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Islam in India
India’s 120 million Muslims form the country’s second largest religious community. Islam in India dates from 711, just 80 years after The Prophet’s death. But the first Islamic ruling powers in India were the string of sultanates in Delhi, from 1192, and their successor Mughal rulers. These invaders, mostly Sunni, introduced Sufism, the mystical thread in Islamic thought which could assimilate many local religious customs, such and singing and dancing, and the belief in the individual’s relationship with God. Today, most Indian Muslims are Sunni and follow the Sufi path, honouring their saints with night-long recitals of qawwali songs – best seen at Nizamuddin in Delhi, and at Ajmer. Although Islam demands that all men are equal in life and in death, the Muslim rulers of India built some of the world’s most monumental tombs, including the Taj Mahal. |
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