ABSTRACT

This book chronicles individual perspectives and specific iterations of Muslim community, practice, and experience in the Himalayan region to bring into scholarly conversation the presence of varying Muslim cultures in the Himalaya.

The Himalaya provide a site of both geographic and cultural crossroads, where Muslim community is simultaneously constituted at multiple social levels, and to that end the essays in this book document a wide range of local, national, and global interests while maintaining a focus on individual perspectives, moments in time, and localized experiences. It presents research that contributes to a broadly conceived notion of the Himalaya that enriches readers’ understandings of both the region and concepts of Muslim community and highlights the interconnections between multiple experiences of Muslim community at local levels.

Drawing attention to the cultural, social, artistic, and political diversity of the Himalaya beyond the better understood and frequently documented religio-cultural expressions of the region, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Anthropology, Geography, History, Religious Atudies, Asian Studies, and Islamic Studies.

chapter 1|15 pages

Diversity, Continuity, and Disjuncture

Approaching Multivocal Perspectives on Being Muslim in the Himalaya

chapter 3|18 pages

Everyday Religiosity and Extraordinary Experiences

Nepali Muslim Narratives of Hajj 1

chapter 4|6 pages

Portrait of an Indian Freedom Fighter

Munshi Abdul Sattar

chapter 5|20 pages

Land of the Ungoverned

On the Historiography of Lawlessness at the Frontier of Empire

chapter 6|15 pages

Perspectives

A Photo Essay

chapter 7|13 pages

“When a Woman is Educated in Islam”

Conversations with Alima of Ladakh 1

chapter 8|9 pages

Hindu Shopkeepers, Qur’anic Verses

Intersecting Practices Between Muslims and Hindus of Nepal

chapter 9|22 pages

The Social and Political Life of a Relic

The Episode of the Moi-e-Muqaddas Theft in Kashmir, 1963–1964 1

chapter 10|6 pages

“Himalayan Ummah” as a Meeting Point Between Various Islamic Cultures

The Case of Chinese Muslim Community Trading Interactions in Amdo 1

chapter 11|21 pages

Messy Narratives of Belonging

Hijrat and the Khache 1