Jat Muslim - Conversion of The Jats To Islam

Conversion of The Jats To Islam

When Arabs entered Sindh in the seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and Meds. These Jats are often referred as Zatts in early Arab writings. The Jats were the first converts to Islam, and many were employed as soldiers by the new Arab Muslim administration in Sindh. The Muslim conquest chronicles further point at the important concentrations of Jats in towns and fortresses of Lower and Central Sindh. Many of these Jats were said to be followers of Buddhism and had their own independent chiefs while others were pastoral nomads, inhabiting the Indus Delta region. Today the Jats are firmly established in the Punjab were they form a majority. Sindh is still home to a large community of cattle rearing Jat clans who seem to be distinct community.

Between the 10th and the 13th Century, there was large immigration of Jat groups from Sindhu northwards to Punjab and eastwards towards what is now Rajasthan. Many Jat clans initially settled in a region known as the Bar country, which referred to the country between the rivers of Punjab, thinly populated with scanty rainfall which accommodated a type of pastoral nomadism which was based primary on the rearing of goats and camels. Between the 11th and the 13th Century, the Jats became essentially a peasant population, taking advantage in the growth of irrigation. As these Jats became converted to peasant farmers, they also started to become Muslims. Most Jats clans of western Punjab have traditions that they accepted Islam at the hands of two famous Sufi saints of Punjab, Shaikh Faridudin Ganj Shaker of Pakpattan or his contemporary Baha Al Haq Zakiriya of Multan. In reality the process of conversion was said to much a slower process.

This process of incremental conversion was seen by the presence of members of a particular clan, some who had become Sikh while others had converted to Islam. In the plains and high plateau of Punjab, there are many communities of Jat, some of whom had converted to Islam by the 18th Century, while others had become Sikhs. As a result, some clans such as the Virk are largely Muslim, while others such as Pannun and Bal have Muslim branches, but are largely Sikh.