Punjabi Muslims

The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 16th century CE.{{cite book|last=Malhotra|first=Anshu|title=Punjab reconsidered : history, culture, and practice |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0-19-807801-2|url=http://global.oup.com/academic/product/punjab-reconsidered-history-culture-and-practice-9780198078012;jsessionid=67C0F3362215BC7FE368DF643C70CA16?cc=de&lang=en&|author2=Mir, Farina|access-date=6 April 2014|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307092802/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/punjab-reconsidered-history-culture-and-practice-9780198078012;jsessionid=67C0F3362215BC7FE368DF643C70CA16?cc=de&lang=en&|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal|last=Ayers|first=Alyssa |title=Language, the Nation, and Symbolic Capital: The Case of Punjab|journal=Journal of Asian Studies |year=2008|volume=67|issue=3|pages=917–46|url=http://alyssaayres.com/pdf/Ayres-JAS-Language-Nation.pdf |doi=10.1017/s0021911808001204 |s2cid=56127067}}{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Pritam|last2=Thandi|first2=Shinder S.|title=Globalisation and the region : explorations in Punjabi identity |year=1996|publisher=Association for Punjab Studies (UK)|location=Coventry, United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-874699-05-7}} However, Punjab as a linguistic, geographical and cultural entity had existed for centuries prior.{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Pritam |title=Punjabi identity in a global context |last2=Thandi |first2=Shinder S. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-564864-5 |location=New Delhi}} Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections.{{cite journal |last=Singh |first=Prtiam |year=2012 |title=Globalisation and Punjabi Identity: Resistance, Relocation and Reinvention (Yet Again!) |url=http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v19_2/Singh.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Punjab Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=153–72 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124071525/http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v19_2/Singh.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2016 |access-date=6 April 2014}} Islam spread in the region via missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region thereby becoming the faith of many by the 16th century. This contributed to the formation of a Punjabi Muslim identity.{{Cite book |last1=Rambo |first1=Lewis R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA490 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion |last2=Farhadian |first2=Charles E. |date=2014-03-06 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971354-7 |pages=489–491 |language=en |quote=First, Islam was introduced into the southern Punjab in the opening decades of the eighth century. By the sixteenth century, Muslims were the majority in the region and an elaborate network of mosques and mausoleums marked the landscape. Local converts constituted the majority of this Muslim community, and as far for the mechanisms of conversion, the sources of the period emphasize the recitation of the Islamic confession of faith (shahada), the performance of the circumsicion (indri vaddani), and the ingestion of cow-meat (bhas khana).}}{{Cite book |last=Chhabra |first=G. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vF9DAAAAYAAJ |title=Advanced History of the Punjab: Guru and post-Guru period upto Ranjit Singh |date=1968 |publisher=New Academic Publishing Company |page=37 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Nicholls |first1=Ruth J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdz0DwAAQBAJ&q=islam+punjab+sufi |title=Insights into Sufism: Voices from the Heart |last2=Riddell |first2=Peter G. |date=2020-07-31 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-5275-5748-2 |language=en |quote=With the Muslim conquest of Punjab there was a flow of Sufis and other preachers who came to spread Islam. Much of the advance of Islam was due to these preachers.}}

{{Main|History of Punjab|Religion in the Punjab|List of Punjabi Muslims}}

At the advent of Islam in the seventh century, Punjab was part of Takka kingdom. By then, Buddhism had declined in Punjab after the fall of the Kushans, and had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century.{{Cite book |last1=Rambo |first1=Lewis R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA490 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion |last2=Farhadian |first2=Charles E. |date=2014-03-06 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971354-7 |pages=490 |language=en |quote=While Punjabi Hindu society was relatively well established, there was also a small but vibrant Jain community in the Punjab. Buddhist communities, however, had largely disappeared by the turn of the tenth century.}} Several scholars have identified Takka kingdom with the kingdom of al-Usaifan, whose king is reported by al-Biladhuri to have converted to Islam during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tasim ({{reign|833|842}}).{{Cite book |last=Ḍār |first=Saifurraḥmān |url= |title=Taxila and the Western World |date=1984 |publisher=al-Waqar Publishers |pages=20 |language=en}} However, Islam as a political power got introduced via southern Punjab only after the 8th century Umayyad conquest of Sindh. The first Muslim state in Punjab was the Emirate of Multan, established in 855 after the disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the 11th century, Muslim conquered northern Punjab after the defeat of the native Hindu Shahis by the Ghaznavids. The city of Lahore emerged as a thriving city, rivalling Ghazni and effectively acted as a second capital of the empire.{{cite book|author1=James L. Wescoat|author2=Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn|title=Mughal Gardens: Sources, Places, Representations, and Prospects|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=96ec98LieGsC&pg=PA149|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|isbn=978-0-88402-235-0|page=149}}{{cite book|last1 = Ikram|first1 = S. M|date = 1964|title = Muslim Civilization in India|url = https://archive.org/details/muslimcivilizati00ikra|url-access = registration|location = New York |publisher = Columbia University Press |author1-link = S. M. Ikram}}

