Punjabi Muslims () are Punjabis who are adherents of Islam. With a population of more than 112 million, they are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, after ArabsMargaret Kleffner Nydell Understanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times, Intercultural Press, 2005, , page xxiii, 14 and Bengalis.roughly 152 million Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh and 36.4 million Bengali Muslims in the Republic of India (CIA Factbook 2014 estimates, numbers subject to rapid population growth); about 10 million Bangladeshis in the Middle East, 1 million Bengalis in Pakistan, 5 million British Bangladeshi.
The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adheres to Shi'a Islam. A majority is primarily native to the Pakistani province of Punjab, although a large proportion derives ancestry from the wider Punjab region. Punjabi Muslims speak or identify with the Punjabi language (using Shahmukhi script) as their mother tongue.
Identity The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 16th century CE. However, Punjab as a linguistic, geographical and cultural entity had existed for centuries prior. Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections. Islam spread in the region via missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region, thereby becoming the faith of many by the 16th century. This contributed to the formation of a Punjabi Muslim identity.
History
Early period At the advent of Islam in the 7th century, Punjab was part of Takka kingdom. By then, Buddhism had declined in Punjab after the fall of the Kushans, and had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century. Several scholars have identified Takka kingdom with the kingdom of al-Usaifan, whose king is reported by al-Baladhuri to have converted to Islam during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tasim (). However, Islam as a political power got introduced via southern Punjab only after the 8th century Umayyad conquest of Sindh. The first Muslim state based in Punjab was the Emirate of Multan, established in 855 after the disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the 11th century, Muslim conquered northern Punjab when Ghaznavids defeated the Odi Shahi dynasty. The city of Lahore became a cosmopolitan city, rivalling Ghazni and acting as a second capital of the empire.
In Punjab, conversion to Islam occurred mostly amongst pastoralist or agricultural groups that were not integrated into the Hindu varna social class hierarchy, such as Jats, known in Arabic as Zuṭṭ. Jat communities got established in Iraq and Syria, and they played role in the regional trade, agriculture and warfare. Sufi mystics played a major role in the propagation of Islam among the tribes of the Bar region, albeit in a syncretic form. The Gakhars of Pothohar were noted for their martial capabilities and gradually converted to Islam.
Medieval period In 1161, the Ghurids conquered the city of Ghazni, forcing the Ghaznavids to shift their capital to Lahore. Soon, however, Muhammad Ghori invaded Punjab as well, and conquered Lahore and Multan in 1186, marking end of the Ghaznavids. In 1206, he was assassinated at Damiak by Isma'ilis or Khokhars. One of his Mamluk slaves, Qutb ud-Din Aibak, established the Delhi Sultanate, with Lahore being the first capital of the sultanate. The early period of the Delhi Sultanate saw several Mongol invasions of Punjab. Ultimately, Mongols were defeated during the rule of the Khalji dynasty.
Islam became firmly established in Punjab during the era of Delhi Sultanate, with local playing an important role in the inter-dynastic struggle. In 1320, Ghazi Malik, the former governor of Multan, rebelled against the Khalji rule. With the support of various factions including Khokhars, he established the Tughlaq dynasty. Some of the earliest mentions of Punjabi language date to this period.
The Multan-born Tughlaq governor, Ayn al-Mulk Mahru made early geopolitical references to the realm of Punjab. By the late 14th century, however, the Tughlaq dynasty had declined, and the sultanate was divided among various warlords. The city of Lahore was intermittently captured by Khokhars. Taking advantage of the prevailing anarchy, Timur led a brutal invasion of Delhi sultanate in 1398. Lahore had been under control of Shaikha Khokhar since 1394, who resisted Timur but was defeated and killed. Afterwards, Timur plundered Delhi and massacred its inhabitants. Tughlaq power crumbled and resulted in nobles asserting formal independence. In 1414 the Tughlaq dynasty was itself replaced by Sayyid dynasty of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain. Much of the time of Sayyid sultans was spent fighting against Jasrat, who was the most formidable opponent of Delhi sultans in Punjab. Southern Punjab became independent from Delhi when Langah Sultanate broke away in 1445. The rulers of medieval Gujarat Sultanate in western India also had Punjabi Khatri origins.
Early modern period
Mughal Empire By the early 16th century, the Lodi dynasty which succeeded Sayyids had control over little more than the region around Lahore in Punjab. In 1525, the Mughal emperor Babur invaded Delhi Sultanate and conquered it by defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of Panipat. The Gakhars of Potohar remained loyal to the house of Babur after Sher Shah Suri overthrew the Mughals under Humayun. This caused Sher Shah Suri to invade Pothohar and the local chief Sarang Khan died fighting against him.The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period by Henry Miers Elliot, John Dowson, Volume IV, p. 493 However, Gakhars continued their resistance, even after Sher Shah Suri's Khatri minister Todar Mal constructed the Rohtas Fort in the region. Gakhar chiefs such as Kamal Khan were part of Mughal nobility when Humayun regained Delhi after defeating Sur dynasty in the second battle of Panipat.
