Visit to Kathmandu, Nepal – February 2011

Shi’as in Nepal are very few. All in all, they are 42 in number in Nepal and we have been provided with their details and contacts. Majority of them are in employment earning just enough for day to day survival. Mainly, they hail from Bihar and Kashmir in India.

For many years there was no Aalim to guide and preach to them. As a result, they lost the Imambara and the adjacent cemetery belonging to Bahu Begum, the wife of a Lucknowi Nawab to the Wahhabis; remained ignorant of Islam and their own Madhab; and integrated with the wider society so much so that consumption of alcohol and gambling was regarded as normal; inter-marriage with the Hindus among some took place and there was no sense of fasting during the Holy month of Ramadhan.

In 1997 Maulana Syed Tilmeez Hasan Saheb was sent to Kathmandu by an Islamic Organisation. Maulana Saheb stayed for three years until 2000 and it was during this time that some Tablighi activities took place and religious awareness was created among our people. However, the Maulana Saheb had to leave Kathmandu in 2000 mainly for two reasons:
1. To pursue further Islamic Education
2. Lack of appropriate financial support

In July 2010 Maulana Saheb once again returned upon the insistence of same Organisation. This time he was specifically told to concentrate more on the Sunnis. However, the same old problems persist with little or no attention from the sponsor.