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Arain
Raeen, Rain or Arai
Raeens or Arains, Mahomedans, Lahore
Religions	Islam
Languages	Punjabi
Country	Primarily Pakistan and India
Region	Punjab and Sindh and Uttar Pradesh

Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Origins

Arain are Arab to origin and trace back their ancestry to Shaikh Habib Al-Raee through his son Shaikh Haleem Al-Raee. Habib Al-Raee was elevated Sufi saint who maintains a grand status amongst all the Sheikhs of his time and also a Tabieen i.e. he was a follower of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad. It is believed that Shaikh Haleem Al-Raee came to Indian subcontinent with Islamic conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim to preach Islam during the rule of Umayyad Caliphate.

While another theory claims that the Arain are descendants of Banu Umayya instead of Habib Al-Raee who were settled in Jericho during rule of Ummayad Caliphate. Jericho in Arabic is Ariha which ultimately changed into "Arain". According to historian Najeebabdhi, Arain faced persecution during rule of Abbasid Caliphate due to their affiliation with Banu Umayya. The annexation of Punjab in Ghaznavid Empire by Mahmud of Ghazni in early 11th century provided an opportunity to Arains to immigrate to different parts of Punjab.

While historian Christophe Jaffrelot opposed this theory and states that the Arain are farming communities who related to Kamboj Rajput community. But historian Chaudrey Asghar Ali in his book Tareekh-e-Arain concluded that the distinct traits carried by Arain, in fact, the part of their legacy due to their Arab origin. He asserted that any tribe or community whenever comes under the umbrella of Islam carried a part of customs of their background and parent religion but Arain are completely different from native Indian tribes.

The Arain tribe are completely Muslim and 100 percent belong to Sunni school of thought as like to Umayyad conquerors, they are famous for their hospitality as Arabs, they believes on divorce incase of strained relationship and also practiced widow marriage unlike Rajputs, Arain are also abstained from intermarriages with other tribes as like Arab tribes. Gazatte of Lahore (1883-1884) cited one of the major socio-cultural difference between Arain and Kamboj; that Arain never accepted money as compensation for their daughters in marriage but Kamboj accepted money for this.

British Raj period in Colonial India

According to Ahmed, during the Mughal and Sikh periods some Arains held prominent positions, such as governors and army generals; he also believes that numerous names adopted by the community may indicate a tradition of military employment.

At the end of the period of governance mostly by the British East India Company, the rebel leaders of the 1857 uprising included Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi, whose actions with fellow Arains were in part why the authorities of the newly-created British Raj subsequently considered the tribe to be dangerous, leading to them being denied recruitment to the army and having lands confiscated. This treatment was also applied to many other of the rebellious communities.

Later, in Lahore District of British India, the Arain were the main Muslim landowning group among those located close to the urban areas, whilst Jats held a similar position in the rural areas. When the British wanted land developed in the Punjab Province, the Arain were brought in to cultivate lands around the cities, and were one of the agricultural communities given preference to assist with the opening up of the agrarian frontier in the Canal Colonies between 1885 and 1940.

Traditionally associated with farming, Shahid Javed Burki says that the British favoured the Arain for their "hard work, frugality and sense of discipline". Subsequent development of towns and cities and increasing urbanisation resulted in the value of the land settled by Arain to rise significantly, and Arain families thus flourished. Education was prioritised with the new-found wealth and the Arain came to dominate the legal profession amongst urban Punjabi Muslims. Many used law to enter politics.

Although at first denied entry to the British Indian Army following the events of 1857, in the early 20th century the Arain were classified by the Raj as an "agricultural tribe", which was then effectively synonymous with the "martial race" classification.

Organisation

Several meetings were held to establish an organisation to represent the Arain community in the 1890s. Eventually, in 1915, Anjuman Ra’iyan-i-Hind emerged as such a body in Lahore and a national community newspaper, titled Al-Rai, was established.

