Islam and Christianity in India

•    Islam

Islam came to India much before the Muslim invasions. Islamic influence first came to be felt in the early 7^th century with the advent of Arab traders. It was indeed with the rise of Islam that Arabs became great force in the world.

The first Indian mosque was built in 629 A.D. There is enough evidence to prove that Muslims and Arabs interacted with Indians in the early phase of Islam. The spread of Islam in India can largely be credited to Sufism, as many Sufi beliefs found their parallels in Indian philosophical literature, in particular nonviolence and monism.

Hazrat Khawaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Nizam-ud-din Auliya, Shah Jalal, Amir Khusro, Sarkar Sabir Pak, Shekh Alla-ul-Haq Pandwi, Ashraf Jahangir Semnani, Waris Pak trained Sufis for the propagation of Islam in different parts of India. The Sufi Movement played a very important role in bringing the Islam and indigenous traditions together. Ahmad Sirhindi, a prominent member of the Naqshbandi Sufi advocated the peaceful conversion of Hindus to Islam.

The role of Muslims cannot be neglected in the Indian Freedom Struggle.

•    Christianity

Early Period:

It was Saint Thomas who introduced Christianity in India in 52 A.D. Saint Thomas then arrived in North West India, and baptized King Gondophares and his brother, thereby heralding the beginning of Christianity in India. When Saint Thomas arrived in Kerala and established the Seven Churches and evangelized in present day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Most of the Christians in India are Muslim and Hindu converts.

The early converts were Jews, as Saint Thomas was a Jew himself and had the same language making conversion easier. Even before the start of Christian Era, India had good trade relations with Central Asia, Mediterranian and Middle east, which led to these Christian Merchants settling in India. Around the year 300, David of Basra made many conversions.

Medieval period:

The Syrian Malabar Nasrani (Christian-Jewish Knanaya colonies of third century). The Bishops coming from Syria maintained their identity during the first few years and later amalgamated with the prevailing forms of Christianity. Nasranis were one of the early Christian Jewish sects in India.

Modern Period:

During the modern Era it was the French Missionaries to first touch the Indian Soil. First establishing its foot in Gujarat moved to other parts of India and made great amount of conversions. Portuguese missionaries had reached the Malabar Coast in the late 15th century, made contact with the St Thomas Christians in Kerala and sought to introduce the Catholicism among them.

The period saw a great amount of foreign missionaries making conversions in India. The Portugese colonial Government in Goa offered rice donations to poor and military support to the rulers for the purpose of spreading Christianity. The present state of Goa has a substantial population of about 80% Roman Catholics. In 1321, the French Dominican friar Jordanus Catalani of Severac (in south-western France) landed in a place called Bhatkal near Mangalore and established a missionary station there. Many locals were converted to Christianity by him.

In 16th century, the high class Hindus were converted to Christianity by Portuguese, referred as Portuguese Christians. These Portuguese Christians desceded their names on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and adopted the name East Indians. Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra had more population of Protestant Christians than the Catholics. It is North Eastern India that retains the highest number of Christian Population.

Other Cultural Influences in the Indian History.

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