Arabs in India

Arab
Regions with significant populations
Gujarat • Eastern Uttar Pradesh • Hyderabad
Languages
• Gujarati • Urdu • Arabic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Arabs (Hadhrami people) • Chaush • Siddi • Iraqi

A small but recognizable people with Arab origins have over time settled in the India.Many who arrived in Gujarat were later recruited to the army. Most Gujarati Arabs were traders, and business men who sold or traded silk, diamonds and other valuables resulting in wealthy business men. The city of Surat and villages within the city are notorious for Arab settlements. Variav and Randev are the few villages that Arabs started their lives in. In Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Iraqis arrived in 15th and 16th century from Sindh, Pakistan . These people claim ancestry from Arab tribe of Bani Tamim.In Hyderabad, Chaush are Arab community of Hadhrami descent whose ancestors were recruited as soldier by Nizam of Hyderabad.e In coastal Karnataka, Iraqis arrived during the reign of Tipu Sultan. They claim their ancestry from Banu Assad. In Kerala, Syed Thangals of Hadhrami descent settled around 17th century as missionaries to propagate Islam. There are also Shia Sayyids in Northern region of country who claim descent from Wasit, Iraq like Zaidis. Sunni Sayyid of the country also claim Arab descent from Sufi missionaries but it is hard to say that every Sufi really belonged to Arab. Most of the Sufis migrated from Persia. Sunni Sayyid also include converts from higher Hindu castes like Brahmin and Kshatriya. Sunni Sheikhs also claim Arab descent from Sufis or migrants but it remains hoax. They don't know their tribe but trace lineage from Umar, Abu Bakr and Uthman, the Rashidun Caliphate. Many of present Sheikhs converted from Hindu castes such as Kayasth and Rajput.

Communities

Gujarat

A small but recognizable people with Arab origins have over time settled in the state of Gujarat in India, primarily due to the proximity of Arabia to India. They now form one of the large Muslim communities in that state. They are also known as Chavuse, especially in Saurashtra. In Gujarat the term Arab strictly refers to families that came in the 17th, 18th and 19th Century from the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs of Surat, Gujarat traveled from the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia and the Hadhramaut region of Yemen, while many others claim to be from other Arab States of the Persian Gulf. During the 18th Century, when Gujarat was divided into a number of states, many Arabs were recruited by the various rajahs for yet their armed forces. Arabs soldiers made a large part of the armies of Bhavnagar and Jamnagar states. During the early twentieth century, the Arabs abandoned Arabic for Urdu.[1]

Uttar Pradesh




Present circumstances

Gujarat

The Arabs are now found in the districts of Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Panchmahal and Surat. They are divided in 169 clans, but generally divided into groups, the Hejazi, originating from Saudi Arabia, and the Hadhramis from Yemen. Their main clans are the Akvon, Acari, Ansari, Anuj, Kathiri, and Qureshi. Each clan is of equal status, but the Qureshis are accorded seniority on account of the fact that they were the tribe of the Prophet Mohammad.[1]

The Arab community is mainly landless. Military and security services in the armies of the states of Jamnagar, Junagadh and Bhavnagar was their traditional occupation. They are now mainly in urban community, and have taken up a number of professional occupations such as the law and medicine. A significant number have also emigrated to Arab states of the Persian Gulf such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The community have a caste association, the Akhil Gujarat Arab Samaj, which is active in community affairs. Another community that is active in community affairs is the Surati Sunni Vohra Community, which keeps lists of the Surati people and marriages within the community, and well as all Surati affairs. They are Sunni Muslims, with a few belonging to the Wahhabi sect. The community have remained strictly endogenous, with virtually no cases of intermarriage with neighboring Gujarati Muslim communities.[1]

Hyderabad

Arabs in Hyderabad are known as Chaush are most concentrated in Barkas, Hyderabad.

Karnataka

The Assadis are Arabs who were immigrants from Karbala, Iraq. They claim that they are a part of the Banu Asad tribe. The are found in Tokur, Shirva, Bolar, Udupi, Mangalore. Although they come from a prominent Shiite tribe, they are Sunni. They claim that their ancenstors arrived in India during the reign of Tipu Sultan.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 People of India Gujarat Volume XXII Part One Editors R. B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishnan and M Azeez Mohideen pages 74 to 77

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