Bengali Muslim in Bangladesh


Population
Main Language
Largest Religion
Christian
Evangelical
Progress
Progress Gauge
* Data can be from various sources including official census, agencies, and local research. Data from these sources can sometimes differ even by orders of magnitude. Joshua Project attempts to present a conservative, balanced estimate.

Subgroups: 2

Subgroup Name Population
Karigar 167,000
Bej 300

Introduction / History

Islam arrived in what is now Bangladesh in the early 1200s with a military attack by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji. It was an early foothold of Islam in a region dominated by the local religions collectively known as Hinduism. For hundreds of years, Muslim conquerors fought for more of Bengal, all the while facing resistance by Hindu kings. Historians are divided between those who say Hindus converted to Islam by force and those who say conversion was voluntary. In either case the result has been a region with one basic language and two world religions: Hinduism and Islam. As time progressed the two Bengali religious communities were divided not only by religion but by economics. Bengali Muslims gravitated to being landless laborers while the Hindus became landlords and urban specialists.
After India gained her independence in 1947, the Muslim regions broke away from predominantly Hindu India. A West and East Pakistan emerged, with East Pakistan eventually gaining independence from Pakistan in a brutal 1971 war. The result was the establishment of a new Bengali speaking nation called Bangladesh. This was made up mainly of Bengali speaking Muslims, though there were (and still are) members of other religious communities who speak the Bengali language. Hindu speaking Bengalis live mainly in India’s adjacent state of West Bengal. There are also millions of Muslim Bengali speakers outside of Bangladesh, mainly in West Bengal. Bengalis are the largest Muslim people group in the world.


What Are Their Lives Like?

Bangladesh is noted for economic problems, but they have grown considerably in the 2020s. With well over 100 million Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh alone, they hold any possible profession.
Yet Bengalis face an ongoing identity crisis. They are divided across religious lines, with centuries of fighting between themselves and the Hindus.


What Are Their Beliefs?

Though they are officially Sunni Muslim, Bengalis have an affinity for saints known as pirs. They believe these saints hold much spiritual power that can help one gain wealth and heal health problems. Pirs are similar to their Hindu equivalent, the sadhu mendicants. In recent decades, pirs have gained excessive political power in Bangladesh, leading some to want their influence diminished. Long after they die the graves of pirs are visited by those who want physical or material blessings.
Bengali Muslims also commonly embrace Sufism. This is a mystical and emotional Islamic practice which seeks to reach a state of spiritual purity known as fitra. Sufis form themselves into orders led by spiritual teachers.


What Are Their Needs?

There is a massive harvest in the making, and Bengalis are in the midst of reaching Muslims for Christ! While conservative estimates of Bengali Muslim-background followers of Christ are in the tens of thousands, some Bengali and western missionary leaders claim that a couple million Bengali Muslims have become followers of Christ within rapidly growing movements. Most of these have reportedly occurred in the 21st century.
The best things outsiders can do is regularly and faithfully pray for a complete harvest that will leave Bengalis blessed by the Lord.


Prayer Points

Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to continue leading thousands of Muslim Bengalis to the Savior of all nations.
Pray that this largest Muslim group will find the truth of the Prophet Isa, the One who is the savior of all mankind.
Pray for the Lord to thrust out loving and steadfast workers for this neglected harvest.
Pray for Muslim background Bengali disciples to make more disciples.


Scripture Prayers for the Bengali Muslim in Bangladesh.


References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_Muslims
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_West_Bengal
https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/news/bengali-muslims-and-their-identity-fusion-confusion-2072357
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/discovering-bengal-muslims-embracing-islam-identity-tarun-choudhury-mgnjf/
https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/the-bengal-conundrum-how-islamisation-of-bengal-started-in-medieval-times-with-forced-conversion-5138791.html
https://www.academia.edu/36873630/The_Pir_Culture_in_Bangladesh_a_sign_of_spirituality_and_secularisms
http://cyber_bangla0.tripod.com/article/article29.html
https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/publications/pirs-and-politics-in-contemporary-bangladesh-ca-1945-2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism


Profile Source:   Joshua Project  

People Name General Shaikh
People Name in Country Bengali Muslim
Pronunciation shayk
Alternate Names Bengali Muslim (in Bangladesh); Faraji; Jhiwar; Shaik; Sheikh; Shekhzade; शैख़
Population this Country 134,244,000
Population all Countries 219,155,000
Total Countries 9
Indigenous Yes
Progress Scale 1
Unreached Yes
Frontier People Group Yes
Pioneer Workers Needed 2685
People ID 18084
ROP3 Code 113585
ROP25 Code 307422
ROP25 Name Shaikh
Country Bangladesh
Region Asia, South
Continent Asia
10/40 Window Yes
National Bible Society Website
Persecution Rank 26  (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking)
Total States on file 7
Largest States
Dhaka
48,112,000
Chittagong
29,183,000
Rajshahi
18,640,000
Rangpur
15,319,000
Khulna
14,484,000
Barisal
8,154,000
Sylhet
352,000
Country Bangladesh
Region Asia, South
Continent Asia
10/40 Window Yes
National Bible Society Website
Persecution Rank 26  (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking)
Total States 7
  Dhaka 48,112,000
  Chittagong 29,183,000
  Rajshahi 18,640,000
  Rangpur 15,319,000
  Khulna 14,484,000
  Barisal 8,154,000
  Sylhet 352,000
Website South Asia Peoples
Primary Religion: Islam
Major Religion Percent *
Buddhism
0.00 %
Christianity  (Evangelical 0.06 %)
0.06 %
Ethnic Religions
0.00 %
Hinduism
0.00 %
Islam
99.94 %
Non-Religious
0.00 %
Other / Small
0.00 %
Unknown
0.00 %
* From latest Bangladesh census data.
Current Christian values may substantially differ.
Primary Language Bengali (124,490,000 speakers)
Language Code ben   Ethnologue Listing
Language Written Yes   ScriptSource Listing
Total Languages 8
Secondary Languages
Chittagonian
9,667,000
Urdu
1,235,000
Sylheti
143,000
Kok Borok
6,700
Bhojpuri
1,600
Punjabi, Western
200
Marwari (Pakistan)
60
Primary Language Bengali (124,490,000 speakers)
Language Code ben   Ethnologue Listing
Total Languages 8
Secondary Languages
  Chittagonian 9,667,000
  Urdu 1,235,000
  Sylheti 143,000
  Kok Borok 6,700
  Bhojpuri 1,600
  Punjabi, Western 200
  Marwari (Pakistan) 60
People Groups Speaking Bengali

Primary Language:  Bengali

Bible Translation Status  (Years)
Bible-Portions Yes  (1800-1980)
Bible-New Testament Yes  (1801-1984)
Bible-Complete Yes  (1809-2022)
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YouVersion NT (www.bible.com) Online
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Amazon
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General Faith Comes By Hearing - Bible in text or audio or video Faith Comes by Hearing
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Photo Source (Representative photo)
Mikhail Nilov - Pexels 
Map Source People Group Location: Omid. Other geography / data: GMI. Map Design: Joshua Project  
Profile Source Joshua Project 
Data Sources Data is compiled from various sources. Learn more.



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