It is perhaps sometimes overlooked that contacts between Islam and and for instance Buddhism date back to the eighth century of the accepted chronology, when, during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Umar bin Abd al-Aziz, a delegation from the Tibetan Empire and Tang China asked him to send Islamic missionaries to their countries, and Salah bin Abdullah Hanafi was sent to Tibet. Between the 8th and 11th centuries, the Abbasid rulers of Baghdad maintained relations with Tibet. Contacts between Arabs and Himalayans are much older, probably predating the Middle Ages. There was little proselytising on the part of the missionaries at first, although many of them decided to settle in Tibet and marry Tibetan women. Between 710-720, during the reign of Tridé Tsuktsen, the Arabs, who were then present in greater numbers in China, began to appear in Tibet and allied themselves with the Tibetans and the Turks against the Chinese. During the reign of Sadnalegs (799-815), also known as Tride Songtsän (Khri lde srong brtsan), there was a long war with the Arab powers in the west. Tibetans captured a number of Arab troops and enlisted them on the eastern frontier in 801. The Tibetans fought as far west as Samarkand and Kabul. The Arab forces began to gain the upper hand, and the Tibetan governor of Kabul submitted to the Arabs and became a Muslim around 812 or 815.
Muslim Tibetans, also known as the Kachee (Kache), are a small minority in Tibet. As well as being Muslims, they are classified as Tibetan [By whom?], unlike the Hui Muslims, who are also called the Kyangsha or Gya Kachee (Chinese Muslims). The Tibetan term Kachee literally means ‘Kashmiri’ and Kashmir was called Kachee Yul (yul meaning ‘country’ in Tibetan).
Tibetan Muslims are spread across the whole of Tibet, with most of them in Lhasa and Shigatsé. While those who do not live in the Tibet Autonomous Region are not excluded, ethnic groups such as the Balti and Burig, who are also of Tibetan origin and consider themselves ethnically Tibetan, are also Muslims. However, these groups are predominantly found in Ladakh, controlled by India, and Baltistan, controlled by Pakistan.
In his book Seven Years of Adventures in Tibet, based on his stay in Tibet in the late 1940s, Heinrich Harrer points out that tolerance is an important virtue of Tibetans, who respect different religious views. In Lhasa, Muslims formed a large community with a mosque, and they were free to practise their religion. Originally from India, they assimilated into Tibetan culture. Their precursors demanded that their Tibetan wives convert to Islam, but the Tibetan government issued a decree allowing Tibetan women who married Muslims to retain their religion. The Hui are Chinese Muslims from Kokonor (Qinghai) who also have their own mosque in Lhasa.