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 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 28% of the district's population, with the remaining 22% being Urdu and
Surjapuri speakers.[10]
Islam first arrived in Bengal in the year 1204.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13][14][15] 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.[16][17]Islam became especially widespread when the region was under
Mughal rule from 1576 to 1765 and was commonly known as
Bengal Subah.[citation needed] The
Mughal Emperors considered Bengal their most prized province. The
Mughal emperorAkbar is credited with developing the modern
Bengali calendar.[18]
As per as
Indian Census figures, The Muslim population have increased from (5.1 million) 20 per cent in 1951 to (24.6 million) 27 per cent in 2011 (a growth of 19.5 million in absolute numbers and an increasement of 7 per cent points from last 6 decades) respectively.[20]
The
Muslim population in West Bengal before 1947 partition was around 33%.[21] After
partition of Bengal in 1947, some Muslims from
West Bengal left for
East Pakistan, (Present-Day-
Bangladesh). Estimates show that 1,634,718 Muslim refugees from West Bengal settling permanently in East Pakistan during 1947–1951.[22]
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-speakingMuslims 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]
Muhammad Mohsin, Bengali social reformer, Islamic scholar, philanthropist
Syed Rahim Nabi, retired professional Indian international footballer who primarily played as a midfielder though he could play as a striker and defender.
^Hanif, N (2000). Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia. Prabhat Kumar Sharma, for Sarup & Sons. p. 35.
^"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) Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California.
ISBN978-0-520-20507-9. Retrieved 13 July 2017.