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Where else in the world can you find over 150 million Muslims as the minority religion? Only in India! Where else can you find over 400 different Muslim people groups, based on occupation, geographical location or shade of Islamic believe? Only in India!

India is Accessible

Yet even with these facts considered, many Christians around the world seem to ignore or give scant attention to, the needs of this huge group of Indian Muslims. We can also say that the Muslims of India are perhaps the largest accessible Muslim population in the world. This is due in part to India’s pluralistic framework and secular constitution. Opportunities for open Christian witness abound and there are open doors for many kinds of Christian ministry.

Islam was introduced to India by conquest and grew through the successful efforts of Muslim missionaries and high birth rates. Today India is the second largest Muslim nation in the world.

Hour of Opportunity in India

Some of the largest Muslim people groups in India include the Bengalis, the Biharis, Jat, Pathan, Julaha, Shaikh, Rajput, Kashmiri, Ansari and the Labbais.

Having read this article, so far, we could conclude that there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of Christians sharing the love of Christ regularly with their Muslim neighbours in India, right? WRONG!

Alas, as of this date there are perhaps not more than 150 workers (including both Indians and expatriates) in full time witness to Muslims. There are some very encouraging developments happening, however, with more unity between churches and organisations reaching Muslims in India. There are also continued reports of Muslim leaders receiving visions and dreams of Jesus!

It is the hour of opportunity for the Muslims of India - may we not miss it!

Prayer for the Muslims in India:

* Pray for the religious freedom in India to continue. It is under threat from certain groups in the nation.

* Pray that the Muslims of India would each have an opportunity to hear, and see, the Gospel in a culturally relevant way.

* Pray for the many large indigenous Indian Missions organisations, that they will “tithe” some of their people for Muslim work.

* Pray for continuing and new training initiatives to train workers and church planters for Muslim ministry.

Background on India (World Factbook)

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century.

By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947.

The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

Economy of India

India’s diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India’s output with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers.

Languages of India

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.

Statistics on India

Population:  1,147,995,898 (July 2008 est.)

Age Structure: 0-14 years: 31.5% (male 189,238,487/female 172,168,306)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 374,157,581/female 352,868,003)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,285,796/female 31,277,725)

Life expectancy at birth: 69.25 years

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%

Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1%

Languages: Hindi / English / many more … see note above

Literacy: 61% — Male 73.4%, Female 47.8%

India’s amazing diversity …Video

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