Muslims
Religious Toleration among Ladakhi Muslims
A lot of the reporting about the peacefulness of the Ladakhi has focused on the Leh District of Ladakh, where most of the people are Buddhists. An article in this website in May 2019 examined the scholarship of different experts who examined the reasons for their nonviolence. Uwe Gielen, we reported, argued that the Buddhist […]
Saudi and Amish Business Selling Camel’s Milk
Some Amish farmers have been raising camels and selling their milk to a Saudi entrepreneur who then sells it to people who are allergic to cow’s milk. CNN published an article last week about the businessman, a Muslim raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and his Amish and Mennonite suppliers. Walid Abdul-Wahab had drunk camel’s milk […]
Manitoba Hutterites Sponsor Muslim Refugees
A Syrian refugee family that moved to Canada in 2016 and the Hutterite family that sponsored them have become close friends, according to a CBC news story last week. Reyad Alhamud, the father in the Syrian family, told the reporter that he was impressed when he first met his Hutterite sponsors by the many similarities […]
A Muslim/Christian Marriage in Nubia
A Muslim man and his Christian bride, both Nubians, were married at night recently to avoid upsetting too many people, but they had a traditional ceremony nonetheless. Nicola Kelly described the events that took place in the Aswan area for the BBC last week. Akram, the groom, told the reporter on the morning of the […]
The Future of Ladakh
The Dalai Lama recently said in a speech, “Here in Ladakh, I am happy to see that Buddhists and Muslims have good relations and live together in peace.” He added, “This is something very precious about Ladakh that you must preserve. It’s a treasure that others in India and the world at large may admire.” […]
Will Violence in Kashmir Threaten the Peace in Ladakh?
“Over the past few weeks, six people have died, with hundreds injured, during the worst sectarian rioting in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in decades.” That news report opening sentence, written eight years ago about strife in Kashmir, could be repeated today except that the numbers of casualties are higher this time. And […]
Ladakhi Opposition to Interfaith Marriages [journal article review]
When Sara Smith did her fieldwork in Ladakh, she frequently encountered interfaith couples who were being pressured to break up their marriages and return to their respective Buddhist or Muslim communities. However, the region was not always divided so rigidly between the different faiths. In a recent journal article, Smith provides background for the religious […]
Is Buddhist/Muslim Harmony Growing in Ladakh?
One result of the peaceful values held by Ladakhis has been the frequency of interfaith marriages, which are widely accepted among both Buddhists and Muslims, according to a news report last week. The story indicates that, despite the interfaith troubles of the late 1980s and early 1990s, tensions have subsided and the local beliefs in […]
Buddhist and Muslim Families in Ladakh [journal article review]
A Ladakhi woman suggests that attempts to prevent relationships between Buddhist and Muslim men and women are a poor idea, because when people from different communities get married, it creates harmony. A Ladakhi man adds that intermarriages between people of different communities and faiths are normal all over the world. Sara H. Smith, from the […]
Ladakhi Buddhists Still Fuss About Population
A prominent Buddhist leader in Ladakh expressed his irritation last week about the fact that their population growth is lagging behind that of the Ladakhi Muslims. The president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), Dr. Sonam Dawa, sent a letter to the State government of Jammu and Kashmir, of which Ladakh is a part, asking […]
