Islamic Culture and Society in Rajpur Municipality of Rautahat District

Abstract

Culture is about the social behavior, values, norms, beliefs and customs of the individual. Different groups have different culture and beliefs. Islam is followed by Muslim which is rich in cultural practice. This study was conducted to examine the cultural values of Islam communities and find the current livelihood challenges faced by the people of Rajpur Municipality of Rautahat district of Nepal. The study is based on the document analysis, field visit and interviews from elected representatives and government officials along with the local residents of the municipality. This study is first of its kind to find the in-depth details about the social and cultural status of Muslims community of Rautahat district. An ethnographic study was conducted with interviews undertaken from households, municipality officials, community leaders, schools and Madarsha representatives. It was found that the livelihood strategies of people of Rajpur are different as they are involved in different occupations. Despite being the majority population, Muslims have very good harmony and social engagements with people from other religion. After analyzing the livelihood strategies of Muslim people of Rajpur, it was found that people have been involved in various works from agriculture to bag making, sewing and selling bangles. There was common perception that when one has money, they can maintain good social relationship, develop infrastructures and easily fulfill all their needs. It was found the Madarsah system was important for the people of Rajpur to learn urdu language. The education system has already shifted from particular urdu based Madarsah to multidisciplinary Islamic school in Rajpur. But, the local government has been facing challenges to integrate Madarsah with the normal schools. This study recommends conducting a detail survey of Muslim people throughout Nepal due to the huge variation of culture and socio-economic practices in order to understand the overview of traditional beliefs and modern systems. Key Words: Culture, Islam, Muslim, Society, Quran