Islam in South Asia

Muslims in South Asia
United Nations cartographic map of South Asia
Total population
c. 652.8 million (2019)
(32% of the population) Increase[1][2][3]
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan243,530,000[4] (2024)
India200,000,000[5] (2021)
Bangladesh150,400,000[6] (2022)
Afghanistan41,128,771[7][8] (2022)
Sri Lanka2,131,240[9] (2023)
Nepal1,483,060[10] (2021)
Maldives560,000[11][12] (2021)
Bhutan727[13][14] (2020)
Religions
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Languages
Liturgical (Universal)
Common (Regional)
Traditional (Community)
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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.

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, Malabar Muslims on the western 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 (mosques) in the 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, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region[29] 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.[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 the 1947 partition of India, South Asia has been largely governed by modern states,[34][35] with Pakistan, which later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1971, emerging as the primary Islamic country in the region.

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  16. ^ Talbot & Singh 2009, p. 27, footnote 3.
  17. ^ Pechilis, Karen; Raj, Selva J. (1 January 2013). South Asian Religions: Tradition and Today. Routledge. ISBN 9780415448512.
  18. ^ "10 Countries With the Largest Muslim Populations, 2010 and 2050". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  19. ^ "World's second oldest mosque is in India". Bahrain tribune. Archived from the original on 6 July 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2006.
  20. ^ Ibn Nadim, "Fihrist", 1037
  21. ^ "History". Malik Deenar Grand Juma Masjid. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  22. ^ Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018. 98.
  23. ^ a b Kumar(Gujarati Magazine), Ahmadabad,July 2012,P 444
  24. ^ Metcalf 2009, p. 1.
  25. ^ "Oldest Indian mosque: Trail leads to Gujarat". The Times of India. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Oldest Indian mosque: Trail leads to Gujarat". The Times of India. 6 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  27. ^ Sharma, Indu (22 March 2018). "Top 11 Famous Muslim Religious Places in Gujarat". Gujarat Travel Blog. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  28. ^ 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
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  33. ^ Jo Van Steenbergen (2020). "2.1". A History of the Islamic World, 600–1800: Empire, Dynastic Formations, and Heterogeneities in Pre-Modern Islamic West-Asia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1000093070.
  34. ^ Jalal, Ayesha; Bose, Sugata (1998), Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (1st ed.), Sang-e-Meel Publications
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