Islam in Kashmir

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Last edited March 6, 2026

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Islam is the majority religion practised in Kashmir, with 97.16% of the region's population identifying as Muslims as of 2014.[1] The religion came to the region with the arrival of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, a Muslim Sufi preacher from Central Asia and Persia, beginning in the early 14th century.[2][3] The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni Muslims.[4]

They refer to themselves as "Koshur" in their mother language.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Non-Kashmiri Muslims in Kashmir include semi-nomadic cowherds and shepherds, belonging to the Gurjar and Bakarwal communities.[10]

Historical development

Early period of Islamic contact

During the 8th century, the Kingdom of Kashmir was subjected to several attacks aimed at its conquest. Several attempts to conquer Kashmir were made by the Arabs who had established themselves in Sindh (711-13 C.E), under the leadership of Muhammad bin Qasim. But Muhammad bin Qasim was recalled by the Umayyad Caliph to Damascus, thus averting the possible invasion.[11][12] In the reign of Caliph Hisham (724-43 C.E), the Arabs again marched towards Kashmir under the leadership of ambitious and energetic leadership of the governor Junaid. Lalitaditya Muktapida (724–60 CE), the Raja (ruler) of Kashmir, defeated Junaid and overran his kingdom. However, this victory was not decisive as further attempts to invade were made by the Arabs, but Lalitaditya was able to stem the tide of these advances.[11] A last attempt at the invasion of the Kashmir Kingdom was made by Hisham ibn 'Amr al-Taghlibi, the Governor of Sindh, appointed by Caliph Mansur (754-75 C.E). Though he reached as far as the southern slopes of the Himalayas, which were a part of the Kashmir Kingdom, he failed to enter and occupy the valley.[11]

After the Arabs, it was the Ghaznavids who attempted to conquer Kashmir. Mahmud of Ghazni, defeated Raja Jaipal (1002 C.E), the ruler of Hindu Shahi (near Peshawar, in modern-day Pakistan).[11][13] Anandpal, the son and successor of Jaipal, also suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Mahmud in 1009 C.E., and died a few years later. Anandpal's son Trilochanpala, whose power of influence was now confined only to the Salt Range, appealed to Samgrāmarāja (1003–28 C.E), the king of Kashmir, for help against Mahmud. A large army contingent was sent by Samgramaraja, who joined Trilochanpala's forces, however their combined forces were defeated by Mahmud in 1014 C.E. Mahmud advanced towards Kashmir and tried entering the kingdom via the Toshamaidan Pass. His progress was checked by the strong Loharkot Fort, which he besieged for a month. Owing to the heavy snowfall, which cut off Mahmud's communications, he was compelled to retreat.[2][11] However, the Sultan again set out to invade Kashmir in September–October 1021 C.E, but was again compelled to retreat due to bad weather conditions.[11]

Establishment of Muslim rule and conversion to Islam

After Sultan Mahmud's attempted conquests, Kashmir remained generally unaffected by invasions that were aimed at the plains of India, up until 1320 C.E. The Loharas (1003–1320 C.E.) ruled during this period, and was the last of the Hindu dynasties of Kashmir. In the spring of 1320, a Mongol chieftain by the name of Zulju, invaded Kashmir via the Jhelum Valley route. Suhadeva (1301–20 C.E), last ruler of the Loharas, tried to organise resistance, but failed due to his unpopularity among the masses. The reason for this unpopularity was financial exaction and general misrule that prevailed during the end period of the Lohara Dynasty.[11] Zulju's invasion created havoc and Suhadeva fled to Kistwar. Rinchana, son of a Ladakhi chief, who was employed by Ramachandra (Prime Minister of Kashmir) to establish law and order, took advantage of the chaos. He got Ramachandra murdered, occupied the Kashmir throne by the end of the year 1320, and ruled until his death in 1323 C.E. In order to gain acceptance of Kashmiris, he married Kota Rani, the daughter of Ramachandra, and made Rawanchandra (Ramachandra's son) his commander-in-chief.[11][14]

