Indian Muslims: Who Are They c4.19

c4.19

I have calculated elsewhere that the numbers converted between 1193, when the rule of the Turkish Sultanate was established at Delhi, and 1210, when Qutbuddin Aibak died, and the immigrant Muslims were about two and a half lakhs.⁵⁶ To this may be added the Muslims converted, migrated and procreated since the days of Mahmud of Ghazni in the Punjab, U.P., Gujarat and the South. Thus by the beginning of the thirteenth century, there surely was emergence of a Muslim community in India. Structurally, the term community connotes a geographical area with definite legal boundaries occupied by residents engaged in interrelated economic activities and constituting a politically self-governing unit.⁵⁷ Thus in a community is discerned a process of social interaction, interdependence, cooperation, collaboration and unification and a conscious sense of belonging. In modern times means of communication have broken community boundaries. In medieval times human associations like family, relatives, marriages, class (or caste), status, and neighbourhood played a very important role in the communitys life. Even now, despite modern times, it is to be noted that in rural areas, villages and smaller cities the community process is still more closely related to family, neighbourhood, religious beliefs and institutional factors.⁵⁸