Islam in India

Islam is India's largest minority religion, with Muslims officially comprising 13.7 percent of the country's population, or 137 million people as of 2004. The largest concentrations--about 46 % of all Muslims in India--live in the states of Bihar (13.7 million), West Bengal (20 million), and Uttar Pradesh (30.7 million), according to the 2001 census. Muslims represent a majority of the local populations only in Jammu and Kashmir (67 percent in 2001) and Lakshadweep (95 percent). High concentrations of Muslims are found in the eastern states of Assam (31 percent) and West Bengal (25 percent), and in the southern state of Kerala (25 percent). Muslims are generally more educated, integrated and prosperous in the Western and Southern states of India than in the Northern and Eastern ones. As a faith with its roots outside South Asia, Islam also offers some striking contrasts to those religions that originated in India. India has the second largest Muslim population (after Indonesia and also the second largest Shia Muslim population (after Iran)in the world.

Related Topics:
India - Muslim - 2004 - Bihar - West Bengal - Uttar Pradesh - Jammu and Kashmir - 2001 - Lakshadweep - Assam - Kerala - Indonesia - Shia - Iran

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The Islamic contribution to India ranges from architecture such as the Taj Mahal to the development of Urdu as a language bridge between Sanskrit-based languages and Arabic-based languages.

Related Topics:
Taj Mahal - Urdu

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