An Ethnographic Study of the Kalasha Conversion to Islam: A Perspective of the Islamic Scholars, Missionary Influence, and Quranic Inspiration

Abstract

This study explores the conversion of the Kalasha minority towards Islam. The Kalasha is a small minority indigenous community practising an ancient and distinct belief system residing in Chitral, Pakistan. Conversion of the Kalasha minority towards Islam is the outcome of various cultural, religious, and intellectual factors. The research aims to explore the perspective of Islamic scholars on the Kalasha faith, the role of Islamic preachers in the locality, and the influence of Quranic knowledge and teaching on the Kalasha minority. An ethnographic qualitative research design is used for the conduction of this research, and purposive and convenience sampling techniques are utilized to select respondents from the entire population. Empirical data used in this study were collected for a PhD study in 2024 from a set of 31 respondents, consisting of both the converted and non-converted Kalash, which was thematically analyzed following Braun and Clarke’s (2006 and 2021) TA Model. The thematically analyzed data unanimously emphasize the fact that the role of Islamic scholars, preachers, and missionaries predominantly considers and highlights that the faith of Kalasha is ambiguous and not the way of salvation in life after death. The current article is an attempt to explicate the patterns that predominantly tend to extinct the perishing and dying culture and religion of the Kalasha in Chitral, Pakistan.