Islam in India
By : Drs. Agus Subandi, MBA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is about Islam in the Republic of India. See Islam in South Asia for wider definitions of "India"
| Indian Muslims |
 |
| Total population |
| approx. 160.9 million (2009)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Large concentration in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and West Bengal. Large populations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Maharashtra and Kerala |
| Languages |
| Religion |
Islam is the second-most practiced religion in the Republic of India afterHinduism, with more than 13.4% of the country's population (over 138 million as per 2001 census).[2][3]
Contrary to popular belief, Islam came to India prior to Muslim invasions of India with the Arab merchants and traders on the Malabar Coast. Islam arrived in north India in the 12th century and has since become a part of India's rich religious and cultural heritage.[4] Over the years, there has been significant integration of Hindu and Muslim cultures across India[5][6] and the Muslims have played a prominent role inIndia's economic rise and cultural influence.
Matters of jurisdiction involving Muslims in India related to marriage, inheritance andwakf properties are governed by the Muslim Personal Law,[7] and the courts have ruled that Sharia or Muslim law, holds precedence for Muslims over Indian civil law in such matters.[8] India is the only country in the world where the government subsidizes the airfare for the Hajj pilgrimage, spending 
47,454 per passenger as of 2007.[9][10]
47,454 per passenger as of 2007.[9][10]| Contents |
Population
India's Muslim population is the world's third largest[11] and the world's largest Muslim-minority population.[12] Most of the Muslims in India belong to Indian ethnic groups, with minor to obvious levels of gene flow from outside, primarily from Persia and Central Asia.[13][14] [15]
The largest concentrations-about 47% of all Muslims in India, according to the 2001 census—live in the 3 states of Uttar Pradesh (30.7 million) (18.5%), West Bengal (20.2 million) (25%), and Bihar (13.7 million) (16.5%). Muslims represent a majority of the local population in Lakshadweep (93% in 2001) and Jammu and Kashmir (67% in 2001). High concentrations of Muslims are found in the eastern states of Assam (31%) and West Bengal (25%), and in the southern states of Kerala (24.7%) and Andhra Pradesh (14%). Officially, India has the third largest Muslim population (after Indonesia and Pakistan).
Population growth rate
Muslims in India have a much higher total fertility rate (TFR) compared to that of other religious communities in the country.[16] Because of higher birthrates and an influx of migrants from neighboringBangladesh, the percentage of Muslims in India has risen from about 10% in 1991 to 13% in 2001.[17]The Muslim population growth rate is higher by more than 10% of the total growth compared to that ofHindus.[18] However, since 1991, the largest decline in fertility rates among all religious groups in India has occurred among Muslims.[19]
Demographers have put forward several factors behind high birthrates among Muslims in India. According to sociologists Roger and Patricia Jeffery, socio-economic conditions rather than religious determinism is the main reason for higher Muslim birthrates. Indian Muslims are poorer and less educated compared to their Hindu counterparts.[20] Noted Indian sociologist, B.K. Prasad, argues that since India's Muslim population is more urban compared to their Hindu counterparts, infant mortality rates among Muslims is about 12% lower than those among Hindus.[21]
However, other sociologists point out that religious factors can explain high Muslim birthrates. Surveys indicate that Muslims in India have been relatively less willing to adopt family planning measures and that Muslim women have a larger fertility period since they get married at a much younger age compared to Hindu women.[22] A study conducted by K.C. Zacharia in Kerala in 1983 revealed that on average, the number of children born to a Muslim woman was 4.1 while a Hindu woman gave birth to only 2.9 children. Religious customs and marriage practices were cited as some of the reasons behind the high Muslim birth rate.[23] According to Paul Kurtz, Muslims in India are much more resistant to modern contraception than are Hindus and, as a consequence, the decline in fertility rate among Hindu women is much higher compared to that of Muslim women.[16][24] The National Family and Health survey conducted in 1998-99 highlighted that Indian Muslim couples consider a substantially higher number of children to be ideal for a family as compared to Hindu couples in India.[25] The same survey also pointed out that percentage of couples actively using family planning measures was more than 49 percent among Hindus against 37 percent among Muslims.[25] A 1996 survey conducted in the Lucknow district revealed that 34 percent of the Muslim women believed that family planning went against dictates of their religion while none of the Hindu women surveyed believed that religion was a barrier against family planning.[25]
