Islam in Assam


Islam is the second largest and fastest-growing religion in Assam. The Muslim population was approximately 10.68 million, constituting over 34.22% of the total population of the state as of the 2011 census, giving Assam, the second-largest Muslim percentage in the country after Jammu and Kashmir. After Jammu and Kashmir became Union Territory, Assam became the state with largest Muslim percentage in the country. Islam reached the region in the 13th century and Muslims are a majority in almost eleven districts of Assam and highly concentrated in four districts.
In 2021, estimations have predicted that the Muslim population in the state has reached 40%, numbering 14 million, out of total population of 35 million. Assam Government recognises five groups of indigenous Assamese Muslims were recognised, namely Goria, Moria, Deshi, Juluha and Syed other Muslims include various groups, such as Bengali Muslims, Afghani Muslims, Bihari Muslims, Hindustani Musalman and Manipuri Muslims. Some of these groups are affiliated and representatives of multiparty wahabi movements influenced like Nadwatul Ulama, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Tablighi Jamaat and other related parties, while others are non-denominational Muslims.

History

One of the most important factors contributing to the arrival and spread of Islam in Assam in the pre-colonial times was repeated invasions by Muslim rulers and generals. Though none of these invasions succeeded in establishing a rule it created a small but thriving Muslim population, aided by local rulers. Later Ahom kings encouraged a small Muslim immigration and even introduced Islamic prayers in court. In the colonial and post-colonial period, the Muslim population exploded in Assam primarily due to immigration.

Early history

One of the first conversions in Assam to Islam was Ali Mech, a Mech chieftain. A Delhi Sultanate general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji appeared on the borders of Assam in 1206 and converted Ali Mech who guided him on his expedition to capture Tibet. Khalji had arrived with a force of 10–12,000 horsemen at the Kamrup region, but he was defeated at the Chumbi Valley and was forced to retreat back to Bengal with his army annihilated, where he died in the same year. This expedition resulted in Assam's first Muslim population.
The first immigrant settlement occurred in the middle of the 13th century when Malik Ikhtiyaruddin Yuzbak in 1257 occupied some regions of Assam briefly. He introduced khutbah and Friday services. However he was soon defeated by Sandhya, the Rai of Kamarupa, who captured and executed him. In circa 1360, the Sultan of Bengal Sikandar Shah raided the Kamata kingdom and heavily weakened King Indranarayan's authority. However, Sikandar was forced to retreat to Bengal, in order to suppress the invasion of Firuz Shah Tughlaq of Delhi.

Sultanate period

In 1498, Sultan Alauddin Husain Shah dispatched military general Shah Ismail Ghazi with 24,000 soldiers and a flotilla to conquer Kamata. The conquest was instigated by Sachipatra, a Brahmin whose son was executed by Nilambar for his promiscuity with the queen. Successfully imprisoning King Nilambar of the Khen dynasty, the Bengal Sultanate began issuing coins bearing the Sultan as the "Conqueror of Kamru and Kamta" and publicly inscribed the victory at a stone in Malda. The Sultan appointed his son, Prince Daniyal, as the governor of the newly conquered region; that reached up to Hajo and intended to expand to Central Assam.
Ghiasuddin Aulia was a Sufi from Baghdad who arrived after the conquest of Kamata kingdom by Alauddin Husain Shah. He established a khanqah atop the Garurachala Hills in Hajo. Claiming to have brought a lump of soil from Makkah with him, the building came to be known as the Barmaqam Powa-Makkah. Ghiyathuddin died and a mazar was built there.
A Baro-Bhuyan confederation led by Gandharva Rai's descendant Harup Narayan was successful in removing the Sultanate influence, but the Baro-Bhuyans themselves were removed by Vishwa Singha who established the Koch dynasty in 1515. The Sultanate rule lasted for about 15 years.
File:Panchpeer1 Dhubri.JPG|thumb|left|The dargah housing the Panch Pir collective, a group of five mystics that had joined Ram Singh I in the Mughal invasion of Assam.

Mughal period

In 1613, the Mughal emperor Jahangir appointed Muhammad Zaman Karori of Tehran as the Amil of Sylhet. Zaman took part in Islam Khan I's Assam expedition and was instrumental to the capture of Koch Hajo. The Mughals also ruled Goalpara, but could not subdue the other parts of Assam. The Mughals established four sarkars in the newly acquired land---among which were Dhekeri and Kamrup. Kamrup was also renamed as Shujabad, after Shah Shuja, the Subahdar of Bengal.
In 1630, a Muslim saint from Baghdad popularly known as Azan Faqir settled in Sivasagar. He preached to the local population about Islam and as a result, many converted and became his disciples. His mausoleum is present in Saraguri Chapori.
There were a number of Muslim rulers of Kamrup during this period and they were referred to as the Faujdars of Shujabad. The sixth faujdar, Lutfullah Shirazi, built a hilltop mosque in Koch Hajo in 1657. The mosque contained the mazar of Prince Ghiyath ad-Din Awliya of Iraq, who is commonly credited for introducing Islam to the region. The Mughals lost Kamrup forever in 1682 after the Battle of Itakhuli.
Incomplete list of Faujdars of Guahati:
  1. Makram Khan
  2. Mir Sufi
  3. Shaykh Kamal
  4. Abd as-Salam
  5. Noorullah Khan Herati
  6. Lutfullah Shirazi, built a hilltop mosque in Hajo in 1657.

