Islam is the second-most practised religion in the Republic of India after Hinduism, with 13.4% of the country's population (over 160 million as per 2001 census), though this is a rough estimate and the number is said to be a lot higher [
Islam came to India with Muslim invasions and Arab trade to the Malabar Coast in the 7th–8th century. Islamic expansion arrived in north India in the 12th century and Islam has since become a part of India's religious and cultural heritage.] Over the years, there has been significant integration of Hindu and Muslim cultures across India and the Muslims have played a prominent role in India's economic rise and cultural influence.
Matters of jurisdiction involving Muslims in India related to marriage, inheritance and wakf properties are governed by the Muslim Personal Law,[ and the courts have ruled that Sharia or Muslim law, holds precedence for Muslims over Indian civil law in such matters
Population
| Islam by country |
|---|
 |
 Islam portal |
India's Muslim population is the world's third largest[10] and the world's largest Muslim-minority population.[11] 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 Middle East.[12][13][14]
The largest concentrations – about 47% of all Muslims in India, according to the 2001 census – live in the three 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). 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 top three largest Muslim population (along withIndonesia and Pakistan). India has a rough estimate of 160 million Muslims, but the number is a lot higher. Records show India has more Muslims than Pakistan [15].
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 neighbouring Bangladesh, 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 of Hindus.[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 affect 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]
Origins
Sources indicate that the castes among Muslims developed as the result of the concept of Kafa'a.[29][30][31] Those who are referred to as Ashrafs (see also Sharif) are presumed to have a superior status derived from their foreign Arab ancestry,[32][33] while the Ajlafs are assumed to be converts from Hinduism, and have a lower status. Actual Muslim social practice, including in India, points to the existence of sharp social hierarchies that numerous Muslim scholars have sought to provide appropriate Islamic sanction through elaborate rules of fiqh associated with the notion of kafa'a.[citation needed]
Most prominent Muslim scholars like Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi and Ashraf Ali Faruqui Thanvi have championed the notion of caste superiority based on birth.[citation needed] It is argued that Muslims of Arab origin (Sayyeds and Shaikhs) are superior to non-Arab or Ajami Muslims, and so while a man who claims Arab origin can marry an Ajami woman, the reverse is not possible. Likewise, they argue, a Pathan Muslim man can marry a Julaha (Ansari) Mansuri (Dhunia,) Rayin (Kunjra) or Quraishi (Qasai or butchers) woman, but an Ansari, Rayin, Mansuri and Quraishi man cannot marry a Pathan woman since they consider these castes to be inferior to Pathans.
Many of these ulama also believed that it is best to marry within one own caste. The practice of endogamous marriage in one's caste is strictly observed in India.[34][35]Interestingly, in three genetic studies representing the whole of South Asian Muslims, it was found that the Muslim population was overwhelmingly similar to the local non-Muslims associated with minor but still detectable levels of gene flow from outside, primarily from Iran and Central Asia, rather than directly from the Arabian Peninsula.[13]
Early History of Islam in India
Trade relations have existed between Arabia and the Indian subcontinent from ancient times. Even in the pre-Islamic era, Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which linked them with the ports of South East Asia. Newly Islamised Arabs were Islam's first contact with India. According to Historians Elliot and Dowson in their book The History of India as told by its own Historians, the first ship bearing Muslim travellers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 AD. H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India[37] 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” is also a reliable work.[38] This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals,[39] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.[40] 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.[41]
The first Indian mosque, Cheraman Juma Masjid, is thought to have been built in 629 A.D, purportedly at the behest of Rama Varma Kulashekhara, who is considered the first Indian Muslim, during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 571–632) in Kodungallur, Kerala by Malik Bin Deenar.[42][43][44][45]
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.[41]
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 Empireand conducted several raids deeper into modern day India. In 11th century, Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud played significant role. 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 Renaissancethat "some major Sanskrit texts began to be translated during the reign of the second Abbasid caliph al-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."[46]
No comments:
Post a Comment