Rinchan converted to Islam after coming into contact with Sayyid Sharfudin, a Sufi preacher commonly known as Bulbul Shah, who had come to Kashmir during the reign of Suhadeva.[15] He changed his name to Sultan Sardarudin Shah after converting to Islam and thus became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir.[11] Following the conversion of Rinchan, his commander in chief also became Muslim. The royal patronage for Islam won it new converts and according to one source, many Kashmiris embraced the creed of Bulbul Shah.[2][11]

The period after Sultan Sardarudin's death was marked by chaos and power tussle. Udayanadeva, the brother of Suhadeva, was made the ruler after an agreement among the nobles. However, he proved to be incompetent, and it was Kota Rani who was the virtual ruler. Soon after Udayanadeva's accession, a foreign chieftain attacked Kashmir, but the invaders were successfully repelled and defeated. However, the administration again fell into chaos. Udayanadeva had fled the country in sight of the attack, and lost his prestige in the eyes of the nobles. He died in the year 1338 C.E, and Kota Rani ascended the throne.[11][14] But, Shah Mir, a nobleman employed earlier by Suhadeva, had other ambitions. A period of battle ensued between him and Kota Rani, and in 1339 C.E, Shah Mir captured the throne.[11][14][16]

The Shahmiri Dynasty (1339- 1561 C.E), founded by Sultan Shah Mir, ruled Kashmir for the next 222 years. Various Sufi saints including Bulbul Shah, Shah e Hamdan, Nund Rishi popularised Islam in the valley through their moderate Sufi ideologies.[17]

Reign of Sikander Shah Miri

Sikandar Shah Miri is held to have ushered in the Islamisation of elite politics, which set the path for a largely irreversible change in post-Sikandar Kashmir.[18][19]Template:Failed verification

His reign, lasting from 1389–1413 CE, terminated the long-standing syncretic and tolerant culture of Kashmir, and in its rigorous abidance by Sharia, severely oppressed the Kashmiri Hindu population.[20]Template:Failed verification[21][22][23][24][25] Music, dance, gambling, intoxicants etc were prohibited and the office of Shaikhu'l-Islam was established to enforce these rules.[22] Brahmans were forcibly converted, Hindu and Buddhist shrines of worship were destroyed, Sanskrit literature were purged, Jizya was imposed for those who objected to the abolition of hereditary varnas, and caste marks were prohibited.[22][21][18][26][27]

File:Sun temple martand indogreek.jpg
Ruins of the Martand Sun Temple, razed by Sikandar.[26] (The extensive damage seen in the photo is also a product of several earthquakes;[28] photo taken by John Burke in 1868.)

Motivations and analysis

Upon a literary reading of Rajatarangini, Sikandar's zeal behind the Islamisation of society is attributable to a Sufi preacher Mir Muhammad Hamadani (or Sayyid Hamadani) who arrived in the region from Huttalàn (present-day Tajikistan) and stayed for about 12 years during his term, advocating for the creation of a monolithic society based on Islam as the common denominator.[29][21][26] Sayyid Hamadani was one of exiles driven out by Amir Temur. He was accompanied by about 700 of his followers to Kashmir. Sikandar's counsel, a neo-Brahman-convert, Suhabhatta (var. Saifuddin) is held to have played the guiding role in the execution of those exclusionary orthodox policies by "instigating" the Sultan.[21][18][27]Template:Efn Baharistan-i-shahi as well as Tohfatu'l-Ahbab deemed Sikandar as the noblest ruler, who cleaned Kashmir of "infidels and heretics" on Hamadani's influence.[27][30]

Chitralekha Zutshi, Richard G. Salomon and others however reject that there were purely religious motives behind Sikandar's actions and calls for a nuanced contextual reading of Rajatarangini, in that it was commissioned by his successor, wishing to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold and (simultaneously) strove to establish Sanskrit as an integral part of the vernacularising world of the cosmopolitan Sultanate.[31][32][33] Sikandar's policies were guided by realpolitik[33] and, like with the previous Hindu rulers, essentially an attempt to secure political legitimacy by asserting state-power over Brahmans and gaining access to wealth controlled by Brahminical institutions.[31] Walter Slaje disagrees, in part, given the differential rituals of destruction undertaken by Hindu and Muslim kings with the latter specifically rendering sites inoperable for long passage of time by massive pollution or outright conversion but he concludes that the fierce opposition of Hindus to Muslim rulers (including Sikandar) primarily stemmed from their aversion to the slow disintegration of caste-society under Islamic influence.[18][26]

