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Islam was preached
by Muslim missionaries in
South Asia few years after
the death Prophet Muhammad.
Muslim missionaries and
traders converted many pagans
to Islam.
The Syrian Umayyad Caliphate sent a Muslim
Arab army led by Muhammad
bin Qasim and it conquered
Pakistan territories from
Kashmir to the Arabian Sea,
in 711 BCE. During the Arab
rule, the territories of
Pakistan were known as 'Sindh'
and India was known as 'Hind'.
The Arab dynasties ruled
Pakistan from Baghdad in
Iraq and Damascus in Syria
for more than two hundred
years. Many inhabitants
of Pakistan converted to
Islam during the long Arab
rule. The Muslim technocrats,
bureaucrats, soldiers, traders,
scientists, architects,
teachers, theologians and
Sufis flocked from the rest
of the Muslim world to Islamic
Sultanate in South Asia
and many settled in the
Pakistan.
Islam is the
second most practiced religion
in South Asia. It is still
unclear whether the spread
of Islam in South Asia has
been only a cultural transformation
or is associated with detectable
levels of gene flow. To
estimate the contribution
of West Asian and Arabian
admixture to South Asian
Muslims, a study assessed
genetic variation in mtDNA,
Y-chromosomal and LCT/MCM6
markers in 472, 431 and
476 samples, respectively,
representing six Muslim
communities from different
geographical regions of
South Asia. It found that
most of the South Asian
Muslim populations received
their major genetic input
from geographically close
non-Muslim populations.
However, low levels of likely
sub-Saharan African, Arabian
and West Asian admixture
were also observed among
South Asian Muslims in the
form of L0a2a2 mtDNA and
E1b1b1a and J*(xJ2) Y-chromosomal
lineages. The distinction
between Iranian and Arabian
sources was difficult to
make with mtDNA and the
Y chromosome, as the estimates
were highly correlated because
of similar gene pool compositions
in the sources. In contrast,
the LCT/MCM6 locus, which
shows a clear distinction
between the two sources,
enabled the study to rule
out significant gene flow
from Arabia. Overall, the
results support a model
according to which the spread
of Islam
in South Asia was predominantly
cultural conversion associated
with minor but still detectable
levels of gene flow from
outside, primarily from
Iran and Central Asia, rather
than directly from the Arabian
Peninsula.
A small number of very high status Muslims
are obviously predominantly
non-South Asian, they look
different. This stratum
still intermarries internationally,
e.g., Benazir Bhutto's mother
was Kurdish . When the British
first arrived in the South
Asia they distinguished
between white and black
Muslims just as the local
elite Muslims did. Nevertheless,
there was a great deal of
intermarriage. Even at the
commanding heights of the
white Muslim aristocracy,
the Mughals,
there was outmarriage. Emperor
Shah Jahan was 3/4 Rajput.
Compare Shah Jahan to his
grandfather, Emperor Akbar
(a contemporary portrait).
The Mughals were not the
best record keepers, but
the composition of their
military and civil service
is known because of differential
grants of income to categories
of service elites. Foreign
Muslims, those born outsideSouth
Asia, were at a premium,
and often comprised a significant
proportion every generation
(Persians being siphoned
to the civilian bureaucracy,
Turks and Pashtuns to the
military). This is in keeping
with a tendency among the
Turkic Muslim dynasties
in general, from the Mamlukes
to the Ottomans, who replenished
their non-hereditary elite
from without. Their offsprings
likely they descended down
the class hierarchy, intermarrying
with local Muslim converts
(or, even facilitating the
conversion of a high status
Hindu family through intermarriage),
who would be eager to acquire
Persian or Turkic ancestry
for their descendants and
so a higher heritable status.
By some estimates over 95% of all Muslims
of South Asia are descendents
of converts from native
pagan religions to
Islam. The pagan religions
such as Hinduism, Buddhism,
Zoroastrism, Mithraism and
many tribal religions were
practiced in South Asia
at the time of arrival of
Islam. Over generation these
Muslims have claimed to
be descendents of Muslim
Arab, Persian, Turkish Afghan
and Mongol tribes that have
come to South Asia. This
was due to the hierarchal
nature of native society
and with this claim there
accorded higher status.
The Muslims adopted Ashraf
title for noble classes
and Ajlaf for common
classes.
The Ashraf group include Syeds, Shaikhs,
Mughals and Pathans
(Pushtuns or Afghans).
These are communities
claiming descent from
population groups
hailing from outside
South Asia. It has
been pointed that
all four noble classes
permit interdining,
but commensality with
the common classes,
consisting of groups
descended from native
converts, was not
very common. Also
Sayyads and Shaikhs
intermarry, but marriages
between Sayyads and
Sheikhs on the one
hand, and Mughals
and Pashtuns on the
other, were not common.
After 1857 when Mughal
empire was defeated
by the British the
Muslim class system
broke down and all
Muslims started to
marry among each other.
There were many various considerations
taken into account when
determining hierarchy within
the status group called
the Shaikhs. There are at
least four of them:
1. affiliation with an Arab tribe.