In Punjab, conversion to Islam occurred mostly amongst pastoralist or agricultural groups that were not integrated into the Hindu Varna social class hierarchy,{{cite journal |last=Eaton |first=R. M. |date=2009 |title=Shrines, Cultivators, and Muslim 'Conversion' in Punjab and Bengal, 1300–1700 |journal=The Medieval History Journal |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=191–220 |doi=10.1177/097194580901200202}} such as Jats, who were known to Muslims as Zutt.{{cite book|last1=Asher|first1=Catherine Ella Blanshard |last2=Talbot |first2=Cynthia |title=India before Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvaGuaJIJgoC&pg=PA269 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80904-7|pages=269–270}} The tribes of the Bar region would be contacted by Sufi mystics like Fariduddin Ganjshakar over the centuries and converted to Islam, albeit a syncretic form. Gakhars of the Pothohar plateau were noted for their martial capabilities and gradually converted to Islam.

File:Darbar Hazrat Baba Farid ud Deen Ganj Shakar Rahmatullah Alaih - panoramio.jpg, one of the most notable Punjabi Sufi saints]]

In 1161, the Ghurids conquered the city of Ghazni, forcing the Ghaznavids to shift their capital to Lahore. Soon, however, Muhammad Ghori invaded Punjab as well, and conquered Lahore and Multan in 1186, marking end of the Ghaznavids. In 1206, he was assassinated at Damiak by Isma'ilis or Punjabi Khokhars.{{cite book|author=Mohammad Habib|editor=K. A. Nizami|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQ1uAAAAMAAJ |title=Politics and Society During the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib |date=1981 |publisher=People's Publishing House |language=en}} One of his Mamluk slaves, Qutb ud-Din Aibak, established the Delhi Sultanate, with Lahore being the first capital of the sultanate. The early period of the Delhi Sultanate saw several Mongol invasions of Punjab. Ultimately, Mongols were defeated during the rule of the Khalji dynasty.{{cite book |title= Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) - Part One |author= Satish Chandra |date= 2004 |isbn=978-81-241-1064-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA269 |page=267|publisher= Har-Anand Publications }}

Islam became firmly established in Punjab during the era of Delhi Sultanate, and tribes like Khokhars played an important role in the inter-dynastic struggle. In 1320, Ghazi Malik, the former governor of Multan, rebelled against the Khalji rule. With the support of various factions including Khokhars, he established the Tughlaq dynasty.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IARuAAAAMAAJ&q=khokhars+vanguard |title=The Rajputs: History, Clans, Culture, and Nobility · Volume 1 |author= Rānā Muḥammad Sarvar K̲h̲ān̲ |date=2005 |page=490|publisher=the University of Michigan }}{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euMKAQAAMAAJ |title=Islam and the Modern Age|page=19 |author= Z̲ākir Ḥusain|volume=27 |journal=Islam and the Modern Age Society |date=1996 }} Some of the earliest mentions of Punjabi language date to this period.{{cite book |url= https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/sitefiles/journals/volume14/no1/14.1_Rahman.pdf |title= Punjabi Language During British Rule |author= Tariq Rahman |publisher= Quaid-i Azam University, Islamabad |page= 1 |quote= 'Amir Khusro ba Zuban-e-Punjabi ba ibarat-e-marghub muqaddama jang ghazi ul mulk Tughlaq Shah o Nasir uddin Khusro Khan gufta ke aan ra ba Zuban-e-Hind var guvaend' (Amir Khusro in the language of the Punjab wrote an introduction of the battle between Tughlaq [1324-1320] and Khusro which in the language of India is called a var)}}

File:Map of the Sayyid Dynasty.png under Khizr Khan.{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=076 |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-74221-0 |location=Chicago |pages=39, 148}}]]

