Bihari Muslims

Bihari Muslims

Muslim men praying in Siwan district, Bihar, 1910
Total population
c. 24 million
Regions with significant populations
India (Bihar only)	23,138,379[1][2][3][4]
Pakistan	1,000,000[5]
Bangladesh	400,000[6]
Languages
Urdu, various Bihari languages[7]
Religion
Islam (Sunni majority, Shia minority)
Related ethnic groups
Other Biharis

Bihari Muslims are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Biharis. They are geographically native to the region comprising the Bihar state of India, although there are significantly large communities of Bihari Muslims living elsewhere in the subcontinent due to the Partition of British India in 1947, which prompted the community to migrate en masse from Bihar to the dominion of Pakistan (both West Pakistan and East Pakistan).^[8][9]

Bihari Muslims make up a significant minority in Pakistan under the diverse community of Muhajirs (lit. 'migrants'), and largely began arriving in the country following the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which led to the secession of East Pakistan from the Pakistani union as the independent state of Bangladesh. Since 1971, Bihari Muslims residing in Bangladesh are widely referred to as Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who are awaiting repatriation to Pakistan,^[10][11] and have faced heightened persecution in the country due to their support for Pakistan during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.^{[12][13][14][15]}

The majority of Bihari Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam and the adoption of the religion by Biharis traces back to the 14th century, when Afghan traders and Sufi missionaries began to arrive in the region a century prior to the Mughal Empire's conquest of the subcontinent.^[16] There are also a significant minority of Biharis who adhere to the Shia branch of Islam, largely residing in Patna and Gopalpur in Siwan, tracing their religious descent to Shia Muslim settlers of distant Persian ancestry from Lucknow in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, who arrived in the region during the 19th century.^[17]