page_title: Islam in Uttar Pradesh
section_title: Later history
hierarchical_section_title: Islam in Uttar Pradesh / History / Later history
caption_attribution_description: Safdarjung, second Nawab of Awadh, Mughal dynasty. India. early 18th century. Color and gold on paper.
context_page_description: The Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh was estimated to be 43,988,561 in 2018 and forms the second largest religion in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have also been referred to as Hindustani Musalman. They do not form a unified ethnic community, but are differentiated by sectarian and Baradari divisions, as well as by language and geography. Nevertheless, the community shares some unifying cultural factors.
context_section_description: When the Mughal Empire disintegrated, their territory remained confined to the Doab region and Delhi. Other areas of Hindustan (Uttar Pradesh) were ruled by different rulers: Oudh was ruled by the Shia Nawabs of Oudh, Rohilkhand by the Rohillas, Bundelkhand by the Marathas and Benaras by its own king, while Nepal controlled Kumaon-Garhwal as a part of Greater Nepal. The state's capital city of Lucknow was established by the Muslim Nawabs of Oudh in the 18th century. It became an important centre of Muslim culture and the development of Urdu literature.
  Of all the Muslim states and dependencies of the Mughal Empire, Awadh had the newest royal family. They were descended from a Persian adventurer called Sa'adat Khan, originally from Khurasan in Persia. There were many Khurasanis in the service of the Mughals, mostly soldiers, and if successful, they could hope for rich rewards. These Khurasanis were Shia, and Lucknow became a centre of Shia culture in Uttar Pradesh. Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan was the most successful in the group. In 1732, he was made governor of the province of Awadh. His original title was Nazim (lit. "governor") before being changed to Nawab. In 1740, the Nawab was called the vizier (Wazir), and thereafter he was known as the Nawab Wazir. In theory, the tile was the gift of the Mughal emperor to whom allegiance was paid; in practice from Sa'adat Khan onwards, the titles were inherited. A nazar, or token tribute, was sent each year to Delhi, and members of the imperial family were treated with great deference; two of them lived in Lucknow after 1819 and were treated with great courtesy.
  By the early 19th century, the British had established their control over what is now Uttar Pradesh. This led to an end of almost six centuries of Muslim rule over Uttar Pradesh. The British rulers created a class of feudal landowners who were generally referred to as zamindars, and in Awadh as taluqdars. Many of these large landowners provided patronage to the arts and funded many of the early Muslim educational institutions. A major educational institution was the Aligarh Muslim University, which gave its name to the Aligarh movement. Under the guidance of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the Urdu speaking Muslim elite sought to retain their position of political and administrative importance by reconciling their Mughal and Islamic culture with English education. A somewhat different educational movement was led by the Ulema of Deoband, who founded a religious school or Dar-ul-Uloom designed to revitalize Islamic learning. The aim of the Deobandis, as the movement became known as was to purge the Muslims of all strata of traditions and customs that were claimed to be Hindu. Most of the early proselytization was concentrated in the Doab region where Deoband is located, which was home to a number of peasant castes, such as the Rajput Muslim, Gujjar, Tyagi and Jat, who had maintained a number of pre-Islamic customs. A reaction to the growth of the Deobandi movement was the rise of the Barelvi sub-sect, which was much more tolerant of the customs and traditions of the local population.
  The role of the Urdu language played an important role in the development of Muslim self-consciousness in the early twentieth century. Uttar Pradesh Muslims set up Anjumans or associations for the protection and promotion of Urdu. These early Muslim associations formed the core of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1905. Many of the leaders belonged to the Ashraf category. Uttar Pradesh Muslims created the movement for a separate Muslim state, later known as Pakistan. The eventual effect of this movement led to the partition of India, and creation of Pakistan. This led to an exodus of many Muslim professionals to Pakistan, and the division of the Uttar Pradesh Muslims, with the formation of the Muhajir ethnic group of Pakistan. The role of the Aligarh Muslim University was extremely important in the creation of Pakistan.
caption: Safdarjung
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