and the Islamic State. Routledge. ISBN 9781136950360.
59. "An Outline of the History of Persia During the Last Two Centuries (A.D. 1722-1922)". Edward G. Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 33. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
60. Ian Copland; Ian Mabbett; Asim Roy; et al. (2012). A History of State and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 161.
61. John Clark Marshman (18 November 2010). History of India from the earliest period to the close of the East India Company's Government. ISBN 9781108021043.
62. Grewal, Royina (2007). In the Shadow of the Taj: A Portrait of Agra. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-1431-0265-6.
63. Binita Mehta (2002). Widows, Pariahs, and Bayadères: India as Spectacle. Bucknell University Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-0-8387-5455-9.
64. B. N. Pande (1996). Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan: Evaluation of Their Religious Policies. University of Michigan. ISBN 978-81-85220-38-3.
65. B. Cohen (2007). Kingship and Colonialism in India's Deccan: 1850-1948. Springer Publishing. pp. 159–161. ISBN 978-0-230-60344-8.
66. Diamantides, Marinos; Gearey, Adam (2011). Islam, Law and Identity. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN 9781136675652.
67. Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr (1996). Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 45–6. ISBN 0195096959.
68. Hardy 1972, p. 254.
69. Hardy 1972, p. 254-255.
70. Hardy 1972, p. 255.
71. Metcalf 2009, p. 31.
72. Metcalf 2009, p. 31-32.
73. Metcalf 2009, p. 32.
74. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 6.
75. Eaton 1993, p. 115.
76. Eaton 1993, p. 116.
77. Eaton 1993, p. 117.
78. Eaton 1993, p. 118.
79. Metcalf & Metcalf 2002, p. 7.
80. Talbot & Singh 2009, p. 27.
81. Eaton 1993, p. 119.
82. Eaton 1993, p. 269.
83. Eaton 1985, p. 120.
84. Hardy 1972, p. 27.
85. Eaton 1985, p. 120-121.
86. Eaton 1985, p. 121.
87. Eaton 1993, p. 282.
88. Eaton 1985, p. 122.
89. . sufisaints.com website. Sufi Saints. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
90. Definition of Naat on definitions.net website Retrieved 7 December 2018
91. Retrieved 7 December 2018
92. "CIA – The World Factbook – Afghanistan". Cia.gov. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
93. "The Future of the Global Muslim Population". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
94. "CIA – The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
95. . Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 14 May 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
96. "Maldives". Law.emory.edu. 21 February 1920. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
97. Maldives – Religion, countrystudies.us
98. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
99. Population by religions 17 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Statistics Division of the Government of Pakistan
100. . 13 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
101. Metcalf 2009, p. xvii–xviii.
102. Robinson 2010, p. 226.
103. Robinson 2010, p. 226-227.
104. Robinson 2010, p. 227.
105. Robinson 2010, p. 228.
106. Robinson 2010, p. 27.
107. Pratik Patnaik (2 December 2020). "Caste Among Indian Muslims Is a Real Issue. So Why Deny Them Reservation?". The Wire.
108. Khanam 2013, pp. 120–121.
109. Levesque 2020, p. 4.
110. Gautier, Laurence; Levesque, Julien (July 2020). "Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 30 (3): 383–393. doi:10.1017/S1356186320000139. ISSN 1356-1863.
111. "Ashraf: Islamic Caste Group". Britannica. 2021.
112. Delage 2014.
113. Mughees Ahmed (2009), "Local-bodies or local biradari system: An analysis of the role of biradaries in the local bodies system of the Punjab" (PDF), Pakistan Journal of History and Culture, 30 (1): 81–92
114. "Sufi Woman Beaten by Inmate in Gharchak Prison". Center for Human Rights in Iran. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

Sources

• Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
• Delage, Remy (29 September 2014), "Muslim Castes in India", Books & Ideas, College De France
• Eaton, Richard (1985), "Approaches to the Study of Conversion to Islam in India", in Richard C. Martin (ed.), Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies (1st ed.), Tucson: University of Arizona PressB, pp. 107–123
• Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1993), The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-08077-5
• Hardy, Peter (1972), The Muslims of British India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-09783-3
• Jalal, Ayesha; Bose, Sugata (1998), Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (1st ed.), Sang-e-Meel Publications
• Jalal, Ayesha (2014), The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-05289-5
• Khanam, Azra (2013), Muslim Backward Classes: A Sociological Perspective, SAGE, ISBN 978-81-321-1650-9
• Kugle, Scott A. (2004), "Islam in South Asia", in Richard C. Martin (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World: M-Z, index, Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 634–641, ISBN 978-0-02-865605-2
• Kulke, Hermanne (1998), A History of India (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-15482-6
• Levesque, Julien (2020), Debates on Muslim Caste in North India and Pakistan, HAL
• Ludden, David (2002), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld, ISBN 978-1-85168-237-9
• Maddison, Angus (2007), Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-1-4008-3138-8
• Metcalf, Barbara D.; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2002), A Concise History of India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-63974-3
• Metcalf, Barbara D. (2009), Islam in South Asia in Practice, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-1-4008-3138-8
• Muzaffar Alam; Phillip B. Calkins. "North India under Muslim hegemony, c. 1200–1526". India. Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Robb, Peter (2002), A History of India (1st ed.), Palgrave, ISBN 978-0-333-69129-8
• Robinson, Francis (2010), "South Asia to 1919", The Islamic World in the Age of Western Dominance, The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 5, Cambridge University Press, pp. 212–239, ISBN 978-1-316-17578-1
• Stein, Burton (1998), A History of India (1st ed.), Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 978-0-631-20546-3
• Talbot, Ian; Singh, Gurharpal (2009), The Partition of India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85661-4
• Talbot, Ian (2016), A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-21659-2