Why have many Hindus in the past in Ancient converted to Islam?

Hey,

I just want to know 'Why have many Hindus in the past in Ancient converted to Islam?'

Were they forced,raped,pressured, into doing it or else they would be slaughtered? or did they embrace Islam naturally and freely?

Any help!?!

Reply 1

Surely_unsure

3

Anonymous

Hey,

I just want to know 'Why have many Hindus in the past in Ancient converted to Islam?'

Were they forced,raped,pressured, into doing it or else they would be slaughtered? or did they embrace Islam naturally and freely?

Any help!?!

All of the above reasons.

Reply 2

Saff123

Anonymous

Hey,

I just want to know 'Why have many Hindus in the past in Ancient converted to Islam?'

Were they forced,raped,pressured, into doing it or else they would be slaughtered? or did they embrace Islam naturally and freely?

Any help!?!

It was relatively rare for Muslims to force people to convert at the sword, or face being slaughtered.

The most influential groups in conversion were the Sufis, they appealed to Hindu spirituality and mysticism amongst the upper classes, along with political advantages from joining the ruling class. Sufi were active amongst Indias poor lower castes, which inspired many to convert.

India had some incredibly inspiring Muslim leaders during the Mughul empire like Dar Shikoah, but some truly awful ones like Aurangzeb.

P.S isn't this in the wrong forum?

OP

I meant 'Ancient India', Also isn't the majority of Muslims in India, Sunni?

Reply 5

Lefty Leo

10

Anonymous

I meant 'Ancient India', Also isn't the majority of Muslims in India, Sunni?

Sufi is a branch of Sunni Islam.

Right, well Islam originally came as an unwanted invader and Hinduism perpetuated it.

What happened was that the Muslims came into india originally as raiders. Whoever they raped and killed, their families and they became "untouchables". As the Muslim incursions increased India's economy declined, further stratifying society as people saw their way of life threatened and reacted in a reactionary fashion.

The "untouchables" were treated horribly by Hindus, because they were seen as having been tainted. They had no option than to eventually become Muslim, ironically. The biggest joiners of Islam became the untouchables, those who Hinduism had outcasted.

Islam offered equality, a break from the old system of social stratification. It was ironic that people like Jinnah associated Islam with democracy because of this and associated Hinduism with social stratification and backwardness.

Today there are hardly any conversions to Islam. They DO however have their own legal code that allows them to have 4 wives which means there are a lot of disaffected unmarried youth, willing to become extremists with a lack of economic opportunity; most Muslim growth relative to the overall population is natural increase from muslims having 1.5 times as many kids as Hindus.

Reply 6

rinatoc

The reason why so many Hindus have converted to Isam in the past is because:

1) India has had Islamic influence - e.g. during the Moghul phase.
2) Hindus do not explicitly require non-Hindus to convert if they want to mix in with the culture. This is in contrast to Islam where people explicitly demand that non-Islamics convert to Islam if they want to become a part of their culture etc. etc. In summary, Hindus don't bother with converting. Islamics demand conversion.
And that is ONE reason why more people are Muslim now . Alternatively, they could have just chosen to change.

Reply 7

Saff123

Lefty Leo

Sufi is a branch of Sunni Islam.

It can be a branch of either eg. Nimatuallahi are Shia, and Chisti are Sunni.

Whoever they raped and killed, their families and they became "untouchables".

The Muslim invasion didn't create the cast system in India, it's much older than that. The caste system originated from the Aryan invasions of India, the invaders introduced a caste system through Hinduism, they at the top, the native aboriginals at the bottom.

...They DO however have their own legal code that allows them to have 4 wives... which means there are a lot of disaffected unmarried youth, willing to become extremists with a lack of economic opportunity; most Muslim growth relative to the overall population is natural increase from muslims having 1.5 times as many kids as Hindus.

Agreed having two legal codes is preposterous, there should be one secular one. However, India is still racked by religious division, and caste division, the Muslim population in India now faces discrimination which may in part account for their poor performance. India should put aside it's obsession with race, history, and religion if it has any hope of catching up with the Chinese, let alone the west.

Why have many Hindus in the past in Ancient converted to Islam?

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you