Abstract:
Arabian businessmen established trade links with Indian subcontinent even before the
emergence of Islam. Due to their regular interactions with Indian cultural diffusions
started taking place. After emergence of Islam, Arabian traders bought Islamic belief to
Indian subcontinent. However, Arabian traders or Islamic conquerors never attempted to
gain political or administrative control in India, until AD 711. The first successful
military invasion of Islam in India was led by Muhhamed ibn Quasim in AD 711. By this
time, Muslims had already settled in India. In fact, Muhhamed ibn Quasim found Muslim
inhabitants were living in north-western regions of India when he invaded those areas.
As on today, More than 10 % of World’s Muslim population lives in India. There are
only 4 countries in the world where population of Muslim is more than 100 Million or 10
Crore. India is one of those countries. India is also the only country where Muslims are
non-majority in terms of population with such a big population. Other three countries
(Indonesia, Pakistan, & Bangladesh) are demographically Muslim majority countries.
Around 43 % of Muslims of the world live in these 4 countries.
The total Muslim population in India, as recorded in Census 2011, was 17.22 crores
which is 14.23 percent of total population. This make them second largest religious group
in India after the Hindus and the first major religious minority.
