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Muslim communities in South Asia apply a system of social stratification. The stratification that operates among Muslims arises from concerns other than in the concepts of pure and impure that are integral to the Indian caste system. It developed as a result of relations between the foreign conquerors and upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam (Ashraf) (also known as tabqa-i ashrafiyya) and the local lower caste converts (Ajlaf) as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system among local converts. Non-Ashrafs are backward caste converts. The neologism "Pasmanda" includes Ajlaf and Arzal Muslims, and Ajlafs' statuses are defined by them being the descendants of converts to Islam and are also defined by their pesha (profession). These terms are not used in local, sociological vocabulary in places such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and therefore tell us very little about the functioning of Muslim society.

The Biradari System is how social stratification manifests itself in Pakistan, and to an extent also India. The South Asian Muslim caste system also includes hierarchical classifications of khandan (dynasty, family, or lineage descent) and nasal (a group based on blood ties and lineage).

Historical development

While Islam requires egalitarianism and does not recognize any castes, only socio-economic classes, when it came to Persia and India, the existing divisions in these regions were adopted among the local Muslim societies. Evidence of social stratification can be found in several later Persian works, such as Siyasatnama of Nizam al-Mulk (11th century), Akhlaq-i Nasiri of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (13th century), and Jam-i-Mufidi (17th century).

After Muhammad died in the 7th century, there was the war of succession which had tribes and families fighting each other. After this, a determinant for social stratification in Arab society included being part of the close family of Muhammad (ahl al-bayt). This alleged ahl al-bayt determinant had its presence in ancient South Asia among Muslims since the 8th century.

Then this allegedly led to a further hierarchical determinant, which was Arabs versus non-Arabs. Later on, among non-Arabs, further divisions took place between Muslims who were converted in early Islamization campaigns (khadim-al islam) and Muslims who converted more recently (jadid-al islam). Today, South Asian Muslims are divided by the classifications above that have resulted in Arab-origin higher castes (unch zat) and those that are descendants of lower castes converts (nich zat). The Sultans during the Mughal Empire were all high caste.

The Muslims who came to the subcontinent during the 12th century Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent were allegedly already divided into vocation-based social "classes", including priests, nobles, and others. Further, racial segregation demarcated the local Muslim converts from foreign-origin Muslims. The foreigners claimed a superior status as they were associated with the conquerors and categorized themselves as Ashraf ("noble"). Over time, the Indian Muslim society also allegedly split based on the existing Hindu caste system. According to M. N. Srinivas (1986) and R.K. Bhattacharya, Indian Hindu converts to Islam, brought their original caste system to the Muslim society in the region. On the other hand, Louis Dumont (1957) believes that the Islamic conquerors consciously adopted the Hindu caste system "as a compromise which they had to make in a predominantly Hindu environment."

Ziauddin Barani, an ethnic Indian 14th-century political thinker of the Delhi Sultanate, recommended that the "sons of Mohamed" (i.e., Ashrafs) be given a higher social status than the low-born (i.e., Ajlaf). His most significant contribution to the fatwa was his analysis of the castes concerning Islam. He asserted that castes would be mandated through state laws or "Zawabi" and would carry precedence over Sharia law whenever they were in conflict. According to Barani, every act "contaminated with meanness and based on ignominy, comes elegantly ". Barani also developed an elaborate system of promotion and demotion of Imperial officers ("Wazirs") that was primarily based on their caste. His opinions were not followed by his own Sultanate, as he accuses the Tughlaq Sultans of appointing "low-born" people to high offices, including Sultan Muhammad Shah, and Barani's own patron Sultan Firuz Shah in Delhi, who appointed a former slave captured and converted from Telangana as his Grand Vizier.

Historically, many Muslims from the julaha or weaver caste began to identify as "Ansaris", the butchers as "Quereshis", and the sanitation and bhishti caste Muslims as "Sheikh".

The Muslim concept of kafa'a/kufu/kafa'ah, which ulama use to support endogamy, justifies South Asian Muslim caste practices. Kafa'ah is hereditary.

Ashrafization and Syedization

Ashrafization includes adopting upper-caste Muslim practices to achieve social climbing. The Sayyid Dynasty of Khizr Khan of the Delhi Sultanate was founded by a Punjabi Muslim, who claimed Sayyid descent based on unsubstantiated evidence.

