A study on caste system in context of Muslims
Anshuman Kumar[1], Kishuk Goyal[2], Gaurav Singh[3]
1
Senior undergraduate, Chemical engineering Department, IIT Delhi, anshuman053@gmail.com
2
Senior undergraduate, Chemical engineering department, IIT Delhi, goyal95.k@gmail.com
3
Senior undergraduate, Chemical engineering department, IIT Delhi, grvsingh64@gmail.com
Abstract
The Islamic Ideology is against the Caste or Stratification system but we found that the
classification of different caste which shows the deviation from early Ideology. The reason of
stratification is different in different region and the differences created in earlier times have been
carried and caused the division of different classes. The Islam dispersed in the country by the help
of invaders, saints and traders. Indigenous people were converted but they retained some of their
old traits and the degree of mutual acceptance that varies across India introduced some division
and differences in classes of Muslims in India. Further the caste system as a result of status
formation is seen. The relationship between different castes and dynamic status system of castes
especially in urban India with the help of case study of Hyderabad is illustrated. The idea of
collective identity and the symbolic identity is discussed with the influence of modernization on
boding of individuals with their castes.
Keywords: Caste, Islam, Hinduism, religion, sociology
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Introduction
The word ‘Caste’ or ‘Caste System’ originated from Hindu mythology. It was only the Hindu
religion in which the caste system was elaborately scripted. Caste is a ‘hierarchy of
endogamous group’ organized that were characterize by their different occupation. Here we
have tried to question the basic things as ‘In spite of having egalitarian ideology there is
existence of caste like system in Islam?’, ‘Why there is variation in the caste system across the
country?’, ‘ Influences of Hinduism and different factors’ and finally we have seen the present
scenario by looking the case of urban region. We have explained how the Caste have originated
and then how it was scattered across the country and then what factors have affected it and the
present reforms or mind set of urban Muslims in India.
Existence of caste
Conventionally, Islam primarily follows Quran and sources like the sayings and doings of the
Prophet Mohammad, are taken as secondary. According to Quranic rules, Islam is free from any
type of social stratification and it is evident from the following quote from Quran:
“O mankind! We (God) created you from a single pair of male and female; and make
you into peoples and tribes with each other. Verily the most honored in the sight of God is the
most righteous among you” (The Quran XLIX: 13)
According to Islamic belief, the theories of human origin which render all claims to superiority,
not only based on race and color but also on region and language, are irrelevant and
unacceptable. The supreme goal of mankind is his service to God and whatever distinctive
features in human groupings are evident, have been interpreted as collective endeavors for the
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attainment of that goal. If person excels over another person then it can only be in terms of his
service to the Supreme Lord.
The Arab society was influenced by Islam. An example of no social stratification can be seen at
the most important place of worship, Kaaba. It was not only approachable to all Muslims but its
service functionaries could belong to any racial or other social categories. This shows that the
Arab society did not constitute an elaborate system of social stratification. The broad picture of
Arab society that emerges was one of a number of groups of various nature arranged horizontally
and not in any vertical order.
Considering that Quran comprises many prescriptions which were imposed rather than to
describe existing social realities, one might argue that the verse was revealed because elaborate
basis of social stratification existed in Arab society and its purpose was to undermine and
discourage that system. Therefore, nothing much can be said about the existence of social
stratification in Islam just by looking at The Quran.
Origin of caste
Arab was a desert society. There was no division of the society. But when Islam brought about
the consolidation of Arab society and infused a high degree of political organization into it,
social stratification was bound to develop.
After the tragedy of assassination of Ali, the Islamic Republic virtually came to an end.
Thereafter Arabs moved into other areas and came into contact with Iranians, North Africans and
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Spaniards, which already had an elaborate system of social stratification. In these societies Islam
was forced to come to terms with social stratification which also influenced the Arabs.
As Arabs conquered other lands like in India, a sense of superiority came which caused a vertical
hierarchical division vis-à-vis the conquering Arabs and the Indian Muslims. Indian Muslims
were the Muslims who were converted to the Islamic faith in course of time from other religions.
In general the main division among Muslims in India was between the two strata, the ‘Ashraf’
(immigrant Muslims) and the ‘Ajlaf’ (local coverts from the lower echelons of Hindu society).
