Islam in Uttar Pradesh

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For Uttar Pradesh's Muslims who settled in Pakistan, see Muhajir (Pakistan).

Muslims of Uttar Pradesh

ہندوستانی مسلمان
Awadhi • Braj Bhasha

Islam in Uttar Pradesh is the second largest religion in the state with 38,483,967 adherents in 2011, forming 19.26% of the total population. Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have also been referred to as Hindustani Musalman (Urdu: ہندوستانی مسلمان).[1] They do not form a unified ethnic community, but are differentiated by sectarian and Baradari divisions, as well as by language and geography. Nevertheless, the community shares some unifying cultural factors. Uttar Pradesh has more Muslims than any Muslim-majority country in the world except Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran and Turkey.[2]

History

Early history

Zenith of the Ghaznavid Empire (1030 CE), with vassal states that included much of present-day Uttar Pradesh.[3]

The earliest traces of Islam in Uttar Pradesh can be traced back to the early 11th century (1000-1030CE), when the religion was introduced to the region through various

Ghaznavid attacks and incursions.[4]

However, the first consolidated Muslim rule over much of

Qadiri and Naqshbandi.[6]

Many Sufi missionaries from the Middle East and Central Asia migrated and settled in South Asia. Many natives converted to

Urdu speaking Muslim community of South Asia
.

Najibabad, Rohilkhand c. 1784-94. Rohilkhand derives its name from the Rohillas, groups of Pashtun Muslims who settled in northwestern Uttar Pradesh during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Rohilla leader Daud Khan was awarded the

Badaun.[7][8]

A Sayyid cavalryman belonging to the Saadat-e Barah clan native to the Upper Doab, who were kingmakers of the Mughal empire

The

Ashraf
status.

Two boys wearing caps, seated on the floor on either side of a wooden frame used for embroidering caps and slippers.

In western Uttar Pradesh, there was conversion to

Allahabad
.

Later history

Watercolour on paper depicting Tilly Kettle painting a portrait of Shuja ud-Daula and his ten sons.

When the

Muslim culture and the development of Urdu literature.[13][14]

Of all the Muslim states and dependencies of the Mughal Empire,

Shia culture in Uttar Pradesh
.

By the early 19th century, the British had established their control over what is now Uttar Pradesh. This led to an end of almost six centuries of Muslim rule over Uttar Pradesh.

Skinner's Horse, raised in Hansi
Gardner's Horse, raised in Mainpuri and Farrukhabad

The British began to hire indigenous cavalry in their conquered provinces. The end of Muslim rule saw a large number of unemployed Muslim horsemen, who were employed in the British army.[15] In early British India, the cavalry was almost entirely composed of Muslims, as Hindus were "not so much disposed as the Mahomedans to the duties of a trooper".[16][17] These cavalry regiments were primarily recruited among Hindustani Musalman biradaris, such as the Ranghar(Rajput Muslims), Sheikhs, Sayyids, Mughals, and localized Pathans, who made up three-fourths of the cavalry branch of the British army.[18][19] Irregular cavalry regiments such as Skinner's Horse, Gardner, Hearsay's Horse and Tait's Horse preserved the traditions of cavalry under the former Mughal empire, which had a political purpose because it absorbed pockets of cavalrymen who might otherwise become disaffected plunderers.[20]

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi
Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohsin-ul-Mulk

The British rulers created a class of feudal landowners who were generally referred to as

Barelvi sub-sect, which was much more tolerant of the customs and traditions of the local population.[6] However, the Barelvis under Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi opposed Hindu-Muslim unity, declaring that the Quran forbade friendship with disbelievers, warning that this could result in Muslims losing their identity.[21] He opposed the Deobandi leaders for their political cooperation with Hindu figures, such as Gandhi. According to Ashraf Ali Thanwi the Shari'a norms mandate "distinguishing the Muslim community[qawm], the maintenance of difference in our clothing, our manners, our way of speaking, and our behavior." He forbade the wearing of the English coat and pants, tying a Dhoti[worn by Hindu men], Gurgabi shoes and Lehenga, which were "things that are purely characteristics of other communities[aqwam]".[22]


The role of the

All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1905. Many of the leaders belonged to the Ashraf category. Uttar Pradesh Muslims created the movement for a separate Muslim state, later known as Pakistan. The eventual effect of this movement led to the partition of India, and creation of Pakistan. This led to an exodus of many Muslim professionals to Pakistan, and the division of the Uttar Pradesh Muslims, with the formation of the Muhajir ethnic group of Pakistan. The role of the Aligarh Muslim University was extremely important in the creation of Pakistan.[23]

