JAMMU AND KASHMIR: DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS

By -
Three major faiths are each clearly dominant in different parts of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.Islam is virtually the sole religion throughout the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir on the Pakistani side of the 1972 Line of Control, accounting for more than 99.5% of the population in every single district of those two areas. On the Indian side of the LOC, Islam is clearly dominant in Kashmir, is also the leading faith in three of the six districts of Jammu, and accounts for a large majority of the population in the Kargil tahsil of Kargil district. Hinduism, the second most numerous faith, accounts for a majority ofthe population in the three southernmost districts of Jammuand in that region as a whole. Followers of the Tibetan form of Buddhism are a decided majority in the large, but thinly populated district of Leh and in Zanskar tahsil in the southern part of Kargil district. In Jammu and Kashmir as awhole, Islam is by far the leading faith and, with 74.9% of the total population, it accounted for a somewhat larger share of the total than it did at the time of partition, when, judging from the 1941 census, it accounted for 72.9% of the population.

While a clear majority of the Muslims in Jammu, in Kashmir proper, and in Azad Kashmir are followers of the Sunni form of the faith, large areas in Indian-held Ladakh, mostnotably in Kargil district, and in the Pakistani-held Northern Areas have majorities who follow various sects thatmay be grouped under the label Shiah. These include the Ismailis, whose spiritual leader is the Aga Khan, whose Aga Khan Rural Support Programme is a major source of development assistance to the region, on both sides of the LOC. Reliable statistics on sectarian distributions within Islam have never been collected. However, based on such pre-independence data as do exist, Shiahs (of various sub-sects) outnumber Sunnis in Indian-held Kargil, while, on the Pakistani side of the LOC, they lead in all parts of the Northern Areas except Gilgit tahsil of Gilgit district and the western tahsils of Diamir district. In those areas, owing in part to immigration from Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province since the completion of the Karakoram Highway, the two sects are believed to be in rough balance.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lal Ded

By -
Image
Kashmirhas produced many saints, poets and mystics. Among them,Lal Dedis very prominent. In Kashmir, some people consider her a poet, some consider her a holywoman and some consider her a sufi, a yogi, or a devotee of Shiva.Sume even consider her an avtar. But every Kashmiri considers her a wise woman. Every Kashmiri has some sayings of Lalla on the tip of his tongue. The Kashmiri language is full of her sayings.Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims affectionately callher "Mother Lalla" or "Granny Lalla". She is also called "Lallayogeshwari". Some people call her Lalla, the mystic.It is said that Lal Ded was born in 1355 in Pandrethan to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Even as a child, Lalla was wise and religious-minded. When Lalla was twelve years old, she was married. Her in-laws lived in Pampur. The in-laws gave her the name Padmavati. Her mother-in-law was very cruel. She never gave her any peace. It is claimed that her mother-in-law used to put a stone on Lalla&#
Read more

Habba khatoon

By -
Habba Khatoon(1554 - 1609) was a 16th-century Kashmiri mystic-poet and ascetic, who is also known as 'Nightingale of Kashmir'. She was born in the small village Chandrahar (Chandhaur) just outsideSemporain presentJammu and Kashmirstate, and was known under the nameZoon(the Moon) because of her immense beauty until her marriage withYusuf Shah Chak, who later became ruler of Kashmir, after which she was called Habba Khatoon. When her husband was captured by Mughal emperorAkbartaken away to Bengal never to return, she became an ascetic.[1][2]Her neglected tomb lies near Athwajan on theJammu-Srinagar national highway. Biography *.Habba Khatoon: the nightingale of Kashmir, by S. N. Wakhlu. South Asia Publications, 1994.ISBN 8174330054.Habba Khatun was a 16th-century Muslim poet from the village of Chandrahar of Kashmir. She was born in the smallvillage Chandrahar, and was known under the name Zoon (the Moon) because of her immense beauty until her marriage with Yusuf Shah Cha
Read more

Hamza Makhdoom

By -
Hamza Makhdoom Kashmiri (1494–1563) – also called Mehboob-ul-Alam and popularly known as Makhdoom Sahib – was a 16th-century Sufi mystic, scholar and spiritual teacher living in Kashmir.[1] He is sometimes referred to as Sultan-ul-Arifeen. Hamza Makhdoom was born in the village of Tujar Sharief, Kashmir. His father was called Baba Usman and came from a Chandravanshi Rajput family.[1] According to tradition, teenage Hamza Makhdoom studied in the Shamsi Chak monastery for a year, and later studied jurisprudence, tradition, philosophy, logics, ethics and mysticism in a madrasa founded by Ismail Kubrawi. A prolific scholar and spiritual preacher, Hamza Makhdoom adhered to the tradition of Jalaluddin Bukhari.[1] He directed his teachings specifically to the followers of Shia Islam, and under his influence a part of Kashmir's population converted to the Hanafi fiqh. He died in Srinagar. His shrine there, located on the southern slope of Hari Parbat Hill and popularly called Makhdoom
Read more