This distinction between the immigrant Muslims and the local converts was also seen in terms of
purity of blood, the immigrant Muslims being the pure blood. There are many examples of this
discrimination. The Indian Muslims were removed from every higher post as they were not of
pure blood. If there was any doubt on the origin of a person special genealogists were gathered to
disclose the person’s origin.
Spread of Islam in India
The Muslims of India are mixture of indigenous people of Indo-Pak subcontinent, Muslim
invaders, conqueror and various immigrants who came to the subcontinent for various purposes
as traders, saints or rulers. Only one thing was common among all, except local people of the
subcontinent, that all are foreigners. In India they came either from the Arabian Sea (western part
of India) or from the North. From the Arabian Sea, traders and merchants arrived while invaders
or conquerors from the north side. The foreign blood was regarded as “ASHRAF” means pure
and the indigenous people who got converted were known as “AJLAF” or non-pure. The Ajlaf’s
inherited some of their old traditional traits and cultures. The reason of spread of Islam in India
are:4
a) The lower caste of Hindus are not treated well and feel isolated from the mainstream.
b) There was a concept in Islam which tells that everyone is equal in the eyes of God which
attracted many lower caste groups.
c) Due to absence of social stratification in early times there was a mutual acceptance in
between Islam and people from other religion.
Regional Variation of Caste among Muslims in India
The stratification of Muslims was affected by the pattern of spreading, extent of adjustment with
other civilizations, occupational wise and various other parameters. The study of caste or tribes
of Muslims in India was last studied by the census in 1931 after that no detailed study was
attempted. But by the effort of many scholars and organization when a detailed study was done
on Muslims of India they found that not only there was stratification of caste but also the
interesting variation of caste like system regionally. The variation of them is shown below:-
Ashraf- Sub caste
Elevated to Ashraf with
Ajlaf- Occupation
sub caste
and Sub caste
1. North- West Region(Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab and Haryana)
Syed
Rajput
Jaat
Dhobi
Sheikh
Malik
Kalal
Darzi
Mughal
Awan
Kumhar
Pathan
Chaudhary
Tarkhan
2. Western Region(Rajasthan, Gujrat and M.P)
Syed
Bohras
Meos
Pinjara
Sheikh
Khojas
Sonar
Lohar
Mughal
Memons
Kurmi
Manihar
Pathan
Besati
3. Northern Region(Bihar, U.P, Orissa, Assam, W. Bengal, Delhi area)
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Syed- Hashmi,Jafri,Naqvi
Rajputs- Bhatti
Bhand
Sheikh-Faruqi,Khurasani
Besan
Bhishti
Mughal-Tagiq, Temuri
Gautam
Halwai
Pathan- Afridi, Lodhi
Tomar
patua
4. Southern Region( Maharastra, Karnatka, Kerla and Tamil Nadu)
Syed
Pusalars
Arabis
Osans
Pathan
Baids
Pasha
Mogla
Table1-Regional Variations of caste
(Source:-GeoJournal, Vol.5, Some Regional Characteristic Of Muslim Caste in India by S.Shami Ahmed and A.K. Chakravarti)
The most studied among them are the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh and there we see the dominance
of Persians. There they were divided in three distinction as Priests, Nobility and Commoners.
There was a very different custom in the Southern region that is the caste distinction was based
on matrilineal lineage and according to linguistic and ethnic groups.
Influence of Hinduism on Muslims of India
When the foreigners came they converted the indigenous people. As majority of the people in
Indian subcontinent were Hindus, Hinduism affected the Muslim caste structure across India.
The converts were affected by the local community and also some maintained their old rituals
and cultures. The Arabs landed on western part of India settled by marring local Hindu women
which results into the mutual acceptance between the Arabs and converted ones.
The lower caste of Hindus were feeling isolated from the main stream due to complex caste
system in Hindu religion and this became the reason for their conversion to Muslim religion. But
there was a remaining inclination towards Hindus, for example, 1. The ‘Baids’ of Andhra
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Pradesh are Muslim by religion and they celebrate all Muslim festivals but also celebrate many
Hindu customs and festivals and some even hang the picture of Hindu Gods. Some even recite
holy books of Hindus which are against Muslim code of conduct. 2. The ‘Meos’ of Gujarat after
conversion did not consume non-vegetarian diet. There are various similar examples across the
country which justify the acculturation between Muslims and different community.These
variations are related to any direct or indirect acculturation process between Hindu and Muslim
caste systems in different parts of India.
