A historical background of muslim communities in Chennai - a study

Islam means submission to God, and the one who submits himself to Almighty is a Muslim. Islam has been spread across South India much earlier than it has reached the Northern parts of India. The Muslim Arab merchants who came to India through sea route for trading purpose, brought the principles of Islam to the Southern part especially Tamil Nadu which resulted in the acceptance of Islam by the local inhabitants with their self conviction and literally they were not enforced to get converted. It is the simplicity of this faith, not the power of sword which attracted the local people and a number of people accepted Islam by reciting “La’ Ilaaha Illallah” whole heartedly. Later on the missionary activities of Muslims and the invasion of Muslim armies down to the South flourished the popularity of Islam which enabled the spreading of its principles and concepts in different parts of Tamil Nadu. As a result a number of Muslim communities spread almost in all the districts of Tamil Nadu and settled everywhere finding their means of living. In this paper a sincere attempt has been made to elaborate the different social groups of Muslims in Chennai and a brief description of each group, their intra-group relationship, historical background commercial status, occupations, etc. is presented.