Jat Muslims or Musalman Jats (; ), are an ethno-religious subgroup of the Jat people, who follow Islam and are native to the northwestern South Asia. They are primarily found in the Pakistani regions of Punjab, Sindh and Azad Kashmir. A small minority is also present in Indian areas of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, where they are referred to as Muley Jats.Gupta, Dipankar (1997). Rivalry and Brotherhood: Politics in the Life of Farmers in Northern India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997. pp. 2, 34, 44-47, 50, 57, 60, 63–65, 82–85, 87, 124, 160. .
Originally nomadic pastoralists in the lower Indus Valley, the Jats converted to the dominant religions of the region, namely Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism, only after adopting the settled agrarian lifestyle. The Jats began embracing Islam during the medieval period, influenced in part by Sufi teachings. The process of conversion was gradual.
History The Jats were one of the first communities of the subcontinent to interact with the Muslims. Their name was Arabicised into Zuṭṭ () by the Arabic authors.Maclean, Derryl N. (1984). Religion and Society in Arab Sind. McGill University. . Pg. 45.Nizami, Khaliq Ahmad (1994). "Early Arab Contact with South Asia". Journal of Islamic Studies. 5 (1): 52–69. . . Pg. 57.ʿAthamina, Khalil (1998). "Non-Arab Regiments and Private Militias during the Umayyād Period"]. Arabica. 45 (3): 347–378. . Pg. 355. The Arab scholars noted several agglomerations of Jats settled throughout the province of Sind and Makran,Mayaram, Shail (2003), Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins, Columbia University Press, p. 19, although sometimes tribes living in their vicinity were also considered a part of them.Zakeri, Mohsen (1995). Sāsānid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of ʻAyyārān and Futuwwa. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. . Pg. 123, 195, 196. The Jats were originally from the Indus Valley, but had been settling in lower Iraq since the reign of Bahram V (r. 420–438).Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest, 11th-13th Centuries. Vol. 2. Boston: Brill. p. 48, 157. . . They were active as mercenaries, traders, and farmers in Iraq, and several of them like al-Sari and Abu Hatim al-Zuṭṭi played an active political role. Jats rose in a rebellion in the early 9th century in lower Iraq against the Abbasid rule but it failed, after which most of them were deported to Anazarbus near the Byzantine frontier. They are mentioned only sporadically afterwards, although Ibn al-Balkhi and Wassaf name several Jat emirs ruling Siraf and the neighbouring areas in southern Fars in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Between the 11th and 16th centuries, a number of Jats migrated northwards into Punjab.Grewal, J. S. (1998), The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, p. 5, , retrieved 12 November 2011 Quote: "... the most numerous of the agricultural tribes (in the Punjab) were the Jats. They had come from Sindh and Rajasthan along the river valleys, moving up, displacing the Gujjars and the Rajputs to occupy culturable lands. (page 5)"Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. . Many Jat clans have traditions of converting to Islam during this period, influenced by Sufis like Baba Farid. By the 16th century, a number of Punjabi tribes west of the Ravi River had become Muslim.Gandhi, Rajmohan (2015). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Rupa. .
In Punjab, Jats gradually abandoned nomadic pastoralism in favour of agriculture. During Mughal period, Jats came to own considerable land and exert local influence. The Mughals never had direct control over many of these rural grandees. Some of them did enter the Mughal bureaucracy, like the family of the grand vizier Sa'adullah Khan Chinioti.Beveridge H. (1952). The Maathir Ul Umara Vol-ii (1952). The Calcutta Oriental Press Ltd. p. 647.
After the decline of the Mughal Empire, various groups vied to fill the resulting power vacuum. Among them were several ambitious Muslim Jat chiefs and princes; in Punjab, the Gondal Jats and the Chattha Jats carved out their petty states and fought against the expanding Sikh Misls.Richard M. Eaton (1984). Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.). Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. University of California Press. .Mirzā, Shafqat Tanvir (1992). Resistance Themes in Punjabi Literature. Sang-e-Meel Publications - University of Michigan Library (digitized 9 May 2008) via Google Books website. pp. 56–62. . More successful was the dynasty founded by Ali Mohammed Khan in Rohilkhand, the rule of whose descendants, the Nawabs of Rampur, lasted into British period.
With the establishment of the British Raj, all formerly independent or autonomous polities were either annexed or integrated into the colonial empire as princely states. During British rule, a number of Punjabi Muslims, including Jats, would enlist in the British Indian Army.Omissi, David (8 April 2001). "Military Planning and Wartime Recruitment (India)". "The single most numerous "class" of Indian recruits in both world wars, however, was the Punjabi Muslims"Singh, R. S. N. (2008). The Military Factor in Pakistan. New Delhi; Frankfort, IL: Lancer Publishers. p. 178. Most were recruited from the Pothohar Plateau.Leigh, Maxwell Studdy (1922). The Punjab and the War. Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1922. .
