Jat Muslim

Jats were earliest people in the Indian subcontinent to have interacted with the Muslims as multiple trading communities of Jats already existed in the pre-Islamic Arabia. Jats were referred as Zuṭṭ (Arabic: الزُّطِّ, romanized: Az-Zutt) in early Arab writings and Jat-an in Persian.^[6] They were present in Mesopotamia and Syria since the time of Sassanid emperor Bahram V (420–438), where they acted as mercenary soldiers for caliphate. They produced prominent people such as Abu Hanifa,^[7][8] Al-Sari ibn al Hakam al-Zutti, the emir of Egypt,^[9] and Abu Hatim al-Zutti, the founder of Baqliyya sub-sect of Qarmatians.^[10] Their power in lower Iraq broke down after the failed Zutt Rebellion and Jats lost their distinct identity in the Mesopotamia that they had previously,^[11] probably merging with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.^[12]

When Arabs entered Sindh and southern Punjab regions of Pakistan in the seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and the Med people. Most Jats clans of western Punjab have traditions that they accepted Islam at the hands of Sufi saints of Punjab. Critically, the process of conversion was said to have been a much slower process.^[13]

During the era of Mughals there appears to be a little change in their position, with one Nawab Sa'adullah Khan even serving as the Grand Vizier from 1645 to 1656.^[14] After the decline of Mughal empire, many communities rose to into revolt. One of them were Afghan Rohillas, who had settled into Rohilkhand by then in large numbers. Their dynasty, the Rohilla dynasty (1714–1774) descended from Nawab Ali Muhammed Khan, who was a Jat^[15][16][17] boy of age eight when he was adopted by the chief of the Pashtun Barech tribe, Sardar Daud Khan Rohilla.^[16] Due to the role he played in the establishment of Rohilkhand and in the general history of Rohillas, he gained recognition as a Rohilla chief, however, he was not Afghan by birth.^[15] Although the Rohillas lost their kingdom after the first Rohilla War in 1774, Faizullah Khan, son of Ali Mohammed Khan, managed to become Nawab of princely state of Rampur. The Kalhoras (1701–1783) of Sindh were also probably from Channa tribe,^[18] a sub-division of Jats.^[19]

In the plains of Punjab, there are many communities of Jat, some of whom had converted to Islam by the 18th century. Those clans that converted to Islam remained in what is now Pakistani Punjab after Partition. In Pakistan, most Jats are land-owning agriculturalists, and they form one of the numerous ethnic group in Sindh.^{[4][20][need quotation to verify]}

Jats had a strong presence in Balochistan before the Baloch migrations in the medieval ages. The modern Baloch tribes of Babbar, Gurchani, Lanjwani, Kolachi, Zardari and Dodai descend directly from the Jats of Balochistan.

Jats, together with the Rajputs and Gujjars, are the dominant ethnically-Punjabi and religiously-Islamic communities settled in the regions comprising eastern Pakistan.^[21]

In the British province of Punjab, encompassing more than modern-day West Punjab in Pakistan and East Punjab in India, as per the 1921 census 47,3% of the Jats followed Islam, 33,4% were Sikhs and 19,3% were Hindus.^[22]

At the time of the 1931 census, the total Jat Muslim population in Punjab was 2,941,395 out of the Punjab province's Muslim population of 28,490,857, Jat Muslims thus contituting the single largest Muslim group of the province, at around 20%, followed by Rajputs (12%) and Arain (10%).^[23]

In Pakistan, the Jat population is estimated to number around 21 million compared to 12 million in India.^[24]

• Sindhi Jats
• Punjabi Muslims
• List of Punjabi Muslims