According to a 2006 committee appointed by the Indian Prime Minister, by the end of the 21st century India's Muslim population will reach 320 to 340 million people (or 18% of India's total projected population).[26] Swapan Dasgupta, a prominent Indian journalist, has raised concerns that the higher Muslim population growth rate in India could adversely effect the country's social harmony.[27] Phillip Longman, a renowned demographer, remarked that the substantial difference between Muslim and Hindu birthrates could contribute to ethnic tension in India.[28]
History of Islam in India
Cheraman Perumal Juma Masjid in the Malabar Coast , probably the first Mosque in India
Contrary to popular belief, Islam came to South Asia prior to Muslim invasions of India. Islamic influence first came to be felt in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. Trade relations have existed between Arabia and the Indian subcontinent from ancient times. Even in thepre-Islamic era, Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which linked them with the ports ofSouth East Asia. 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 AD. H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India[30] claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century AD. Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum’s “Tuhfat al-Mujahidin” also is a reliable work.[31] This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals,[32] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.[33] It was with the advent of Islam that the Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went.[34]
Muslim neighborhood in Delhi circa 1852.
The first Indian mosque is thought to have been built in 629 A.D, purportedly at the behest of an unknown Chera dynasty ruler, who is considered the first Indian Muslim, during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 571–632) inKodungallur, Kerala by Malik Bin Deenar.[35][36][37]
In Malabar, the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam as they were more closely connected with the Arabs than others. Intensive missionary activities were carried out along the coast and a number of natives also embraced Islam. These new converts were now added to the Mappila community. Thus among the Mappilas, we find, both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the converts from among the local people.[38]
In the 8th century, the province of Sindh (in present day Pakistan) was conquered by an Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
In the first half of the 10th century, Mahmud of Ghazni added the Punjab to the Ghaznavid Empire and conducted several raids deeper into modern day India. A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century by Muhammad of Ghor. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.
Arab-Indian interactions
There is much evidence in history to show that Arabs and Muslims interacted with India and Indians from the very early days of Islam, if not before the arrival of Islam in Arabia. Arab traders transmitted the numeral system developed by Indians to the Middle East and Europe.
Many Sanskrit books were translated into Arabic as early as the Eighth century. George Saliba writes in his book 'Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance' that "some major Sanskrit texts began to be translated during the reign of the second Abbasid caliphal-Mansur [754-775], if not before; some texts on logic even before that, and it has been generally accepted that the Persian and Sanskrit texts, few as they were, were indeed the first to be translated."[39]
Spread of Sufi Islam
Main article: Sufism in India
Sufis (Islamic mystics) played an important role in the spread of Islam in India. They were very successful in spreading Islam, as many aspects of Sufi belief systems and practices had their parallels in Indian philosophical literature, in particular nonviolence and monism. The Sufis' orthodox approach towards Islam made it easier for Hindus to practice. Hazrat Khawaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Nizam-ud-din Auliya, Shah Jalal, Amir Khusro, Sarkar Sabir Pak, Shekh Alla-ul-Haq Pandwi, Ashraf Jahangir Semnani, Sarkar Waris Pak, Ata Hussain Fani Chishti trained Sufis for the propagation of Islam in different parts of India. Once the Islamic Empire was established in India, Sufis invariably provided a touch of colour and beauty to what might have otherwise been rather cold and stark reigns. The Sufi movement also attracted followers from theartisan and untouchable communities; they played a crucial role in bridging the distance between Islam and the indigenous traditions. Ahmad Sirhindi, a prominent member of the Naqshbandi Sufiadvocated the peaceful conversion of Hindus to Islam. Imam Ahmed Rida Khan contributed much in defending traditional and orthodox Islam in India by his famous work Fatawa Razvia.