Relationship between different castes in urban India
Now we are trying to find the relationship of caste system among the urban Muslims in India, i.e.
what are the key differences between the higher class and the lower class and what it means to be
a member of the particular class, in their own view and as well as in the view of others. We will
also observe the control of caste groups on the individuals and how it is going to influence their
decisions regarding the marriage, occupation, education. We will try to find out the influence of
Hindu caste system upon the Muslim caste system, similarities and the differences between them
as well as we will try to see whether this influence is different depending upon the type of caste of
Muslims. We will try to analyze the shift in the nature of occupation for different castes and will
see the effect of modernization on the working nature of the caste system. The origin and the
evolvement of castes will be discussed along with the question that whether this system came to
India along with Invaders or it was mainly created here because of the converts from Hindus having
different caste status originally. We will also discuss the bonding of individuals with their caste
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believes in view of modernization and the differences between the idea of the collective and
elective ethnicity.
While analyzing the nature and the strength of ethnic ties it was seen that
the history of immigration is quite an important factor. As the immigrated people spend more time
in the country it is more likely that they have weakened ties with coethnics and the bond is more
like kind of symbolic. New economic conditions and social environment decide the salient feature
of the ethnic networks. But it is also seen that the nature of ties sometime vary independent of the
history of migration so there must be some other factors. So in order to reach to the root we must
look into the boundaries of the ethnic identity produced over the time and space as a result of
interactional, historical, economic and political circumstances. We have to understand that the
caste is not something that a group of people decide and try to follow it rather it is actually a two
way process consisting of the ascription and self-ascription and the nature between both is such
that self is mostly defined in opposition of the others. Ethnicity is not only variable in terms of
features but it differs on the basis of process of formation, some are the product of the constructive
idea of ethnicity where a collective identity is formed and there is this destructive idea of symbolic
ethnicity where the caste as a collective group hardly matters. Before understanding the relation
between caste and ethnicity for Muslims an insight into Hindu caste system and it’s relation with
Muslim castes should be discussed.
Hindu population is actually divided into four ranked categories called
varnas – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Though these are ideal categories it is seen
that there are thousands of the castes among the India and it can be said that the there are thousands
of the caste system which vary place to place. Caste groups try to maintain or improve their
condition in the hierarchical system, and they do this by following the norms decided for each
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caste group to follow which shows that they are concerned about the purity of their caste. In Caste
among Muslims by Syed Ali it’s written that ‘Weber sees caste as extreme form of ethnicity, and
both caste and ethnicity as type of status formation’. So basically whether it is ethnic groups which
are at the same level or the castes which occur vertically status is important. But the idea of status
in urban India is taking a different shape, there actually vertically placed castes are transforming
into horizontally placed different ethnic groups. And the reason behind is the competition among
them to gain the economic and political power. There is one more change and that can be called
as “Change for good” is becoming more and more important which is called “Symbolic ethnicity”.
Where the choice of individual is not affected by his caste, and though he continues to be of a
particular caste his individual identity is more important and the status he gains in term of
economic condition and education is preferred over his caste status. Now the question arises why
the individual identity is becoming more and more important and the answer lies in the simple fact
that when the group identity is not giving benefits to the individuals it begin to diminish. So as
long as someone is having some kind of benefits they continue to be in that group for e.g. low class
ethnics are seen to have more tightly bounded with their group identity as this benefits them in the
form of political and psychological defense against injustice done by higher class, and they also
get some benefits by the government to improve their status. It is also seen that the higher caste
sees all the lower castes as a single group even when there are differences among them and some
hierarchy may be present. So how can we explain the process of status formation via social change
among caste groups and individuals?
