Muslim communities and cultures of the Himalayas : conceptualizing the global Ummah / edited by Jacqueline H. Fewkes and Megan Adamson Sijapati.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Juan E Campo -- Preface / Jacqueline H. Fewkes and Megan Adamson Sijapati -- 1. Diversity, Continuity, and Disjuncture: Approaching Multivocal Perspectives on Being Muslim in the Himalaya / Jacqueline H. Fewkes and Megan Adamson Sijapati -- 2. Topiwalla Jinn and the Past-Times of Violence in Kashmir / Cabeiri deBergh Robinson -- 3. Everyday Religiosity and Extraordinary Experiences: Nepali Muslim Narratives of Hajj / Megan Adamson Sijapati -- 4. Portrait of an Indian Freedom Fighter: Munshi Abdul Sattar / Abdul Nasir Khan -- 5. Land of the Ungoverned: On the Historiography of Lawlessness at the Frontier of Empire / Jonah Steinberg -- 6. Perspectives: A Photo-essay -- 7. Voices from the Field: Interviews with the Alima of Ladakh / Jacqueline H. Fewkes -- 8. Hindu Shopkeepers, Quranic Verses: Intersecting Practices Between Muslims and Hindus of Nepal / Muhammad Ayub -- 9. The Social and Political Life of a Relic: The Episode of the Moi-e-MuqaddasTheft in Kashmir, 1963-1964 / Idrees Kanth -- 10. 'Himalayan Ummah' as a Meeting Point Between Various Islamic Cultures: The Case of a Chinese Muslim Community Trading Interactions in Amdo / Marie-Paule Hille -- 11. Messy Narratives of Belonging: Hijrat and the Khache / Anisa Bhutia -- Index.

"This book explores individual perspectives and specific iterations of Muslim community, Muslim practice and experience of Islam in the Himalayan region as well as the concept of the general Islamic community the Ummah. A multidisciplinary analysis of Muslim communities and historical and contemporary Islamicate traditions, the book shows how Muslims understand and mobilize regional identities and religious expressions. Moreover, it assesses regional interactions, the ways in which institutions shape Muslim practices in specific areas and investigates the notion of the Himalayas as an Islamic space. The book suggests that the regional focus on the Himalayas provides a site of both geographic and cultural crossroads where Muslim community is simultaneously constituted at multiple social levels. As a result, chapters document a wide range of local, national, and global interests while maintaining a focus on individual perspectives, moments in time, and localized experiences. This book draws 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. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of anthropology, geography, history, religious studies, Asian Studies, and Islamic Studies"-- Provided by publisher.