islam in india

History of Islam in India

Jama Masjid, Delhi, one of the largest mosques in Asia-Pacific region.^[5]

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 between Arabia and the subcontinent are very ancient. Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which was a link between them and ports of South East Asia, 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 AD. H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India^[6] 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^[7].This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals^[8], and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.^[9] 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.^[10]

Muslim neighborhood in Delhi circa 1852.

The first Indian mosque was built in 629 A.D, at the behest of Cheraman Perumal, during the life time of Muhammad (c. 571–632) in Kodungallur by Malik Bin Deenar.^[11][12][13]
In Malabar, the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam because 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 Mapilas, we find, both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the converts from among the local people^[14]
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.
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 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."^[15]

Spread of Sufi Islam

Main Article: Sufism in India

Tomb of Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh

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' unorthodox 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, Waris Pak 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 the artisan 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 Sufi advocated the peaceful conversion of Hindus to Islam. Imam Ahmed Rida Khan contributed a lot by defending traditional and orthodox Islam in India by his famous work Fatawa Razvia.

Role in Indian independence movement

Further information: Indian independence movement

Tipu Sultan, also known as the Tiger 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. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai are Muslims who engaged in this purpose. Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan of Shahjehanpur conspired 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 Bhopal was 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 gave his life 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.
The first ever Indian rebellion against the British saw itself in the Vellore Mutiny of 10^th 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 popularly known as 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, 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.

Maulana Azad was a prominent leader of the Indian National Congress and famously rebuked Muslim League's two-nation theory and instead advocated for Hindu-Muslim unity. Shown here is Azad (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India.

Other famous Muslims who fought for freedom against the British rule: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mehmud Hasan of Darul Uloom Deoband who was implicated in the famous Silk Letter Conspiracy to overthrow the British through an armed struggle, Husain Ahmed Madani, former Shaikhul Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Hakeem Ajmal Khan, Hasrat Mohani, Dr. Syed Mahmud, Professor Maulavi Barkatullah, Dr. Zakir Husain , Saifuddin Kichlu, Allama Shibli Nomani, Vakkom Abdul Khadir, Dr. Manzoor Abdul Wahab, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Hakeem Nusrat Husain, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Samad Achakzai, Colonel Shahnawaz, Dr. M.A.Ansari, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, Ansar Harwani, Tak Sherwani, Nawab Viqarul Mulk, Nawab Mohsinul Mulk, Mustsafa Husain, VM Ubaidullah, SR Rahim, Badruddin Tyabjee, and Moulvi Abdul Hamid.
Until the 1930s Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a member of the Indian National Congress and was part of the freedom struggle. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher, was a strong proponent of Hindu - Muslim unity and an undivdided India until the 1920s.
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali struggled for the emancipation of the Muslims in the overall Indian context, and struggled for freedom alongside Mahatama Gandhi and Maulana Abdul Bari of Firangi Mahal. Until the 1930s, the Muslims of India broadly conducted their politics alongside their countrymen, in the overall context of an undivided India.
In the late 1920s, recognizing the different perspectives of the Indian National Congress and that of the All India Muslim League, Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal presented the concept of a separate Muslim homeland in India in the 1930s. Consequently, the All India Muslim League raised the demand for a separate Muslim homeland. This demand was raised in Lahore in 1940 (Known as the Pakistan Resolution). Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal had died by then, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan,Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, and many others led the Pakistan Movement.
Initially, the demand for separate Muslim homeland(s) was within a framework of a large, independent, undivided India with autonomous regions governed by the Muslims. A number of other options to give the Muslim minority in India adequate protection and political representation in a free, undivided India, were also debated. However, when no common formula leading to early independence of India from the British Raj could be agreed between the Indian National Congress, the All India Muslim League, and the British colonial government, the All India Muslim League pressed unequivocally with its demand for a completely independent, sovereign country, Pakistan.