The People of India and the Quran: A British Muslim Family's Guide to Islam in India (UK)

Islam and India — the second-largest Muslim population in the world

India is home to approximately 200 million Muslims — the second-largest Muslim population of any country after Indonesia. Islam has been part of the Indian subcontinent for over 1,300 years, having arrived through trade, migration, and conquest from the early Islamic centuries onwards. For British Muslim families with Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Indian heritage — the majority of the British Muslim community — understanding the Indian subcontinent\'s Muslim heritage is part of understanding their own.

This guide is the British Muslim parent\'s reference: the history of Islam in India, the Quranic relationship to the subcontinent, the major Indian Muslim contributions to the global ummah, and what UK families with subcontinental heritage should know.

The history in summary

Early arrivals (7th-10th centuries)

Islam arrived in India through Arab traders along the Malabar coast (modern Kerala) within decades of the Prophet ﷺ\'s death. The Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala — traditionally dated to 629 CE — is by some accounts the first mosque in India and one of the earliest mosques anywhere in the world outside Arabia. Whether the exact dating is correct, the Indian subcontinent had Muslim communities from very early Islamic history.

Conquest and consolidation (10th-13th centuries)

Successive waves of Muslim conquest — the Ghaznavids, the Ghurids, the Delhi Sultanate — established Muslim political rule over significant portions of northern India by the 13th century. This was a period of substantial conversion, of the establishment of Islamic institutions, and of the building of major architectural works including the Qutub Minar.

The Mughal era (16th-19th centuries)

The Mughal Empire, founded by Babur in 1526 and lasting (in name) until 1857, produced one of the great Islamic civilisations of human history. The Mughals built the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid in Delhi. They patronised the most sophisticated Islamic learning, art, music and architecture. The reign of Akbar (1556-1605) is often cited as a high point of Indian Muslim civilisation; the reign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707) saw the empire reach its greatest territorial extent.

British colonial period (1757-1947)

The decline of Mughal power and the rise of British colonial administration transformed the Indian Muslim community. The 1857 uprising and its suppression marked a particular crisis. Movements of Islamic renewal — the Deobandi school, the Aligarh movement, the Tablighi Jamaat — emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries to navigate the colonial reality.

Partition (1947)

The partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947 was one of the largest population transfers in human history, with approximately 14 million people displaced and several hundred thousand killed. The Muslim community was divided — those who migrated to Pakistan, those who stayed in India, and (after 1971) those in the new Bangladesh. This division still shapes British Muslim community life — most British Muslims of subcontinental heritage trace family lines that span both India/Pakistan or India/Bangladesh.

Contemporary India (1947-present)

The approximately 200 million Indian Muslims today form one of the largest religious minorities in any country. Major centres of Indian Muslim life include Hyderabad, Lucknow, Aligarh, Delhi and the Malabar coast. The community produces substantial scholarship, literature, business and political leadership. Recent decades have also seen increased political pressures on Indian Muslims under Hindu nationalist governance — a topic of ongoing concern in the global Muslim community.

The Indian Muslim contribution to the global ummah

1. Hadith scholarship

Indian Muslim scholars have produced foundational hadith works for centuries. The 18th-19th century scholar Shah Waliullah of Delhi is one of the most important hadith and Quranic scholars in late classical history. The Deobandi tradition produced extensive hadith commentary including the Faiz al-Bari of Anwar Shah Kashmiri.

2. Sufi tradition

India is home to some of the most important Sufi shrines and traditions in the Islamic world. The Chishti, Naqshbandi, Qadiri and Suhrawardi orders all have substantial Indian presence. Major figures include Khwaja Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishti (Ajmer), Niẓām al-Dīn Awliyāʾ (Delhi), and many others.

3. Architecture

The Mughal architectural tradition produced some of the most beautiful Islamic buildings ever constructed. The Taj Mahal alone is one of the most-recognised buildings in the world.

4. Modern Islamic thought

20th century Indian Muslim thought has been globally influential. Mawlana Mawdudi (founder of Jamaat-e-Islami), Mawlana Ilyas (founder of Tablighi Jamaat), Mawlana Husain Ahmad Madani, Allama Iqbal (poet-philosopher of Pakistan), and many others have shaped global Muslim thought.

5. Quranic translations and commentary

Some of the most widely-used Urdu Quranic translations and tafsir works (including those by Mawdudi, Mufti Taqi Usmani and others) come from the subcontinental tradition. These have been further translated into English and used by British Muslim families across the country.

What this means for British Muslim families with Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi heritage

1. The heritage is rich and deep

1,300 years of Islamic civilisation in the subcontinent. Some of the great Islamic scholars, mystics, architects and poets are part of your community\'s direct heritage. Children should grow up knowing this — not just the recent migration story.

2. The contemporary situation deserves attention

Indian Muslims face significant political pressures under contemporary Hindu nationalist governance. UK Muslim families with Indian heritage maintain ties to relatives still in India and are aware of the situation. Engagement — through advocacy, charitable giving, prayer for the community — is appropriate.

3. The cultural inheritance is genuine

Urdu poetry, Mughal cuisine, the qawwali musical tradition, classical Islamic architecture, the rich Indian Muslim educational tradition — all are legitimate parts of British Muslim cultural inheritance. Children growing up in Britain should not feel disconnected from this heritage.

4. The Indian Muslim experience parallels the British Muslim experience

Living as a religious minority in a non-Muslim majority context is an experience Indian Muslims have lived for centuries. Their navigation of this — through institution-building, scholarship, civic engagement, and patient da\'wah — provides direct guidance for British Muslims navigating the same challenge.

Frequently asked questions

Where to go next

For more on the global Muslim community, see our guides on Muslims in the United Kingdom, Muslims in Russia, our profile of Mufti Ismail Menk, and our pillar on Prominent Islamic Personalities in Modern Times. To learn the Quran with an Al-Azhar-graduate teacher who can connect Quranic teaching to the wider Muslim world, book a free trial lesson.