Islam in Uttar Pradesh

Most of Uttar Pradesh formed part of the various sultanates after 1205 CE and was ruled from their capital, Delhi. As a consequence of these invasions, there arose a community in what is now Uttar Pradesh, referred to as Hindustani Musalmans. Early settlement of Northern Muslims was catalyzed by the invasions and establishment of the Turkic sultanate in North India. Most Muslims in northern India, particularly in Delhi, and adjoining areas were of Turkic origin or Turks. They remained part of the establishment for a few centuries until very late in the Mughal Empire, when there was a mass migration from Persia and Afghan regions to Delhi. Consequently, Turks lowered in social class and became involved in farming and semi-skilled work. Famous Turkic Sufis include Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusro. Mehroli was the first organized township of Turks who had built Turkic monuments like Qutib Minar, Purana Qila, and Turkman Darwaza. Turkic communities in India are currently recognized by their trades such as Turks Jhojhey, and mainly live in Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur, BulandShahar, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerrut, Balrampur, and Siddharth nagar gonda.

While in early 12th century Turkic sultanate Ghorid, Khilzi, and Gaznawied; Turks settled in Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal City. During the British regime & the fall of the Mughal empire in 1857 Chagatai Turk's Timurid Empire settled in Uttarakhand and the Tarai Belt of Rampur; they are known as Turk's Farmers. In medieval times, Some Afghan pashtun of the Mardan division (also known as Rohilla Pathan or Pathan) also settled & ruled from the early 17th century until 1947 in Rampur, Barreilly, Badaun, Pilibhit Shahjahanpur, Farukhabad, Lakhimpur, and Kannoj districts. The term Hindustani Musalman was applied to Muslims who either converted to Islam or who had settled for a long time in India. They did not form a unified community as they were divided by ethnic, linguistic, and economic differences. These early settlers often lived in fortified towns, known as kasbahs. Important kasbahs include Kakori in Lucknow District, Sandhila in Hardoi District and Zaidpur in Barabanki District. When the Mongols rose to power under Genghis Khan, there was an influx of Muslim refugees into North India, many of whom settled in the provincial kasbahs and brought a Persianized culture. Many of these early settlers were the ancestors of the Abbasid Persianized dynasty Sayyid in the Lucknow, Faizabad, Hardoi, Juanpur, and Shaikh communities. In Azamgharh, Mubarakpur, Mau, and Vanaras, a number of cultural norms arose over time which typified many Uttar Pradesh Muslim traditions.[2] The Turkic Sultans of Delhi and their Mughal successors patronized the émigré Muslim culture: Islamic jurists of the Sunni Hanafi school, Persian literati who were Shia Ithnā‘ashariyyah, and Sufis of several orders, including the Chishti, Qadiri and Naqshbandi.[3]

Found among the Salafi are Iraqis who migrated to the Ballia and Ghazipur districts in the eastern part of the state in the 16th century from Sindh, Pakistan. They claimed to have descended from the Thaheem people (from the Banu Tamim tribe) of Sindh.

The Urdu speaking people of Uttar Pradesh have diverse roots. Many Sufi missionaries from the Middle East and Central Asia migrated and settled in South Asia. Many natives converted to Islam due to the missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs populate South Asia. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the northern India region. The regimes of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire attracted Muslim refugees, nobles, technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, artisans, teachers, poets, artists, theologians, and Sufis from the rest of the Muslim world and they migrated and settled in South Asia. During the reign of Sultan Ghyasuddin Balban (1266–1286), thousands of Central Asian Muslims sought asylum, including more than of 15 sovereigns and their nobles due to the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran. At the court of Sultan Iltemish in Delhi the first wave of Muslim refugees escaping from the Central Asian genocide perpetrated by Genghis Khan brought administrators from Iran; painters from China; theologians from Samarkand, Nishapur and Bukhara; divines and saints from all Muslim lands; craftsmen; men and women; doctors adept in Greek medicine; and philosophers. The Muslims from various Northern provinces such as Hyderabad Deccan, Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Gujarat, Kashmir and other parts of South Asia also moved to capitals of the Muslim empire in Delhi and Agra. Millions of natives converted to Islam during the Muslim rule. The Lodi dynasty was dominated by the Pashtuns soldiers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan who settled in northern India. After the First Battle of Panipat, Mughal Emperor Babur defeated the Lodi dynasty with Tajik, Chagatai, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Uygur soldiers and nobility. These soldiers and nobles were awarded estates and they settled with their families in northern India. Safavi Emperor Shah Tahmasp provided financial aid, 12,000 choice of cavalry and thousands of infantry soldiers to Mughal Emperor Humayun to regain his empire. Persians nobles, technocrats, and bureaucrats also joined Humayun and his Persian and Pashtun soldiers to reconquer South Asia. These diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to form the Urdu speaking Muslim community of South Asia.