The Barha Syeds who rose as king-makers of the Mughal Empire, originated from a marginal Indian peasant community of Muzaffarnagar who claimed Sayyid ancestry, although their claim to be true Syeds was generally not admitted. The Mughal Emperor Jahangir wrote that "some people make remarks about their lineage, but their bravery is a convincing proof of their being Sayyids". This showed that they had assimilated into Sayyid identity merely due to military service rather than through true descent.

Caste Associations

Another type of Ashrafization is the establishment of caste associations to promote a community's interests and, especially, social support. These anjuman ('forum', 'society') is commonly termed jama'at (جماعت ; 'congregation', 'group', 'community'), replacing in the associations' names the use of zat, which signifies 'birth or origin group'. The Khoja caste, who are Ismaili Shias found particularly in Karachi and Sindh, are prominent in this regard. Other significant Muslim caste associations are those of the Memons and the Bohras in Sindh and Gujarat.

History of research

There are various definitions of the term caste, and therefore, diverse, contested opinions on whether this term can be used to denote social stratification among non-Hindu communities (e.g. Hindu Varna or classifications of the British Raj). Ghaus Ansari (1960) uses the term "caste" to describe the Muslim social groups with the following characteristics: endogamy within a given social group, hierarchical gradation of social groups, determination of the group membership by birth, and in some cases, an association of occupation with the social group.

Beginning in the 19th century, Western Indologists first catalogued the various Muslim castes:

• Henry Miers Elliot's Supplement to the glossary of Indian terms (1844), later amplified into Memoirs on the history, folk-lore, and distribution of the Races of the North Western Provinces of India
• John Charles Williams's The Report on the Census of Oudh (1869)
• Denzil Ibbetson's Census Report of Punjab (1883), later adapted into Panjab Castes
• John Nesfield's Brief View of the Caste System of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (1885)
• Herbert Hope Risley's Tribes and castes of Bengal (1893)
• William Crooke's The tribes and castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh (1896)

Nelson's book, in particular, included a whole chapter dedicated to the primarily British Raj Indologist derived neologism of Muslim "castes". In 20th-century British India, several works included Muslim social groups in their descriptions of the Indian castes. These included H. A. Rose's A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (1911).

In independent India, Ghaus Ansari (1960) initiated an academic discussion over the neologism of the Muslim "caste" system. Subsequently, Imtiaz Ahmed elaborated on the topic in his Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims (1973).

About 1915, Mirza Muhammad Hassan Qatil wrote about the four firqa (classes) of the Ashraf. He describes how people are considered to be paji (contemptible) in the following occupations: elephant caretaking, bread business, perfume business, and businesses in bazaars.

Syedism, Ashrafism, Biradarism, Zatism, Sharifism, Arab Supremacy, and Divisions

Zat is sometimes considered a broader category than Biradari. In Pakistani Punjab, being relatives is the main criterion to comprise a Biradari. The highest to lowest ranking of Ashraf castes is the following: Syed, Gaur Muslims, and Mughals.

Ghaus Ansari (1960) named the following four broad categories of Muslim social divisions in India:

• Ashrafs, who claim foreign-origin descent.
  • e.g. Sayyid, Idrishi, Mughal
• Converts from upper castes or Swarna
  • e.g. Gaur Muslims, Rajput Muslims Muslim Jats, Idrishi, Chimba
• Converts from other Indian Tribes
  • e.g. Dhobi, Mansoori, Gaddi, Faqir, Hajjam (Nai), Julaha, Kabaria, Kumhar, Kunjra, Mirasi, and Teli
• Converts from untouchable castes
  • e.g. Muslim Mochi, Bhangi

There is a hierarchy among Ashrafs that is determined by the degree of nearness to Muhammad and which country they originate from; accordingly, the Syeds (who trace descent from Fatima, Muhammad's daughter) have the highest status.

The non-Ashrafs are categorized as Ajlaf. The untouchable Hindu converts are also categorized as Arzal ("degraded"). They are relegated to menial professions such as scavenging and carrying night soil.