By the late 14th century, the Tughlaq dynasty had declined, and the sultanate was divided among various warlords. The city of Lahore was intermittently captured by Khokhars. Taking advantage of the prevailing anarchy, Timur led a brutal invasion of Delhi sultanate in 1398. Lahore had been under control of Shaikha Khokhar since 1394, who resisted Timur but was defeated and killed. Afterwards, Timur plundered Delhi and massacred its inhabitants.{{Cite journal |date=2007-02-01 |title=Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world |journal=Choice Reviews Online |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=44–3450-44-3450 |doi=10.5860/choice.44-3450 |doi-broken-date=1 February 2025 |issn=0009-4978}} Tughlaq power crumbled and resulted in nobles asserting formal independence. In 1414 the Tughlaq dynasty was itself replaced by Sayyid dynasty of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain.{{cite book |author=Eaton; Richard M. |author-link=Richard M. Eaton|title=India in the Persianate Age: 1000–1765 |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-520-32512-8 |page=105|publisher=University of California Press |quote="The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan, illustrates the transition to an increasingly polycentric north India."}} Much of the time of Sayyid Sultans was spent in fighting against Jasrat, who was the most formidable opponent of Delhi sultans in Punjab. South Punjab became independent from Delhi when Langah Sultanate broke away in 1445.{{Cite book |last1=Qanungo |first1=Kalika Ranjan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ue9tAAAAMAAJ |title=Sher Shah and His Times |last2=Kānūnago |first2=Kālikā Rañjana |date=1965 |publisher=Orient Longmans |language=en|page=286|quote=}} The rulers of medieval Gujarat Sultanate in western India are also described as having Punjabi Khatri origins.{{Cite book |last=Subrahmanyam |first=Sanjay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5nsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT60 |title=Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440-1640 |date=2024 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-1-4773-2879-8 |language=en |quote=The latter sultanate was founded by a former Tughluq governor, perhaps from a family of Punjabi Khatri converts, who took the title Muzaffar Shah in the early fifteenth century but reigned for only a short time.}}

By the early 16th century, the Lodi dynasty which succeeded Sayyids had control over little more than the region around Lahore in Punjab. In 1525, the Mughal emperor Babur invaded Delhi Sultanate and conquered it by defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of Panipat. The Gakhars of Potohar remained loyal to the house of Babur after Sher Shah Suri overthrew the Mughals under Humayun. This caused Sher Shah Suri to invade Pothohar and the local chief Sarang Khan died fighting against him.The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period by Henry Miers Elliot, John Dowson, Volume IV, p. 493 However, Gakhars continued their resistance, even after Sher Shah Suri's minister Todar Mal constructed the Rohtas fort in the region.{{Cite web |title=Rohtas Fort |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/586/ |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}} Gakhar chiefs such as Kamal Khan were part of Mughal nobility when Humayun regained Delhi after defeating Sur dynasty in the Second Battle of Panipat.{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Parvati |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1W_EAAAQBAJ&dq=kamal+khan+gakkhar&pg=PA100 |title=A Lamp for the Dark World: Akbar, India's Greatest Mughal |date=2023-05-15 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-7790-7 |pages=100–101 |language=en}}

According to the Ain-i-Akbari written during the reign of Akbar, Punjab region was divided into Lahore and Multan provinces.{{Cite book |last=Gajrani |first=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5J6bO8qQ7YC&pg=PA205 |title=History, Religion and Culture of India |date=2004 |publisher=Isha Books |isbn=978-81-8205-059-4 |pages=205 |language=en}} Muslims had majority in southern Punjab by the 16th century, and a definitive Punjabi identity had formed as the inhabitants of Punjab started to be addressed as Punjabis by the outsiders during 17th century.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&dq=amir+khusro+lahauri&pg=PA204 |series=History of Science, Philosophy, and Culture in Indian Civilization |volume=XIV Part 4 |title=Different Types of History |page=204 |editor=Bharati Ray |publisher=Pearson Education India |date=2009 |isbn=978-81-317-1818-6}} Several Punjabi Muslims rose to high ranks during Mughal period, such as Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) Saadullah Khan (1645–1656). He belonged to the Thaheem clan of Chiniot.{{cite book |last=Quddus |first=S.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4y9zAAAAMAAJ |title=Punjab, the Land of Beauty, Love, and Mysticism |publisher=Royal Book Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-969-407-130-5 |page=402 |access-date=2022-07-29}} Saadullah Khan oversaw construction of several Mughal monuments including Taj Mahal under the supervision of architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori, who was also from Punjab, and led the Mughal army to Balkh in 1646 during Shah Jahan's war against the Safavids in the region.{{Cite journal |last=Foltz |first=Richard |date=1996 |title=The Mughal Occupation of Balkh 1646–1647 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26195477 |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=49–61 |doi=10.1093/jis/7.1.49 |jstor=26195477 |issn=0955-2340}} Wazir Khan of Chiniot was also a grand vizier in the early Shah Jahani era.{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Mohammad Afzal |title=The Ruling Elite - Iranian Nobility under Shahjahan and Aurangzeb |date=2016-01-01 |publisher=Viva Books |isbn=978-81-309-1370-4 |edition=1st |location=New Delhi Mumbai Chennai |pages=130 |language=en}}

