Contribution of Islam to India

Islam has made tremendous contribution to both material and non-material sides of Indian culture. It has given great structures, arts and crafts, literature, religious thought and an egalitarian philosophy. Islam has not only converted Hindus to Islam it has also influenced the thoughts and practices of Hindus. The idea of one God, attack on idol worship, need to take up community and social services, personal morality, Sufism and political integration, though always present in Indian traditions were resurrected. However, the greatness of Islam gets undermined when one looks at the fact that for the first time Hindus found a threat to their culture, traditions and power from groups which refused to get assimilated in the larger melting pot of Hinduism and ushered in a politics of a separate religious identity. In some sense moral growth of Indian society in this age depends heavily on how the problem of politics of religious identity is resolved.