Islam in India: Encyclopedia - Islam in India

Islam in India

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Islam is the second-largest religion in India, where Muslims number around 137 million people (Census 2001). India has the third-largest population of Muslims in the world.

Since its introduction to India, Islam has made valuable religious, philosophy, culture, social and political contributions to Indian history, heritage and life. It has also been a source of social, religious, political and military conflict over one thousand years.

Islam in India - Famous Indian Muslims

Some of the many famous living Indian Muslims include President of India Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, IT czar Azim Premji, tabla player Zakir Hussain, actor Shah Rukh Khan, cricketeers Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, poet Javed Akhtar, musical composer Allah Rakha Rehman and tennis player Sania Mirza.

Islam in India - Population Statistics

Islam is India's largest minority religion, with Muslims officially comprising 13.4 percent of the country's population, or 137 million people as of 2001. The largest concentrations--about 47 % of all Muslims in India--live in the states of Bihar (13.7 million), West Bengal (20.2 million), and Uttar Pradesh (30.7 million), according to the 2001 census. Muslims represent a majority of the local population only in Jammu and Kashmir (67 percent in 2001) and Lakshadweep (95 percent). High concentrations of Muslims are found in the eastern states of Assam (31 percent) and West Bengal (25 percent), and in the southern state of Kerala (25 percent). Muslims are generally more educated, urban, integrated and prosperous in the Western and Southern states of India than in the Northern and Eastern ones. India has the third largest Muslim population (after Indonesia and Pakistan ) and also the second largest Shia Muslim population (after Iran) in the world.

Islam in India - Illegal Immigrants from Bangladesh

Indian officials charge that ever since 1971, there has been a steady and growing number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh entering the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya. Various sources and authorities estimate the number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh living in India around 10-15 million.

This influx has seriously increased the Muslim population of Assam, Bengal and Tripura, causing ethnic and communal tensions, and socio-economic conflicts as well.

Islam in India - The History of Islam in India

• Islamic invasion of India
• Islamic Empires in India
• Mughal era

Islam in India - Islamic Traditions in South Asia

A significant aspect of Indian Islam is the importance of shrines attached to the memory of great Sufi saints. Sufism is a mystical path (tarika) as distinct from the legalistic path of the sharia. A Sufi attains a direct vision of oneness with God, often on the edges of orthodox behavior, and can thus become a Pir (living saint) who may take on disciples ([murid]s) and set up a spiritual lineage that can last for generations. Orders of Sufis became important in India during the thirteenth century following the ministry of Moinuddin Chishti (1142-1236), who settled in Ajmer, Rajasthan, and attracted large numbers of converts to Islam because of his holiness. His Chishtiyya order went on to become the most influential Sufi lineage in India, although other orders from Central Asia and Southwest Asia also reached to India and played a major role in the spread of Islam. Many Sufis were well known for weaving music, dance, intoxicants, and local folktales into their songs and lectures. In this way, they created a large literature in regional languages that embedded Islamic culture deeply into older South Asian traditions.

In the case of many great teachers, the memory of their holiness has been so intense that they are still viewed as active intercessors with God, and their tombs have become the site of rites and prayers by disciples and lay people alike. Tales of miraculous deeds associated with the tombs of great saints have attracted large numbers of pilgrims attempting to gain cures for physical maladies or solutions to personal problems. The tomb of the Pir thus becomes a dargah (gateway) to God and the focus for a wide range of rituals, such as daily washing and decoration by professional attendants, touching or kissing the tomb or contact with the water that has washed it, hanging petitions on the walls of the shrine surrounding the tomb, and giving money.

The descendants of the original pir are sometimes seen as inheritors of his spiritual energy and as pirs in their own right. They may dispense amulets sanctified by contact with them or with the tomb. The annual celebration of the Pir's death is a major event at important shrines, attracting hundreds of thousands of devotees for celebrations that may last for days. Free communal kitchens and distribution of sweets are also big attractions of these festivals, at which Muslim fakirs, or wandering ascetics, sometimes appear and where public demonstrations of self-mortification, such as miraculous piercing of the body and spiritual possession of devotees, sometimes occur. Every region of India can boast of at least one major Sufi shrine that attracts expressive devotion, which remains important, especially for Muslim women.

The leadership of the Muslim community has pursued various directions in the evolution of Indian Islam during the twentieth century. The most conservative wing has typically rested on the education system provided by the hundreds of religious training institutes (madrasa) throughout the country, which have tended to stress the study of the Qur'an and Islamic texts in Arabic and Persian but little else. Several national movements have emerged from this sector of the Muslim community. The Jamaati Islami (Islamic Party), founded in 1941, advocates the establishment of an overtly Islamic government through peaceful, democratic, and non-missionary activities. The Indian branch of the party had about 3,000 active members and 40,000 sympathizers in the mid-1980s. The Tablighi Jamaat (Outreach Society) became active after the 1940s as a movement, primarily among the ulema (religious leaders), stressing personal renewal, prayer, a missionary and cooperative spirit, and attention to orthodoxy. It has been highly critical of the kind of activities that occur in and around Sufi shrines and remains a minor if respected force in the training of the ulema. Conversely, other ulema have upheld the legitimacy of mass religion, including exaltation of pirs and the memory of the Prophet. A powerful secularising drive led by Syed Ali Khan resulted in the foundation of Aligarh Muslim University (1875 as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College) -- with a broader, more modern curriculum -- and other major Muslim universities. This educational drive has remained the most dominant force in guiding the Muslim community.

Islam in India - Post - Independence

• Muslims in India Census 2001
• IndianMuslims.info Informational website on Indian Muslims
• South Asian Islam Links

Islam in India - Literature

• Elliot and Dowson: The History of India as told by its own Historians, New Delhi reprint, 1990.
• Majumdar, R. C. (ed.), The History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume VI, The Delhi Sultanate, Bombay, 1960; Volume VII, The Mughal Empire, Bombay, 1973.
• M K A Siddiqui (ed.), Marginal Muslim Communities In India, Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi (2004) (review)

See also

• Islam by country,
• Indian Muslim nationalism
• Islam in Pakistan
• Islam in Bangladesh

Categories: Pages needing attention | Articles to be expanded | Country Studies | Islam by country | Religion in India

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