Sanskritization is the process in which lower caste people try to follow the
lifestyle and habits of higher caste people so that they can be placed at improved position in the
cast hierarchy. Westernization is the changes brought in the Indian society as a whole due to the
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influence of the Europe in technology, education, ideology, income etc. While Sanskritization only
helps for status mobility Westernization actually also changes the definition of the status making
the ascribed status insignificant in comparison to the individually achieved status. Talking about
the division in Islam as caste, it seem strange because Islam is an egalitarian religion. Muslim
castes may or may not be arranged in hierarchical manner in contrast to Hindu system and also the
caste system is not the main mediator among Muslims. Caste system does not regulate religious
activities and rituals that much as in Hindus. Some people say that the caste among Muslims is not
that much elaborated and the sense of purity and pollution is not there, occupational specialization
is also not developed and restrictions on food exchange is also not there. Any Muslim despite of
the caste can enter the mosque but that is not the case with all the Hindus. So to understand the
effect of Sanskritization and Westernization on caste system of the Muslims and to find the truth
of above claims and also to find the status formation mechanisms among Muslims we are going to
present the case study on Muslims of Hyderabad which will reflect the condition in India. We will
also be checking the relation of caste with occupation and what the self-ascription is of high and
low castes.
Case Study of Caste among Muslims in Hyderabad
The city of Hyderabad was the capital of princely state until 1947 when government of India
forcibly included the state into the republic of India. Muslims constitute almost the 39 % of the
total population of the Hyderabad and it has one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in urban
India. Muslims account for more than 50 % of the population of the Old City. Muslim Castes fall
generally into two categories 
Higher castes – Syed, Sheikh, Pathan, Mughal
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
Lower castes - Qureshi, Ladaf
The high castes claim origin from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan or central Asia while the low
caste Muslims are assumed to be converts from low caste Hindu people. But at the same time it is
seen that the number of Sheikhs are high which indicate that many of them are Hindu converts and
by the passage of the time they used Sanskritization to raise their status to Sheikhs. Qureshi and
Ladaf are the main low cast groups present there. One important thing to note down is that caste
does not determine the status of any group always though it does most of the time. For e.g.Chawsh
though are not lower caste they are seen as uncivil or zahil as they used to work in the force of the
Nizam earlier. Now we are going to discuss caste as collective and symbolic identityCaste as collective – caste as a collective is maintained mainly through the regulation of the
marriage strategies. In general it is seen that though most of the marriages take place within the
caste but the marriage of the higher caste male with the lower caste female is allowed but not the
higher caste woman to the lower caste male. When caste act as collective it acts as a group where
the group has power to control over the individuals and individuals are responsible for the groups.
In Hyderabad two such groups are present – Qureshi and Medhavi Pathans.
Qureshi – Qureshi are occupationally concentrated as Butchers and this can be seen as their
defining identity. So even if someone is not butcher but his name has Qureshi he will be assumed
as butcher. They trace their roots to the Arab tribe Quresh. There are actually two types of butchers
buffalo butchers and goat butchers and so there are two types of Qureshi, and they do not
intermarry with each other as goat butchers feel themselves superior to other ones. This can be
seen as a typical example of status formation among castes, butchers are considered to be uncivil
by other castes and even in the butchers there are two types and one thinks of other as inferior.
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They also have a Qureshi organization which helps in schooling of children and provide other
benefits. We can see why the identity of group is strong among them is that they get a lot of benefits
from the group so getting out of it to form one’s own identity is a tough choice. Blood purity is
very important to them and they consider partners among the caste only, they have a sense of honor
for this. But very few exceptions are also there showing that the economic condition and the
occupation is more important criterion or we can say that the more there is education and better
economic condition they tend to take independent decision. Though the tendency of Qureshi to
move out from their family business is slow but now it’s becoming more popular owing to the
presence of Westernization i.e. improved technical and economic conditions as well as education.
Medhavi Pathans – These include two castes- Syed’s and Pathans, though most of the Medhvis
are Pathans. Religion is the central theme of their caste. They actually came to India during the
1540-45. They are not very strict about the marriage. There are different tribal lineages of Pathans
but they are not ranked. Before the independence most of them worked in the Nizam’s forces but
after the independence many of them became unemployed and it was very tough for them to get
jobs though some of them settled easily as they held high ranks in the Nizam’s forces and were
able to shift more easily. They put emphasis on liberal and technical education and business and
they have diversified their occupations many of them shifting to USA for work. But the strange
example of status formation is seen here as despite of the fact that Medhavi Pathans are
educationally and economically more advanced than the others, other Muslims still consider them
as rough and uncivil as Pathans worked in the Army and so others don’t prefer to marry to them.
So we can see that despite doing so much well economically they still behave collectively and not
symbolically this due to the fact that others consider them zahil and mixing with them is not
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considered good and that’s why the boundary is still there. They also have some religious
differences and that’s why their collectivity is maintained.
