Caste system among South Asian Muslims

Muslim communities in South Asia have a system of social stratification[1] arising from concepts other than "pure" and "impure", which are integral to the caste system in India.[2][3] It developed as a result of relations among foreign conquerors, local upper-caste Hindus convert to Islam (ashraf, also known as tabqa-i ashrafiyya[4]) and local lower-caste converts (ajlaf), as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system by converts.[5] Non-ashrafs are backward-caste converts.[6] The concept of "pasmanda" includes ajlaf and arzal Muslims; ajlaf status is defined by descent from converts to Islam and by pesha (profession).[7] These terms are not part of the sociological vocabulary in regions such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and say little about the functioning of Muslim society.[7]

The Biradari system is social stratification in Pakistan and, to an extent, India.[8] The South Asian Muslim caste system includes hierarchical classifications of khandan (dynasty, family, or lineage).[7]

  1. ^ Pratik Patnaik (December 2, 2020). "Caste Among Indian Muslims Is a Real Issue. So Why Deny Them Reservation?". The Wire.
  2. ^ Azra Khanam 2013, pp. 120–121.
  3. ^ Webner, Pnina (2007). The Migration Process: Capital, Gifts and Offerings among British Pakistanis. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 9781472518477. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  4. ^ Julien Levesque 2020, p. 4.
  5. ^ Gautier, Laurence; Levesque, Julien (July 2020). "Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 30 (3): 383–393. doi:10.1017/S1356186320000139. ISSN 1356-1863.
  6. ^ "Ashraf: Islamic Caste Group". Britannica. 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Remy Delage 2014.
  8. ^ Mughees Ahmed (2009), "Local-bodies or local "biradari" system: An analysis of the role of burglaries in the local bodies system of Punjab" (PDF), Pakistan Journal of History and Culture, 30 (1): 81–92