Jat Muslim

Jat Muslim or Musalman Jats (; ), also spelled Jatt or Jutt (), are an elastic and diverse ethnoreligious subgroup of the Jat people, who follow Islam and are native to the northwestern Indian subcontinent. They are primarily found in Sindh and Pakistani Punjab. Some are also found in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, where they are known as Muley Jats.

The Jats began converting to Islam during the early medieval period, influenced by Sufis like Baba Farid. The conversion process was gradual.

History

The Jats were one of the first communities of the Subcontinent to interact with the Muslims. They were known as the ''Zuṭṭ'' (), although this term also referred to several other groups—such as the Sāyabija, Andāghar, and Qufs—not all of whom were necessarily ethnic Jats. The Zutt were originally from the Indus Valley, but had been settling in lower Iraq since the reign of Bahram V. Following the failed Zutt Rebellion, the Zutt lost their power and distinct identity. They ceased their migrations into Iraq following the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Arabs had noted several agglomerations of Jats settled throughout the province of Sind.Mayaram, Shail (2003)
Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins
Columbia University Press, p. 19,

Between the 11th and 16th centuries, some Sindhi Jats migrated up into Punjab.Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard; Talbot, Cynthia (2006)
India before Europe
Cambridge University Press. p. 269. . Many clans have traditions of converting to Islam during this period, influenced by Sufis like Baba Farid. By the 16th century, many Punjabi clans west of the Ravi river had converted. Despite conversion, many Jats continued to resist foreign Muslim imperial powers such as the Timurids, Mughals, and Surs.Sarvānī, ʻAbbās Khān (1974)
Tārīk̲h̲-i-Śēr Śāhī
Translated by Brahmadeva Prasad Ambashthya. K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1974
Archived
Quote: ''" uriordered Habibat Khan to be rid of Fath Khan Jat who was in QABūLA and who had once laid the entire country right upto PANIPAT to pillage and plunder in the time of the Mughals and had made them desolate, and had also brought MULTAN under his control after wresting it from the Balūcīs."'' Meanwhile, others chose to cooperate with the Muslim rulers to advance their own interests.

During the Delhi Sultanate, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was appointed as the governor of Multan, and later of Dipalpur. His early forces were primarily composed of Jat tribesmen recruited from Dipalpur, who fought alongside him in all his campaigns.

During Mughal rule, Jats came to own considerable land and exert local influence. The Mughals never had direct control over many of these rural grandees. Some also obtained high positions, such as Grand Vizier and Vakil-i-Mutlaq, Saadullah Khan,Beveridge H. (1952)
The Maathir Ul Umara Vol-ii (1952)
The Calcutta Oriental Press Ltd. p. 647. Faujdar of Sialkot, Rahmat Khan Bajwa, prominent Jagirdar, Rai Muhammad Jani Malhi, and governor of Gujrat, Rehmat Khan Warraich.

As the Mughal empire began to decline, various groups vied to fill the resulting power vacuum. Among them were several ambitious Muslim Jat chiefs and princes. In Rohilkhand, the Rohilla Nawabs established the Kingdom of Rohilkhand and the Rampur State. In the Deccan, a descendant of Saadullah Khan, Muzaffar Jang Hidayat, briefly became the Nizam of Hyderabad. In the Malwa Plateau, the Pindari chief Chitu Khan formed a de facto independent ''durrah'' and joined fellow Pindari chiefs in plundering the neighboring Nizams, Rajputs, Marathas, and British territories.Wœrkens, Martine van (2002)
The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India
University of Chicago Press. p. 25. .Gott, Richard (7 November 2011)
Britain's Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt
Verso Books. .Roy, Mahendra Prakash (1973)

Sterling Publishers. And in Punjab, the Gondal Jats of the Gondal Bar resisted Nader Shah, while the Pakpattan state and Chattha Jats resisted the expanding Sikh Misls. Ultimately, the British Raj annexed or transformed all these disparate states into princely states.

During British rule, many Punjabi Muslims, including Jats, would enlist in the British Indian Army. Most were recruited from the Pothohar Plateau.

Certain Punjabi Jat families—such as the Mokals, Nakais, and Pahuwindias—had strong ties to the Lahore Durbar before their conversion to Islam, which granted them significant influence in the districts of Lahore, Kasur, Sahiwal, and Okara. Despite their conversion and the subsequent Partition of Punjab, these families maintained much of their social and political standing. Notable figures from these lineages include Habibullah Khan Mokal, Muhammad Arif Nakai, and Ahmed Said Pahuwindia.

Demographics

British India

Punjab

As per the 1921 census, 47.3% of the Jats followed Islam in British Punjab. In the 1931 census, the total Muslim Jat population was 2,941,395 (out of British Punjab's total population of 28,490,857).

The capital of Punjab, Lahore, was a Jat-majority city, with the Sandhu Jats being by far the largest Jat clan. They held more than 60 estates in Tehsil Lahore alone.

Pakistan and India

In 1988, Sukhbir Singh estimated the total Muslim Jat population to be around 13 million in Pakistan and 240,000 in India. He extrapolated these numbers from older British censuses, and factored in the natural population growth in both countries.

In 2009, the Pakistani Jat population was estimated to be roughly 21 million. The Jats, together with Rajputs and Gujjars, are the dominant Punjabi Muslim communities settled across eastern Pakistan.

Notable people

* Saadullah Khan, esteemed Grand Vizier and Vakil-i-Mutlaq of the Mughal Empire
* Muzaffar Jang Hidayat, great grandson of Saadullah Khan, third Nizam of Hyderabad
* Ali Mohammed Khan, founder of the Kingdom of Rohilkhand, progenitor of the Rohilla dynasty
* Faizullah Khan, son of Ali Mohammed Khan, founder of the Princely State of Rampur Gupta, Hari Ram (1999) 980br>History of the Sikhs
Vol. III: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire (1764–1803) (2nd rev. ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 11. . . "The real founder of the Rohilla power was Ali Muhammad, from whom sprang the present line of the Nawabs of Rampur. Originally a Hindu Jat, who was taken prisoner when a young boy by Daud in one of his plundering expeditions, at village Bankauli in the parganah of Chaumahla, and was converted to Islam and adopted by him."
* Chitu Khan, prominent Pindari chief, formed a de facto independent faction, fiercely resisted the British
* Nur Muhammad Chattha, founder of the Chattha dynasty which resisted the Sikh Misls
* Qadir Yar, prominent poet of Punjabi language, court poet of the Lahore Durbar
* Muhammad Arif Nakai, Pakistani politician, direct descendant of the Nakai misldars
* Sultan Amir Tarar, the "Colonel Imam", trained Afghan Mujahideen and Taliban fightersCarlotta Gall (3 March 2010)
"Former Pakistani Officer Embodies a Policy Puzzle"
The New York Times.

See also

*Islam
* Sindhi Jats
*Punjabi Muslims
* Princely states

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jat Muslim
Jat
Jat clans of Punjab
Jat clans of Jammu and Kashmir
Jat clans of India
Jat clans of Pakistan
Punjabi Muslims