Modern history

The net result of partition and independence in 1947 was the division of the

Ashraf leaders such as Abdul Majeed Khwaja in Aligarh and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai in Barabanki. However, from the late 1960s onwards, there was an increase in the number of communal riots, culminating in the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992. This period has also seen the decline of Muslim support for the Congress Party.[25]

From the 1990s there have been two issues confronting the Muslim community: the

Hindu castes and Muslim Ajlaf groups like the Halalkhor and Lal Begi.[26]

Culture

Social system

Some South Asian Muslims stratify their society according to quoms.

Fareedi biradari.[28] This system of stratification, unlike the Hindu caste system, lacks any concept of ritual purity or pollution.[29]

It is commonly believed[

Hindu Dalit communities, though the term is never used in Uttar Pradesh. Groups that tend to fall in this category include the Halalkhor and Lal Begi.[30] Uttar Pradesh Muslims often identify themselves in smaller units called biradaris, which are localized lineage groupings; for example, the Qidwai Shaikh.[31]

Communities in the Ajlaf category were traditionally associated with the practice of a particular craft. For example, the

Saifi were blacksmiths. These artisan communities call themselves biradaries and each is characterised by strict endogamy. In the older parts of town and cities in Uttar Pradesh, they are also characterised by residential segregation.[32] Among other traditional artisan biradaris in UP are the Mansoori, Bhatiara, Bhisti, Dhobi, Muslim Halwai, Teli and Raj, which were at one time associated with a particular craft or trade.[33]

In addition to occupational specialization, biradaris are also concentrated in a particular geographic area. For example, the

Muslim Tyagi
. They often live in their own villages and follow distinct customs.

The population is further divided by linguistic division. Muslims in Uttar Pradesh speak

Awadhi, Kauravi, and Braj Bhasha
.

Dress

Pensioned Indian Muslim Sipahi of Moradabad, United Provinces, 1839-1842
Muslim women in Purdah in India

Both Muslim men and women wore the shalwar kameez,[34] while men also wore the sherwani.[35] Indian Muslim women in urban areas historically also wore a white purdah, which hung around the figure around a small skull-cap.[36]

Cuisine

Traditional North Indian Muslim cuisine

The

North Indian Muslim
culture.

Sufi orders

Salim Chisti
in Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh

Ahmed Rida Khan contributed a lot by defending traditional and orthodox Islam in India through his work Fatawa Razvia.[citation needed
]

Demographics

Population by district

The following table gives the proportion of Muslims in the population of every district in Uttar Pradesh according to the 2011 Census. Excluded are the districts of Hapur, Sambhal and Shamli which did not exist at the time of the census.

