Islam in West Bengal

According to the 2011 census, West Bengal has over 24.6 million Muslims, making up 27% of the state's population.[6] The vast majority of Muslims in West Bengal are ethnic native Bengali Muslims, numbering around over 22 million and comprising 24.1% of the state population (mostly they reside in Rural areas). There also exists an Immigrants Urdu-speaking Muslim community numbering 2.6 million, constituting 2.9% of the state population and mostly resides in Urban areas of the state.[7][1][3][2][4][8]

Muslims in West Bengal
West Bengal's oldest mosque located at Murshidabad district
Total population
24,654,825 (2011 census)
(27% of the state population)Increase[1][2][3][4][5]
Regions with significant populations
Majority in Murshidabad (66.3%), Maldah (51.3%), Uttar dinajpur (50%). Significant minority in Birbhum (37.1%), South 24 Parganas (35.6%), Howrah (26.20%).
Languages
Majority Bengali, Minority Urdu, Surjapuri, and others
Part of a series on
Islam
Beliefs
Practices
History
Culture and society
Related topics
Zohora Begum Mosque in Kolkata

Muslims form the majority of the population in three districts: Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur.[9] Among these, Uttar Dinajpur is notable as ethnic Bengali Muslims comprise 48% of the district's population, with the remaining 2% being Urdu and Surjapuri speakers.[10]

Demography
Percentage and population of Muslims in West Bengal by decades[11][12]
Year Percentage (%) Muslim Population Total population
1901 29.44 3,954,776 16,940,088
1911 30.31 4,355,098 17,998,769
1921 30.67 4,601,516 17,474,348
1931 32.30 5,521,313 18,897,036
1941 33.18 6,006,442 23,229,552
1951 15.85 3,944,487 26,299,980
1961 19.79 6,915,348 34,926,279
1971 20.46 9,083,963 44,312,011
1981 21.51 11,743,209 54,580,647
1991 23.61 16,050,000 68,077,965
2001 25.25 20,240,543 80,176,197
2011 27.01 24,654,825 91,347,736

History
See also: Bengal Sultanate
See also: Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad
The Gazi Dargah (গাজী দরগা) of Tribeni (ত্রিবেনী) in West Bengal. This is one of the oldest Islamic heritage structures of Bengal

Islam first arrived in Bengal in the year 1204.[13] The establishment of the first Muslim state in Bengal, the Bengal Sultanate, in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah is credited to giving rise to a Bengali socio-linguistic identity.[14] The Sultanate's influence was expansive, with the Hindu-born sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funding the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Mecca and Medina, which came to be known as al-Madaris al-Banjaliyyah (Bengali madrasas). Sufis also became prominent in this period, such as Usman Serajuddin, also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali, who was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign.[15][16][17] Alongside Persian and Arabic, the Sultanate also used the Bengali language to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favored liturgical languages such as Sanskrit and Pali.[18][19] Islam became especially widespread when the region was under Mughal rule from 1576 to 1765 and was commonly known as Bengal Subah. The Mughal Emperors considered Bengal their most prized province. The Mughal emperor Akbar is credited with developing the modern Bengali calendar.[20]

The Bengal Sultanate, 16th century covering whole Western part of Bengal

Population
Historical Muslim Population
YearPop.±%
1901 3,954,776—    
1911 2,955,098−25.3%
1921 4,101,516+38.8%
1931 4,521,313+10.2%
1941 5,506,442+21.8%
1951 5,102,330−7.3%
1961 6,915,348+35.5%
1971 9,083,963+31.4%
1981 11,743,209+29.3%
1991 16,050,000+36.7%
2001 20,240,543+26.1%
2011 24,654,825+21.8%
2021 30,002,788+21.7%
Source: [12]

Partition and immigration
See also: Partition of Bengal (1947)

The Muslim population in West Bengal before 1947 partition was around 30%.[21] After partition of Bengal in 1947, some Muslims from West Bengal left for East Pakistan, (Present-Day-Bangladesh). Estimates show that 1,534,718 Muslim refugees from West Bengal settling permanently in East Pakistan during 1947–1951.[22]

