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Revision as of 05:46, 24 November 2016 by 110.172.180.98 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Muslim communities in South Asia apply a system of social stratification. It developed as a result of ethnic segregation between the foreign invaders (Ajlaf or Muhajir) and the local converts (Ashraf), as well as influence of the indigenous Hindu culture. Islam does not recognize any castes.
Historical development
Islam does not recognize any castes, however, by the time it came to Persia and India, the existing divisions in these regions were adopted among the local Muslim societies. The ancient Persian society had a social stratification system analogous to the Indian varna system. The Sasanian society retained this system with some changes, even after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century. 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).
History of research
There are various definitions of the term "caste", and therefore, various opinions on whether this term can be used to denote social stratification among non-Hindu communities. Ghaus Ansari (1960) uses the term "caste" to describe the Muslim social groups with following characteristics:
- endogamy within a given social group
- hierarchical gradation of social groups
- determination of the group membership by birth
- in some cases, association of an occupation with the social group
Beginning in the 19th century, the British scholars of India first catalogued the various Muslim castes:
- Henry Miers Elliot's Supplement to the glossary of Indian terms (1844), later amplied 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 Muslim castes. In the 20th century British India, a number of works included the Muslim social gropus 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 academic discussion over the Muslim caste system. Subsequently, Imtiaz Ahmed elaborated the topic in his Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims (1973).
Divisions
Ghaus Ansari (1960) named the following four broad categories of Muslim social divisions in India:
- Ajlaf, who claim foreign-origin descent from Afghans, Arabs, Persians, Turks etc.
- Converts from upper castes
- E.g. Muslim Rajputs
- Converts from other "clean" castes
- Converts from untouchable castes
- E.g. Bhangi
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.
See also
References
- Ghaus Ansari 1960, p. 27.
- Ghaus Ansari 1960, p. 29.
- ^ Ghaus Ansari 1960, p. 22.
- Ghaus Ansari 1960, p. 2.
- Azra Khanam 2013, p. 115.
- Ghaus Ansari 1960, p. 32-35.
- Anand Mohan Sahay. "Backward Muslims protest denial of burial". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2003-03-06.
Bibliography
- Azra Khanam (2013). Muslim Backward Classes: A Sociological Perspective. SAGE. ISBN 9788132116509.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Fredrik Barth (1960). Edmund Leach (ed.). Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan. CUP Archive. ISBN 9780521096645.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Ghaus Ansari (1960). Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study of Culture Contact. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society. OCLC 1104993.
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Further reading
- 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 81-88869-06-6.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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