Muslim Population in Uttar Pradesh by District[37]
District Total Population Muslim Population %
Agra 4,418,797 411,313 9.31%
Aligarh 3,673,889 729,283 19.85%
Ambedkar Nagar 2,397,888 401,678 16.75%
Auraiya 1,379,545 101,963 7.39%
Azamgarh 4,613,913 718,692 15.58%
Baghpat 1,303,048 364,583 27.98%
Bahraich 3,487,731 1,169,330 33.53%
Ballia 3,239,774 213,440 6.59%
Balrampur 2,148,665 805,975 37.51%
Banda 1,799,410 157,612 8.76%
Barabanki 3,260,699 737,106 22.61%
Bareilly 4,448,359 1,536,534 34.54%
Basti 2,464,464 364,510 14.79%
Bijnor 3,682,713 1,585,210 43.04%
Budaun 3,681,896 790,515 21.47%
Bulandshahr 3,499,171 777,407 22.22%
Chandauli 1,952,756 215,081 11.01%
Chitrakoot 991,730 34,559 3.48%
Deoria 3,100,946 358,539 11.56%
Etah 1,774,480 146,346 8.25%
Etawah 1,581,810 113,961 7.2%
Faizabad 2,470,996 365,806 14.8%
Farrukhabad 1,885,204 276,846 14.69%
Fatehpur 2,632,733 350,700 13.32%
Firozabad 2,498,156 314,812 12.6%
Gautam Buddh Nagar 1,648,115 215,500 13.08%
Ghaziabad 4,681,645 1,186,776 25.35%
Ghazipur 3,620,268 368,153 10.17%
Gonda 3,433,919 678,615 19.76%
Gorakhpur 4,440,895 403,847 9.09%
Hamirpur 1,104,285 91,269 8.26%
Hardoi 4,092,845 556,219 13.59%
Jalaun 1,689,974 171,581 10.15%
Jaunpur 4,494,204 483,750 10.76%
Jhansi 1,998,603 147,842 7.4%
Jyotiba Phule Nagar (Amroha) 1,840,221 750,368 40.78%
Kannauj 1,656,616 273,967 16.54%
Kanpur Dehat 1,796,184 176,327 9.82%
Kanpur Nagar 4,581,268 720,660 15.73%
Kanshiram Nagar 1,436,719 213,822 14.88%
Kaushambi 1,599,596 220,423 13.78%
Kheri 4,021,243 807,600 20.08%
Kushinagar 3,564,544 620,244 17.4%
Lalitpur 1,221,592 33,724 2.76%
Lucknow 4,589,838 985,070 21.46%
Mahamaya Nagar 1,564,708 159,448 10.19%
Mahoba 875,958 57,454 6.56%
Mahrajganj 2,684,703 458,650 17.08%
Mainpuri 1,868,529 100,723 5.39%
Mathura 2,547,184 216,933 8.52%
Mau 2,205,968 428,555 19.43%
Meerut 3,443,689 1,185,643 34.43%
Mirzapur 2,496,970 195,765 7.84%
Moradabad 4,772,006 2,248,392 47.12%
Muzaffarnagar 4,143,512 1,711,453 41.3%
Pilibhit 2,031,007 489,686 24.11%
Pratapgarh 3,209,141 452,394 14.1%
Prayagraj 5,954,391 796,756 13.38%
Rae Bareli 3,405,559 413,243 12.13%
Rampur 2,335,819 1,181,337 50.57%
Saharanpur 3,466,382 1,454,052 41.95%
Sant Kabir Nagar 1,715,183 404,410 23.58%
Sant Ravidas Nagar (Bhadohi) 1,578,213 203,887 12.92%
Shahjahanpur 3,006,538 527,581 17.55%
Shrawasti 1,117,361 343,981 30.79%
Siddharthnagar 2,559,297 748,073 29.23%
Sitapur 4,483,992 893,725 19.93%
Sonbhadra 1,862,559 103,567 5.56%
Sultanpur 3,108,367 650,261 20.92%
Unnao 3,108,367 363,453 11.69%
Varanasi 3,676,841 546,987 14.88%
STATE[i] 199,812,341 38,483,967 19.26%
  1. ^ Percentages in 'STATE' are calculated out of total population of UP, depicting the share of each religion's population

Language

Opening pages of the Urdu divan of Ghalib, 1821

Urdu has much in common with the

Perso-Arabic script with literary conventions and specialized vocabulary being retained from Persian, Arabic, and Turkic; the new standard was eventually called Urdu.[39]

According to the Tashih Gharaib-ul-Lughat by Khan-i Arzu, the "zaban-e Urdu-e Shahi [the Imperial Urdu] had attained special importance in the time of

"Moors" by European writers,[41] such as the English priest John Ovington in 1689 after his visit to India:[42]

The language of the Moors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India, but is oblig'd to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the Moors dialect is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from the Heathens, or from the Persians, or other Nations.

Urdu is often

British India
and consequent continued communal tensions, native speakers of both Hindi and Urdu increasingly assert them to be completely distinct languages.

Urdu's vocabulary remains heavily influenced by the Persian language.[49] Since the 1800s, English started to replace Persian as the official language in India and it also contributed to influence the Urdu language. As of today, Urdu's vocabulary is strongly influenced by the English language.

Controversy over reservations

Studies including the

Scheduled Castes. However, the state has conceded that certain baradaris within the larger Muslim community of Uttar Pradesh deserve reservations in jobs and quotas in educational institutions. This principle has been established by the Mandal Commission.[50]

Many of these baradaris that have been traditionally associated with a particular craft have been granted

Muslim Kamboh have been included. Approximately 44 communities have been included in the Uttar Pradesh OBC list.[53]

The Government of India made an announcement to establish a sub-quota of 4.5% for minorities within the existing 27% reservation meant for the OBC. This decision was said to be made to address Muslim communities that have been granted OBC status are unable to compete with wealthier section of the Hindu OBC community.[54] However, Justice Sachar who headed the Sachar Committee criticized the government decision saying, "Such promises will not help the backward section of minorities. It is like befooling them. These people are making tall claims just to win elections"[55]

