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The Arain (Template:Lang-ur) are a Muslim tribe of Pakistan who are found mainly in the Punjab province and also that of Sindh. They are chiefly associated with farming, with many being "peasant-proprietors" and some being zamindars (landlords).

Origins

The Arains are historically exclusively Muslim. Their origins are uncertain, with some members of the community claiming a connection with the Rajputs. Others, with whom the historian and political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot agrees, believe that they are probably displaced farming communities who moved to Punjab from Sindh and Multan as Muslim armies encroached. Jaffrelot also believes the community to be related to the Kamboj.

There are claims that many Arain descend from Arabs who came to India with the invading armies of Muhammad bin Qasim. Such claims are given credence by how nearly all Arain are, and have been, Sunni Muslim, much like the early Arabs accompanying Muhammad bin Qasim. This assertion is supported by numerous references made in several Urdu language texts — such as Tareekh-e-Arain, Sham Ta Multan, Tareekh Frishta, Tohfa Tul Ikram and Aina-e-Haqeekat Numa - that trace the lineage of many notable Arains including Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Zia Ul-Haq, and the Mian Family of Bhaghbanpura. According to these sources, the word Arain is derived from Areeha which is the Arabic name for the city of Jericho in the West Bank, Palestinian Territory, the place from where they came.

British Raj period

The British considered the Arain as a landholding 'agricultural' caste. When the British wanted land developed in the Punjab after its annexation, Arain were brought in to cultivate lands around the cities, and were preferred to assist with the opening up of the new agrarian frontier in canal colonies of the Punjab between 1906 – 1940. The Arain received 86% of the land that was allotted to Muslim agricultural castes, and were thus the largest Muslim land holders in Punjab during British rule.

The British considered the Arain the best cultivators amongst all the castes, and were favoured 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.

The Arain also contributed to military service predating and during British rule in India. Lt. Col. J. M. Wikeley acknowledged Arain presence in the military; "They (Arains) may be designated as a fighting race which has produced many Civil and Military officers who have rendered good services to the nation." Their lack of classification as a martial race was most probably a consequence of rebellions against British rule. One notable rebellion occurred in the Mutiny of 1857, when the Arain Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi led an inter-communal uprising in Ludhiana against the British East India Company.

Present day

Although gardening and market-gardening were considered historically to be ritually impure occupations and thus those engaged in such activities were considered to be of low standing, the Arains have proven to be industrious and disciplined practitioners. In the present day, they are the largest agricultural community in Pakistan and they often have a wealth that belies their low ritual status.

Distribution

Historically, the Arain community was concentrated in territory that is now part of Indian Punjab, especially the Jalandhar Doab. According to 1911 Census of India, the highest concentrations of Arains was in the Kapurthala State, where they accounted for 16% of the population, and neighbouring Jalandhar District, where they formed 15% (about one third of the Muslim population) of the population. By the late 19th Century, the Arain were encouraged by the British colonial authorities to settle in the new canal colonies in the Sandal Bar and Neeli Bar regions, and by 1911 Arain formed 12% of the population of Lyalpur District and 7% of Montgommery District. Other districts with large Arain populations were Lahore (10%), Gurdaspur (7%), Ferozepur (6%), Gujranwala, Sialkot (6%) and Multan (5%). In the Phulkhian States, Hoshiarpur, Karnal, Delhi and Hissar they formed less than five percentage of the population. North and west of the Jhelum, they were practically absent in the Pothohar region, the Salt Range and the Thal Dessert, where their place was and still taken by the Maliar caste. Those few Arains who were found in this region are often treated as sub-tribe of the Jats. In essence the Arain were found in territory stretching from the Chenab in the west to the Sultlej in the east, in what was the Punjabi speaking heartland of the British colonial province of Punjab. This was also the region that suffered the worst violence during the partition of India in 1947, with almost the entire Arain population of Indian Punjab migrating to Pakistani territory. However, there are still a small number of Muslim Arains still found in Malerkotla, Sangrur and Patiala districts.

