Bengali Muslims (Bengali: বাঙালি মুসলমান) are an ethnic, linguistic, and religious population who make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens and the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam.[14] They are Bengalis who adhere to Islam and speak the Bengali language, which is written with the Eastern Nagari alphabet. They form the largest Bengali and the second largest Muslim ethnic group in the world (after Arab Muslims).[15]
Bengal was a leading power of the medieval Islamic East.[16] The endogamous Bengali Muslim population emerged as a synthesis of Islamic and Bengali cultures. After the Partition of India in 1947, they comprised the demographic majority of Pakistan until the independence of East Pakistan (historic East Bengal) as Bangladesh in 1971.
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Identity
A Bengali is a person of ethnic and linguistic heritage from the Bengal region in South Asia speaking the Indo-Aryan Bengali language. Islam arrived in the first millennium and influenced the native Bengali culture. The influx of Persian, Turkic, Arab and Mughal settlers contributed further diversity to the cultural development of the region.[17] However, historians including Richard Maxwell Eaton, Ahmed Sharif, Muhammad Mohar Ali and Jadunath Sarkar are in agreement that the bulk of Muslims are descended from Buddhists who were converted to Islam by missionaries.[17][18][19] Today, most Bengali Muslims live in the modern state of Bangladesh, the world's third largest Muslim-majority country, along with the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam.[14]
The dominant majority of Bengali Muslims are Sunnis who follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. There are also minorities of Shias and Ahmadiyas, as well as people who identify as non-denominational (or "just a Muslim").[20]
History
See also: History of Bengal
Pre-Islamic history
Rice-cultivating communities existed in Bengal since the second millennium BCE. The region was home to a large agriculturalist population influenced by Indian religions, but was not fully integrated into the caste system.[21] Buddhism influenced the region in the first millennium. The Bengali language developed from Apabhramsa and Magadhi Prakrit between the 7th and 10th centuries. It once formed a single Indo-Aryan branch with Assamese and Oriya, before the languages became distinct.[22]
Early explorers
Early Muslim traders and merchants visited Bengal while traversing the Silk Road in the first millennium. One of the earliest mosques in South Asia is under excavation in northern Bangladesh, indicating the presence of Muslims in the area around the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad.[23] Starting in the 9th century, Muslim merchants increased trade with Bengali seaports.[24] Coins of the Abbasid Caliphate have been discovered in many parts of the region.[25]
Early Islamic kingdoms
Exterior of a low mosque with many domes and entrances
The 15th-century Sixty Dome Mosque built during the Bengal Sultanate is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent took place between the 12th and 16th centuries. Bengal became a province of the Delhi Sultanate in 1204. In the 14th century the Sultanate of Bengal became independent and emerged as a regional power.[26] It adopted Bengali as one of its official languages, alongside Persian, the diplomatic language of the Islamic world, and Arabic, the liturgical language of the religion. The Sultanate also ruled parts of Arakan and Assam. The Sur Empire briefly overtook the region in the 16th century. During the sultanate period, Hindu aristocrats occupied prominent positions in the administration.[19]
The Bengal Sultanate, 16th century
The Mughal Empire eventually controlled the region under its Bengal Subah viceregal province. The Mughal Emperors considered Bengal their most prized province. Emperor Akbar redeveloped the Bengali calendar.[27] Emperor Aurangazeb called Bengal the Paradise of Nations.[28] Two Bengal viceroys – Muhammad Azam Shah and Azim-us-Shan – assumed the imperial throne. Mughal Bengal became increasingly independent under the Nawabs of Bengal in the 18th century.[29]
Islamization
The agrarian reforms of the Mughal Empire also played a crucial role in developing Bengali Muslim society. According to historian Richard M. Eaton, Islam became the religion of the plough in the Bengal delta.[16] The delta was the most fertile region in the empire. Mughal development projects cleared forests and established thousands of Sufi-led villages, which became industrious farming and craftsmanship communities.[30] The projects were most evident in the Bhati region of East Bengal, the most fertile part of the delta.[31]
People from various parts of the Muslim world settled in the region. Settlers intermarried with the local population.[16] This made East Bengal a thriving melting pot with strong trade and cultural networks. It was the most prosperous part of the subcontinent.[30][32] East Bengal became the center of the Muslim population in the eastern subcontinent and corresponds to modern-day Bangladesh.[31]
British period
A. K. Fazlul Huq, known as the Sher-e-Bangla (Tiger of Bengal), was the 1st Prime Minister of Bengal.
The region fell to the control of the British Empire in 1757.
British-ruled Bengal was a hotbed of anti-colonial rebellion. In the early 19th century, Titumir led a peasant uprising against colonial rule. Haji Shariatullah led the Faraizi movement, advocating Islamic revivalism.[33] The Faraizis sought to create a caliphate and cleanse the region's Muslim society of what they deemed "un-Islamic practices". They were successful in galvanizing the Bengali peasantry against colonial authorities. However, the movement suffered crackdowns after the Mutiny of 1857[34] and lost impetus after the death of Haji Shariatullah's son Dudu Miyan.[33]
After 1870, Muslims began seeking English education increasingly. Under the leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan the promotion the English language among Muslims of India also influenced Bengali Muslim society.[19] Social and cultural leaders among Bengali Muslims during this period included Munshi Mohammad Meherullah, who countered Christian missionaries,[35] writers Ismail Hossain Siraji and Mir Mosharraf Hossain; and feminists Nawab Faizunnesa and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain.
The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam established visions for a sovereign Muslim-majority homeland in the eastern subcontinent. Low income Muslims after passing matriculation, looked for jobs as clerks, peons and orderlies but Hindu babus refused to employ them.[19] So, instigated by the British, upper class Muslims formed the Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906.[19] The early Muslim League dominated politics in East Bengal. A. K. Fazlul Huq was the first Prime Minister of Bengal under British rule. Bengali Muslims also dominated politics in Colonial Assam, where Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani emerged as a populist leader. Muhammed Saadulah served as the first Prime Minister of Assam.
1947 Partition and Bangladesh
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
An important moment in the history of Bengali self-determination was 