Caste system among South Asian Muslims

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Discrimination

Over the centuries, like other South Asian societies, the Muslim society in the region has evolved into the concept of caste purity and pollution. Hence, the low-class (Ajlaf) Muslims in the region have faced other kinds of discrimination. 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.

In Bihar state of India, cases have been reported in which the higher caste Muslims have opposed the burials of lower caste Muslims in the same graveyard.

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.

An analysis of Muslim representation in India's Lok Sabha found that of the roughly 400 Muslim representatives from the 1st to the 14th Lok Sabha, 340 were Ashraf, while 60 were Pasmanda (meaning oppressed or marginalized); Pasmandas make up 85% of India's Muslim population and Ashrafs 15%.

Medieval Ashraf scholars mentioned that Muslims of Afghan, Iranian, Arab, and Central Asian origin were superior while local converts were inferior. This was due not only to racial differences with local concerts generally being dark skinned and Ashrafs being lighter skinned, but also due to Ashraf being the dominant political elite, while the majority of Ajlaf were associated with ancestral professions as peasants and artisans which were looked down upon as inferior and demeaning.

Based on classical literature, particularly the Fatawa-i-Jahandari written by Turkish scholar Ziauddin Barani, a leading courtier of Muhammad bin Tughlaq (Sultan of Delhi), caste divisions were recommended among Indian Muslims. Barani warned the Sultan not to educate the lowborn and that they are not allowed to mingle with the superior race.

Historians and Urdu writers such as Masood Alam Falahi have discussed how condescension of Ashraf Muslims towards the lower caste and Dalit Muslims often masqueraded under conceptions of class and "khandaani" (family line) values among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

Some scholars say that Ashraf Muslims are over-represented in government-run institutions for minorities (including Aligarh Muslim University).

Another practice that has been noted includes the existence of separate burial grounds.

References

Citations

Azra Khanam 2013, pp. 120–121.
Webner, Pnina (2007). The Migration Process: Capital, Gifts and Offerings among British Pakistanis. ISBN 9781472518477. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
Asghar Ali Engineer. "On reservation for Muslims". The Milli Gazette. Pharos. Retrieved 2004-09-01.
Anand Mohan Sahay. "Backward Muslims protest denial of burial". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2003-03-06.
Ahmad, I., 2010. Can There Be a Category Called Dalit Muslims?. STUDIES IN INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, p.79.
Hastings Donnan (1988). Marriage Among Muslims: Preference and Choice in Northern Pakistan. BRILL. pp. 51–56. ISBN 978-90-04-08416-2.
^ Anis Ansari, Khalid (13 May 2019). "India's Muslim community under a churn: 85% backward Pasmandas up against 15% Ashrafs". Times of India.
^ Kanmony, J. Cyril (2010). Dalits and Tribes of India. Mittal Publications. p. 200.
Umar, Sanober. "The Identity of Language and the Language of Erasure: Urdu and the Racialized-Decastification of the "Backward Musalmaan" in India". Brandeis University: 187. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Bibliography

Azra Khanam (2013). Muslim Backward Classes: A Sociological Perspective. SAGE. ISBN 9788132116509.
Fredrik Barth (1960). Edmund Leach (ed.). Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan. CUP Archive. ISBN 9780521096645.
Ghaus Ansari (1960). Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study of Culture Contact. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society. OCLC 1104993.

Ahmad, Imtiaz (1978). Caste and social stratification among Muslims in India. New Delhi: Manohar. OCLC 5147249.
Ali, A.F. Imam (September 1993). Changing Social Stratification in Rural Bangladesh. South Asia Books. ISBN 978-81-7169-267-5.
Sikand, Yoginder (2004). Islam, Caste and Muslim Relations in India. Global Media Publications. ISBN 978-81-88869-06-0.
Ali, Syed (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.
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.

v t e Segregation in countries by type (in some countries, categories overlap)
Religious	Partition of India Northern Ireland Israel Serbia Greece and Turkey Partition of Bengal Portugal Saudi Arabia Spain Bahrain Myanmar
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Gender	Islam Afghanistan Iran Saudi Arabia Judaism Sex segregation in public restrooms Separatist feminism
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Related topics	Apartheid laws Anti-miscegenation laws Black Codes Corporative federalism Discrimination Ghetto benches Hafrada Jim Crow laws Majority minority Nativism Nuremberg Laws Racism Rankism Religious intolerance Reservation in India Second-class citizen Separate school (Canada) Shunning Social apartheid White Australia policy Xenophobia
See also: Pillarisation Category caste gender racial Commons