The bulk of the Arain population is now settled in the districts of Faisalabad, Sahiwal and Toba Tek Singh, with a large number of refugees settled by the Thal Development Authority in the districts of Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Layyah.

Related communities in North India

There are a number of communities in North India, that claim kinship with the Arain of Punjab. The Arain of Delhi claim to be descended from Arains who settled in Delhi during the rule of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Another community that is connected with the Arain are the Rayeen, who are a Muslim tribe found in Bareilly, Pilibhit, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Rampur, Bijnor and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Rayeen in Rohilkhand region mainly immigrated from the villages of Jalandhar, Sirsa and Ferozpur around 1780 AD due to famines in their native Punjab region.

Notable people

• Adina Beg, Governor of Punjab in 1758.
• Sir Fazli Husain, politician and a founder of the Unionist Party
• Asrar-ul-Haq Mian, lawyer and President of Supreme Court Bar
• General Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan and Chief of Staff of Pakistan Military.

See also

• Tribes of the Bar Region of the Punjab

References

1. Burki, Shahid Javed (October 1988). "Pakistan under Zia, 1977-1988". Asian Survey. 28 (10): 1082–1100. JSTOR 2644708. (subscription required)
2. Jaffrelot, Christophe (2004). A History Of Pakistan And Its Origins. trans. Beaumont, Gilliam. Anthem Press. p. 154. ISBN 9781843311492. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
3. ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2004). A History Of Pakistan And Its Origins. trans. Beaumont, Gilliam. Anthem Press. p. 208. ISBN 9781843311492. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
4. 2.Tarikh-i-Araian by Ali Asghar Chaudri, published by Ilmi Kitabkhana Urdu Bazar Lahore Pakistan in 1989
5. Aina Haqeeqat Numa by Maulana Akbar Shah Khan pages 126,127
6. Punjab Colony Manual (Lahore, 1936), p. 13; and Chenab Colony Settlement Report (1915)
7. "The Punjab Canal Colonies', 1885-1940", Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1980; and Imran Ali, The Punjab Under Imperialism, 1885-1947 (Princeton University Press,Princeton, New Jersey, 1988).
8. ^ Pakistan under Zia, 1977-1988, Shahid Javed Burki.
9. Castes The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir, by Sir James McCrone Douie. Printed in India at Deluxe Offset Press, Daya Basti, Delhi-110035 and Published by Seema Publications, Delhi-110007
10. "...the Arain families put their money into education and reaped quick rewards.", Pakistan under Zia, 1977-1988, Shahid Javed Burki.
11. "Soon they came to dominate the legal profession... ...and... ...spring into politics.", Pakistan under Zia, 1977-1988, Shahid Javed Burki.
12. Punjabi Musalmans, 1915, reprinted 1991, p 66, J. M. Wikeley - Ethnology
13. http://www.apnaorg.com/articles/news-33/
14. ^ Census of India 1911 Vol 14, Punjab Part 1, A Report by Pundit Harkishan Kaul pages 438 to 439 and 445
15. People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 37 to 42 Manohar
16. Kinship and continuity: Pakistani families in BritainAlison Shaw Page 121
17. Three Pakistan villages by John Joseph Honigmann
18. People of India Delhi Volume XX edited by T Ghosh & S Nath pages 49 to 52, Manohar Publications
19. A People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII
20. Page no 140, Tarrekh Arain, 5th Ed, Chaudhry Asgahr Ali, Ilimi Kutub Khana, LahoreAD
21. "Dina Arain: the master 'double game' player".
22. ^ Pakistan under Zia 1977-1988 by Shahid Javed Burki. Asian Survey. Vol. 28, No. 10 (Oct., 1988), pp. 1082–1100
23. The Nation, Thursday, November 01, 2012

• Arain