Certain Jat Sikh families — such as the Mokals, Nakais, and Pahuwindias — had strong ties to the Lahore Durbar before their conversion to Islam, which granted them significant influence in the districts of Lahore, Kasur, Sahiwal, and Okara. These families maintained much of their social and political standing after the subsequent Partition of Punjab, like the family of former Chief Minister of Punjab, Arif Nakai.
Demographics
By the 19th century, along the Indus, where most Muslim Jats lived, the 'Jat' identity was more fluid. In the British colonial West Punjab and NWFP 'Jat' was became a title associated with peasantry. In Punjab, there was no strict division between 'Jat' and 'Rajput' communities. In Sindh and Makran, Jats were usually peasants or dromedary-men.جَتُ (p. 649), ڄَٽُ (p. 683), in Nabī Bakhshu Khānu Balocu. Jāmiʻ Sindhī lughāta. Karācī: Ḥaidarābād Sindhu, Pākistān: Sindhī Adabī Borḍ, 1960–1988. Available online at the Digital South Asia Library.
Some Muslim Jats, especially those living in and around Majha Punjab, belong to clans which are also found among Sikh and Hindu Jats in India, such as the Chatthas, Gondals, Sandhus, and Waraich.
British Punjab As per the 1921 census, 47.3% of the Jats followed Islam in British Punjab, as compared to 33% who were Sikhs and 19% who were Hindus.“Census of India 1921. Vol. 15, Punjab and Delhi. Pt. 1, Report.” Census Reports - 1921, 1923., 1923. JSTOR. Accessed 7 November 2025. Page 345. In the 1931 census, the total Muslim Jat population was 2,941,395 (out of British Punjab's total population of 28,490,857).“Census of India 1931. Vol. 17, Punjab. Pt. 2, Tables.” Census Reports - 1931, 1933., 1933. JSTOR. Accessed 7 November 2024. Page 290.
The former Punjab Province of British India extended beyond the borders of present-day Punjab in both Pakistan and India, encompassing regions that are now parts of the modern-day Indian states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to today's Punjab.
Pakistan and India In modern times, Pakistani Jat maintain clan identity through the biradri system, and it plays an important role in politics in the country. This system is also influential among British Pakistani Jats.Gilmartin, David (1994). "Biraderi and Bureaucracy: The Politics of Muslim Kinship Solidarity in 20th Century Punjab," International Journal of Punjab Studies 1, no. 1.
In 1988, Sukhbir Singh estimated the total Muslim Jat population to be around 13 million in Pakistan and 240,000 in India. He extrapolated these numbers from older British censuses, and factored in the natural population growth in both countries. In terms of percentages by religious affiliation, Sukhbir Singh also wrote that Jat Muslims form the largest subgroup, amounting to 42% of all Jats in the Indian subcontinent, followed by Hindus (33%) and Sikhs (25%).
In 2009, the Pakistani Jat population was estimated to be roughly 21 million. The Jats, together with Rajputs and Gujjars, are the dominant Punjabi Muslim communities settled across eastern Pakistan.
Notable people
Saadullah Khan, Mughal period scholar and grand vizier Muzaffar Jang Hidayat, Nizam of Hyderabad Ali Mohammed Khan, founder of the kingdom of Rohilkhand Faizullah Khan, founder of the princely state of RampurGupta, Hari Ram (1999) . History of the Sikhs. Vol. III: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire (1764–1803) (2nd rev. ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 11. . . "The real founder of the Rohilla power was Ali Muhammad, from whom sprang the present line of the Nawabs of Rampur. Originally a Hindu Jat, who was taken prisoner when a young boy by Daud in one of his plundering expeditions, at village Bankauli in the parganah of Chaumahla, and was converted to Islam and adopted by him." Hafiz Barkhurdar, Sufi saint, Punjabi poet and religious scholar Chitu Khan, a pindari chief who fought in the Third Anglo-Maratha warWœrkens, Martine van (2002). The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India. University of Chicago Press. p. 25. . Pir Muhammad Chattha, Chattha chiefYasmin, Robina (13 January 2022). Muslims under Sikh Rule in the Nineteenth Century: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Religious Tolerance. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7556-4034-8. Qadir Yar, Punjabi poet, court poet of the Lahore Durbar Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer, recipient of the Padma Shri award Muhammad Arif Nakai, Pakistani politicianGriffin, Lepel Henry (1865). The Panjab Chiefs: Historical and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families in the Territories Under the Panjab Government. T.C. McCarthy. Amir Sultan Tarar, Pakistani spymaster during Soviet-Afghan warMatinuddin, Kamal (1999) The Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994-1997, p 63. Oxford University Press US, Carlotta Gall (3 March 2010). "Former Pakistani Officer Embodies a Policy Puzzle". The New York Times. Qamar Javed Bajwa, tenth Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistani Armed Forces Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, sixteenth Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistani Air Force Chaudhary Naseer Ahmed Abbas, Pakistani politician Naseer Ahmad Malhi, a Pakistan Movement activist and first Minister of Education of West Pakistan
See also List of Jats
References