Caste system amongst non-Hindus in India

by Guest Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:44 pm

At the top of the hierarchy are the Ashrafs (nobles), of Arab, Persian, Turkish or Afghan origin, who lay claim to a prestigious lineage that can sometimes be traced back to the Prophet (in the case of Sayyids) or his tribe (in the case of Qureshis) [7], and recognized as such by society. The Shaikhs (descendants of the Prophet’s companions), Pathans (descendants of migrants from Afghanistan), and even Mughals (originating in Central Asia and Iran) can also be included in this group. Many Ashrafs are either ulamas in the case of the Sayyids, or else landowners, merchants or business people. One’s birth group constitutes a major criterion for defining social status, and the distinction between Arabs and non-Arabs remains fundamental; scholars from the Hanafi school of jurisprudence followed by the Shafi’i school [8], approved this principle of differentiation between groups at the turn of the 20th century.

At the middle level, Ajlafs (low-born) represent the masses, whose status is defined by both their profession (pesha) – unlike the Ashrafs – and their identity as descendents of converts to Islam. Many castes of intermediate status fall into this category, such as farmers, traders and weavers (Ansari and Julaha). The latter category is often mentioned in recent textual sources legitimizing the Muslim social order, particularly those written by doctors of the law or theologians (ulemas) who usually belong to the Sayyid caste, or else it is used pejoratively in daily life to indicate the entire Ajlaf caste. Among the social elite, many Ashrafs – still today in rural areas – even believe that this category is not part of the Indian Muslim community (millat) and should remain outside of any emancipation process.

At the bottom of the social scale come the Arzals (vile, vulgar), in other words a group comprising non-Untouchables and converted “Untouchables” who, as in Hinduism, practise supposedly impure trades. This was the case of slaughterers, laundrymen (Dhobi), barbers (Nai, Hajjam), tanners (Chamar) and so on. It is important to highlight the fact that, like the Hindu caste society, relations between Muslim social groups are governed by a series of social taboos (sharing a table, marriage, sociability) and spatial restrictions (access to domestic areas and places of prayer, segregation in cemeteries and neighbourhoods). However, these taboos, which aim to distance the high castes from the low, are not based on the notion of ritual contamination in the strictest sense by which it is defined in Hinduism. [9] They are relaxed considerably in urban areas.

http://www.booksandideas.net/Muslim-Castes-in-India.html

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Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_among_Indian_Christians