Notable people

Notable Muslims from Uttar Pradesh include actress Shabana Azami, Vice President of India

Salman Khursheed, and cricketer Mohammad Kaif
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Indian Census 2001 – Religion Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Muslim Population by Country". The Future of the Global Muslim Population. Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
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  4. ^ "History of Uttar Pradesh".
  5. ^ Muslims in India edited by Zafar Imam Orient Longman
  6. ^ a b Muslim Peoples: volume 2: A World Ethnographic Survey edited by Richard Weekes pages 823 to 828
  7. ^ An Eighteenth Century History of North India: An Account Of The Rise And Fall Of The Rohilla Chiefs In Janbhasha by Rustam Ali Bijnori by Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui Manohar Publications
  8. ^ Imperial Gazetteer of India by W M Hunter
  9. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh page 1047
  10. ^ Endogamy and Status Mobility among Siddiqui Shaikh in Social Stratication edited by Dipankar Gupta
  11. ^ The Caste System of North India by E A H Blunt, first edition in 1931 by Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study in Culture Contact by Ghaus Ansari
  13. ^ The Rise and Decline of the Ruhela by Iqbal Hussain
  14. ^ The crisis of empire in Mughal north India : Awadh and the Punjab, 1707–48 / Muzaffar Alam
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  16. ^ John Philippart (1823). The East India Military Calendar: Containing the Services of General and Field Officers of the Indian Army · Volume 1.
  17. ^ Dr. Ijaz Ahmed (2022). New Dimensions of Indian Historiography : Historical Facts and Hindutva Interpretation. K.K. Publications. p. 297.
  18. ISBN 9788170623311
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  19. ^ Calcutta Review 1956. University of Calcutta. 1956. p. 38.
  20. ISBN 9780521663601
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  21. ISBN 9789354350092
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  22. ISBN 9780520970137
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  23. ^ Separatism among Indian Muslims : the politics of the United Provinces' Muslims 1860–1923 / Francis Robinson
  24. ^ Legacy of a divided nation: India's Muslims since independence By Mushirul Hasan
  25. ^ a b The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India By Paul R. Brass
  26. ^ Identity and Identification in India: Defining By Laura Dudley Jenkins
  27. ^ Barth, Fredrik (1962). "The System of Social Stratification in Swat, North Pakistan". In E. R. Leach (ed.). Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon, and North-West Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  28. ^ Caste and social stratification among Muslims in India, edited by Imtiaz Ahmad.
  29. ISBN 9788132116509
    .
  30. ^ Basic problems of OBC & Dalit Muslims / edited by Ashfaq Husain Ansari.
  31. ^ Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh (A Study of Culture Contact), Ghaus Ansari, Lucknow, 1960
  32. ISBN 0-8039-9422-2
  33. ^ People of India. Uttar Pradesh, general editor, K.S. Singh; editors, Amir Hasan, B.R. Rizvi, J.C. Das. ISBN 8173041148 (set)
  34. ISBN 9780252096686
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  35. ISBN 9781638865544
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  37. ^ "2011 Census of India".
  38. ^ "SZH: Brief History of Urdu Language". Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  39. ISBN 978-90-272-3812-2
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  40. ISBN 978-0-19-561643-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
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  42. ^ John Ovington (1994). A Voyage to Surat in the Year 1689. Asian Educational Services. p. 147.
  43. ^ "Bringing Order to Linguistic Diversity: Language Planning in the British Raj". Language in India. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  44. ^ "A Brief Hindi – Urdu FAQ". sikmirza. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  45. ^ "Hindi/Urdu Language Instruction". University of California, Davis. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  46. ^ "Ethnologue Report for Hindi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  47. ^ The Annual of Urdu studies, number 11, 1996, "Some notes on Hindi and Urdu", pp.204
  48. ^ "Urdu and it's [sic] Contribution to Secular Values". South Asian Voice. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  49. ^ "THE URDU LANGUAGE". theurdulanguage.com. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  50. ISBN 9780195696950
  51. ISBN 8183870880
  52. ^ http://www.ncbc.nic.in/Pdf/Uttar%20Pradesh/Uttanpradesh-Vol1/5.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  53. ^ "Islam and Muslim Societies – The Journal | Vol. 4 No. 1 – 2011 | Scheduling the OBCs Among the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh: Discrepancies and Irregularities". muslimsocieties.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  54. ^ "4.5% quota fails to impress Muslims in Uttar Pradesh". The Times of India. 23 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  55. ^ "Govt trying to befool minorities with quota: Sachar". 19 February 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
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