{{Short description|Lower status Muslims in India}} '''Dalit Muslim''' is a term used to refer to Muslims in the Dalit group, i.e. the social group called Untouchables or Dalits, who have converted to Islam.<ref name="BBCCaste">{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36220329 | title=Why are many Indian Muslims seen as untouchable? | publisher=BBC | work=Soutik Biswas | date=10 May 2016 | accessdate=18 July 2016}}</ref> In theory, converting to Islam takes converts out of the bounds of earlier caste system, but in practice they are often still treated as Dalits.<ref name="outlook">{{cite web | url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/dalit-muslims/216144 | title=Dalit Muslims | publisher=Outlook | date=20 June 2002 | accessdate=18 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="AL Jazeera">{{cite web | url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2015/09/dalit-muslims-india-150902080746653.html | title=Dalit Muslims of India | publisher=Al Jazeera | date=4 September 2015 | accessdate=18 July 2016 | archive-date=30 July 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730123142/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2015/09/dalit-muslims-india-150902080746653.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Background== Aftab Alam, a political scientist, states: <blockquote>"But caste and untouchability is a lived reality for Muslims living in India and South Asia, and untouchability is the community's worst-kept secret."<ref name="BBCCaste" /></blockquote>Even though Islam is egalitarian in its social ethics,<ref>{{cite web|title=Islam And Caste Inequality Among Indian Muslims|url=https://dalitmuslims.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/islam-and-caste-inequality-among-indian-muslims/|date=September 7, 2009|publisher=Indian Dalit Muslims Voice|access-date=September 13, 2021}}</ref> Indian Muslim society is characterised by caste-like features, consisting of several caste-like groups (''jatis''). Despite the conversion to Islam, the social and economic conditions of the Muslims in each caste hardly changed, and they remained tied down to their traditional occupations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islam in South Asia. Volume III (Critical Concept in islamic studies)|last=Taylor|first=David|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0415554725|location=New York|pages=298}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2003/mar/06bihar.htm | title=Backward Muslims protest denial of burial | publisher=Rediff | date=6 March 2003 | accessdate=18 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-sikander200903.htm | title=The ‘Dalit Muslims’ And The All-India Backward Muslim Morcha | publisher=Counter Currents | work=Yoginder Sikand | date=20 September 2003 | accessdate=18 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="Bhartiya2008">{{cite book|author=Santosh Bhartiya|title=Dalit And Minority Empowerment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-F07ALiguEC&pg=PA326|accessdate=18 July 2016|date=1 September 2008|publisher=Rajkamal Prakashan|isbn=978-81-267-1599-2|pages=326–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-dalit-muslims-marginalised-historically-and-in-the-present-day-find-scant-mention-in-mainstream-discourse-8893751.html | title=India's Dalit Muslims, marginalised historically and in the present day, find scant mention in mainstream discourse | publisher=Firstpost | work=Shafey Anwarul Haque and Bhawesh Pant | date=8 October 2021 | accessdate=17 June 2022}}</ref>
==Reservation== Most of the people claiming Dalit Muslim status are already getting reservation as OBC.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article1233436.ece | title=SC status for Dalit Muslims, Dalit Christians favoured | publisher=The Hindu | date=5 April 2008 | accessdate=18 July 2016}}</ref>
== See also == * Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, the political movement involving Dalit Muslims * Caste system among South Asian Muslims
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muslim, Dalit}}
== External links == * [http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/dalit-muslims-of-india/4458675572001 Dalit Muslims of India]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Al Jazeera Documentary
Category:Dalit Muslim