The death of Aurangzeb in 1707, began the decline of Mughal power in the 18th century. Between 1712 and 1719, Barhas, a dynasty of kingmakers of peasant origins from Punjab, exercised de facto control over the Mughal Empire.{{Cite book |last=Kolff |first=Dirk H. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SrdiVPsFRYIC&q=naukar+rajput+and+sepoy |title=Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850 |date=2002-08-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52305-9 |pages=18 |language=en |quote=As another example of such soldiers of marginal peasant origin, the Barha Sayyids, a celebrated troop of soldiers under the Mughals deserve attention. They were said to be the descendants of the families who had, at an uncertain date, moved from their homes in Panjab to a sandy and infertile tract of what is now the eastern part of the Muzaffarnagar district}} Mughal authority in Punjab remained in the hands of Nawabs who gave nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor in Delhi; however it collapsed in Punjab after Mir Mannu died in 1753. Last Nawab of Punjab, Adina Beg was a Punjabi Arain who attempted to make Punjab independent. After his untimely death in 1758, Ahmad Shah Durrani directly annexed the region. Punjab suffered from the eight invasions of the Durrani Afghans between 1748 and 1767, which ravaged the region.{{Cite book |title=Afghanistan at war : from the 18th-century Durrani dynasty to the 21st century |date=2017 |editor=Tom Lansford |isbn=978-1-59884-759-8 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=21 |oclc=952980822}}

During these centuries of Mughal rule, Punjabi Muslims established great institutions of Islamic civilization in cities and towns such as Lahore and Sialkot. Punjabi Muslim scholars were "in high demand", teaching the Islamic sciences as far as Central Asia, in cities such as Bukhara, even being considered there as Awliya' within their lifetimes.{{Cite book |last=Ziad |first=Waleed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-ZFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |title=Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-674-24881-6 |pages=132 |quote=A shared Persian language, and its corresponding religio-cultural modalities and symbols, ensured that the credentials of deputies from Hindustan and Khurasan would be recognized across Transoxiana. Fazl Ahmad appointed several Punjabi and Peshawari deputies at Balkh, Samarkand, Bukhara, Aqcha, Khiva, and Khoqand. Some of the Punjabi migrants were even acknowledged as native saints of Transoxiana within their lifetimes.}} The Kamboh clan of Lahore also produced many notable scholars and administrators. Other influential Muslim scholars born in Punjab during Mughal era include Abdul Hakim Sialkoti and Ahmad Sirhindi.{{cite book|last=Schimmel|first=Annemarie |title=Islam in the Indian Subcontinent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYImm1TnemwC |access-date=2014-11-10 |year=1980 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-06117-7 |page=90}} Between 1761 and 1799, the south Indian kingdom of Mysore was ruled by Hyder Ali, stated to be a Punjabi adventurer in the army of Mysore, and his son Tipu Sultan.{{Cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James Stuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0VnzMelzm8C&dq=hyder+ali+punjabi&pg=PA773 |title=Historical Dictionary of the British Empire |last2=Shadle |first2=Robert |date=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-27917-1 |language=en|page=273|quote=Hyder Ali was originally a Punjabi adventurer in the army of the Hindu king of Mysore.}}{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William|author-link=William Dalrymple |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5IyEAAAQBAJ&q=the+anarchy |title=The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire |date=2019-09-10 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-63557-395-4|page=264 |language=en |quote=The second power was a new force, which in the 1770s was just emerging and beginning to flex its military muscles: the Mysore Sultanate of Haidar Ali and his formidable warrior son, Tipu Sultan. Haidar, who was of Punjabi origin, had risen in the ranks of the Mysore army, where he introduced many of the innovations he had learned from observing French troops at work in the Carnatic Wars.}} Tipu Sultan, who is widely hailed as a freedom fighter in South Asia, led Mysore during Anglo-Mysore Wars and also pioneered modern rocketry.{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William|author-link=William Dalrymple |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5IyEAAAQBAJ&q=the+anarchy |title=The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire |date=2019-09-10 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-63557-395-4 |language=en |page=370}}

{{See also|Sial kingdom|Gakhar kingdom}}

File:Punjabdoabs1.jpg

Ahmad Shah Durrani and his successors failed to maintain control of Punjab except in Attock, Kasur and Multan where large Afghan colonies were based. Punjab was divided into petty Muslim and Sikh chieftancies. The situation remained as such till Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799.{{Cite book |last=Wikeley |first=J. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoqhzQEACAAJ&q=Rare+Book+Society+of+India |title=Punjabi Musalmans |date=2020-07-21 |publisher=Alpha Editions |isbn=978-93-5404-023-8 |language=en|page=23}}

The two important Punjabi Muslim states that existed in 18th century Punjab were those of the Sials and the Gakhars. Gakhars under Sultan Muqarrab Khan (r.1738–1769) established rule over Potohar and the Chaj Doab whilst the Sials with their capital at Jhang conquered the Lower Rachna and Sindh Sagar Doabs under their chief Inayatullah Khan (r.1747–1787).{{Cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Lepel Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bN0bjgEACAAJ |title=The Panjab Chiefs: Historical and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families in the Lahore and Rawalpindi Divisions of the Panjab, Volume 2 |last2=Massy |first2=Charles Francis |date=2015-08-11 |publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC |isbn=978-1-297-73366-6 |pages=505 |language=en}} However, Sikhs, who originated in central Punjab, gradually expanded westwards. Owing to their superior European-style military training and discipline, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh not only gained control of most of Punjab but also conquered Kashmir (1818), Multan (1818) and Peshawar (1833) from Durrani Afghans. Only the Bahawalpur state, then under Daudpotra Nawabs, remained independent from Sikh regime. With Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, Sikh power declined. After suffering defeat in the Anglo-Sikh wars, their territory was annexed in 1849 by the British East India Company.{{cite book|last=Allen |first=Charles|author-link=Charles Allen (writer)|title=Soldier Sahibs: The Men Who Made the North-West Frontier|year=2001 |publisher=Abacus|location=London|isbn=0-349-11456-0}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}}