v t e Discrimination
Forms	Institutional Structural Statistical Taste-based
Attributes	Age Caste Class Dialect Disability Genetic Hair texture Height Language Looks Mental disorder Race / Ethnicity Skin color Scientific racism Rank Sex Sexual orientation Species Size Viewpoint
Social	Arophobia Acephobia Adultism Anti-albinism Anti-autism Anti-homelessness Anti-drug addicts Anti-intellectualism Anti-intersex Anti-left handedness Anti-Masonry Aporophobia Audism Biphobia Clannism Elitism Ephebiphobia Health mental in poverty Fatphobia Gayphobia Gerontophobia Heterosexism HIV/AIDS stigma Homophobia In-group Leprosy stigma Lesbophobia Discrimination against men Misandry Misogyny Nepotism Outgroup Pedophobia Perpetual foreigner Pregnancy Sectarianism Supremacism Aryanism Autistic Black Chauvinism Female Illusory Jewish Male Nordicism Tigraynization Ultranationalism White Transphobia 21st-century anti-trans movement in the United Kingdom Non-binary Transmisogyny Trans men Vegaphobia Xenophobia
Religious	Atheism Exclusivism Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Christianity Persecution Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Jehovah's Witnesses LDS or Mormon Protestantism Tewahedo Orthodoxy post–Cold War era Falun Gong Hinduism Persecution Untouchability Islam Persecution Ahmadiyya Shi'ism Sufism Sunnism minority Muslim Judaism Persecution Neopaganism Rastafari Sikhism Yazidism Zoroastrianism
Ethnic/National	Afghan African Albanian Arab Armenian Asian France South Africa United States Assyrian Australian Austrian Azerbaijani Black people African Americans China South Africa Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chechen Chinese Colombian Croat Dutch English Estonian Filipino French Fulani Finnish Georgian German Greek Haitian Hazara Hungarian Igbo Indian Indigenous people Australia Canada United States Iranian Irish Italian Japanese Jewish Antisemitism New Korean Kurdish Lithuanian Malay Māori Mexican Middle Eastern Mongolian Montenegrin Nigerian Pakistani Palestinians Pashtun Polish Portuguese Quebec Romani Romanian Russian Scottish Serb Slavic Somali Spanish Tatar Thai Turkish Ukrainian Uyghur Venezuelan Vietnamese Welsh
Manifestations	Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric SPLC-designated list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups Anti-LGBTQ movement in the US Anti-trans movement in the UK Anti-Zionism Blood libel Bullying Cancel culture Capital punishment for homosexuality Compulsory sterilization Corrective rape Counter-jihad Cultural genocide Defamation Democide Disability hate crime Dog whistle Domicide Economic Education Employment Eliminationism Enemy of the people Ethnic cleansing Ethnic conflict Ethnic hatred Ethnic joke Ethnocide Excellence Gender-based dress codes Cosmetics policy High heel policy Forced conversion Freak show Gay bashing Gendercide Genital modification and mutilation Genocide examples Glass ceiling Hate crime Violence against LGBTQ people Hate group Hate speech Homeless dumping Housing Indian rolling Kill Haole Day Lavender scare LGBTQ+ grooming conspiracy theory List of people killed for being transgender Lynching Mortgage Murder music Native American mascots Occupational segregation Opposition to immigration Paper genocide Persecution Pogrom Political repression Purge Racialization Religious persecution Religious terrorism Religious violence Religious war Scapegoating Segregation academy Sentencing disparity Sexual harassment Sex-selective abortion Slut-shaming Untermensch Trans bashing Victimisation Violence against women White flight White genocide conspiracy theory Wife selling Witch hunt
Discriminatory policies	Age of candidacy Blood purity Blood quantum Crime of apartheid Disabilities Catholic Jewish Gender pay gap Gender roles Transphobia in the US House of Representatives Gerontocracy Gerrymandering Ghetto benches Internment Jewish quota Law for Protection of the Nation LGBTQ rights opposition MSM blood donation restrictions No kid zone Numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) One-drop rule Racial quota Racial segregation Jim Crow laws Nuremberg Laws Racial steering Redlining Same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) Segregation age racial religious sexual Social exclusion Sodomy law State atheism State religion Ugly law Voter suppression
Countermeasures	Affirmative action Anti-discrimination law Anti-racism Constitutional colorblindness Cultural assimilation Cultural pluralism Diversity, equity, and inclusion Diversity training Empowerment Fat acceptance movement Feminism Fighting Discrimination Hate speech laws by country Human rights Intersex human rights LGBT rights Nonviolence Racial integration Reappropriation Self-determination Social integration Toleration
Related topics	Allophilia Amatonormativity Bias Cisnormativity Civil liberties Criminalization of homosexuality Dehumanization Diversity Multiculturalism Neurodiversity Ethnic penalty Figleaf Gender-blind Heteronormativity Historical eugenics Internalized oppression Intersectionality Masculism Medical model of disability autism Net bias Oikophobia Oppression Police brutality Political correctness Polyculturalism Power distance Prejudice Prisoner abuse Racial bias in criminal news in the United States Racism by country Racial color blindness Religious intolerance Reverse discrimination Reverse racism Second-generation gender bias Snobbery Social equity Social exclusion Social identity threat Social model of disability Social privilege Christian male white Social stigma Speciesism Stereotype threat The talk
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