Caste as elective – Collective caste system is not seen among the higher castes such as Syed,
Sheikh or Mughal. There are no such formal or even informal groups who try to control the
individual. They just show symbolic caste which means that they continue to belong from a
particular caste but this does not affect their life in political or economic way. And it can be seen
that for higher caste people income, education and occupation becomes the primary parameters of
marriage above of the caste. They consider the caste for marriage consideration but it does not
matter as long as the difference between caste statuses is not large. For e.g. Sheikhs, Mughals and
Pathans said that they generally don’t have any problem in marriages with each other but they
can’t do it with Syed’s as according to them Syed’s are much higher than them in the caste system
as they are considered to be the direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad. So it is fine to marry
a Syed boy to lower caste girl but not for lower caste boy to marry a Syed girl. But many of the
higher caste people think that caste does not matter at all for them the amount of dowry is more
important. The youth of upper caste does not know about their origin and glorifying stories of their
caste, they know very little about what it means to be of a particular caste. And this practice of
Symbolic caste is followed by most of the people in Hyderabad so we can say that in urban India
caste status among Muslims is diminishing and the modern parameters like education , money,
occupation are becoming more and more important.
Conclusion
According to Islamic Texts social stratification doesn’t exist in Islam. But some kind of division
does exist in the practical life in their society. It can’t be proved that these division can be called
caste but these division does have most of the attributes of class stratification such as endogamy,
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occupational specialization and hierarchical gradation of status group. Across India there are
various caste systems that are present. The Muslims caste system acts well without any internal
conflicts in a predominantly Hindu society.There are various places and customs that shows the
Hindu customs or rituals used by Muslims which shows the process of acculturation.The extent or
degree of acculturation varies from region to region. For example, the North has more differences
and have a detailed caste ranking than South, and the ramifications of Ashraf and Ajlaf are more
in evidence in the north than the south. The characteristics of Baids and Meos Muslim shows that
whenever the Muslim group feels isolated and alone it loses it faith from Islam and inclined toward
the Hindu customs and rituals. In Muslims the Inter Caste marriage is prohibited and even after
having of economical similarity it is generally avoided. The extent of disapproval had extended
even up to Ostracism. But in the modern times in urban areas Inter-Caste marriage is observed and
that shows that these days’ people are not that much rigid for caste but have shifted their focus to
economic development and education.
When we analyzed the ethnic ties with the passage of the time we see that the bondage between
the co ethnic ties which were original in the immigrants weakens with the passage of the time and
the new relations develop which are influenced by new economic and political conditions. The
fight for the status is always there when there are immigrants and the local people and this leads
to the formation of different groups placed vertically or horizontally. We see that in the case of the
Muslims of India the caste system came due to original differences of immigrants and due to the
differences between the converts. It was seen that the immigrants were considered to be of high
caste and converts mostly from lower service class were declared lower. It was seen that the cast
was more important for the lower caste people as for them being in a caste brings certain
advantages in the form of the collective groups but they have to follow the norms which they think
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is an honor for them. For higher caste people there are no such groups to support them and in fact
they don’t need it as they are economically and educationally stable. Lower caste people stick to
their norms to show that they are concerned about the purity so that their relative status is
improved. Further the effect of modernization on castes is seen and it was concluded that among
the youth the caste system is becoming insignificant, they are not much aware of their caste history
and for them it’s just their name and not something that they should be proud of. Marriage is
important parameter to define the caste boundaries and it is seen that now a days parameters like
education, occupation, money and other earned status are becoming more important.
References
1. Social Structure, Ideology and Language: Caste among Muslims byPervaiz Nazir ;Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 52 (Dec. 25, 1993), pp. 2897-2900.
2. Collective and Elective Ethnicity: Caste among Urban Muslims in India by Syed Ali;
Sociological Forum, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Dec., 2002), pp. 593-620.
3. Some Regional Characteristics of Muslim Caste Systems in India by S. Shamim Ahmad and
A. K. Chakravarti; Geo Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, Southern Asia — Geography of Contrast (1981),
pp. 55-60Published.
4. Islam, Social Stratification and Empowerment of Muslim OBCs by Sayyed Zainuddin;
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 46 (Nov. 15-21, 2003), pp. 4898-4901.
5. Islam And Caste Inequality Among Indian Muslims By Yoginder Sikand at countercurrents.org
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