Muslims in Nepal
Muslims are the followers of Prophet Mohammed (POB). Prophet
Mohammed was the messenger of Islam. Islam is submission to the will of God
“Allah” and obedience to his law.
Nepali historians believe that the first Muslims settled in
Kathmandu during King Ratna Malla's reign in the late 15th century. Kashmiri
traders were probably the first Muslims to arrive, followed by Afghans,
Persians and even Iraqis. The ‘Raqi Bajar’ in Indra Chok area gets its name
from the Iraqi merchants.
The chaubise kings of west Nepal also employed Afghan and
Indian Muslims to train Nepali soldiers to use firearms and ammunition. Ratna
Malla's envoy to Lhasa invited Kashmiri Muslims to Kathmandu in an attempt to
profit from the rugs, carpets, shawls and woollen goods they traded between
Kashmir, Ladakh and Lhasa. The first batch of Muslims came with a Kashmiri
saint who built the first mosque, Kashmiri Taquia, in 1524, writes Shamima
Siddikan in her book ‘Muslims of Nepal’.
Influenced by the system of Mughal courts in Delhi, the
Mallas also invited Indian Muslims to work as courtiers and counsellors-leading
to rivalry with Newar nobles of the Malla courts. While the Muslim courtiers
did not last long and returned to India, other Muslims stayed on. The Mallas
also got Indian Muslims from the Mughal Empire to join their courts as musicians
and specialists on perfumes and ornaments. Historian Baburam Acharya believes
they were also there to protect King Ratna Malla from rebellious relatives and
senior court officials.
Following Nepal's unification, King Prithvi Narayan Shah
also encouraged Muslim traders to settle down with their families. Besides
trade, the Muslims from Afghanistan and India were experts in manufacturing
guns, cartridges and canons, while others were useful in international
diplomacy because of their knowledge of Persian and Arabic.
Many Muslims, especially Kashmiri traders, are said to have
fled to India during the economic blockade that Prithvi Narayan Shah imposed on
the Valley. Fearing persecution from a Hindu king due to their religion and
their ties with the Mallas, the traders left despite assurances that they would
come to no harm. By 1774, only a handful of Kashmiri merchants remained. Even
so, Kashmiri traders proved to be a great help during the unification process.
Historians say that Prithvi Narayan Shah employed them as spies and informants
as they had personal contacts with the Malla rulers. After his victory, he gave
them permission to build a mosque (the Kashimiri Mashjid), now near Tri-Chandra
Campus.
During Jang Bahadur Rana's regime, a large number of Muslims
migrated to the tarai from India fleeing persecution by the British army during
the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. These refugees settled in the terai, selling leather
goods or working as agricultural labourers. A senior courtier to Delhi Emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar also fled to Kathmandu. Later, he renovated the Jama Masjid
and was buried there. During the Sepoy Mutiny, Begum Hazrat, wife of Nawab
Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow also escaped to Kathmandu via Nepalganj and was
allowed by Jang Bahadur to take refuge in Nepal. She settled down at the
Thapathali Durbar, and later died in Kathmandu and was also buried at the
Nepali mosque.
Today four districts of Terai namely Banke, Kapilbastu,
Parsa and Rautahat with over fifty percent of Muslim population are now
Muslim-majority districts. In five districts namely, Bara, Mahottari, Dhanusha,
Sirha and Sunsari Muslims are the second religious majority and in two
districts namely Rupandehi and Sarlahi they constitute as a significantly third
religious group.
The Muslims of Nepal had always accepted their lower social
status as loyal citizens and accordingly maintained a very low and profile
under the Hindu Monarchy system of governance. It may be interesting to note
that even after their long presence in Nepal during the monarchy there was
hardly any significant communal problem in the kingdom. Living in Hindu
scriptures-based cultural milieu and related social environment for centuries
they accepted the situation as it was.
Some reports suggest that the ISI of Pakistan with a view to
make Nepal its hide out for exporting terrorism to India also financed some
NGOs to bring demographic imbalance in Terai region by infiltration of
Bangladeshi Muslims. The report said, “The official figures show that the
strength of the Muslim community in Nepal has grown from 2% of the population
in 1981 to 3.5 in 1991. Data compiled by the Nepalese Election Commission in
connection with the recent general elections indicates that this figure could
now have crossed 5% and more even be close to 10%. Steady migration of
Bangladesh Muslims to the Terai considerably contributed to this increase”.
(India Today, June 12, 2000). Today there are 300 madrassas and 343 mosques within
10 k.m. of the boarder in Indian side while 181 madrassas and 282 mosques are
in Nepal side. (Dastider). It is said that the Islamist world is quite liberal
in financing the NGOs to the insidious growth of the Islamist fundamentalist
net work in Nepal.
As per 1991 Census Report Muslims constitutes 3.4 % of the
total population of Nepal, though the figure claimed by the Muslim
organisations of the country is between 8 to 10 %. (The figure is based on the
source: CBS, Population monograph, Kathmandu, 1994 as quoted in Understanding
Nepal by Mollica Dastider, Har-Anand Publication, 2007, page80).
Since the government of Nepal did not contest such claim of
the Muslim organisations, the figure of 10% appears to be nearer to the factual
position. The ethnic structure of Terai region as suggested by Dastider also
corroborates it.
Whatever may be the correct figure of Muslims in Nepal, it
is something amazing to see how this significant followers of Islam compromised
with anti-Shariat (Islamic laws) un-Islamic Hindu environment and lived there
peacefully for centuries. Socio-political scientists might have their own
analysis but it gives credence to some views that Shariat could be made
flexible if it serves the interest of political Islamists.
On September 1, 2004, thousands of demonstrators stormed the
main mosque in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, sets furniture and carpet on
fire, tore up a copy of Quran and chanted “Down with Islam’. They were
protesting against the killing of 12 Nepalese labourers in Iraq. Police had to
open fire to control the crowd. The incident was a signal for the future
relation between Hindu and Muslims of the country, who were living peacefully
for centuries. Thus ignorance and backwardness are rampant among Nepalese
Muslims, and this had led to their forfeiture of their human rights in the
country.
Even in the faith that they profess, their knowledge of
Islamic principles and culture is very meagre, and they do need guidance and
direction in this respect. Many of them are Muslims in name only, but hardly
know anything else about Islam as well as society.
| 