Views of the Sikh Empire rule, are mixed amongst different Punjabi Muslim groups. Ranjit Singh is seen favourably by a section of Punjabi activists in Pakistan but remains overall largely negative.{{Cite news |title=Dawn |work=Is Ranjit Singh’s statue in Lahore worth celebrating? |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1491672 |quote=For a section of Punjabi activists in Pakistan and most Sikhs, Ranjit Singh is a local hero — 'son of the soil' — who successfully thwarted aggressors from the north and established a strong centralised government that provided relief to the people of Punjab after decades of chaos and violence.}} The mid 19th-century Punjabi Muslim historians, such as Shahamat Ali who experienced the Sikh Empire first hand, presented a different view on Ranjit Singh's empire and governance.{{cite book|author=Chitralekha Zutshi|title=Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rEluAAAAMAAJ |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521939-5 |pages=39–41 }} According to Ali, Ranjit Singh's government was despotic, and he was a mean monarch in contrast to the Mughals.{{cite book|author=Christopher Alan Bayly|title=Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780–1870 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bqEzPPp8xIC |year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66360-1 |pages=233 }} His account portrays Ranjit Singh as leading his Khalsa army's "insatiable appetite for plunder", their desire for "fresh cities to pillage", and eliminating the Mughal era "revenue intercepting intermediaries between the peasant-cultivator and the treasury".{{cite book|author=Clive Dewey | editor=D. A. Low|title=Political Inheritance of Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaeuCwAAQBAJ |year=1991 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-349-11556-3 |pages=263–265 }} As a symbolic assertion of power, the Sikhs regularly desecrated Muslim places of worship, including closing of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar and the conversion of the Bad shahi Mosque in Lahore to an ammunition store and horse stable, but the empire still maintained Persian administrative institutions and court etiquette; the Sikh silver rupees were minted on the Mughal standard with Persian legends.{{Cite book |last=Ziad |first=Waleed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-ZFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints Beyond the Oxus and Indus |date=2021-11-16 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-24881-6 |page=45 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Chida-Razvi |first=Mehreen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3QeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT92 |title=The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics |date=2020-09-20 |publisher=Intellect Books |isbn=978-1-78938-304-1 |pages=91–94 |language=en |quote=In addition to the masjid's use as a site for military storage, stables for the cavalry horses, and barracks for soldiers, parts of it were also used as storage for powder magazines.}}

Historian Robina Yasmin, on the other hand, argues against the stereotypical narratives of claimed anti-Muslim oppression by the Sikh Empire.{{Cite book |last=Yasmin |first=Robina |title=Muslims Under Sikh Rule in the Nineteenth Century: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Religious Tolerance |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-7556-4034-8 |pages=127–132 |chapter=Conclusion |quote=This study was undertaken with a new paradigm to understand the condition of the Muslims under Sikh rule in the Punjab. It challenges the stereotypical approaches, which highlight contradictions between Muslims and Sikhs. Some historians have pointed out that the Sikh rulers mistreated the Muslims, harmed their religion and damaged their religious places. In support of this, they claim that not only did the Muslims of India show resentment, but also that some of them started Tehrik-e-Mujahidin against Ranjit Singh's state. The author, with new evidence from the Fakir Khana archives in Pakistan and England, has developed the hypothesis that the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh and his successors adopted a secular approach towards minorities, including the Muslims - that is, there was not a single movement within the Punjab started by Muslims against the Sikh rulers. Instead, the Tehrik-e-Mujahidin that was launched against the alleged maltreatment of the Muslims was actually the result of a misperception of the Muslims' condition in the Punjab, and a number of studies have already shown that Tehrik-e-Mujahidin had many other motives as well.}} After researching contemporary sources held in the Fakir Khana archives in Pakistan and England, she concluded that the Sikh rulers were secular and allowed their Muslim subjects to freely practice their religion. She also points out the fact that during the reign of the Sikh Empire in Punjab, there was never a single case of rebellion against the Sikh authorities by Muslims. She further claims any beliefs of maltreatment of Muslims is based upon misunderstandings of the condition of the Muslim community during the Sikh Empire.

