In general the artisans, Ansaris, Qureshis, Baghbans and others have made more progress economically than upper caste Muslims. In the same manner the Bohras, Khojas and Memons of Gujrat being trading communities, are much better off than Muslims in general. Thus it will be seen that regional and even sectarian and caste differences must be taken into account while trying to understand the situation of Indian Muslims. But it does not mean that we cannot talk of Muslim backwardness in general because the large mass of Muslims on the whole is quite poor and illiterate. In many respects they are falling behind even the Scheduled Castes.
Muslim women are particularly far more behind.
It is interesting to note that in Haryana most of the Muslims are Meo Muslims and Meo Muslims are quite backward on the whole. Even in Assam with the highest percentage of Muslim population the female illiteracy among Muslims is 74 per cent. The position of Muslim men is somewhat better in terms of literacy. The percentage among the men is comparatively higher. But in the post-Babri demolition situation is changing favourably.