Ahmadiyya Islam
See also: Ahmadiyya
India has a significant Ahmadiyya population.[40] Most of them live in Rajastan, Orissa, Haryana, Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and a few inPunjab in the area of Qadian. In India, Ahmadis are considered to be Muslims by the Government of India. This recognition is supported by a court verdict (Shihabuddin Koya vs. Ahammed Koya, A.I.R. 1971 Ker 206).[41] There is no legislation that declares Ahmadis non-Muslims or limits their activities,[41] but they are not allowed to sit on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a body of religious leaders India's government recognises as representative of Indian Muslims.[42]
Role in Indian independence movement
Further information: Indian independence movement
Tipu Sultan, also known as theTiger of Mysore, was one of the prominent Indian kings who fought against the British East India Company.
The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writers is documented in India's struggle against the British. Titu Mir raised a revolt against British. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai are Muslims who engaged in this purpose. Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan of Shahjehanpurconspired to loot the British treasury at Kakori (Lucknow). Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (popularly known as Frontier Gandhi), was a great nationalist who spent 45 of his 95 years of life in jail; Barakatullah of Bhopalwas one of the founders of the Ghadar party which created a network of anti-British organizations; Syed Rahmat Shah of the Ghadar party worked as an underground revolutionary in France and was hanged for his part in the unsuccessful Ghadar (mutiny) uprising in 1915; Ali Ahmad Siddiqui of Faizabad (UP) planned the Indian Mutiny in Malaya and Burma along with Syed Mujtaba Hussain of Jaunpur and was hanged in 1917; Vakkom Abdul Khadir of Kerala participated in the "Quit India" struggle in 1942 and was hanged; Umar Subhani, an industrialist and millionaire of Bombay provided Gandhi with congress expenses and ultimately died for the cause of independence. Among Muslim women, Hazrat Mahal, Asghari Begum, Bi Amma contributed in the struggle of freedom from the British.
The period starting from 1498 saw the rise of the naval and trading power of the European countries, as they increasingly projected their naval power and expanded their trading interests over the Indian subcontinent. Subsequently with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and in Europe, the European powers gained a significant technological and commercial advantage over the decaying Mughal Empire. They gradually began increasing their influence on the subcontinent.
Hyder Ali, and later his son Sultan Tipu were early to understand the threat of the British East India Company and resisted it. However, Tipu Sultan was finally defeated at Srirangapatnam in 1799. In Bengal, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah faced the expansionist aims of the British East India Company and fought the British. However, he lost at the battle of Plassey in 1757.
Maulana Azad was a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement and a strong advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. Shown here is Azad (left) with Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi in 1940.
The first ever Indian rebellion against the British saw itself in the Vellore Mutiny of 10th July, 1806 which left around 200 British Officers and troops dead or injured. But it was subdued by the British and the mutineers and the family of Tippu Sultan who were incarcerated in the Vellore Fort at that time had to pay a heavy price. It predates the First war of Independence, which is British imperialists called the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. And as a result of the Sepoy Mutiny, mostly the upper class Muslims were targeted by the Britishers, as under their leadership the war was mostly fought in and around Delhi. Thousands of kith and kins were shot or hanged near the gate of Red Fort, Delhi, which is now known as 'Khooni Darwaza'(the bloody gate). The renowned Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib(1797–1869) has given a vivid description of such massacre in his letters now published by the Oxford University Press 'Ghalib his life and letters'compiled and translated by Ralph Russel and Khurshidul Islam(1994).
As the Muslim power waned with the gradual demise of the Mughal Empire, the Muslims of India faced a new challenge - that of protecting their culture and interests, yet interacting with the alien, technologically advantaged power. In this period, the Ulama of Firangi Mahal, based first at Sehali in District Barabanki, and since 1690s based in Lucknow, educated and guided the Muslims. The Firangi Mahal led and steered the Muslims of India. The moulanas and moulvis (religious teachers) of Darul-uloom, Deoband (UP) also played significant role in freedom struggle of India declaring subjugation of an unjust rule is against Islamic tenets.
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