Teli Muslim

The origin of the Teli is tied to the oil trade of the Indian subcontinent, an occupation passed down from generation to generation since ancient times. Over time, the group split between Hindu and Muslim communities, and conversion to Islam, especially in the regions that today form Pakistan and parts of northern India, gave rise to the branch now called Teli Muslim.

Throughout the twentieth century, part of the community sought social advancement, adopting the names and customs of higher status groups, such as Shaikh Mansuri, while other regional branches kept their own names, such as Teli Malik and Teli Rajput. This combination of mobility and continuity still defines how the Teli position themselves in their societies today.

The name Teli comes from the group’s historic trade: the pressing and selling of oil, an activity that for generations organized their social standing in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Many still maintain ties to this trade or to small family businesses, even though over the past century part of the community has sought social mobility, adopting customs and names associated with higher status groups.

Life revolves around the extended family and kinship networks that regulate marriages, resolve conflicts, and sustain business ties. In some regions there are subgroups with their own names, such as Teli Malik and Teli Rajput, a sign of how the group’s identity adapts to local context without losing its common base.

Teli Muslims follow Islam as an inseparable part of their social and family identity, alongside the Teli who remain Hindu. Being Muslim, for this branch of the people, is not merely a matter of personal faith: it is family heritage, a mark of belonging to the group, and a criterion that governs marriages and alliances.

The daily practice of the faith blends with caste customs that predate the arrival of Islam in the region, such as the value placed on family honor and on kinship networks in trade and social life. This double layer of identity, ethnic and religious, makes the Islamic faith something lived naturally and reinforced by the entire surrounding community structure.

The Teli speak mainly Hindi in India and Western Punjabi in Pakistan. In India, a complete Bible has existed in Hindi for decades, with audio, apps, and wide print circulation; in Pakistan, Western Punjabi speakers so far have only the New Testament. The greatest challenge, however, is not translation but reach: as a Muslim people of caste origin, the Teli rarely come into contact with these Scriptures in a way they recognize as relevant to their own identity and community.

Being Teli and being Muslim are deeply intertwined: abandoning Islam is seen as breaking with the community itself and with family honor. Caste origin adds another layer of closed identity, with kinship and occupational ties that reinforce the group’s cohesion and make any outside approach something closely watched. Since the level of Christian witness among them is practically nonexistent, few Teli have ever had contact with a Christian or with anyone who speaks of Jesus in their own language and culture.

Like many groups of caste origin in South Asia, the Teli face historic barriers to social recognition, which has led them to seek, on their own, greater mobility and dignity within their societies, often without support from outside their own kinship network. There is also an even greater need for genuine access to the gospel: Christian community, discipleship, and voices that speak of Jesus from within the Teli culture itself, something practically nonexistent among them today. Workers willing to walk alongside this community with patience and respect are still lacking.