History of Islam in India

Cheraman Perumal Juma Masjid, believed to have been built upon the request of Rama
Varma Kulashekhara and probably the first Mosque in India

Jama Masjid, Delhi, one of the largest mosques in Asia-Pacific region.[28]

Contrary to popular belief, Islam came to South Asia prior to Muslim invasions of India.
Islamic influence first came to be felt in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab
traders. Trade relations have existed between Arabia and the Indian subcontinent from
ancient times. Even in the pre-Islamic era, Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region,
which linked them with the ports of South East Asia. According to Historians Elliot and
Dowson in their book The History of India as told by its own Historians, the first ship
bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 AD. H.G.
Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India[29] claims the first Arab
Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century AD. Shaykh
Zainuddin Makhdum’s “Tuhfat al-Mujahidin” also is a reliable work.[30] This fact is
corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals,[31] and
also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.[32] It was with the
advent of Islam that the Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. The Arab
merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it
wherever they went.[33]
Muslim neighborhood in Delhi circa 1852.

The first Indian mosque is thought to have been built in 629 A.D, purportedly at the
behest of Rama Varma Kulashekhara, who is considered the first Indian Muslim, during
the life time of Muhammad (c. 571–632) in Kodungallur, Kerala by Malik Bin Deenar.[34]
[35][36]

In Malabar, the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam as they
were more closely connected with the Arabs than others. Intensive missionary activities
were carried out along the coast and a number of natives also embraced Islam. These new
converts were now added to the Mappila community. Thus among the Mappilas, we find,
both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the converts from among the
local people.[37]

In the 8th century, the province of Sindh (in present day Pakistan) was conquered by an
Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim. Sindh became the easternmost province of the
Umayyad Caliphate.

In the first half of the 10th century, Mahmud of Ghazni added the Punjab to the
Ghaznavid Empire and conducted several raids deeper into modern day India. A more
successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century by Muhammad of Ghor. This
eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.