Muhajir culture

Muhajir culture (Urdu: مہاجر ثقافت) is the culture of the various Muslims of different ethnicities who migrated mainly from North India (after the partition of British India and subsequent establishment of the Dominion of Pakistan) in 1947 generally to Karachi, the federal capital of Pakistan and before 1947 Karachi is the capital of Sindh. They consist of various ethnicities and linguistic groups. The Muhajirs are mainly concentrated in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Cultural History

Early history of the Muhajir community

Delhi Sultanate reached its zenith under the Turko-Indian Tughlaq dynasty.

The roots of Muhajirs lie with Muslim migration and settlement in various parts of especially modern Gujarat, East Punjab, Bihar, Rajesthan and Uttar Pradesh. The conversion of natives to Islam and the migration of Muslims from the Muslim World coalesced to form the Urdu Muslim community which was referred to as Hindustani Musalmans, East Punjab. Early settlement of Northern Muslims was due to the migrations and then establishment of Turkish Sultanate. In medieval times, the term Hindustani Musalman was applied to those Muslims who were either converts to Islam or whose ancestors migrated and settled in Delhi Sultanate. These Hindustani Musalmans did not form a single community, as they were divided by ethnic, linguistic and economic differences. Often these early settlers lived in fortified towns, known as Qasbahs. With the rise of the barbaric Mongols hordes under Genghis Khan which committed massacres and genocides in Central Asia and Middle East, there was an influx of Muslim refugees into the Delhi Sultanate, many of whom settled in the provincial qasbas, bringing with them an Arabo-Persianized culture. Many of these early settlers are the ancestors of the Sayyid and Shaikh communities. In these qasbas, over time a number of cultural norms arose, which still typify many North Indian Muslim traditions. The Turkish Sultans of Delhi and their Mughal successors patronized the émigré Muslim culture: Islamic jurists of the Sunni Hanafi school, Persian literati who were Shia Ithnā‘ashariyyah and Sufis of several orders, including the Chishti, Qadiri and Naqshbandi. These Sufi orders were particularly important in converting Hindus to Islam.

Since the time of the Muslim conquests, the eastern region of the Indus river has been referred to as Hind and later Hindustan. For example, the army of Ghiyas ud din Balban was referred to as "Hindustani" troops, who were attacked by the "Hindus". This was continued by the Mughal Empire, where Muslim Indians were referred to as Hindustanis, while non-Muslim Indians were referred to as Hindus.

Millions of natives converted to Islam during the Muslim rule. Lodi dynasty was dominated by the Pashtuns soldiers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan who settled in the northern India. After the Battle of Panipat (1526) Mughal Emperor Babur defeated the Lodi dynasty with Tajik, Chagatai and Uzbek soldiers and nobility. These Central Asian Turk soldiers and nobles were awarded estates and they settled with their families in the northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to the form Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.

The Barha Sayyid tribe of Indian Muslims of the Doab, due to their reputation for bravery, traditionally composed the vanguard of the Mughal imperial armies, to which they held the hereditary right in every battle. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Barhas became kingmakers in the Mughal empire under Qutub-ul-Mulk and Ihtisham-ul-Mulk, creating and deposing Mughal emperors at will.

The Rohilla leader Daud Khan was awarded the Katehar (later called Rohilkhand) region in the then northern India by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (ruled 1658-1707) to suppress the Rajput uprisings, which had afflicted this region. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun tribes (Yusafzai, Ghori, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Durrani, Tareen, Kakar, Naghar, Afridi and Khattak) were hired by Mughals to provide soldiers to the Mughal armies. Their performance was appreciated by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns were recruited from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and were given respected positions in Mughal Army. Nearly all of Pashtuns settled in the Katehar region and also brought their families from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. In 1739, a new wave of Pashtuns settled increasing their population to over 1,000,000. After the Third Battle of Panipat fought in 1761 between the Ahmad Shah Durrani and Maratha Empire thousands of Muslim Pashtun, Punjabi and Baloch soldiers settled in the northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to the form the Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.

It is estimated that about 30% of Urdu speakers are of Pashtun origin. The provinces such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had significant population of Pashtuns. These Pashtuns over the years lost their language Pashto and culture and adopted Urdu as their first language. Sub-groups also includes the Hyderabadi Muslims, Memon Muslims, Bihari Muslims etc. who keep many of their unique cultural traditions. Muslims from what are now the states of Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Later history of Muhajir community

When the Mughal Empire disintegrated, their territory remained confined to the Doab region of and Delhi. Other areas of today's Northern India (Uttar Pradesh or U.P.) were now ruled by different rulers: Oudh was ruled by the Shia Nawabs of Oudh, Rohilkhand by the Rohillas, Bundelkhand by the Marathas and Benaras by its own king, while Nepal controlled Kumaon-Garhwal as a part of Greater Nepal. The state's capital city of Lucknow was established by the Muslim Nawabs of Oudh in the 18th century. It became an important centre of Muslim culture, and the centre for the development of Urdu literature.

By the early 19th Century, the British had established their control over what is now Uttar Pradesh. This led to an end of almost eight centuries of Muslim rule over Uttar Pradesh. The British rulers created a class of feudal landowners who were generally referred to as zamindars, and in Awadh as taluqdars. Many of these large landowners provided patronage to the arts, and funded many of the early Muslim educational institutions. A major educational institution was the Aligarh Muslim University, which gave its name to the Aligarh movement. Under the guidance of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the Urdu speaking Muslim elite sought to retain their position of political and administrative importance by reconciling their Mughal and Islamic culture with English education. A somewhat different educational movement was led by the Ulema of Deoband, who founded a religious school or Dar-ul-Uloom designed to revitalize Islamic learning. The aim of the Deobandis, as the movement became known as was to purge the Muslims of all strata of traditions and customs that were claimed to be Hindu.

