Jat Muslim
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Pakistan, India | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
 Islam
|
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Jat people |
Jat Muslim or Musalman Jat (Urdu: مسلمان جٹ) are Jat people who practise Islam, found primarily throughout the Sindh and Punjab region of Pakistan and India. Jat Muslims are also found in western Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in India, and the province of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. Jats began converting to Islam from the early Middle Ages onward, and constitute a distinct sub-group within the diverse community of Jat people.
When Arabs entered Sindh in the seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and the Med people. 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.
Between the 10th and the 13th Century, there was large immigration of Jat groups from Balochistan and Sindh 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 centuries, 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.
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