Nikari (Muslim traditions) in Bangladesh

Nikari (Muslim traditions)
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Map Source:  People Group data: Omid. Map geography: UNESCO / GMI. Map Design: Joshua Project.
People Name: Nikari (Muslim traditions)
Country: Bangladesh
10/40 Window: Yes
Population: 84,000
World Population: 158,000
Primary Language: Bengali
Primary Religion: Islam
Christian Adherents: 0.00 %
Evangelicals: 0.00 %
Scripture: Complete Bible
Online Audio NT: Yes
Jesus Film: Yes
Audio Recordings: Yes
People Cluster: South Asia Muslim - other
Affinity Bloc: South Asian Peoples
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

Their name, Nikari, is related to doing good.

Where Are they Located?

The Nikari live in West Bengal and Bangladesh.

What Are Their Lives Like?

The Nikari work selling fish and growing fruit. They have a community council to help them. Girls are educated but not as much as boys. They speak, read and write in Bengali. They are not vegetarians and eat wheat and rice as cereals.

The Nikari are endogamous, that is, they prefer to marry only within their community. The divorced and bereaved can marry again. On the death of the father, daughters get less of the property than the sons with the oldest son becoming in charge of the home. There are birth and marriage rituals. The dead are buried.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Nikari people are Sunni Muslims, the largest group within Islam. They follow the teaching of the Koran and the prophet Muhammad. They pray five times a day facing Mecca. Eid Al-Fitr is celebrated at the end of Ramadan (a month of fasting during daylight hours), and Muslims usually give zakat (charity) on the occasion. Eid Al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice, is celebrated on the tenth day the twelfth month and lasts for four days, during which Muslims usually slaughter a sheep and distribute its meat in 3 parts: among family, friends, and the poor.

What Are Their Needs?

The Muslim Nikari people need the chance to put their hope in the only Savior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer Points

Pray for the Holy Spirit to give the Muslim Nikari people teachable and understanding hearts.
Pray for a strong movement of the Holy Spirit will bring entire Nikari families into a rich experience of God's blessing.
Pray for Nikari families to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to seek forgiveness, and to understand the adequacy of Christ's work on the cross.
Pray for teams of believers to do sustained, focused prayer for the Lord to open the hearts of Nikari family leaders to experience God's blessing through a movement of family-based discovery Bible studies.

Text Source:   Keith Carey