B.R. Ambedkar, citing the Superintendent of the Census for 1901 for the Province of Bengal, mentions that the Ajlaf primarily include:

• Cultivating Sheikhs and others who were originally Hindus but who do not belong to any functional group and have not gained admittance to the Ashraf Community, e.g. Pirali and Thakrai.
• Darzi, Jolaha, Fakir, and Rangrez.
• Barhi, Bhalhiara, Chik, Churihar, Dai, Dhawa, Dhunia, Gaddi, Kalal, Kasai, Kula Kunjara, Laheri, Mahifarosh, Mallah, Naliya, Nikari.
• Abdal, Bako, Bediya, Bhal, Chamba, Dafali, Dhobi, Hajjam, Mucho, Nagarchi, Nal, Panwaria, Madaria, Tunlia.

For the Arzal, the following cases are mentioned by the Superintendent of the Census: Bhanar, Halalkhor, Hijra, Kasbi, Lalbegi, Maugta, Mehtar.

In Pakistan, various social groups (called quoms) display a social stratification comparable to the Indian caste system. The various quoms differ widely in power, privilege, and wealth. Both ethnic affiliation (e.g. Pathan, Sindhi, Baloch, Punjabi, etc.) and membership of specific biraderis or zaat/quoms are additional integral components of social identity. Within the bounds of endogamy defined by the above parameters, close consanguineous unions are preferred due to a unity of key features of group- and individual-level background factors as well as affinities. McKim Marriott adds that a social stratification that is hierarchical, closed, endogamous, and hereditary is widely prevalent, particularly in western parts of Pakistan. The numerically and socially influential tribes in Pakistani Punjab includes the agricultural tribes of Awan, Jat Muslim and Gujjar as well as Rajput.

In Nepal, the castes of Muslims rank differs according to the criteria applied.

In India, the Ajlaf comprise Qureshis, Ansaris, Saifis, and other groups of lower occupation.

Most ulemas (theologians/doctors of the law) are part of the Syed, and many Ashrafs are businessmen, landowners, and traders.

A "marriage circle" can be formed over an area, where a zat panchayat (caste council) can have the authority and where marriage alliances occur.

A Syed's status is sometimes based more on male descendants and hypergamous marriage than bloodline purity.

The early Turks had subdivisions.

In the Rasum-i Hind, a textbook that was compiled by Master Pyare Lal in 1862, the four firqa (or subdivisions of the Ashraf) are explained, and nasl (lineage/pedigree) is elaborated:

• The ancestors of the Mughal caste are said to be descended from the Biblical Noah.
• The ancestors of the Pathans are said to be Israelites from when Solomon was alive.

In the ruling class of the Mughal Empire, Muslims were classified as native Hindustani, Afghan, Turani, and Irani.

Pakistani Punjab

Zamindars, Kammis, and the Seyp System

Zamindars, a landowning class, and Kammis, service-providing castes, are caste-based status groups and are found in a hierarchical system in Pakistani Punjabi villages. Kammi Quoms and Zamindar Quoms are rigid birth-based groups based on parentage occupations. In the Seyp System, contractual labour, the Kammis provide work and services and receive favours, food, money, crops, and grains. Zamindars are considered a dominant caste, and leaders in the village and people who dominate the town's affairs tend to be Zamindars. Social, political, and economic affairs of the city are dominated by Zamindar Quoms in Pakistan, and land is controlled by Zamindar Quoms, while Kammi Quoms are socially marginalized and discriminated. Inter-Quom endogamy is found between Kammi Quoms and Zamindar Quoms. Ancestral land ownership and a parentage job being cultivation are what Punjabi Pakistanis ascribe to the Zamindar status.

"Zamindars", in modern-day Pakistani Punjabi villages, typically refers to a Quom that owns the land and has an occupation of agriculture - Zamindari. Some castes are higher than the service-providing castes and below the landowning castes.

Caste endogamy is found in Pakistan, with members of a Quom tending to marry within the Quom. In the rural parts of Pakistani Punjab, the lack of marriages between Kammi and Zamindar Quoms is vital to the caste system. Kammis include artisan, labourer, and service providing Quoms (such as barbers, cobblers, and carpenters).

A Kammi woman remarked how:

Even if a Kammi acquires 100 acres of land, he remains Kammi, and Zamindars will always consider him lower. A Zamindar who owns one acre of land would think, "If a Kammi has bought 2 acres, so what? After all, he remains a Kammi". They do not accept us as equals.

