Punjabi Muslims
Punjabi Muslims ( ) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. Primarily geographically native to the Punjab province of Pakistan today, many have ancestry in the entire Punjab region, split between India and Pakistan in the contemporary era. Forming the majority of the Punjabi ethnicity in the greater Punjab region (overall in the South Asia). Punjabi Muslims speak or identify the Punjabi language (under a Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi) as a mother tongue. With a population of more than 80 million,they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and the world's  third-largest Islam-adhering ethnicity after Arabs and Bengalis. The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adhere to Shia Islam and other sects, including the Ahmadiyya community which originated in Punjab during the British Raj. While the majority of Punjabi Muslims are concentrated in Pakistani Punjab, they have a significant worldwide diaspora, with the largest community located in the United Kingdom and other expatriate communities present throughout the Middle East and North America. The coalescence of the various tribes of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of  the 18th century. Prior to this era, the sense and perception of a common "Punjabi" ethnocultural identity and community did not exist, even though the majority of the various communities of the region had long shared linguistic, cultural and racial commonalities. History. Ancient history. Punjab during Mahabharata times was known as Panchanada. Punjab was part of the Indus Valley Civilization, more than 5000 years old. The main site in Punjab was the city of Harrapa. The Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan and eventually evolved into the Indo-Aryan civilization. The arrival of the Indo-Aryans  led to the flourishing of the Vedic civilization along the length of the Indus River. This civilization shaped subsequent cultures in South Asia. The Vedic civilization also flourished in the ancient city of Taxila in Gandhara. According to historians, this region was ruled by many small kingdoms and tribes around 4th and 5th BCE. The earliest known notable local king of this region was known as King Porus, who fought the famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great in 326 BCE near the river Jhelum. His kingdom, known as Pauravas, was situated between the river Hydaspes (modern Jhelum ) and Acesines (modern day Chenab). Punjab was also part of other empires including the Achaemenids, Macedonians, Mauryans, the Indo-Scythians, Guptas, Kushans, and Hindu Shahis. The Indo-Greek kingdom founded by Demetrius (180-165 BC) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165-150 BC), with its capital in Sagala (present-day Sialkot), thriving the greco-buddhist culture in the region. Agriculture flourished and trading cities (such as Multan and Lahore) grew in wealth. Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from the west and witnessed centuries of foreign invasions  by the Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks, Arabs and Mughals. The city of Taxila, founded around 1000 BCE, was reputed to house one of the earliest universities in the world, the Takshashila University. One of its instructors was the Vedic statesman and philosopher Chanakya. Taxila was a major centre of political control, intellectual discourse and trade between the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Maurya Empire. Taxila is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, valued for its archaeological and religious history. Arrival of Islam. The Punjabis followed a diverse plethora of faiths, mainly Hinduism and Buddhism until the Arab Umayyad army brought Islam to  the region led by Muhammad bin Qasim who conquered Sindh and Southern Punjab in 712, by defeating Raja Dahir. The Umayyad Caliphate was the second Islamic caliphate established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Islam was introduced into Northern Punjab during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century and the region subsequently became part of various Turko-Persian and Turko-Mongol Muslim empires. The Ghaznavids had earlier conquered and converted many Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of  Afghanistan. The province of Punjab was made part of the Ghaznavid Empire with Lahore as its second capital. The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region. The famous Sufi mystic Ali Hujwiri arrived from Ghazni and settled in Lahore during the reign of Ghaznavids in 11th century. Over the next millennium Islam flourished in Punjab as it became part of different Muslim empires including the Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate and Mughals. In cooperation with local Punjabi tribes and others, a millennium long Islamic dominance was achieved across South Asia and  with its peak during the Mughal Empire. Mughal Empire. The Mughals controlled the region from 1524 until around 1739 and implemented building projects which remain iconic landmarks of the Punjab such as the Shalimar Gardens and the Badshahi Mosque, both situated in Lahore. Muslim soldiers, traders, architects, theologians and Sufis came from the rest of the Muslim world to the empire. The last Muslim ruler to control Punjab was Ahmad Shah Durrani who made the Punjab a part of the Durrani Empire lasting until 1762. Important individual Punjabi Muslims during this period include the likes of Ahmad Sirhindi, one of  the most influential Islamic scholars in history, and Adina Beg, a major political figure. During that time, many cities and towns in Punjab became important centers of Islamic culture and civilization, such as Lahore and Sialkot, to the extent Punjabi Muslim scholars were in demand in many parts of Central Asia, where they taught the Islamic sciences. British Empire. Punjabi Muslims made a substantial part of the British Indian Army, British academic David Omissi calling them the single largest group in both World Wars, at the eve of World War II accounting for around 29% of its total numbers. In  1932 Lt-Gen Sir George MacMunn wrote that the Punjabi Muslim "forms the backbone of the Indian army to-day, and is perhaps the most useful and attractive of any of our soldiers. His fighting reputation has been considerably enhanced by the Great War." For Indian journalist P. K. Balachandran, like for other academics, this projection of Punjabi Muslims as a martial race by the British, and them forming the backbone of the British Indian Army, is the reason why they’re over represented in the Pakistan Army. Despite such collaboration, 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. Independence. In 1947 the Punjab Province of British India was divided along religious lines into West Punjab and East Punjab. Western Punjab was assimilated into the new country of Pakistan, while East Punjab became a part of India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees. Punjab (Pakistan ), which once formed a major region of British Punjab, was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus up to 1947 apart from the Muslim majority. Migration between India and Pakistan was continuous before independence. By the 1900s Western Punjab was predominantly Muslim and supported the Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After independence, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while Muslim refugees from India settled in the Western Punjab and across Pakistan. Recent history. Since the 1950s, Punjab industrialized rapidly. New factories were established in Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Wah. In the 1960s, the  new city of Islamabad was founded north of Rawalpindi. Agriculture continues to be the largest sector of Punjab's economy. The province is the breadbasket of the country as well as home to the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, the Punjabis. Unlike neighbouring India, there was no large-scale redistribution of agricultural land. As a result, most rural areas are dominated by a small set of feudalistic land-owning families. In the 1950s there was tension between the eastern and western halves of Pakistan. In order to address the situation, a new formula resulted in the abolition of the province  status for Punjab in 1955. It was merged into a single province West Pakistan. In 1972, after East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh, Punjab again became a province. Punjab witnessed major battles between the armies of India and Pakistan in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Since the 1990s Punjab hosted several key sites of Pakistan's nuclear program such as Kahuta. It also hosts major military bases such as at Sargodha and Rawalpindi. The peace process between India and Pakistan, which began in earnest in 2004, has helped pacify the situation. Trade and people-to-people contacts through the  Wagah border are now starting to become common. Indian Sikh pilgrims visit holy sites such as Nankana Sahib. Starting in the 1980s, large numbers of Punjabis migrated to the Middle East, Britain, Spain, Canada and the United States for economic opportunities, forming the large Punjabi diaspora. Business and cultural ties between the United States and Punjab are growing. Also, there is a small community of Punjabi Muslims in India most of whom are concentrated in the city of Malerkotla.