During the colonial era, the practice of religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims and Punjabi Hindus was noted and documented by officials in census reports:

{{blockquote|{{smaller|"In other parts of the Province, too, traces of Hindu festivals are noticeable among the Muhammadans. In the western Punjab, Baisakhi, the new year's day of the Hindus, is celebrated as an agricultural festival, by all Muhammadans, by racing bullocks yoked to the well gear, with the beat of tom-toms, and large crowds gather to witness the show, The race is called Baisakhi and is a favourite pastime in the well-irrigated tracts. Then the processions of Tazias, in Muharram, with the accompaniment of tom-toms, fencing parties and bands playing on flutes and other musical instruments (which is disapproved by the orthodox Muhammadans) and the establishment of Sabils (shelters where water and sharbat are served out) are clearly influenced by similar practices at Hindu festivals, while the illuminations on occasions like the Chiraghan fair of Shalamar (Lahore) are no doubt practices answering to the holiday-making instinct of the converted Hindus." {{cite web |title=Census of India 1911. Vol. 14, Punjab. Pt. 1, Report. |date=1912 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/saoa.crl.25393787 |jstor=saoa.crl.25393787 |access-date=2 October 2024 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007223437/https://www.jstor.org/site/SAOA/SouthAsiaOpenArchivesSAOA/CensusReports-1911-26575903/ |url-status=live }}{{rp|174}}}}

|Excerpt from the Census of India (Punjab Province)|1911}}

The news of the Rebellion of 1857 reached Punjab quite late. Jhelum in Punjab saw a rebellion in which 35 British soldiers were killed on 7 July 1857. Among the dead was Captain Francis Spring, the eldest son of Colonel William Spring.{{Cite web |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/741938/the-river-that-played-god |title = The River that played god|date = 13 August 2012 |website=Dawn News}} On 9 July, most of the brigade of sepoys at Sialkot rebelled and began to move to Delhi.{{cite book|first=Kim A.|last=Wagner|page=133|title=The Skull of Alum Beg. The Life and Death of a Rebel of 1857 |isbn=978-0-19-087023-2|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press }} They were intercepted by John Nicholson with an equal British force as they tried to cross the Ravi River. After fighting steadily but unsuccessfully for several hours, the sepoys tried to fall back across the river but became trapped on an island, they were defeated by Nicholson in the Battle of Trimmu Ghat.{{rp|290–293}} However, the main opponent of British rule in Punjab was Rai Ahmad Khan from Kharral clan who waged war against it for three months in central Punjab. He was killed on 21 September 1857 in a skirmish with British colonial forces while inflicting heavy losses to the British.{{cite journal |author=Saeed Ahmed Butt |year=2015 |title=Rai Ahmad Khan Kharral (Myth or Reality) |url=http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/HistoryPStudies/PDF-FILES/13-Saeed_V28_no2.pdf |journal=Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=173–191 |access-date=2020-05-07}}

Before British annexation of Punjab, the consciousness of a Punjabi identity was at its zenith. Writing in 1840s, the Punjabi Muslim poet Shah Mohammad viewed Anglo-Sikh wars as war between the Punjab and Hind (India). During colonial period, communal identity superseded regional one, and Punjabi Muslims increasingly disowned Punjabi language in the favour of Urdu in Persian script. As a sign of a growing sense of Muslim self-identity, it has been estimated that out of the 70,000 to 80,000 books and pamphlets printed in Punjab from 1867 to 1914 some 25,000 to 30,000 "were written by a Muslim or published to meet the needs of the community."{{Cite book |title=Sources on Punjab History: A Study Sponsored by the Research Committee on the Punjab |publisher=Manohar Book Service |year=1975 |editor-last=Gustafson |editor-first=Eric |pages=257 |editor-last2=Jones |editor-first2=Kenneth}}

Punjabi Muslims, classified as a "martial race" by the British colonialists,{{Cite web |last=Balachandran |first=P. K. |date=21 July 2020 |title=Ethnicity and Military Recruitment in South Asia |url=https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/6/19081/ethnicity-and-military-recruitment-in-south-asia---- |quote=Based on the fighting abilities of the ethnic groups and their loyalty to the British, the army designated some groups as martial (such as Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims, the Baloch, Rajputs from Rajasthan, Jats, Dogras, Gurkhas and the Marathas) and restricted recruitment to them.}} made a substantial part of the British Indian Army.{{Cite web |last=Shaikh |first=Muhammad Ali |author-link=Muhammad Ali Shaikh |date=2023-03-05 |title=History: How Punjab Came to Dominate the Army |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1740463 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Dawn |language=en |issn=1563-9444}} British academic David Omissi calling them the single largest group in both World Wars,{{Cite web |last=Omissi |first=David |date=8 April 2001 |title=Military Planning and Wartime Recruitment (India) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/military_planning_and_wartime_recruitment_india |quote=The single most numerous “class” of Indian recruits in both world wars, however, was the Punjabi Muslims}} at the eve of World War II accounting for around 29% of its total numbers.{{Cite web |last=Khatlani |first=Sameer Arshad |date=7 December 2016 |title=In fact: Punjabis dominate the Pakistan Army — but only just |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/pakistan-army-general-qamar-javed-bajwa-4412295/ |website=The Indian Express |quote=In 1939, as many as 29% of soldiers in the British Indian Army, which was split between India and Pakistan after Partition, were Punjabi Muslims, mostly from Pakistani Punjab.}} Due to these reasons, another British academic, Kate Imy, writes that "Punjabi Muslims were the true backbone of the Indian Army."{{Cite book |last=Imy |first=Kate |title=Faithful Fighters: Identity and Power in the British Army |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2023 |pages=58}}