Quoms are highly influential in marriage practices. However, different Zamindar Quoms sometimes intermarry, which may constitute a Biradari. A large majority of Kammis perform daily wage labour or low-ranking tasks.

A study in a Pakistani Punjabi village found that in the Seyp (contractual relationships) between a Zamindar (landholding) family and Kammi (artisan castes) families, Kammi families give goods and perform services to the Zamindars, which provide the Kammis with grain; the Kammi families also serve some customary and ritual tasks: for example, the barber cooks in the Zamindar's house on special events and performs circumcisions.

Elections

People also exhibit loyalty to their Quoms in elections. In Pakistani Punjab, Biradaris are the sole criteria in local bodies' elections. There are more Zamindars than Kammis in Pakistani Punjab. Including because of the high financial costs of running in an election, Kammis do not generally run in elections.

Bengal

Although class distinctions based on wealth and occupation exist, hereditary castes don't exist in mainstream Bangladeshis/Bengali Muslims, unlike Bangladeshi Hindus. There might be around 35 Muslim castes in West Bengal. Muslim society might have been historically divided into three large groupings in Bengal, with the Sharif/Ashraf at the top, followed by the Atraf (low-born), and with the Arzal or Ajlaf at the bottom.

Other Muslim castes historically did not associate with Arzal castes. Lower castes historically are not allowed to enter mosques or be buried in the public burial ground.

Sharifism

Sharifism refers to the special status given to claimants of prophetic nasab (also qarabah), which means "closeness", or being descended from Muhammad, Muhammad's Quraysh tribe, or Muhammad's family.

Discrimination

Representation

In 20th century India, the upper-class (Ashraf) Muslims dominated the government jobs and parliamentary representation. As a result, there have been campaigns to include lower social classes among the groups eligible for affirmative action in India under SC and STs provision act.

Burial

In India's Bihar state, Forward caste Muslims have opposed backward caste Muslims being buried in the same graveyard.

Cooking

A study in a Pakistani village found that a caste-like hierarchy exists in the Muslim community of the village. The sweeper group is ranked the lowest. The other Muslim communities do not allow the sweepers to touch the cooking vessels of the upper ranking groups of Muslims.

Racial and historical

Barani also explained at one point how Turkish sultans discriminated against Muslims of local descent. He explains how Iltutmish discriminated against low-birth Muslims by letting go of 33 of them from the government. Additionally, Iltutmish appointed Jamal Marzuq to the post of Mutassarif of Kanauj; Aziz Bahruz disagreed due to low birth status, which resulted in Marzuq no longer being the Mutassarif. Low-born people were not allowed to be in the mudabbiri or khwajgi post and could not be eligible for an iqta recommendation.

Balban prevented low-birth people from being in important offices, and he also criticized how Kamal Mohiyar was selected for mutassarif of Amroaha. A letter by Sayyid Ashraf Jahangiri explains how Balban thoroughly researched the ancestry of every single one of his government servants and officers; he had genealogists met in Delhi to ascertain these ancestries.

Tughlaq had a policy of giving "preference to foreign-born Muslims in administration and government" and "systematically ignored the claims of Indian Muslims". Sayyid Ashraf Jahangiri explains how:

The Sultan went to the extent of offering the most responsible and distinguished offices of the kingdom — for instance, those of a Wazir, a Dabir, a military commander, a judge, a professor of theology, or a Shaikhul-Islam — to almost any foreigner of some learning. Foreigners coming to India were collectively known as 'the Honourables' (A'izza)

Historians and Urdu writers (including Masood Alam Falahi) have explained how discrimination of Ashraf Muslims towards lower caste Muslims and Dalit Muslims was often disguised under claims of class and "khandaani" (family line) values among Uttar Pradesh Muslims.