According to the Ain-i-Akbari written during the reign of Akbar, Punjab region was divided into subahs of Lahore and Multan. One of Akbar's generals, Shahbaz Khan Kamboh hailed from Lahore. Muslims had majority in southern Punjab by the 16th century, and a definitive Punjabi identity had formed as the inhabitants of Punjab started to be addressed as Punjabis by the outsiders during the 17th century. Several Punjabi Muslims rose to high ranks during Mughal period, such as the grand vizier Sa'adullah Khan Chinioti (1645–1656). Sa'adullah Khan oversaw construction of several Mughal monuments including Taj Mahal under the supervision of architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori, who was also from Punjab, and led the Mughal army to Balkh in 1646 during Shah Jahan's war against the Safavids in the region. Wazir Khan of Chiniot was also a governor of Lahore and a great patron of arts and architecture; he built the Wazir Khan Mosque complex in Lahore.
The death of Aurangzeb in 1707, began the decline of Mughal power in the 18th century. Between 1712 and 1719, Barhas, a dynasty of kingmakers of peasant origins from Punjab, exercised de facto control over the Mughal Empire. Mughal authority in Punjab remained in the hands of Nawabs who gave nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor in Delhi; however it collapsed in Punjab after Mir Mannu died in 1753. The last Nawab of Punjab, Adina Beg Arain attempted to make Punjab independent but after his untimely death in 1758, Ahmad Shah Durrani directly annexed the region. Punjab suffered from the eight invasions of the Durrani Afghans between 1748 and 1767, which ravaged the region.
During these centuries of Mughal rule, Punjabi Muslims established great institutions of Islamic civilization in cities and towns such as Lahore and Sialkot. Punjabi Muslim scholars were "in high demand", teaching the Islamic sciences as far as Central Asia, in cities such as Bukhara, even being considered there as Awliya' within their lifetimes. The Kamboh clan of Lahore also produced many notable scholars and administrators. Other influential Muslim scholars born in Punjab during Mughal era include Abdul Hakim Sialkoti and Ahmad Sirhindi. Between 1761 and 1799, the south Indian kingdom of Mysore was ruled by Hyder Ali, a Punjabi adventurer in the army of Mysore, and his son Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan, who is widely hailed as a freedom fighter in South Asia, led Mysore during Anglo-Mysore Wars and also pioneered modern rocketry.
Sikh Empire
Ahmad Shah Durrani and his successors failed to maintain control of Punjab except in Attock, Kasur and Multan where large Afghan colonies were based. Punjab was divided into petty Muslim and Sikh chieftaincies. The situation remained as such till Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799.
The two important Punjabi Muslim states that existed in 18th century Punjab were those of the Sials and the Gakhars. Gakhars under Sultan Muqarrab Khan (r.1738–1769) established rule over Potohar and the Chaj Doab whilst the Sials with their capital at Jhang conquered the Lower Rachna and Sindh Sagar Doabs under their chief Inayatullah Khan (r.1747–1787). However, Sikhs, who originated in central Punjab, gradually expanded westwards. Owing to their superior European-style military training and discipline, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh not only gained control of most of Punjab but also conquered Kashmir (1818), Multan (1818) and Peshawar (1833) from Durrani Afghans. Only the Bahawalpur state, then under Daudpotra Jat Nawabs, remained independent from Sikh regime. With Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, Sikh power declined. After suffering defeat in the Anglo-Sikh wars, their territory was annexed in 1849 by the British East India Company.
Views of the Sikh Empire rule, are mixed amongst different Punjabi Muslim groups. Ranjit Singh is seen favourably by a section of Punjabi activists in Pakistan but remains overall largely negative. The mid 19th-century Punjabi Muslim historians, such as Shahamat Ali who experienced the Sikh Empire first hand, presented a different view on Ranjit Singh's empire and governance. According to Ali, Ranjit Singh's government was despotic, and he was a mean monarch in contrast to the Mughals. His account portrays Ranjit Singh as leading his Khalsa army's "insatiable appetite for plunder", their desire for "fresh cities to pillage", and eliminating the Mughal era "revenue intercepting intermediaries between the peasant-cultivator and the treasury". As a symbolic assertion of power, the Sikhs regularly desecrated Muslim places of worship, including closing of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar and the conversion of the Bad shahi Mosque in Lahore to an ammunition store and horse stable, but the empire still maintained Persian administrative institutions and court etiquette; the Sikh silver rupees were minted on the Mughal standard with Persian legends.
Historian Robina Yasmin, on the other hand, argues against the stereotypical narratives of claimed anti-Muslim oppression by the Sikh Empire. After researching contemporary sources held in the Fakir Khana archives in Pakistan and England, she concluded that the Sikh rulers were secular and allowed their Muslim subjects to freely practice their religion. She also points out the fact that during the reign of the Sikh Empire in Punjab, there was never a single case of rebellion against the Sikh authorities by Muslims. She further claims any beliefs of maltreatment of Muslims is based upon misunderstandings of the condition of the Muslim community during the Sikh Empire.
Colonial period Religious syncretism During the colonial era, the practice of religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims and Punjabi Hindus was noted and documented by officials in census reports:
War of Independence (1857)