Bihari Muslims

Bihari Muslims are people originating and tracing descent from the Indian state of Bihar who practice the religion of Islam.

For Bihari Muslims who settled in Pakistan, see Muhajir people.

Bihari Muslims
Total population
c. 27 million worldwide
Regions with significant populations
Bihar, Karachi and mainly in large cities across India & Pakistan
 India17,500,000[1][2] (Bihar)
Languages
Urdu, Hindi and various Bihari languages[3]
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Indian Muslims, Bihari peoples

The vast majority of Bihari Muslims are followers of the Sunni tradition and even in pre-Mughal Bihar, all the Ulemas, Imams and Sufis were Sunnis.[4] There is however a significant community of Shia Muslims residing in Patna who descend from settlers from Lucknow who came in the 1800s.[5]

Origin

In common with the rest of India, the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Bihar are descended from native converts from various caste groups.[6] The rise in the Muslim population can be traced to the early 12th century with many conversions taking place during the rule of the Sur Empire which had its capital in Sasaram, Bihar.[7]

History
Sher Shah Suri Tomb in Sasaram. Sher Shah Suri founded the Sur Empire and was born in Bihar

The large-scale arrival of Muslims in Bihar began in the 1300's when Afghan traders and Sufi saints-warriors settled in the South Bihar plains and furthered the process of agricultural colonisation while also spreading Islam among the local populace. Muslims were not the only new immigrants to Bihar during this period as many upper-caste Hindus arrived also including Rajput and Bhumihar clan chiefs who cut down the forested areas and drove the indigenous Adivasis out of the region. Inscriptions in Bihar Sharif tell of a Sufi warrior by the name of Malik Ibrahim Bayu who came to Bihar and defeated the non-Hindu Kol tribe who had been oppressing the local Muslims. He conquered many Kol chiefdoms.[8]

Some of the kings and chieftains of medieval Bihar were Muslim. The chieftaincy of Kharagpur Raj in modern-day Munger district was originally controlled by Hindu Rajputs. In 1615 after a failed rebellion by Raja Sangram Singh, his son Toral Mal converted and he changed his name to Roz Afzun.[9]

The Faujdars of Purnea (also known as the Nawabs of Purnea) created an autonomous territory for themselves under the leadership of Saif Khan and ruled in parts of Eastern Bihar in the early 1700s. They were engaged in a protracted conflict with the neighbouring Kingdom of Nepal.[10]

Many Bihari Muslims migrated to Pakistan and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) after independence in 1947.[11]

Society

Bihari Muslim society has traditionally been divided by caste and clan affiliations. Muslims refer to these distinctions as biraderi and they are not as rigid as those followed by Hindus, but intermarriage remains rare.[12] The Ashraf groups are equivalent to upper castes [13] and include groups like Pathans, Sayyid , sheikh , Mallick and Mirza. The Pathans of Bihar are mostly the descendants of Pashtun settlers with some being descended from local high-caste Bhumihar and Rajput converts. The Mirzas claim descent from the Mughals and are found mainly in the area around Darbhanga and Muzzafarpur. The Ajlaf Muslims are mostly the descendants of low-caste Hindu converts. Among the largest Ajlaf groups are the Ansaris who form 20% of the Muslim population in Bihar. Their traditional occupation is weaving.[12]

Distribution by district

The following table shows the Muslim population of Bihar by district:[14]

Number District Population (2001) Muslim population Percentage
1Kishanganj1,296,3481,123456 68%
2Katihar2,392,6381,024,67843%
3Araria2,158,608887,97242%
4Purnia2,543,942935,23938%
5Darbhanga3,295,789748,97123%
6Sitamarhi2,682,720568,99221%
7West Champaran3,043,466646,59721%
8East Champaran3,939,773755,00519%
9Bhagalpur2,423,172423,24618%
10Madhubani3,575,281941,57926%
11Siwan2,714,349494,17618%
12Gopalganj2,152,638367,21917%
13Supaul1,732,578302,12017%
14Sheohar515,96180,07616%
15Muzaffarpur4,746,714752,35815%
16Saharsa1,508,182217,92214%
17Begusarai2,349,366313,71313%
18Banka1,608,773190,05112%
19Gaya3,473,428403,43913%
20Jamui1,398,796170,33412%
21Nawada1,809,696204,45711%
22Madhepura1,526,646173,60511%
23Aurangabad2,013,055221,43611%
24Kaimur1,289,074123,04810%
25Khagaria1,280,354131,44110%
26Rohtas2,450,748246,76010%
27Samastipur3,394,793355,89710%
28Saran3,248,701337,76710%
29Vaishali2,718,421259,15810%
30Jehanabad1,514,315124,1498%
31Munger1,337,79798,7917.4%
32Patna4,718,592366,1648%
33Bhojpur2,243,144163,1937%
34Nalanda2,370,528176,8717%
35Sheikhpura525,50237,7557%
37Buxar1,402,39686,3826%
38Lakhisarai802,22535,3784%

Sum total of this table is 14,780,500 Muslims out of 83.0 million total population in 2001 census, hence Muslims were 16.5% of total population in Bihar. In 2011 census, total population grew to 103.9985 million, of which 16.9% or 17,557,809 were Muslims.[15] During 2001–2011, Muslims grew by 33.433%, while non-Muslims grew by 23.537%. District-wise break up by religions for 2011 is not available.

Muslim communities

References
  1. "India's religions by numbers". The Hindu. 26 August 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  2. "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  3. "Case of Bhojpuri and Hindi in Mauritius". lexpress.mu. 27 July 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  4. Prasad, Ram Chandra (7 November 1983). "Bihar". National Book Trust, India – via Google Books.
  5. Chaturvedi, Ritu (7 November 2018). Bihar Through the Ages. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 9788176257985 – via Google Books.
  6. "Bihar Information". Director, Public Relations. 7 November 1984 – via Google Books.
  7. Alam, Mohd Sanjeer (27 January 2012). Religion, Community, and Education: The Case of Rural Bihar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199088652 – via Google Books.
  8. Gyan Prakash (30 October 2003). Bonded Histories: Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 63–65. ISBN 978-0-521-52658-6.
  9. Yogendra P. Roy (1992). "Tahawar Singh-A Muslim Raja of Kharagpur Raj (1676 - 1727)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 53: 333–334. JSTOR 44142804.
  10. P. J. Marshall (2 November 2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740-1828. Cambridge University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-521-02822-6.
  11. Ghosh, Partha S. (23 May 2016). Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 9789351508533 – via Google Books.
  12. Jawaid Alam (1 January 2004). Government and Politics in Colonial Bihar, 1921-1937. Mittal Publications. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-81-7099-979-9.
  13. Karna, Mahendra Narain (1981). Studies in Bihar's Economy and Society. Concept Publishing Company.
  14. "Error Value". www.censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  15. Singh, Vijaita (25 August 2015). "Bihar elections among factors in religious data of Census 2011 release". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017 – via www.thehindu.com.
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