When Muslim rule in Kashmir ended in 1820, Sikh and later Hindu Dogra Rulers gained power, but the country was still largely influenced by Sunni religious orthodoxy. This book traces the impact of Sunni power on Shi'i society and how this changed during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book identifies a distinctive Kashmiri Shi'i Islam established during this period. Hakim Sameer Hamdani argues that the Shi'i community's religious and cultural identity was fostered through practices associated with the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his family in Karbala, as well as other rituals of Islam, in particular, the construction and furore surrounding M'arak, the historic imambada (a Shi'i house for mourning of the Imam) of Kashmir's Shi'i. The book examines its destruction, the ensuing Shi'i -Sunni riot, and the reasons for the Shi'i community's internal divisions and rifts at a time when they actually saw the strong consolidation of their identity.

List of Figures Acknowledgments Note on Conventions Introduction 1. Not Quite Taqiyaa: Kashmiri Shi'i at the Start of the Nineteenth Century 2. Mapping Existence: In Search of Patronage and Protection 3. Shi'i Identity, Sunni Space, and Non-Muslim Rule 4. Dissensions within the Muminin: Challenging the Elite 5. Moving Toward a Unified Muslim IdentityAppendix I: Letter of ?akim ?A?im, written to Moulvi Sayyid Rajab ?Ali Shah 161Appendix II: Groans of the Muslims of KashmirNotes Bibliography Index