Notes

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References

  1. ↑ Template:Cite report
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kashir : being a history of Kashmir : from the earliest times to our own{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Gulshan Books Kashmir, Srinagar, 2015(2015)
  3. ↑ The Islamization of Kashmir: A Study of MuslimMissionaries{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. GULSHAN BOOKS(2012). ISBN 978-8183391467
  4. ↑ Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris{{#if:Snedden|, Snedden}. Oxford University Press(2015). ISBN 9781849046220
  5. ↑ Census of India, 1941{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}
  6. ↑ Kashmiri Pandits: Looking to the Future{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. APH Publishing(2001). ISBN 9788176482363
  7. ↑ A Demographic Profile of the People of Jammu and Kashmir. Journal of Human Ecology({Template:Year).
  8. ↑ A Demographic Profile of the People of Jammu and Kashmir. Journal of Human Ecology({Template:Year).
  9. ↑ State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia. A&C Black.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press, 2015(2015). ISBN 9781849043427
  11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 Kashmir Under the Sultans{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Aakar Books, 1959(1959). ISBN 8187879491
  12. ↑ Ancient Indian History and Civilization{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. New Age International, 1999(1999). ISBN 8122411983
  13. ↑ Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: P-Z{{#if:Jaques|, Jaques}. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007(2007). ISBN 978-0313335396
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Kashmir and Its People: Studies in the Evolution of Kashmiri Society{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. APH Publishing, 2004(2004). ISBN 8176485373
  15. ↑ Origins of Islam in Kashmir: Valley's saga of conflict in search of identity.
  16. ↑ Islamic culture in Kashmir{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. New Delhi : Light & Life Publishers, 1979(1979)
  17. ↑ Kashmir's Composite Culture: Sufism & Communal Harmony – Kashmiriyat. www.efsas.org. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia{{#if:Slaje|, Slaje}. De Gruyter(19 August 2019). ISBN 978-3-11-063168-5
  19. ↑ The Brahmins of Kashmir{{#if:Witzel|, Witzel}
  20. ↑ Kashmiriyat as Empty Signifier. Interventions({Template:Date).
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Conversions to Islam in the Valley of Kashmir. Central Asiatic Journal({Template:Date).
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Kashmīr Under the Sultāns{{#if:Hasan|, Hasan}. Aakar Books(2005). ISBN 978-81-87879-49-7
  23. ↑ Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir{{#if:Slaje|, Slaje}(2019). ISBN 978-3-86977-199-1
  24. ↑ The Brahmins of Kashmir{{#if:Witzel|, Witzel}
  25. ↑ Embedded Mystics: Writing Lal Ded and Nund Rishi into the Kashmiri Landscape. Cambridge University Press(2017).
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir{{#if:Slaje|, Slaje}(2019). ISBN 978-3-86977-199-1
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-'Ābidīn{{#if:Slaje|, Slaje}(2014). ISBN 978-3869770888
  28. ↑ Ancient Earthquakes{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1 October 2010). ISBN 9780813724713
  29. ↑ INCOMPATIBLE OUTSIDERS OR BELIEVERS OF A DARŚANA?: REPRESENTATIONS OF MUSLIMS BY THREE BRAHMANS OF ŠĀHMĪRID KAŠMĪR. Rivista degli studi orientali({Template:Date).
  30. ↑ Kashmir's Contested Pasts : Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination{{#if:Zutshi|, Zutshi}. Oxford University Press(2014). ISBN 9780199450671
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir's history. It exposes its own biases instead, Zutshi, Chitralekha. Scroll.in(24 October 2017). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  32. ↑ Template:Cite thesis
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Review of Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD1148–1459). From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. Critically Edited by Walter Slaje with an Annotated Translation, Indexes and Maps. [Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis 7, SlajeWalter]. Indo-Iranian Journal({Template:Date).

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