However, there was also a history of popular resistance from Punjabi Muslims against British colonialism, including during the 1857 Indian Rebellion with the likes of Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, facts which historian Turab-ul-Hassan Sargana says have been undermined because the elites of Punjab who collaborated with the British are those who still rule Pakistan today.{{Cite web |last=Abdul Rehman |first=Ibrahim |date=1 November 2020 |title=NON-FICTION: WHEN PUNJAB ROSE UP |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1587927 |website=Dawn News}}

Due to their heavy involvement with the British Indian Army, the Punjabi Muslims would know a form of social mobility and economic empowerement that would differentiate them from non-Punjabi Muslims of the region, Indian defence analyst Colonel RSN Singh writing that "the economic and social hiatus between Punjabi Muslims and the Muslims of the Indian heartland widened to the extent that the latter had ceased to be a force of any consequence."{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=R. S. N. |title=The Military Factor in Pakistan |date=2008 |publisher=Lancer Publishers |isbn=978-0-9815378-9-4 |location=New Delhi ; Frankfort, IL |pages=178}}

File:SikanderHayatKhan.jpg was the first Premier of the Punjab ]]

The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy to Punjab replacing the system of dyarchy. It provided for the constitution of Punjab Legislative Assembly of 175 members presided by a Speaker and an executive government responsible to the Assembly. The Unionist Party under a Punjabi Muslim, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan formed the government in 1937. Sir Sikandar was succeeded by Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana in 1942 who remained the Premier till partition in 1947. Although the term of the Assembly was five years, the Assembly continued for about eight years and its last sitting was held on 19 March 1945.{{cite web |title=Punjab Legislative Assembly 1937 |url=http://www.pap.gov.pk/uploads/previous_members/S-1937-1945.htm |publisher=Provincial Assembly of the Punjab}}

During the 1930s and the 1940s, the Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam, an anti-colonial Islamist political party founded in 1929 as an offshoot of the Khilafat Movement and a close collaborator of the Indian National Congress, became the dominant political force among Punjabi Muslims, especially among the lower middle echelons and the artisan classes, the Ahrar's having a diversity of Islamic schools but generally subscribed to a Deobandi interpretation with an Islamic socialist approach as well.Tahir Kamran (2013) "Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam: religion, socialism and agitation in action", South Asian History and Culture, 4:4, 465-482, {{doi|10.1080/19472498.2013.824678}}

During the Partition of 1947, millions also migrated from East Punjab to West Punjab to escape violence from Hindu and Sikh militias.{{Cite web |date=2018-08-02 |title=The Punjab partition: when protectors become perpetrators |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/08/02/the-punjab-partition-when-protectors-become-perpetrators/ |access-date=2023-09-21 |website=South Asia@LSE}} After independence, Bengalis formed the majority ethnicity of Pakistan, followed by Punjabis. After 1971, Punjabis became the majority ethnicity.

{{Further|Sufism in Punjab}}

Sufism has also played a major role in the history of Punjab.{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Surinder |title=Sufism in Punjab: Mystics, Literature, and Shrines |last2=Gaur |first2=Ishwar Dayal |publisher=Aakar Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-89833-93-0 |location=Delhi}} Many prominent Sufi saints were born in Punjab, including Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah.{{Cite book |last=Quddus |first=Syed Abdul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4y9zAAAAMAAJ&q=sufism+punjab+waris+bulleh+fariduddin |title=Punjab, the Land of Beauty, Love, and Mysticism |date=1992 |publisher=Royal Book Company |isbn=978-969-407-130-5 |pages=131 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Long |first1=Roger D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzivCgAAQBAJ&dq=sufism+punjab+waris+bulleh+fariduddin&pg=PA156 |title=State and Nation-Building in Pakistan: Beyond Islam and Security |last2=Singh |first2=Gurharpal |last3=Samad |first3=Yunas |last4=Talbot |first4=Ian |date=2015-10-08 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-44820-4 |pages=156 |language=en}}

File:Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam 2014-07-31.jpg in Multan]]

Punjabi Muslims had a major contribution in the development of Punjabi language. Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179–1266) is recognised as the first major poet of the Punjabi language.[http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/arts/shiv%20batalvi/Shiv%20batalvi.htm Shiv Kumar Batalvi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030410071639/http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/arts/shiv%20batalvi/Shiv%20batalvi.htm |date=10 April 2003 }} sikh-heritage.co.uk. Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, many great Sufi saints and poets preached in the Punjabi language, the most prominent being Bulleh Shah. Punjabi Sufi poetry also developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1630–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Waris Shah (1722–1798), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901).

