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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Maria Muslims of India

The Maria Muslims of India, numbering approximately 160,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an indigenous Assamese Muslim community of northeast India, not a Gond or tribal group. They are historically associated with brass and bell‑metal craftsmanship and are recognized today as one of the indigenous Muslim peoples of Assam They are an Indigenous people, with Maria (India) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bengali people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Assamese.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Maria Muslim

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Bengali
Primary Language(s): Assamese (asm)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 160,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049842

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Pray for the Maria Muslims of India

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

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Assamese
Language Family: Indo-European

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Media Resources in Assamese:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Assamese:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Assamese 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: 1), 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 Active 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 Maria 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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Maria 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 Maria 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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Maria Muslims are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Maria Muslims:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Maria Muslims of India

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
readJohn 16:33

Pray that those who don't have peace with God will find peace in Christ, even amid the troubles of this world.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that God will remove obstacles to the gospel so that many will see the hope He offers through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and be transformed from being enemies to being His friends.

And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see that God provides for their needs and be content in His provision so that they may excel in every good work.

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
readColossians 1:20

As believers cross cultures to tell others about Jesus, praise God for allowing them to be a part of His reconciling all things to Himself, asking Him to help them remember their role in His beautiful plan of salvation for others.

Maria Muslim Across Countries (ROP3 - 118959) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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