Population by district (2011)
Percentage share of Muslims in the districts of West Bengal, 2011 Census
Muslims in West Bengal by district (2011)[23]
#DistrictTotal populationMuslim population %
1Murshidabad7,103,8074,707,57366.88%
2South 24 Parganas8,161,9612,903,07535.57%
3North 24 Parganas10,009,7812,584,68425.82%
4Malda3,988,8452,045,15151.27%
5Bardhaman7,717,5631,599,76420.73%
6Uttar Dinajpur3,007,1341,501,17049.92%
7Nadia5,167,6001,382,68226.76%
8Birbhum3,502,4041,298,05437.06%
9Howrah4,850,0291,270,64126.20%
10Kolkata4,496,694926,41420.60%
11Hooghly5,519,145870,20415.77%
12Purba Medinipur5,095,875743,43614.59%
13Cooch Behar2,819,086720,03325.54%
14Paschim Medinipur5,913,457620,55410.49%
15Jalpaiguri3,872,846445,81711.51%
16Dakshin Dinajpur1,676,276412,78824.63%
17Bankura3,596,674290,4508.08%
18Purulia2,930,115227,2497.76%
19Darjeeling1,846,823105,0865.69%

Linguistic groups

According to the 2021 census estimation, there were around 30 million Muslims living in West Bengal, constituting 28.9% respectively.[24] Nearly most of them (26% of state population), about 27 million are native Bengali Muslims, constituting around 90% of the total Muslim population in the state, and are mostly concentrated in rural and Semi Urban areas. The Urdu-speaking Muslims from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh constitute rest 2.9%, numbering around 3 million and are mainly concentrated in Kolkata, Asansol, Islampur subdivision of West Bengal.[25][3][26]

Notable Muslims from West Bengal

Kolkata

Malda

Murshidabad

Hooghly


Bardhaman

Birbhum

North 24 Parganas

South 24 Parganas

Howrah

Uttar Dinajpur
  • Abdul Karim Chowdhury , Bengali Former Politician , Ex Minister for Mass Education Extension and Library Services.

Midanapur

Cooch Behar

See also

References
  1. "Population of West Bengal - West Bengal Population 2021".
  2. "West Bengal assembly elections: Why getting Muslims votes could be tough for Mamata Banerjee". Times of India. 6 February 2021.
  3. "Why the 30% Muslim vote share is crucial in Bengal, explains Robin Roy".
  4. "West Bengal Population 2022".
  5. Census of India - Religious Composition
  6. "Why the 30% Muslim vote share is crucial in Bengal, explains Robin Roy".
  7. Jayanta Ghosal (21 April 2021). "Decoding the Muslim vote in West Bengal". India Today. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  8. misu-2011-census.html "Census 2011 shows Islam is the fastest growing religion in India". Mint. 26 August 2015. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  9. Saibal Sen (26 August 2015). "Bengal beats India in Muslim growth rate".
  10. hajarduar (22 October 2013). "The curious case of the Surjapuri people". আলাল ও দুলাল | ALAL O DULAL. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  11. https://m.statisticstimes.com/demographics/india/west-bengal-population.php
  12. Nahid Kamal. "The Population Trajectories of Bangladesh and West Bengal During the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Study" (PDF).
  13. http://pu.edu.pk › historyPDF the diffusion of islam in bengal - Punjab University
  14. Ahmed, ABM Shamsuddin (2012). "Iliyas Shah". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  15. 'Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi. Akhbarul Akhyar.
  16. Abdul Karim (2012). "Shaikh Akhi Sirajuddin Usman (R)". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  17. Hanif, N (2000). Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia. Prabhat Kumar Sharma, for Sarup & Sons. p. 35.
  18. "What is more significant, a contemporary Chinese traveler reported that although Persian was understood by some in the court, the language in universal use there was Bengali. This points to the waning, although certainly not yet the disappearance, of the sort of cosmopolitan mentality that the Muslim ruling class in Bengal had exhibited since its arrival over two centuries earlier. It also points to the survival and eventual dominance of parochial Bengali culture at the highest level of official society." (Eaton 1993:60)
  19. Rabbani, AKM Golam (7 November 2017). "Politics and Literary Activities in the Bengali Language during the Independent Sultanate of Bengal". Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics. 1 (1): 151–166. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017 – via www.banglajol.info.
  20. Shoaib Daniyal. "Bengali New Year: how Akbar invented the modern Bengali calendar". Scroll.in. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  21. "Muslims of West Bengal" (PDF). core.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  22. Chatterji, Joya (2007). The Spoils of Partition: Bengal and India, 1947–1967. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46830-5.
  23. Population by religious community: West Bengal. 2011 Census of India.
  24. "Mamata's Muslim Gameplan".
  25. "Owaisi's entry into Bengal likely to unsettle TMC's sway over minorities | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. 13 November 2020.
  26. "West Bengal elections 2021: Mamata Banerjee and Muslim votes - Times of India". The Times of India.
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