See also

• Caste system among South Asian Christians
• Caste system in India
• Islam in India
• Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz
• Social class in the United Kingdom
• Social class in the United States

References

Citations

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2. Azra Khanam 2013, pp. 120–121.
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4. Julien Levesque 2020, p. 4.
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47. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 10.
48. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 6.
49. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 74.
50. ^ Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 17.
51. ^ Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 18.
52. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 136.
53. ^ Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 139.
54. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 140.
55. Julien Levesque 2020, p. 10.
56. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 160.
57. Ahmed Usman 2011, p. 161.
58. BANGLADESH SOCIETY: CLASSES, CASTES, NEIGHBORHOODS, MIDDLE CLASS AND BEGGARS
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Bibliography

• Imtiaz Ahmed (May 13, 1967). "Ashraf and Ajlaf Categories in Indo-Muslim Society". Economic and Political Weekly. 2 (19): 887–891. JSTOR 4357934.
• Anis Ansari, Khalid (2021). "Pluralism and the Post-Minority Condition". In Boaventura De Sousa Santos; Bruno Sena Martins (eds.). The Pluriverse of Human Rights: The Diversity of Struggles for Dignity: The Diversity of Struggles for Dignity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-039570-9.
• Ghaus Ansari (1960). Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study of Culture Contact. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society. OCLC 1104993.
• Fredrik Barth (1960). Edmund Leach (ed.). Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan. CUP Archive. ISBN 9780521096645.
• Berreman, Gerald D. (June 1972). "Social Categories and Social Interaction in Urban India". American Anthropologist. 74 (3): 567–586. doi:10.1525/aa.1972.74.3.02a00220. ISSN 0002-7294.
• Chowdhury, Iftekhar Uddin (November 7, 2009). "Caste-based Discrimination in South Asia: A Study of Bangladesh" (PDF). Working Paper Series. III (7). Indian Institute of Dalit Studies.
• Remy Delage (29 September 2014). "Muslim Castes in India". Books & Ideas. College De France.
• Azra Khanam (2013). Muslim Backward Classes: A Sociological Perspective. SAGE. ISBN 9788132116509.
• Julien Levesque (2020). "Debates on Muslim Caste in North India and Pakistan". HAL.
• David Lelyveld (2005). Rachel Dwyer (ed.). "Article on "Ashraf" in "Keywords in South Asian Studies"" (PDF). School of Oriental and African Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2020.
• Robert W. Stern (2003). Changing India: Bourgeois Revolution on the Subcontinent. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00912-6.
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• Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies: Selected Writings. Ashgate Publisher, Ltd. 2010.

Notes

A. This source gets the quotation from the following source: E A Gait, 'Census of India' 1901: Bengal Report 6 (1), Bengal Secretariat Press. 1902, p 439; the description in 'Imperial Gazetteer of India', v. 2, pp 329

Further reading

• Imtiaz Ahmad (1978). Caste and social stratification among Muslims in India. New Delhi: Manohar. OCLC 5147249.
• Zeyauddin Ahmad (2011). "Caste Elements Among the Muslims of Bihar". In Kenneth David (ed.). The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 337–356. ISBN 978-3-11-080775-2.
• Imam Ali, A.F. (September 1993). Changing Social Stratification in Rural Bangladesh. South Asia Books. ISBN 978-81-7169-267-5.
• Syed Ali (December 2002). "Collective and Elective Ethnicity: Caste Among Urban Muslims in India". Sociological Forum. 17 (4): 593–620. doi:10.1023/A:1021077323866. ISSN 0884-8971. S2CID 146701489.
• Sikand, Yoginder (2004). Islam, Caste and Muslim Relations in India. Global Media Publications. ISBN 978-81-88869-06-0.
• Ahmad, S. Shamim; A. K. Chakravarti (January 1981). "Some regional characteristics of Muslim caste systems in India". GeoJournal. 5 (1): 55–60. doi:10.1007/BF00185243. ISSN 0343-2521. S2CID 153606947.
• Berreman, Gerald D. (June 1972). "Social Categories and Social Interaction in Urban India". American Anthropologist. 74 (3): 567–586. doi:10.1525/aa.1972.74.3.02a00220. ISSN 0002-7294.

• Misplaced Pages articles needing copy edit from January 2023
• Caste system in India
• Islam in India
• Islam in Pakistan
• Islam in South Asia
• Islam in Nepal
• Social class in India
• Discrimination in India
• Discrimination in Pakistan
• Discrimination in Bangladesh
• Discrimination in Nepal
• Discrimination in Sri Lanka
• Caste-related violence in India
• Caste system in Nepal
• Caste