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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The East Indian Muslims of Suriname

The East Indian Muslims of Suriname, numbering approximately 32,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Caribbean people of Indian ancestry whose forebears arrived as indentured laborers from South Asia. They speak the dominant regional languages and maintain cultural traditions influenced by Hindu, Muslim, and broader Indo-Caribbean heritage. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Sranan Tongo is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: East Indian (Muslim)

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Suriname
People Cluster: Indo-Caribbean
Primary Language(s): Sranan Tongo (srn)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 32,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022265

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Pray for the East Indian Muslims of Suriname

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

91%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sranan Tongo
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Sranan Tongo Speakers

Media Resources in Sranan Tongo:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sranan Tongo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Wortu fu Gado✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sranan Tongo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The East Indian Muslims are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the East Indian Muslims:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the East Indian Muslims of Suriname

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
readPsalm 9:9-10

Pray that God will help those who are oppressed and without hope to hear the good news of Jesus and trust in Him, for He has never forsaken those who seek Him.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
readJames 1:2-3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will consider it pure joy when they face trials of many kinds, trusting in God's promise that the testing of their faith produces perseverance.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
readEphesians 6:18b-19

Ask God to give believers He sends to the lost of this people group the boldness and clarity to proclaim the mystery of the gospel in a way that people can understand.

Indo-Caribbean, Muslim Across Countries (ROP3 - 116451) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
East Indian MuslimsPG046768East Indian MuslimsTrinidad and Tobago79,500Engaged yet UnreachedTrinidadian Creole EnglishSunni Islam
East Indian MuslimsPG043792East Indian MuslimsGuyana68,500Engaged yet UnreachedGuyanese Creole EnglishSunni Islam
East Indian MuslimsPG022265East Indian MuslimsSuriname32,500Engaged yet UnreachedSranan TongoSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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