The role of Urdu language played an important role in the development of Muslim self-consciousness in the early twentieth century. Urdu speaking Muslims set up Anjumans or associations for the protection and promotion of Urdu. These early Muslim associations formed the nucleus of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1905. Many of the leaders belonged to the Ashraf category. Urdu speaking Muslims formed the core of the movement for a separate Muslim state, later known as Pakistan. The eventual effect of this movement led to the Pakistan Movement, and independence of Pakistan. This led to an exodus of many Muslim professionals to Pakistan, and the division of the Urdu speaking Muslims, with the formation of the Muhajir ethnic group of Pakistan. The role of the Aligarh Muslim University was extremely important in the creation of Pakistan.

Modern history of the Muhajir community

The independence of Pakistan in 1947 saw the settlement of Muslim from India especially from the part of Punjab that became a state of India following the end of the British Raj. The Muslim migrants left behind all their land and properties in India when they migrated and some were partly compensated by properties left by Hindus that fled from Pakistan to India to escape the communal violence.

Muhajir culture is the culture of Muslim nation that migrated mainly from North India after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 generally to Karachi. The Muhajir culture refers to the Pakistani variation of Indo-Islamic culture and part of the Culture of Karachi city in Pakistan.

Cuisine

Main article: Muhajir cuisine

Hyderabadi biryani

Muhajir cuisine refers to the cuisine of the muhajir people and is covered under both Indian and Pakistani cuisines. Muhajirs, after arriving in Karachi, have revived their old culture, including numerous desserts, savory dishes, and beverages. The Mughal and Indo-Iranian heritage played an influential role in the making of their cuisine and therefore Muhajir cuisine tends to use royal cuisine specific to the old royal dynasties of now defunct states in ancient India. While less known dishes include Korma, kofta, Seekh kebab, Nihari, Haleem, Nargisi Koftay, Roghani Naan, naan, Sheer khurma, and Tea.

Traditional dress

Further information: Kurta, Pajamas, and Sari

The traditional clothing of Muhajirs is the traditional clothing worn by Muslims in North India, and it has both Muslim and South Asian influences. Both Muslim men and women wear the shalwar kameez as a daily dress, and kurta, pyjama and brightly-coloured waistcoats for special occasions. Other traditional dresses for muhajirs include the sherwani, which is believed to have been introduced to Pakistan by Muhajirs, sari, which is an un-stitched stretch of woven fabric arranged over the body like a robe and Gharara which originated from the Nawabs' attempt to imitate the British evening gown.

Literature and poetry

Main articles: Urdu literature and Urdu poetry

The majority of Muhajirs speak Urdu as their native tongue, therefore most poets and writers write in Urdu. Urdu literature, is composed of oral and written scripts and texts in the Urdu language in the form of poetry such as, Ghazals and Nazms and prose such as, dastans. There is a very rich tradition of Urdu literature and poetry running through the history of Muhajir culture. Poetry is the most important part of Urdu literature, and due to this Urdu is widely perceived as a language of poetry. Many aspects of Urdu poetry such as mushaira, a poetic symposium in which ghazals are recited, are considered some of the most important aspects of muhajir culture.

Urdu literature originated some time around the 14th century in present-day North India among the sophisticated gentry of the courts. The continuing traditions of Islam and patronisations of foreign culture centuries earlier by Muslim rulers, usually of Turkic or Afghan descent, marked their influence on the Urdu language given that both cultural heritages were strongly present throughout Urdu-speaking territory. Urdu's poetry took its final shape in the 17th century when it was declared the official language of the court, while literary prose started with the penning of Sabras in the year 1635 — in Deccan, by Mulla Asadullah Wajhi on the orders of Abdullah Qutb Shah.

Urdu literature heavily influenced the muhajir identity, but in turn was influenced by it. In the 1930s, Urdu press emerged as a strong antithesis to the anti-Muslim League political discourse. Urdu press emboldened young and educated Muslims of northern India to resist colonial oppression and question Congress’s dual policy of supporting secularism and opposing democratic autonomy to Muslim-majority areas. Zafar Ali Khan declared Pakistan "a homeland for Urdu journalism," and later encouraged muslims to migrate there. Migration, displacement, nostalgia, homecoming, and reclamation were introduced to Urdu literature after 1947 and they constitute the themes of most Urdu literature written since the early 1960s.

Festivals

A Muhajir Cultural Day rally outside Mazar-e-Quaid, Karachi

Festivals celebrated by Muhajirs include religious, political, ethnic, and national festivals. Islamic festivals which are celebrated by Muhajirs include Eid-al-Fitr celebrated to mark the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan, Eid-al-Adha to honour the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail) as an act of obedience to God's command, and Ashoura to mourn the death of Husayn ibn Ali and celebrate the day of salvation for Moses and the Israelites from Biblical Egypt. Political celebrations include MQM Founding Day celebrated to mark the founding of the first Muhajir nationalist party Muttahida Qaumi Movement, believed to be the architect of Muhajir identity, and APMSO Founding Day celebrated to mark the founding of the first Muhajir nationalist student union All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization. Muhajirs celebrate Muhajir Cultural Day as an ethnic and cultural festival. To celebrate this day, rallies depart from all areas of Karachi to Mazar-e-Quaid, and political parties and civil society organisations set up their camps to welcome participants in the rally and to express solidarity.

See also

• Muhajir people