Nepalese Muslims

Islam in Nepal

Total population
(971,056)
Regions with significant populations
Nepalese states in Madhesh •Mithila • Tharuhat
Languages
Bhojpuri • Awadhi • Maithili • Nepali • Newari • Urdu• Arabic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Tibetan Muslims, Indian Muslims

Nepalese Muslims, while mainly Sunni, constitute a heterogeneous group of Madhesi Race. Their ancestors arrived in Nepal from different parts of South Asia and Tibet during different epochs, and have since lived amidst the numerically dominant Hindus. About 97% of the Muslim community live in the Terai region, while the other 3% are found mainly in the city of Kathmandu and the western hills. The community numbers 971,056, about 3.7% of the total population of Nepal. Districts with large Muslim population include Rautahat (17.2%), Bara (11.9%), and Parsa (17.3%) in the central Terai bordering the state of Bihar, Kapilbastu (16.8%) and Banke (16%) in the western Terai and Sirahi (7%) and Sunsari (10%) and Saptari (10%) eastern Terai.

Muslims have lived in Nepal for long period of time and have shared common historical experiences with the Hindu majority, and as such have developed a stronger identification with the Nepali state. However, the Terai Muslims, on the other hand, like other Terai communities, also continue to have strong ties across the border and receive cultural sustenance from the larger Muslim population of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Classification

The history of the Muslim community in Nepal is in fact the history of four distinct groups, the Tibetans, Kashmiris, the Miyan (मियाॅ) and the Madhesi.

Newar Muslins

Further information: Newar Islam

Miya Muslims

Another group of Muslims, the Miyan ( मियाँ ), to settle in Nepal came from different parts of northern India during the 16th and 17th centuries, invited by hill rulers to manufacture military armament (including cannons). They remained in the hills as makers of agricultural implements, utensils and ornaments. Though the descendants of these migrants are known as the Miyan, or bangle-sellers, a majority survive as farmers. There is a fair sprinkling of these hill Muslims in Nepal´s central and western districts of Gorkha, Lamjung,Tanahu,Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Dhading, Nuwakot,Makwanpur, Chitwan,Nawalparasi,Butwal, Kaski, Syangja, Palpa, Arga-khanchi, Pyuthan, Dailekh and many more.

The Miyan hill Muslims have been greatly influenced by the Hindu hill milieu. Although they follow Islamic customs such as circumcision and ritual burial of the dead, other Islamic practices like maher (groom's dowry gift to the bride) and zakat (charity collected for and payable to the needy) are unequally observed. The Miyan speak Nepali and in their dress, food habits and some customs the Miyan are indistinguishable from their Bahun and Chhetri neighbors.

Kashmiri Muslims

According to the Vamshavalis, Kashmiri Muslims arrived in Kathmandu during the reign of King Rama Malla (1484-1520 AD). They built a mosque, the Kashmiri Takia, and engaged in different occupations such as scribes to correspond with the Delhi Sultanate, and as scent manufacturers, musicians and bangle suppliers. Some were admitted as courtiers to the Malla durbar, and many traded with Tibet. The descendants of these migrants live in Kathmandu, numbering about two thousand. They tend to be well-educated and speak a mixture of Nepali and Urdu at home rather than Kashmiri. Many Kashmiri Muslims of Kathmandu are also fluent in Newari. While many work as petty businessmen, some have joined government service or entered politics.

The Kashmiri merchants who first arrived in the 1970s set up curio shops in Kathmandu´s tourist quarters. There has been a spurt in arrivals from Srinagar since the political turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir escalated in 1990. Many shopkeepers arrived with their stocks of handicrafts, rugs and furs. These recent arrivals have little or no interaction with the older Muslim residents, and most do not even know that there is an old Kashmiri Muslim stock in Kathmandu.

Tibetan Muslims

Muslim migrants of Tibetan origin include both Ladakhis and those from Tibet proper. The latter arrived mostly after the Chinese Communist takeover in 1959, and in their language and dress these Tibetan Muslims are indistinguishable from their Tibetan Buddhist counterparts. Today, many are engaged in the trade of Chinese consumer durables and selling curios. On the whole, this groups tends to be more affluent than the other Muslim communities.

