Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t5.1

c5.s4.t5.1

It was somewhat difficult to distinguish the lower classes of Muslims from the masses of Hindus. Most of them were originally Hindu converts to Islam, which had not materially altered their social position, although it may have improved it in some cases. The Sultans may have been somewhat indulgent to the Muslim masses, on certain occasions, but this is by no means certain.¹ With his conversion to Islam the average Muslim did not change his old environment, which was deeply influenced by caste distinctions and a general social exclusiveness. As a result Indian Islam slowly began to assimilate the broad features of Hinduism. The various classes of which the Muslim community was composed began to live aloof from one another even in separate quarters in the same city.² On the other hand the honour and respect paid to the foreign ruling and privileged classes gave to the foreign and non-Indian extraction of a Muslim, the highest claims to social distinction. People began to discover for themselves as far as possible a foreign ancestry.³