The Shaikh are thought to be the largest grouping of unreached Muslims in the world. Though the majority are Sunni Muslims, there are Shia and Sufi expressions of Islam among them as well.
The term “Shaikh” can refer to those who have Middle Eastern ancestry, or simply those who converted to Islam since Muslims first arrived in the region in the 8th century. The Shaikh are not an ethnic group, and they don’t share a common language, but they do share a common history, caste, and religious tradition.
While millions of Shaikh are spread throughout many countries in South Asia, the majority live in Bangladesh (Bengali-speaking), India (mostly Urdu-speaking), and Pakistan (Punjabi-speaking). They live in rural areas and urban areas and earn a living in a wide variety of ways.
In India, Muslims are found from Himachal Pradesh in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are distinguished from their Hindu neighbors by their religious beliefs and customs, such as eating meat and burying, rather than burning, their dead.