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The Indian Muslims of Malaysia

The Indian Muslims of Malaysia, numbering approximately 320,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a community also known as Mamak, descended from Tamil Muslim traders who settled the Malay Peninsula from as early as the ninth century, historically prominent in Melaka's royal court and now known for small urban trades and eateries. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Tamil is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Indian Muslim

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Tamil
Primary Language(s): Tamil (tam)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 320,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046928

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Pray for the Indian Muslims of Malaysia

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

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tamil
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Tamil Speakers

Media Resources in Tamil:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tamil:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Contemporary Version✓
Contemporary Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓
Contemporary Version - LUMO Easter Film✓
Easy-to-Read Version✓✓
Indian Revised Version✓✓
Indian Revised Version✓

6 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tamil bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Indian Muslims:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Indian Muslims of Malaysia

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
readJohn 3:14-15

Pray that the lost among them will look to the One lifted up on the cross, believing in Him and receiving eternal life.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
readTitus 3:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and might struggle with temptation to trust in their own works, they will remember that it is only because of God's mercy that they have been saved.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
read2 Corinthians 12:28

Ask God to raise up believers who will faithfully proclaim the good news and equip others to do the same.

Tamil Muslim Across Countries (ROP3 - 109788) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
TamilPG006166TamilMaldives900No Longer UnreachedTamilSunni Islam
TamilPG011807TamilKuwait4,700Engaged yet UnreachedTamilSunni Islam
TamilPG011894TamilOman28,000Engaged yet UnreachedTamilSunni Islam
TamilPG011910TamilQatar28,500Engaged yet UnreachedTamilSunni Islam
Indian MuslimsPG046928Indian MuslimsMalaysia320,000Unengaged and UnreachedTamilSunni Islam
TamilPG011306TamilBahrain48,500Engaged yet UnreachedTamilHinduism

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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