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Languages | |
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Kashmiri, Urdu | |
Religion | |
Islam (Sunni majority) (Shia minority) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kashmiris, Kashmiri Hindus |
Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley, an area that includes the India-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.[1][2] The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni.[3] They refer to themselves as "Koshur" in their mother language.[4][5][6][7][8]
Presently, the Kashmiri Muslim population is predominantly found in Kashmir Valley. Smaller Kashmiri Muslim communities also live in other regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Muslims are of the same stock as the Kashmiri Hindu community and are also commonly known as 'Sheikhs'.[9][10][11] Both the Kashmiri Hindus and Muslim society reckons descent patrilineally. Certain property and titles may be inherited through the male line, but certain inheritances may accrue through the female line. After Kashmiri Hindus had converted to Islam they largely retained their family names (kram) which indicated their original profession, locality or community.[12]
In the Jammu region, sizeable population of Kashmiri Muslims lives in the Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts, sometimes collectively referred to as the Chenab valley. There are also ethnic Kashmiri Muslim populations inhabiting Neelum and Leepa Valleys of Pakistani-administrated Kashmir. Since 1947, many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims have also lived in Punjab, Pakistan.[13] Many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims from the Kashmir Valley also migrated to the Punjab region during Dogra and Sikh rule.[14][15][16]
The Kashmiri language is the mother tongue of majority of Kashmiri Muslims.[17][18]
Kashmiri Muslims represent the majority population in Kashmir Valley, while Kashmiri Hindus represent a small but significant minority community.
As in Pakistan, Sunni Muslims comprise the majority population of Kashmir, whereas they are a minority in Jammu, while almost all Muslims in Ladakh are Shias.
The Muslims living in the southern part of the Kashmir Province are of the same stock as the Kashmiri Pandit community and are usually designated Kashmiri Muslims; those of the Muzaffarabad District are partly Kashmiri Muslims, partly Gujjar and the rest are of the same stock as the tribes of the neighboring Punjab and North \Vest Frontier Province districts.
The Kashmiri Pandits are the precursors of Kashmiri Muslims who now form a majority in the valley of Kashmir...Whereas Kashmiri Pandits are of the same ethnic stock as the Kashmiri Muslims, both sharing their habitat, language, dress, food and other habits, Kashmiri Pandits form a constituent part of the Hindu society of India on the religious plane.
Thus the two population groups, Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims though at the time constituted ethnically homogenous population, came to differ from each other in faith and customs.
The Sheikhs,but,dar,lone are descendants of Hindus and the pure Kashmiri Muslims, professing Sunni faith, the major part of the population of Srinagar district and the Kashmir state.
The Kashmiri Pandits are the precursors of Kashmiri Muslims who now form a majority in the valley of Kashmir...Whereas Kashmiri Pandits are of the same ethnic stock as the Kashmiri Muslims, both sharing their habitat, language, dress, food and other habits, Kashmiri Pandits form a constituent part of the Hindu society of India on the religious plane.
Thus the two population groups, Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims though at the time constituted ethnically homogenous population, came to differ from each other in faith and customs.
The Sheikhs are considered to be the descendants of Hindus and the pure Kashmiri Muslims, professing Sunni faith, the major part of the population of Srinagar district and the Kashmir state.
Small numbers of ethnic Kashmiris also live in other parts of J&K. There are Kashmiris who live in areas that border the Kashmir Valley, including Kishtwar (Kishtawar), Bhadarwah, Doda and Ramban, in Jammu in Indian J&K, and in the Neelum and Leepa Valleys of northern Azad Kashmir. Since 1947, many ethnic Kashmiris and their descendants also can be found in Pakistan. Invariably, Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan are Muslims.
:2
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).:032
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).In the early twentieth century, famine and the policies of the Dogra rulers drove many Kashmiri Muslims to flee their native land and further augment the number of their brethren already resident in the Punjab. Kashmiri Muslims constituted an important segment of the populace in a number of Punjabi cities, especially Sialkot, Lahore, Amritsar and Ludhiana.