Islam in South Asia

Common card · No. 332058

Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia after Hinduism, with more than 650 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. Islam first spread along the coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, almost as soon as it started in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Arab traders brought it to South Asia. South Asia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with about one-third of all Muslims living here. Islam is the dominant religion in half of the South Asian countries (Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). It is the second largest religion in India and third largest in Sri Lanka and Nepal. On the Indian subcontinent, Islam first appeared in the southwestern tip of the peninsula, in today's Kerala state. Arabs traded with Malabar even before the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Native legends say that a group of Sahaba, under Malik ibn Dinar, arrived on the Malabar Coast and preached Islam. Local kings who converted to Islam...

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