Nepalese Muslims
[4] Muslims have lived in Nepal for long period of time and have shared common historical experiences with the Hindu majority, and as such have developed a stronger identification with the Nepali state.During Jang Bahadur Rana's regime, a large number of Muslims migrated to the Terai from India fleeing persecution by the British army during the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.During the Sepoy Mutiny, Begum Hazrat Mahal, 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.They built a mosque, the Kashmiri Takia, and engaged in different occupations such as scribes to correspond with the Delhi Sultanate, and as scent manufacturers, musicians, and bangle suppliers.[8][9] The story of the Tibetan Muslims is that of a unique community, that has blended different cultural strains to forge a distinct identity, that has been kept alive even in the face of adversity.Author Thomas Arnold, in his book, The Preaching of Islam says that gradually, marriages and social interactions led to an increase in the Tibetan Muslim population until a sizable community came up around Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.[10][11] While the smaller groups provide diversity, the largest community of Islam adherents, more than 74 percent of the Muslims are found in the Madhesh region, a narrow Terai plain lying between the lower hills of the Himalaya and the border with India.Concentrated in the Madhesh districts of Banke, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Parsa, Bara, and Rauthat, some of the Madhesi Muslims were present here at the time of Nepal´s unification while others migrated from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Arabia, Tibet, and Egypt from the 19th century onwards as wage labourers.[14] The movement has both religious and political dimensions (though the two intertwine significantly in Islam), each represented by distinct organizations with their internal hierarchies and rules for membership.