2. descent from a person
of Arab origin who is known
to have close ties the Prophet.
3. relationship to a place
in Arabia or Persia.
4. descent from someone
who is said to have entered
South Asia along with the
early Muslim armies.
The Shaikh subgroups emphasize their
foreign origin and links
to some Islamic personage
of repute. The groups who
claim to be descended from
the Prophet's own tribe,
Quraish, are regarded as
the highest. Then follow
the descendants of first
Caliph, Abu Bakr Siddique.
Next in rank are those who
count the next two Caliphs,
Usman and Umar among their
ancestors. They are followed
by descendants of the close
friends and associates of
the Prophet. Descendants
of other Persians or Arabs
who may have come with the
Muslim armies are ranked
last.
As for the Siddiqui Shaikhs they have
only recently been recognized
as descendants of Abu Bakr.
It is claimed that their
Kayastha Hindu antecedents
are quite well established,
and their striving for recognition
as Ashraf is a phenomenon
quite well known all over
South Asia. It has been
pointed out that the circumstances
of the Siddiqui Shaikh's
conversion to Islam is not
known, but after conversion,
they were allowed to retain
their traditional occupation
as land record keepers or
clerks, a fact which is
also attested to by the
fact that the members of
the group also served as
record keepers well after
the annexation of the area
by the British.
It has been alleged that Shaikh Siddiqui
in South Asia are
predominantly converts
from the Kayastha
or Kayasth Hindu community.
They were scribes,
administrators, writers,
magistrates, judges.
lawyers, chief executive
officers and village
accountants in ancient
South Asia. Kayasthas
celebrate: Qalam and
Dawaat pooja (pen
and ink-pot worship),
a pagan ritual in
which pens, papers
and books are worshipped.
This clearly shows
that they were clerks
and official record
keepers of the kings.
Kayastha is not a caste but a culture.
It is a large family,
descendents of “Adi
Purush” Shri Chitragupta
ji, who had originated
from the body (Kaya)
of Shri Brahma for
making a balance amongst
the existing castes
(Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
Vaishyas and Shudras))
by keeping their record
of the deeds, good
and evil of the mankind
and administer justice.
Kayasthas were vegetarian and later
started eating meat
during the Muslim
period when they socially
mixed with the Muslims
during Muslim dynasties.
Kayasthas were valued
in the second millennia
by most kingdoms and
princely states as
desired citizens or
immigrants within
South Asia. They were
treated more as a
race rather than a
Hindu community because
they developed expertise
in Persian (the state
language in Islamic
South Asia), learnt
Turkish and Arabic,
economics, administration
and taxation. This
gave them an edge
over the Brahmins
(the priestly Hindu
community), who traditionally
had reserved the study
of Sanskrit shastras
to themselves. They
successfully adapted
themselves as scribes
and functionaries
under Islamic rule
and later on under
the British. Some
historians hold the
view that during the
reign of the Mughals,
a number of Hindus
who were were educated
and endowed with sharp
intellect attained
administrative positions
through rapid adaptation
to the Persian language
and culture of the
new rulers of South
Asia. These influential
Hindus got together
and formed a new community
known as Kayastha.
Their secular viewpoint
to life, adaptability
and lifestyle was
an asset which allowed
them to succeed. The
Kayastha community
also adapted to changes,
such as the advent
of the British rule
in South Asia. They
learnt English, the
more affluent ones
sent their children
to England, they became
civil servants, tax
officers, junior administrators,
teachers, legal helpers
and barristers. They
rose to the highest
positions accessible
to natives in British
South Asia.
The other very interesting observations
about the Siddiqui Shaikhs:
Convert groups to Islam
are generally characterized
as new Muslims and they
are looked down upon by
the social groups which
are known to be descendants
of foreign sources or who
have succeeded in eliminating
the stigma of recent conversion.
This gave rise to certain
differentiations in the
adjustment of the Shaikh
Siddiquis after their conversion
to Islam in the different
villages. In villages that
were largely or predominantly
Hindu, the Shaikh Siddiquis
were excluded from the framework
of interaction with the
Hindu communitys but they continued
to enjoy a somewhat superior
status as a Muslim community.
But in villages where there
were numerous other Muslim
groups of superior status,
the Shaikh Siddiquis were
not merely excluded from
the social hierarchy of
Hindu communitys, but were also
relegated to a somewhat
lower position even within
the hierarchy of Muslim
community.
The continued prestige of the Siddiqui
Shaikhs in their native
villages even after conversion
can probably be explained
by the fact that they were
already a community which
enjoyed prestige among the
Hindus. After all, they
were allowed to retain their
prestigious occupation as
land record keepers. But
in Muslim dominated villages,
the Siddiqui Shaikhs commanded
little prestige among the
Muslims, since they were
not Ashraf. This is an example
of conversion from Hinduism
which has obviously not
been motivated by a desire
to escape the disabilities
of the Hindu community system.
Page last updated:
Thursday, October
15, 2008 11:02:36
AM -0400
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