The story of the Tibetan Muslims is that of a unique community, that has blended different cultural strains to forge a distinct identity, that has been kept alive even in the face of adversity. According to the community,s traditions, Islam arrived almost a thousand years ago in Tibet, a region that has always been synonymous with a monolithic Buddhist culture. Sometime in the 12th century, it is believed, a group of Muslim traders from Kashmir and Ladakh came to Tibet as merchants. Many of these traders settled in Tibet and married Tibetan women, who later converted to the religion of their husbands. Author Thomas Arnold, in his book, The Preaching of Islam says that gradually, marriages and social interactions led to an increase in the Tibetan Muslim population until a sizable community came up around Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

The Muslim society in the Terai region is organized along the principles of caste, but differs in many respects from the caste system found among the Madhesi Hindus. Although Muslim groupings are endogamous, and there are elements of hierarchy, there is no religious and ideological principles providing foundation for the concept of caste. For example, there is no question of ritual pollution by touch or restriction on interdinning. But each grouping does maintain a separate and distinct identity, especially with regards intermarriage. Below is a brief description of the larger groupings:

Madhesi Muslims

Further information: Madhesi people

While the smaller groups provide diversity, the largest community of Islam adherents, more than 74 percent—of the Muslims are found in the Madhesh region, a narrow Terai plain lying between the lower hills of the Himalaya and the border with India. Concentrated in the Madhesh districts of Banke, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Parsa, Bara and Rauthat, some of the Madhesi Muslims were present here at the time of Nepal´s unification while others migrated from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Arabia, Tibet, Egypt, Persia from the 19th century onwards as wage labourers. While most are small-time proprietor farmers, a substantial number still work as tenants and agricultural labourers. At home they do speak Urdu, but also Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Maithili & Nepali depending on whether they are of the Western or Central or Eastern Madhesh.

The Muslim society in the Madhesh (Terai) region is organized along the principles of caste, but differs in many respects from the caste system found among the Madhesi Nepali Hindus. Although Muslim groupings are endogamous, and there are elements of hierarchy, there are no religious and ideological principles providing a foundation for the concept of caste. For example, there is no question of ritual pollution by touch or restriction on interdining. But each grouping does maintain a separate and distinct identity, especially with regard to intermarriage. Below is a brief description of the larger groupings:

Members of Madhesh-based Muslim communities reside in the Kathmandu valley and are the leaders of a revival and reform of Islam informed by global Islamist discourses and enabled and promoted by petrodollars and new technologies of communication linking them with Muslims communities around the world. The movement has both religious and political dimensions (though the two intertwine significantly in Islam), each represented by distinct organizations with their internal hierarchies and rules for membership. They provide scholarships for Muslim youth, support for mosques and madrases, and religious trainings. These organizations have centers in the Terai as well, but the national centers are in the Kathmandu valley. Their ideological influences range from the Muslim Brotherhood, to Salafism, to the Jamaat-e Islami.

List of communities

Community	Traditional Occupation	Distribution
Sayyid	one	throughout the Madhesh region (laxmanpur banke)
Shaikh	None	throughout the Madhesh region
Iraqi	None	throughout the Madhesh region
Pathan	mainly landowners and cultivators	throughout the Madhesh
Thakurai	mainly landowners and cultivators	Parsa and Bara districts
Ansari	traditionally weavers, most are cultivators, business man	throughout the Madhesh
Gostya (गोस्त्या)	butchers	Mid-west Madhesh
Faqir	traditionally mendicants	throughout the Terai
Jat	landowners and cultivators	Mid-west Madhes
Kabaria	traditionally fruit and vegetable sellers	Mid-west and CentraL Madhesh
Gaddi	traditionally cattle herders, most now cultivators	Mid-west madhesh
Hajjam	barbers	throughout the Madhesh
Patihar	selling threads, needles and ribbons	throughout the Madhesh
Kawasi	selling threads, needles as well as fruits and vegetables	throughout the Madhesh
Churihar	bangle makers and sellers	Central Madhesh
Teli	traditionally oil manufacturers, some are cultivators, and are petty traders	Central Madhesh
Dhuniya	traditionally cotton carders, most are now cultivators	Central Madhesh
Darzi	tailors and thread manufacturers	Central Madhesh
Kasgar	traditionally potters	Central Madhesh
Halwai	traditionally sweet makers, most are petty traders and landowners	throughout the Madhesh
Rangrez	traditionally cloth dyers and calico printers	throughout the Terai
Dhobi	traditionally washermen	throughout the Madhesh
Dharkar	weavers and manufacturers of cane chairs	throughout the Madhesh
Natuwa	labourers	throughout the Madhesh
Nat	traditionally tumblers and acrobats	throughout the Madhesh
Halalkhor	scavengers and labourers	throughout the Madhesh

See also

• Islam in Nepal
• Newar Islam

External links

• A minority within a minority: Nepal’s Tibetan Muslims mark Ramadan
• A Refugee’s Ramadan
• Nepalese Muslim Society elects new working committee