Islam first arrived in India through Arab merchants in the very first century of Islam's rise in Arabia. Focusing on th arrival and growth of Islam in South Asia and the important socio-political changes it brought, Islam and Its Culture in South Asia examines the identity and lives of the converts to Islam, their reasons for conversion and the role performed by modern reformers who initiated modernist trends in order to enlighten Indian Muslims. It also analyses the approaches employed by modern Islamicists in their writings on the Muslims and their history in India. Based on contemporary and near contemporary sources that have been hitherto unknown or overlooked, this volume will help scholars reconstruct the social and intellectual history of the different communities of South Asia.