The Rohilla leader Daud Khan was awarded the Katehar (later called Rohilkhand) region in the then-northern India by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (ruled 1658–1707) to suppress the Rajput uprisings. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun tribes (Yusafzai, Ghori, Osmani, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Durrani, Tareen, Kakar, Naghar, Afridi and Khattak) were hired by Mughals to provide soldiers to the Mughal armies. Their performance was appreciated by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns were recruited from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and were given respected positions in Mughal Army. Nearly all of Pashtuns settled in the Katehar region and also brought their families from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. During Nadir Shah's invasion of northern India in 1739, the new wave of Pashtuns settled increasing their population to over 100,0000. Due to the large settlement of Rohilla Afghans, the Katehar region became known as Rohilkhand. Bareilly was made the capital of the Rohilkhand state and it became a major Pashtun city with Gali Nawaban as the main royal street. Other important cities included Moradabad, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, and Badaun.[4][5] After the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 between the Ahmad Shah Durrani and Maratha Empire, thousands of Pashtun and Baloch soldiers settled in northern India.

It is estimated that about 35% of Urdu speakers are of Pashtun origin. Provinces such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had significant population of Pashtuns. The Pashtuns lost their Pashto language and culture over the years and adopted Urdu as their first language. Sub-groups include the Hyderabadi Muslims, Memon Muslims, and Bihari Muslims, who keep many of their unique cultural traditions.[6] Muslims from what are now the states of Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were of heterogeneous origin.

The Kayastha and Manihar community were historically involved in land record keeping and accounting. Many Hindu Kayasth found favour with Muslim rulers for whom they acted as Qanungos. This close association led to the conversion of many members of the Kayastha community to Islam. The Muslim Kayasths speak Urdu and Hindi.[7] The Kayasth sometimes use Siddiqui, Quraishi, Khan, Shaikh, Usmani and Farooqi as their surnames, and consider themselves to belong to the Shaikh community.[8] This region was also where Pashtun soldiers and administrators settled into what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan. The largest settlement was Rohilkhand, which was home to a number of Pashtun principalities. Other immigrants included Kambohs from Punjab, who formed part of the ruling elite in northern India along with the Pashtuns.[9]

Indian converts to Islam ultimately outnumbered the immigrant Muslims, and were also of diverse origin. Many of the converts belonged to the Hindu artisan castes, who were drawn to the new kasbahs. Over time, many of the artisan groups evolved into caste-like groupings, such as the Momin, who were weavers. Many of these new converts continued to speak their original dialects, such as Awadhi and Khari boli. These groups were sometimes referred to collectively as Ajlaf. Groups that claimed actual or putative foreign ancestry were referred to as Ashrafs. Over time a fourfold division arose among the Ashraf, with the Sayyids (the actual or claimed descendants of the Islamic prophet, Mohammad), the Shaikh, communities signifies Arab descent and comes under high Baradari of society, however majority are the native Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya clans who used the title of Sheikh after conversion to Islam, the Mughals, descendants of Central Asian Turks and Mongols and the Pathans, descendants of Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan and Afghanistan.[9] Occasionally, important convert communities such as the Kayastha Muslim and manihar of eastern Uttar Pradesh, were also granted Ashraf status.

In western Uttar Pradesh, there was conversion to Islam of a number of agrarian castes such as the Tyagi, Ranghar and Muley Jat. Many of these convert communities kept many of their pre-Islamic customs, such as clan exogamy. According to some scholars, this also led to the creeping into Baradari system.[10] With the collapse of the Sultanate of Delhi, the Mughal established control and Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of their vast empire; the region was known as Hindustan, which is used to this day as the name for India in several languages. Agra and Fatehpur Sikri were the capital cities of Akbar, the Mughal emperor of India. At their zenith, during the rule of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire covered almost all of South Asia (including present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), which was ruled at different times from Delhi, Agra, and Allahabad.

Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan

Safdarjung

When the Mughal Empire disintegrated, their territory remained confined to the Doab region and Delhi. Other areas of Hindustan (Uttar Pradesh) were ruled by different rulers: Oudh was ruled by the Shia Nawabs of Oudh, Rohilkhand by the Rohillas, Bundelkhand by the Marathas and Benaras by its own king, while Nepal controlled Kumaon-Garhwal as a part of Greater Nepal. The state's capital city of Lucknow was established by the Muslim Nawabs of Oudh in the 18th century. It became an important centre of Muslim culture and the development of Urdu literature.[11][12]

Of all the Muslim states and dependencies of the Mughal Empire, Awadh had the newest royal family. They were descended from a Persian adventurer called Sa'adat Khan, originally from Khurasan in Persia. There were many Khurasanis in the service of the Mughals, mostly soldiers, and if successful, they could hope for rich rewards. These Khurasanis were Shia, and Lucknow became a centre of Shia culture in Uttar Pradesh. Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan was the most successful in the group. In 1732, he was made governor of the province of Awadh. His original title was Nazim (lit. "governor") before being changed to Nawab. In 1740, the Nawab was called the vizier (Wazir), and thereafter he was known as the Nawab Wazir. In theory, the tile was the gift of the Mughal emperor to whom allegiance was paid; in practice from Sa'adat Khan onwards, the titles were inherited. A nazar, or token tribute, was sent each year to Delhi, and members of the imperial family were treated with great deference; two of them lived in Lucknow after 1819 and were treated with great courtesy.[12]

Aligarh Muslim University

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. The British rulers created a class of feudal landowners who were generally referred to as zamindars, and in Awadh as taluqdars. Many of these large landowners provided patronage to the arts and funded many of the early Muslim educational institutions. A major educational institution was the Aligarh Muslim University, which gave its name to the Aligarh movement. Under the guidance of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the Urdu speaking Muslim elite sought to retain their position of political and administrative importance by reconciling their Mughal and Islamic culture with English education. A somewhat different educational movement was led by the Ulema of Deoband, who founded a religious school or Dar-ul-Uloom designed to revitalize Islamic learning. The aim of the Deobandis, as the movement became known as was to purge the Muslims of all strata of traditions and customs that were claimed to be Hindu. Most of the early proselytization was concentrated in the Doab region where Deoband is located, which was home to a number of peasant castes, such as the Rajput Muslim, Gujjar, Tyagi and Jat, who had maintained a number of pre-Islamic customs. A reaction to the growth of the Deobandi movement was the rise of the Barelvi sub-sect, which was much more tolerant of the customs and traditions of the local population.[3]

The role of the Urdu language played an important role in the development of Muslim self-consciousness in the early twentieth century. Uttar Pradesh Muslims set up Anjumans or associations for the protection and promotion of Urdu. These early Muslim associations formed the core 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.[13]

The net result of partition and independence in 1947 was the division of the Urdu speaking Uttar Pradesh Muslims. It led to major social, political, and cultural changes; for example, Urdu lost its status. The abolishment of the zamindari system also had a profound impact on culture as these large landowners provided patronage to local artisans; this was especially true in the Awadh region. Muslim artisan communities persevered with the growth of specialized industries such as lock manufacturing in Aligarh. The Muslim peasantry in western Uttar Pradesh benefited from the Green Revolution, while those in eastern Uttar Pradesh did poorly. The Muslim League eventually declined, with most Muslims initially supporting the Indian National Congress.[14] The post partition period saw a reduction in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims. This was also a period where Muslims were led by 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.[15]

From the 1990s there have been two issues confronting the Muslim community: the Mandir and Mandal. Mandir refers to the construction of a Hindu temple supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the town of Ayodhya in eastern Uttar Pradesh, on the site of Babri Mosque. The project was poorly received and resulted in communal violence.[15] The other issue is commonly referred to as Mandal, a reference to the Mandal Commission, which was set up to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to address caste discrimination. Among the groups identified for reservation were a number of Ajlaf communities, which led to greater assertion of Ajlaf political power and a decline in the Ashraf leadership. A major controversy is a demand for the Muslim community to receive reservation as a whole, which is being opposed by many Ajlaf communities. There are also demands to extend the scheduled caste status, which the Indian Constitution restricts to Hindu castes and Muslim Ajlaf groups like the Halalkhor and Lal Begi.[16]

Notable Muslims from Uttar Pradesh include writer and poet Javed Akhtar, actress Shabana Azami, Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Vice President of Muslim Personal Law Board Dr. Kalbe Sadiq, actor and director Muzaffar Ali, journalist Saeed Naqvi, Persian scholar Dr. Naiyer Masud Rizvi, linguist Masud Husain Khan, Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, historian Irfan Habib, politician Salman Khursheed, and cricketer Mohammad Kaif.