Muslim Gurjars

Muslim Gurjars also spelled Gujjar, Gujar, or Gojar, are an ethno-religious group of the larger Gurjar ethnic community, who follow Islam and are native to the north-western regions of South Asia. They are primarily found in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and also in various regions of northern India. They embraced Islam from the medieval period onwards. They are divided into several sub-groups and clans. In Pakistan, they traditionally belong to the agricultural class of the country and are a politically influential community.

Muslim Gujars are a large ethnic group in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, and the third-largest ethnic group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Jammu and Kashmir (Union territory). They are also found as a minority group in Afghanistan, Nepal and other parts of north India.

In the Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, most of them are nomads with some settled communities. In Indian Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh they traditionally belong to agricultural class. Based on their occupation nomad Muslim Gujjars in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and HP are divided into subgroups like Van Gujjar, Bakarwal, Banjara, and Dodhi Gujjars.

In north India, Muslim Gujjars live in complete geographical and biosocial isolation from Hindu Gurjars, with whom they have not maintained relationships, and marriages between the two groups are restricted. In contrast, intermarriages are common among Muslim Gujjars of Himachal Pradesh and Muslim Van Gujars of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.