The Punjabi language is famous for its rich literature of qisse, most of which are about love, passion, betrayal, sacrifice, social values and a common man's revolt against a larger system. The qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah (1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qissas. Other popular stories include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah, Mirza Sahiban by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), Sassui Punnhun by Hashim Shah (c. 1735–c. 1843), and Qissa Puran Bhagat by Qadaryar (1802–1892). In contrast to Persian poets, who had preferred the ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi poets tended to compose in the Kafi.{{Cite web|url=http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/bullahn/|title = Articles on Bulleh Shah's Poetry}}

{{See also|Music of Punjab}}

Punjabi music is used by western musicians in many ways, such as mixing with other compositions. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Punjab, Pakistan; are other important genres in the Punjab region.{{cite book|last=Pande|first=Alka|title=Folk music & musical instruments of Punjab : from mustard fields to disco lights|year=1999|publisher=Mapin Pub.|location=Ahmedabad [India]|isbn=978-1-890206-15-4|url=https://archive.org/details/folkmusicmusical00pand}}{{cite book|last=Thinda|first=Karanaila Siṅgha|title=Pañjāba dā loka wirasā|year=1996|publisher=Pabalikeshana Biūro, Pañjābī Yūniwarasiṭī|location=Paṭiālā|isbn=978-81-7380-223-2|edition=New rev.}}

Folk music of Punjab is the traditional music of Punjab produced using traditional musical instruments like Tumba, Algoza, Dhadd, Sarangi, Chimta and more. There is a wide range of folk songs for every occasion from birth to death including marriage, festivals, fairs and religious ceremonies.

Punjabi Muslims are found almost exclusively in Pakistan with 98% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who predominantly live in India.{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Wade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkG8f2lyeUMC&pg=PA132 |title=Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures |last2=Harrison |first2=K. David |last3=Howell |first3=Catherine Herbert |date=2007 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-1-4262-0238-4 |pages=132–133 |language=en}} Thus religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities.{{cite web |title=Population by Religion |url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20RELIGION.pdf |website=pbs.gov.pk |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}}

While the total population of Punjab is 127 million as noted in the 2023 Pakistan census,{{Cite web |title=Pakistan's first digital census records 249.5 million population |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/05/22/pakistans-first-digital-census-records-249-5-million-population/ |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=Pakistan Today |date=22 May 2023 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Pakistan population increased by approx 25% in six years |url=https://www.samaaenglish.tv/news/40036082/pakistan-pakistan-population-increased-by-approx-25-in-six-years |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=Samaa |language=en}} ethnic Punjabis comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population.{{cite web |title=South Asia :: Pakistan — The World Fact book - Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/ |access-date=20 September 2020 |website=www.cia.gov}}{{Cite web |date=30 July 2019 |title=Ethnic Groups in Pakistan |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/ethnic-groups-in-pakistan.html |website=Worldatlas.com |quote=Punjabi people are the ethnic majority in the Punjab region of Pakistan and Northern India accounting for 44.7% of the population in Pakistan.}} Ethnic Punjabis, that is, discounting the local Kashmiris, Pashtuns and Baloch residents, thus number approximately 111,303,000 million in Pakistan; this makes Punjabis the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population.

Punjabi Muslim society is centered around the concept of biraderi ({{Lang|ur|برادری}}), social brotherhood within the tribe and clan.

The major tribes and clans among Punjabi Muslims are the Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Ansari, Sheikh, Gujjars and Awans.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Punjab Province, Pakistan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |id=483579 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Punjab-province-Pakistan |access-date=22 March 2022}}h

In his 1911-book The Armies of India, British major Sir George Fletcher MacMunn would write that Muslims of Punjab "are of many mixed races, but who largely consist of Rajput tribes converted to Islam at various times in the past."MacMunn, George Fletcher (1911). The Armies of India. London: A & C Black. pp. 131–132.

• History of Punjab
• List of Punjabi Muslims
• List of Punjabi Muslim tribes
• Jat Muslim
• Punjabi people
• List of Rulers of Pothohar Plateau
• Islam in Pakistan
• Punjabi Christians
• Punjabi Sikhs
• Punjabi Hindus
• Shahmukhi alphabet, the script used by Punjabi Muslims to read and write Punjabi

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Punjab, Pakistan topics}}

{{Indian Muslim}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Pakistan

Category:Demographics of Punjab, Pakistan

Category:Muslims by ethnicity