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Islam in West Bengal

  • 6 min read
  • 3 chapters

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Through Muslims, Islam and Mecca

Muslims form the majority of the population in three districts: Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur. Among these, Uttar Dinajpur is notable as ethnic Bengali Muslims comprise 28% of the district's population, with the remaining 22% being Urdu and Surjapuri speakers.

History


Islam first arrived in Bengal in the year 1204. 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. The Sultanate's influence was expansive, with the Hindu-born sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funding the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Makkah Al Mukarramah and Madinah Al Munawwarah, 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. 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. 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.

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