    British Raj

When Assam came under colonial rule, the British brought with them a number of immigrant Bengali settlers. These immigrants encouraged other Bengalis to settle in Assam for economic and social reasons. The fertile land of Assam and its vast expanse was inhabited by indigenous populace at that time which then attracted a large number of landless immigrant peasants from Bengal presidency, nearly 85% of whom were Muslims. The tea planters and immigrant Marwari businessmen, who needed workers, also welcomed the migrants.
Early establishments of these immigrant Bengalis were in the Goalpara district, mostly in the char lands and reserved forests. Most of these Muslim immigrants were known as "Miyas". Since many of them came from the Northeast part of Rangpur and very few of them came from Mymensingh, they were sometimes referred to as Bongal meaning Outsider.
After the Government of India Act 1935, a Legislative Assembly was established in Assam in 1937. The Muslim League, led by Muhammed Saadulah, formed a minority government in the state and he again encouraged large scale immigration from then Bengal.
In World War II, Nawab Sahidur Rahman of Azad Hind was the only Assamese martyr of Azad Hind Fauj during Burma Campaign.

Independence

After the Sylhet referendum in 1947, the Muslim-majority Sylhet region went to East Pakistan while some Muslim-majority areas such as the Karimganj district went to Assam, India.
Assam has some indigenous Muslims like the Gauria, Maria and Deshi, though they are very few as compared to the large-scale Bengal-originating immigrants. Thus, there have been concerns that illegal immigration from neighbouring East Pakistan in India has contributed to a sharp rise in the Muslim population of Assam and has slowly destabilised the native inhabitants of Assam. This fear of "demographic invasion" by East Pakistani has been a political issue in Assam since the days of the Assam Movement. In 2001, there were 6 Muslim-majority districts in the state of Assam. By 2011, this number had increased to 9. However, some have stated these numbers have declined in recent years, though there is no concrete proof.

Assam Movement and accord

The Assam Movement or the Assam Agitation led by All Assam Students Union and the 'All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad' was a popular uprising to drive out the illegal immigrants from Bengal/Bihar etc. The movement ended with the signing of the Assam Accord by leaders of AASU-AAGSP and the Government of India under PM Rajiv Gandhi. During this period of six long years of the historic movement, reportedly, 855 people sacrificed their lives in the hope of an "infiltration free Assam" in the 1979-1985 Assam agitation. In addition, the infamous Nellie and Khoirabari massacres took place during this time claiming the lives of 2,191 and 100-500 respectively.

Demographics

is the official language of the state and the most widely spoken, and so it serves as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications. Bengali, which is an official language in Assam's Barak Valley, is also a popular common language among certain communities.
The Assamese Muslims are often divided into four subgroups; Deshi, Maria, Gauria and Syeds. Some of these people are descendants of defeated Mughal soldiers, captured in Ahom–Mughal conflicts, who eventually married native Assamese women and adopted Assamese language and culture. Their population totals to roughly 4 million, comprising 12.8% of state population. The Syeds claim to be descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The Deshi are descendants of indigenous converts to Islam from the Koch, Mech, Rabha, Boro. They consider Ali Mech, the 13th-century chief, as their founding father. This group mainly converses in Goalpariya and Rajbanshi, as opposed to Boro and Rabha. They are mainly found in the western districts of Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar.
The Maria are descended from captured Muslim soldiers who were part of Bakhtiyar Khalji's army in 1206. They are named as such because they were engaged in the bell-metal and smithy industry, the word Maria meaning one who hits metals. On the other hand, the Gauria are descendants of Muslim soldiers who accompanied Turbak Khan during his conquest of Assam in 1532. This army hailed from Gaur in Bengal, so are referred to as Gauria. The Mariya and Gauria are minority groups and can be found in Sivasagar, Jorhat, Tinsukia, Golaghat, Kamrup and some other districts in Assam. They speak Assamese language as their own mother tongue.
The Muslim of Barak Valley adapt Sylheti language for speak consists of 3 districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi. Karimganj was known as a sub division of Sylhet district before 1947 which also part of Akhand Bharat or Ancient India. However, the Radcliffe Boundary Commission separated Karimganj from Sylhet. In Past, the district of Hailakandi and Cachar were under Twipra Kingdom and subsequently under Koch Kingdom from 16th-18th century A.D, followed by Kachari Kingdom from 18th-19th century A D. The Sylheti Muslims are living and controlling local governancy were there before the Kacharis. There were no natural boundaries between Karimganj and Cachar to happen.The inhabitant Muslims in Barak Valley bear surnames at present like Khan, Choudhury, Mazumdar, Laskar, Barlaskar, Barbhuiya, Mazarbhuiya, Talukdar, and Hazari and other regular titles or Surnames mostly bought from Kachari kings Krishan Chandra and Govinda Chandra but some not use any surnames or titles. Besides them, Manipuri, Mizo Muslims are also believed to have settled in Barak Valley. So they can be said to have technically existed in Assam even before the Ahoms.
The Bengali-speaking Miya people are descended of Muslim from the modern-day Bangladeshi and Assamese Muslim descendent at divisions of Mymensingh, Rangpur and Rajshahi. They are concentrated in the central and lower Assam districts such as Dhubri, Morigaon, Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Nagaon, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, South Salmara district, Nalbari, Chirang and Bodoland region. Their population is around 10.49 million, comprising about 30% of the state population, out of 40% of the Assam's total Muslim population as of 2021 year estimation report.
The third group are the descendants of Muslim migrants from Hindi belt various parts of North-West- Central-Southe India, who speak Hindustani. Their population is about 1.25 lakhs in Assam, comprising 0.4% of state population as of 2011. They are mainly found in Brahmaputra Valley.