Over 98% of 166 million peoples of Pakistan are Muslims and Islam is the State Religion of Pakistan. The majority of Muslims in Pakistan are Sunnis and the Shi'a Muslim population is the second largest in the world after Iran. Islam arrived in the area now known as Pakistan in 711 CE, when the Umayyad dynasty sent a Muslim Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim against the ruler of Sindh, Raja Dahir, whose pirates attacked Arab ships. The army conquered the northwestern part of ancient India from Kashmir to the Arabian Sea. The arrival of the Arab Muslims to the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, along with subsequent Muslim dynasties, set the stage for the religious boundaries of India that would lead to the development of the modern state of Pakistan as well as forming the foundation for Islamic rule which quickly spread across much of India. (More...)