According to the 2011 census, West Bengal has over 24.6 million Muslims, making up 27% of the state's population. The vast majority of Muslims in West Bengal are ethnic native Bengali Muslims, numbering around over 22 million and comprising 24.1% of the state population (mostly they reside in Rural areas). There also exists an Immigrants Urdu-speaking Muslim community numbering 2.6 million, constituting 2.9% of the state population and mostly resides in Urban areas of the state. Muslims form the majority of the population in three districts: Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur. Among these, Uttar Dinajpur is notable as ethnic Bengali Muslims comprise 48% of the district's population, with the remaining 2% being Urdu and Surjapuri speakers. Demography History Islam first arrived in Bengal in the year 1204. The establishment of the first Muslim state in Bengal, the Bengal Sultanate, in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah is credited to giving rise to a Bengali socio-linguistic identity. The Sultanate's influence was expansive, with the Hindu-born sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funding the construction of Islamic institutions as far as Mecca and Medina, which came to be known as al-Madaris al-Banjaliyyah (Bengali madrasas). Sufis also became prominent in this period, such as Usman Serajuddin, also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali, who was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign. Alongside Persian and Arabic, the Sultanate also used the Bengali language to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favored liturgical languages such as Sanskrit and Pali. Islam became especially widespread when the region was under Mughal rule from 1576 to 1765 and was commonly known as Bengal Subah. The Mughal Emperors considered Bengal their most prized province. The Mughal emperor Akbar is credited with developing the modern Bengali calendar. Population Partition and immigration The Muslim population in West Bengal before 1947 partition was around 30%. After partition of Bengal in 1947, some Muslims from West Bengal left for East Pakistan, (Present-Day-Bangladesh). Estimates show that 1,534,718 Muslim refugees from West Bengal settling permanently in East Pakistan during 1947–1951. Population by district (2011) Trends Linguistic groups According to the 2021 census estimation, there were around 30 million Muslims living in West Bengal, constituting 28.9% respectively. Nearly most of them (26% of state population), about 27 million are native Bengali Muslims, constituting around 90% of the total Muslim population in the state, and are