 In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as "Hindus", in contrast to "Mohamedans" for Mughals and Arabs following Islam.By the mid-19th century, colonial orientalist texts further distinguished Hindus from Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, but the colonial laws continued to consider all of them to be within the scope of the term "Hindu" until about mid-20th century.Scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon.