Editing Sheikh (section)

===South Asia===
{{main|Shaikhs in South Asia}}
[[File:Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani.jpg|thumb|[[Pakistani people|Pakistani]] [[Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani]], a prominent [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] scholar]]
In the [[Multiculturalism|cosmopolitan]] hub of the [[South Asian]] sub-continent, it is not just an ethnic title but also often an occupational title<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pakistan a country study p149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaggQsmGFWkC&q=sheikh+occupational+title+in+pakistan&pg=PA149|year = 1975}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Sociology of religion p90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_0O8LxsWb8C&q=shaikh+occupational+caste&pg=PA97|date=20 February 2004|isbn = 978-0-7619-9781-8|last1 = Robinson|first1 = Rowena| publisher=SAGE Publications }}</ref> attributed to Muslim trading families. After the advent of Islam in [[South Asia]], many Hindu-Buddhists clans from different castes converted to Islam and adopted the title.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Muslim backward classes: a sociological perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxdBDwAAQBAJ&q=shaikh+is+occupational+caste&pg=PP32|date=30 August 2013|isbn = 978-81-321-1807-7|last1 = Khanam|first1 = Azra| publisher=SAGE Publications }}</ref> In the [[Punjab region]], [[Ismaili]] [[Pir (Sufism)|Pirs]] gave some converts, as well as [[Muslims]] who [[emigrated]] from [[Central Asia]], especially after the [[Mongol]] conquests , the [[hereditary]] title of [[Isma'ilism|Ismaili Shaikh]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Central Asia in Retrospect and prospect p406|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NAS7u3sGO_AC&q=shaikhs+migrated+from+central+asia&pg=PA2151|date=January 2010|isbn = 978-93-80009-32-2|last1 = Kaw|first1 = Mushtaq A.| publisher=Readworthy Publications }}</ref>