ISLAM in Bengal

Islam (in Bengal)  came to Bengal comparatively late. Within about one hundred years of its advent, Islam penetrated into
northwestern India, and Arabian traders came into contact with the coastal regions of India, including Bengal.

But it took about five hundred years for Muslim political power to reach Bengal. According to unconfirmed traditions, some
Muslim Sufi-saints came to Bengal even before the political conquest, but Islam actually entered in full force with the Turkish conquest
towards the beginning of the 13th century.
Bangladesh is today a Muslim majority country; about 90% of her population belongs to the Islamic faith.
 ISLAM in Bengal

During the first three hundred years or so of Muslim rule, the Turks of one or the other group- the Khaljis, the Ilbaris and
the Qaraunahs, ruled Bengal.
The Abyssinian slaves occupied the throne for a few years in the late 15th century and then came successively the Sayyids, the Afghans
and the Mughals.

So broadly speaking, the Muslim rulers of Bengal belonged to three racial groups-

•the Turks,
•the Afghans and
•the Mughals.
The last were originally linked with the Turks.
 ISLAM in Bengal
Islam entered Bengal both by land and water.

By land the Turkish conquerors came with their religion, culture and concept of governance, while the Arab traders came through
waterway.
 ISLAM in Bengal
They also came with their religion and culture, with a purpose different from that of the Turks. The influence of the Arabs in some parts of
Bengal, particularly in the coastal region of Chittagong is remembered through traditions. But the Arabs probably did not affect the
society as deeply as was done by the Turkish conquerors.

The Turks came with the avowed intention of establishing political power. The Arabs came to trade in the trading season, and left when the
season was over. But for the Turkish conquerors the situation was different. They conquered, established a kingdom and a government and
took other steps to strengthen their position.
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Ever since the establishment of the first Muslim kingdom in Bengal there was a continuous flow of Muslims into Bengal.
There came the soldiers, who were, in fact the backbone of political power; the religious learned people, the
Sayyids, Ulama and the Mashayikhs to disseminate religion; the civil servants, experts in politics,
finance and governance; the traders and businessmen, and also the artisans and craftsmen.

They all came in search of employment and /or better livelihood. The Mongol destruction of the Baghdad Caliphate in the
thirteenth century led to widespread displacement of Central Asian Muslims, who took refuge in the capitals of Delhi and 
LAKHNAUTI.
They even spread to the outlying places. Muslims coming from the cultural centres of central Asia were welcomed; they
were known as aizza (‘respectable’) and given suitable employment.
 ISLAM in Bengal
When the Muslim Kingdom was established in Lakhnauti, it was, theoretically at least, a part of the Abbasid Caliphate. Though the caliph’s
power was dwindling, he was considered the supreme spiritual head of Sunni Muslims all over.
The Muslims of Bengal also shared this view and some early Muslim sultans of Bengal actually imprinted the names of Abbasid
caliphs on their coins. Some others, who did not actually inscribe the name of the caliph, assumed titles inscribed on their coins,
denoting their allegiance to the institution of the Caliphate. Be that as it may, the Muslim kingdom of Bengal in the pre-Mughal period was
for all practical purposes an independent kingdom.
 ISLAM in Bengal
During this whole period, the Bengal rulers took the title of sultan, thus proclaiming the character of the Kingdom as a Sultanate.
Some Bengal sultans assumed the title of Khalifah themselves. The Caliphate of Baghdad came to an end long before the establishment
of Mughal rule in India (or in Bengal). So they had nothing to do with that institution. The Mughals took the imperial title of xahinxah
(king of the kings), and they gave the title of sultan to their princes. Bengal, or Subah Bangalah, was all through a province of the
Mughal empire.
 ISLAM in Bengal
Islam, which came in the wake of the Turkish conquest, changed the socio-religious pattern of Bengal. Politically, it sowed the seeds of
Muslim rule, but socially it planted a Muslim society, opening the gate of Bengal to numerous immigrants from the then Muslim world,
which affected the existing society enormously. Islam spread in Bengal in a lengthy process.
 ISLAM in Bengal
Bakhtyar’s kingdom was only a nucleus and the Muslims took more than two hundred years to bring the
whole of Bengal under their control. In 1338 Bengal witnessed the beginning of an independent Sultanate
under FAKHRUDDIN MUBARAK SHAH. From this time onward, for two hundred years, Bengal remained
independent.

This was a period of overall development of the country both politically and culturally. But the most
important development of this period was that the country for the first time received a name, ie Bangalah.
Before this there was no geo-political unity of Bengal, no common name for the whole country.
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Bengal was known by the names of its different units,
• Gauda,
• Radha,
• Vanga etc.

After Sultan Shamsuddin ILIYAS SHAH conquered all these three regions and united the whole of Bengal, the name
Bangalah emerged and he earned for himself the title of Shah-i-Bangalah and Sultan-i-Bangalah.

Henceforth, the Muslim kingdom of Bengal came to be known as the kingdom of Bangalah. Historians began to call the kingdom
Bangalah instead of Lakhnauti, and foreigners also used this name, when came the Mughal subah Bangalah and the British province of
Bengal.
 ISLAM in Bengal
The independent Sultanate saw the expansion of Muslim power which spread into every nook and corner of
the country, up to KAMARUPA in the north, Tippara in the east and the sea in the south.

• Chittagong was conquered by Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah (1338-1349);

• Faridpur was conquered by JALALUDDIN MUHAMMAD SHAH (1415-1432) and renamed 
FATHABAD.
• Khan Jahan brought the Khulna-Jessore area under the Muslim rule in the reign of NASIRUDDIN
MAHMUD SHAH (1435-1459)
• and RUKNUDDIN BARBAK SHAH (1459-1474) conquered Bakerganj.
 ISLAM in Bengal
The expansion of Muslim power in Bengal was now complete, and the Muslim kingdom of
Lakhnauti founded by Muhammad BAKHTIYAR KHALJI was turned into the Muslim
Kingdom of Bengal. The Mughals took over this kingdom. After the death of 
AURANGZEB, when Mughal power declined, Bengal like other provinces of the empire
was ruled by the NAWABS more or less independently. This position continued up to the
 BATTLE OF PALASHI, 1757.
 ISLAM in Bengal
The establishment of Muslim rule was not an end in itself, for Muslim power had to be sustained in a country where a
large number of non-Muslims had been living from time immemorial. These indigenous people were diametrically
opposed to the incomers in every aspect of religious, social and cultural life; they were opposed not only in their
fundamental beliefs but also in their day to day life from birth to death.

So the Muslim rulers of Bengal, from the beginning till the end, built up institutions to disseminate Islamic learning and
culture among those who professed the Islamic faith. They built mosques, MADRASAHS and KHANQAHS for this
purpose. Mosques form an important feature of Muslim society and culture, because they afford opportunity to offer
prayers, one of the fundamental pillars of the Islamic faith. In fact when a new area was brought under control and a
Muslim settlement was established, a mosque was built to facilitate offering of prayers by the Muslims.
 ISLAM in Bengal
The building up of Muslim society in Bengal was a long process
of gradual growth.The composition of the society quite natur-
ally differed from century to century with the immigration
of foreign Muslims and the conversion of local people.
With the occupation of Delhi by the Mughals, the Afghans lost
control over northern India and they spread over outlying
provinces including Bengal.
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Chittagong being an important seaport, the Arab, Persian and many other foreign traders
went there for commerce and trade. Prospects of better livelihood in the newly conquered
country and prospects of lucrative trade were responsible for attracting foreign Muslims to
this country. While some may have left, many settled here in Bengal.