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Jat Muslim or Musalman Jats (; ), are an elastic and diverse ethnoreligious subgroup of the Jat people, who follow Islam and are native to the northwestern Indian subcontinent. They are primarily found in Pakistani Punjab, Sindh and Azad Kashmir. A small minority is also present in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, where they are referred to as Muley Jats.Gupta, Dipankar (1997). Rivalry and Brotherhood: Politics in the Life of Farmers in Northern India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997. pp. 2, 34, 44-47, 50, 57, 60, 63–65, 82–85, 87, 124, 160. .
The Jats began converting to Islam during the early Medieval India, influenced by Sufis like Baba Farid. The conversion process was gradual.Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest, 11th-13th Centuries. Vol. 2. Boston: Brill. pp. 241–242. . .
Between the 11th and 16th centuries, some Sindhi Jats migrated up into Punjab.Grewal, J. S. (1998), The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, p. 5, , retrieved 12 November 2011 Quote: "... the most numerous of the agricultural tribes (in the Punjab) were the Jats. They had come from Sindh and Rajasthan along the river valleys, moving up, displacing the Gujjars and the Rajputs to occupy culturable lands. (page 5)"Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. . Many clans have traditions of converting to Islam during this period, influenced by Sufism like Baba Farid. By the 16th century, many Punjabi Muslims clans west of the Ravi River had converted.Gandhi, Rajmohan (2015). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Rupa. . Despite conversion, many Jats continued to resist foreign Muslim imperial powers such as the Timurid dynasty,Elliot, Henry Miers (1959). The History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians; the Muhammadan Period; the Posthumous Papers of H. M. Elliot, Volume 3. Susil Gupta (India) Private, 1959. pp. 428–429. . "...Timur learned that they were a robust race, and were called Jats. They were Musulmáns only in name and had not their equals in theft and robbery. They plundered caravans on the road, and were a terror to Musulmáns and travellers... these turbulent Jats were as numerous as ants or locusts... Timur marched into the jungles and wilds, and slew 2,000 demon-like Jats." Mughals, and Sur Empire.Sarvānī, ʻAbbās Khān (1974). Tārīk̲h̲-i-Śēr Śāhī. Translated by Brahmadeva Prasad Ambashthya. K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1974. Archived. Quote: "Suri ordered Habibat Khan to be rid of Fath Khan Jat who was in QABūLA and who had once laid the entire country right upto PANIPAT to pillage and plunder in the time of the Mughals and had made them desolate, and had also brought MULTAN under his control after wresting it from the Balūcīs." Meanwhile, others chose to cooperate with the Muslim rulers to advance their own interests.
During the Delhi Sultanate, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was appointed as the governor of Multan, and later of Dipalpur. His early forces were primarily composed of Jat tribesmen recruited from Dipalpur, who fought alongside him in all his campaigns.
During Mughal rule, Jats came to own considerable land and exert local influence.Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. The Mughals never had direct control over many of these rural grandees. Some also obtained high positions, such as Grand Vizier and Vakil-i-Mutlaq, Saadullah Khan,Beveridge H. (1952). The Maathir Ul Umara Vol-ii (1952). The Calcutta Oriental Press Ltd. p. 647. Faujdar of Sialkot, Rahmat Khan Bajwa, prominent Jagirdar, Rai Muhammad Jani Malhi, and governor of Gujrat, Rehmat Khan Warraich.
As the Mughal empire began to decline, various groups vied to fill the resulting power vacuum. Among them were several ambitious Muslim Jat chiefs and princes. In Rohilkhand, the Rohilla dynasty established the Kingdom of Rohilkhand and the Rampur State. In the Deccan, a descendant of Saadullah Khan, Muzaffar Jang Hidayat, briefly became the Nizam of Hyderabad State. In the Malwa, the Pindari chief Chitu Khan formed a De facto independent durrah and joined fellow Pindari chiefs in plundering the neighboring Hyderabad State, Rajputs, Marathas, and British territories.Wœrkens, Martine van (2002). The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India. University of Chicago Press. p. 25. .Gott, Richard (7 November 2011). Britain's Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt. Verso Books. .Roy, Mahendra Prakash (1973). Origin, Growth, and Suppression of the Pindaris. Sterling Publishers. And in Punjab, the Gondal Jats of the Gondal Bar resisted Nader Shah, while the Pakpattan and Chattha State states resisted the expanding Sikh Empire.Richard M. Eaton (1984). Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.). Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. University of California Press. .Mirzā, Shafqat Tanvir (1992). Resistance Themes in Punjabi Literature. Sang-e-Meel Publications - University of Michigan Library (digitized 9 May 2008) via Google Books website. pp. 56–62. . Ultimately, the British Raj annexed or transformed all these disparate states into princely states.
During British rule, many Punjabi Muslims, including Jats, would enlist in the British Indian Army.Omissi, David (8 April 2001). " Military Planning and Wartime Recruitment (India)". "The single most numerous "class" of Indian recruits in both world wars, however, was the Punjabi Muslims"Singh, R. S. N. (2008). The Military Factor in Pakistan. New Delhi ; Frankfort, IL: Lancer Publishers. p. 178. Most were recruited from the Pothohar Plateau.Leigh, Maxwell Studdy (1922). The Punjab and the War. Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1922. .
Certain Punjabi Jat families—such as the Mokals, Nakais, and Pahuwindias—had strong ties to the Lahore Durbar before their conversion to Islam, which granted them significant influence in the districts of Lahore, Kasur, Sahiwal, and Okara. Despite their conversion and the subsequent Partition of Punjab, these families maintained much of their social and political standing. Notable figures from these lineages include Habibullah Khan Mokal, Muhammad Arif Nakai, and Ahmed Said Pahuwindia.
In 2009, the Pakistani Jat population was estimated to be roughly 21 million.Lodrick, Deryck O. (2009). "JATS". In Gallagher, Timothy L.; Hobby, Jeneen (eds.). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Volume 3: Asia & Oceania (2nd ed.). Gale. pp. 418–419. . The Jats, together with Muslim Rajputs and Muslim Gujjars, are the dominant Punjabi Muslims communities settled across eastern Pakistan. (2025). 9781843311492, Anthem Press. ISBN 9781843311492
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