Culture

The Arains are in majority in Lahore and this biradari is also active in industrial and commercial activities. A few families play a significant role in the politics of Lahore at national and local level.

Diaspora

There are several diasporic Arain communities in British towns and cities, such as Manchester and Oxford. The tribe has its own organisation, Arain Council UK, which was established as Anjuman-e-Arains in the 1980s and renamed in 2008.

Notable people

• Shah Inayat Qadiri, (1643–1728) a Sufi scholar and saint of the Qadiri-Shatari silsila (lineage)
• Adina Beg, Governor of Punjab in 1758
• Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the sixth President of Pakistan

References

1. Katherine Pratt Ewing (1997). Arguing sainthood: modernity, psychoanalysis, and Islam. Duke University Press.
2. Najib-ur-Rehman, Sultan Mohammad (2015-12-24). The Spiritual Guides of Sarwari Qadri Order. Sultan ul Faqr Publications. ISBN 978-969-9795-30-5.
3. Akber Shah Khan Najeebabadi. Aina Haqiqat Numa - Akber Shah Najeeb Abadi.
4. Asad, Mohammad Rehan; Jilani, Shams (2017-04-21). The Arain Diaspora in the Rohilkhand region of India: A historical perspective: General History of Arain tribe of Punjab & Sindh with sociocultural background of the diaspora in Rohilkhand, India. Rehan Asad.
5. Jaffrelot, Christophe (2004). A History of Pakistan and its Origins. trans. Beaumont, Gilliam. Anthem Press. pp. 154, 208. ISBN 9781843311492.
6. Asad, Mohammad Rehan; Jilani, Shams (2017-04-21). The Arain Diaspora in the Rohilkhand region of India: A historical perspective: General History of Arain tribe of Punjab & Sindh with sociocultural background of the diaspora in Rohilkhand, India. Rehan Asad.
7. Asad, Mohammad Rehan; Jilani, Shams (2017-04-21). The Arain Diaspora in the Rohilkhand region of India: A historical perspective: General History of Arain tribe of Punjab & Sindh with sociocultural background of the diaspora in Rohilkhand, India. Rehan Asad.
8. ^ Ahmed, Ishtiaq (15 December 2007). "An Arain freedom fighter". The News.
9. Ali, Imran (1979). The Punjab Canal Colonies, 1885-1940 (Ph.D. thesis). Australian National University. p. 29. doi:10.25911/5d74e7b3b71c9.
10. Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri. Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India, Volume 8. Center for studies in Civilization. p. 195. ISBN 9788131716885. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
11. Low, Donald Anthony. Soundings in Modern South Asian History. University of California Press. p. 375. ISBN 978-0520007703.
12. ^ Burki, Shahid Javed (October 1988). "Pakistan under Zia, 1977-1988". Asian Survey. 28 (10): 1082–1100. doi:10.1525/as.1988.28.10.01p0206e. JSTOR 2644708. (subscription required)
13. Rajit K. Mazumder (2003). The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab. Orient Blackswan. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-81-7824-059-6.
14. ^ Ibrahim, Muhammad (2009), Role of Biradari System in Power Politics of Lahore: Post-Independence Period, Department of Political Science & International Relations Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7237/b88f561d124c8c792cb2aec83c60dec7957f.pdf
15. Shaw, Alison (2000). Kinship and Continuity: Pakistani Families in Britain. Psychology Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-90-5823-075-1.
16. "About". Arain Council UK. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
17. "Dina Arain: the master 'double game' player".

Further reading

• Koul, Ashish (2017). "Making new Muslim Arains: reform and social mobility in colonial Punjab, 1890s-1910s". South Asian History and Culture. 8 (1): 1–18. doi:10.1080/19472498.2016.1260348.

• Arain
• Punjabi tribes
• Social groups of Punjab, Pakistan
• Social groups of Sindh
• Social groups of Uttar Pradesh