Indian Muslims: Who Are They c5.s6.7

c5.s6.7

So, between C.E. 1200 and 1400 especially in the fourteenth century, Muslim population had grown at an accelerated pace. The agencies which contributed to this growth are, well-known. Historical facts giving an idea of this rise too are on record. But the quantum or percentage of rise during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is not possible to estimate with any amount of accuracy for want of specific data. However, it has been estimated by me elsewhere that there were more than thirty lakh Muslims in India around the year 1400 C.E.⁸⁷ These Indian Muslims were not a coalesced lot. The Musalmans of Gujarat, Malabar or Bihar had little communication among themselves. The interests of merchants were different from the other classes. Even in the Central region of Delhi-Agra Muslims had broken up into groups of vested interests. In theory all Muslims are equal; in practice some have always been more equal than the others. Foreign Muslims tried to dominate over Indian Muslims. At the top were the Ulema or the learned, nobles and army commanders. They were all foreigners or descended from migrant Muslims. It was from the Ulema class that the high officers, of government as well as religious institutions were chosen. Their presence was indispensable to a Sultan, who was generally uneducated, if not unlettered. They assisted him in the interpretation and execution of the law. It was through these men that the regime systematized the religious and social life of the Muslim community just as it organized the extension and administration of Muslim dominions in India through the nobility.