Tuesday 3 March 2009

Islam, the Caste System and Marriage

One of the things that has become apparent to me in the last few years, and reared its ugly head again very recently, is the question of caste. You may be thinking “we are Muslim’s what on earth has caste got to do with us?” South Asian Muslims, certainly Muslim’s in Pakistan and I am pretty sure in India too, have a tradition of slotting people into castes according to their family occupation.

This is mainly a result of living amongst Hindu’s and Sikh’s for so long that we have taken on their customs without question and incorporated them into our practice of Islam. One of the things that I love about Islam is the fact that it treats all men and women as equals and judges a persons value not by their tribe or nationality but by their piety. None of us need to be shackled by the position our parents were born to.

I had no idea we had a caste system until my generation started to look at marriage. One of my parent’s friends had refused the partner their daughter had chosen because he was deemed of a lower caste – one of the “kami kameen” (a derogatory word for low-class or under-class which makes my blood boil). People of these castes are usually people whose parents or grandparents family occupations were barbers (nai), shoe-menders (mauchi), tailors (darzi), weavers (casbih), or similar – basically honest working people.

I was truly amazed. That people in this day and age were still letting things like this influence their lives. Muslim’s at that. Now every time someone close to me raises the matter of marriage, the caste question is raised. Even people who should know better or are fairly religious cannot escape the tyranny of this issue for fear of losing face amongst their biradari (or extended kinship circles). I once argued with a brother-in-law about this saying it was completely wrong and he laughingly retorted “you know what we say here? Banda hai ya nai? (Are you a human or a nai?)”

One of the things that facilitated the spread of Islam within South Asia with such startling speed was its focus on equality amongst men in a place where the caste system was particularly oppressive. Whereas amongst Hindu’s, the shadow of a lower-caste person falling on a higher-caste person’s food was enough for the food to be deemed polluted and discarded, amongst these new people with their new religion were people who would share their food with anyone – even those assigned to the lowest castes and labelled dirty.

We are going to have to take steps to get over this practice. In Pakistan it is so deeply ingrained that even with people becoming more religious it would be difficult to deal with. People of “higher” castes maintain a sense of superiority because of this system and so would be more likely to hold on to it, sometimes even in ridiculous situations. Near where my parents originate from in Punjab, there were a very wealthy and prosperous clan called the Syeds (these are people in Pakistan who claim descent from our beloved Prophet (PBUH)) who cemented their power by aligning themselves with the British. My grandfather remembers them for their passion for hunting, horses, hounds and birds of prey. Wherever they turned up the people of surrounding villages were expected to care for their animals and run and fetch for them. These were people who could not feed their children properly and were feeding someone’s dogs. What they were not passionate about was education and hard work. Over the years, and especially after the British, left these qualities meant that they fell on hard times. In contrast the “lower” castes were focussing on education as a means to escape from poverty and started to travel to the big cities. This didn’t stop the Syed’s from abusing them as “upstarts” whilst they themselves sat about in the bazaars playing cards.

Here in the West though, perhaps we can overcome this. When we are marrying or arranging the marriage of our children we can endeavour to look past caste at good character. We can remind each other that Allah (SWT) does not elevate us by birth but by our deeds.

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well-acquainted. ~Al- Quran, 49:13

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over a white- except by piety and good action” ~ Bukhari Chapter 3, Book 7

30 comments:

  1. Sallam sister

    I totally agree ,it makes my blood boil and sort of breaks my muslim brotherhood spirit(u know what i mean)..My background is Indian but alhumdulillah we dont have this system but i now far too many brothers and sister who cannot get married cause of this stupid idealogy.Inshallah when my kids get married the only thing i will look at is the faith(islam)Iam a silent reader of your blog inshallah will try and comment more often.
    Wasallam
    Yasmine

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    1. I agreed, we should do this in our practical life not only commenting on blog.

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  2. I'm glad you bought this up, i was thinking about this the other day -i think it's sad how muslims still think of other muslims as inferior/superior to them. the oly thinkg counts is how a good a muslim you are

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  3. Salaam,

    I couldnt agree with you more. My family are big believers in the caste system and it infuriates me as I tell them (whenever caste is mentioned in conversation) that as muslims, we do not believe in caste- everyone is equal. It will take a lot more then a British born pakistani girl trying to change hundreds of years of thought embedded into the family. My granma, bless her, would always mention our caste when telling us how life was like for her when she was a lil girl. Its upto us to lose the caste system, keep the stories and past family members alive.

    Wasallam

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  4. Assalam-alaikam.

    Sister Yasmine,
    Jazakh'Allah for commenting,
    I agree it's up to us to make the changes.

    LSS and Anony,
    we can be the ones to make a the difference. It takes more than person, but each person makes the difference.

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  5. Having had apartheid shoved down our throats here in South Africa for hundreds of years it did become ingrained in everyone; and it is still infuriating to speak to the older muslim generation, so I feel for you as I believe the caste system is way worse :-(

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  6. Aslamu alakum sis
    nice to bringup this very important topic. Angers me much as a Indian from a low caste this is something that brought much distaste to my life. Man made classs systems to oppress the weak...........When in India once i was beackoned to the villa ofa wealthy lady ,she had familyin the Uk and justwanted to chat. When the maid girl opened the door she , i went to go in, she blocked me and toldme to wait on the door step on the side, i asked why when i had been invited? I flipped when i soon realised.........i turned on my heals and marched of shouting if she wants to see me then she can come to my hut! Thelady cameout saying sorry no ,please come in , having ago at the maid telling her in the UK they don't carry this practice, really that was a shock for me , how dare they i though! Alhamdyuillah becoming Muslimah and freeing myself from such iggorant attitudes alhamduilah.

    The ammount of times i was asked growing up what caste are you ? mum told me tell them you don't know what they mean. Then as i got older i would be cheaky and say the human kind!

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  7. Assalam-alaikam,
    It’s nice to known that most (if not all) of the Islamic youth believe in the true teaching of Quran, i.e., radical social equality. It’s due to some so called Islamic scholars that the feeling of universal Muslim brotherhood is just confined to mosques during namaz. But when it comes to marriage even most of the learned people starts looking for the caste and beradari. These so called Islamic scholars (Hey not all), who consider themselves and certain weak Hadiths above the verses of The Holy Quran that the so called caste system has been incorporated within the Muslim society of Indian subcontinent. If one is really interested in knowing how the caste system was introduced in Muslim society of Indian subcontinent than check http://www.countercurrents.org/sikand150204.htm I hope we youths will try to eliminate this un-Islamic caste system from ur society (and OUR FAMILY). We must stand for the TRUTH.

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  8. Due to casteism in Islam lower castes Muslim are leaving Islam in droves. Here in Bihar of India, 2 millions Muslims have converted to Christianity because of racism, color discrimination and casteism in Islam. The number is expected to increase in future. When I tried to post this info along with links and proofs on wikipedia, it was repeatedly deleted. Muslims are doomed because they hate themselves. When one hates itself, it becomes sick! I hate some Muslims like Sayyids and Pathans. Naxalites are already killing Ashraf Muslims and taking revenge in Bihar. talk about future of isla..huh

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    1. Anonymous23 June, 2013

      Kashif. You mention the fact that some Muslims are leaving Islam in droves and embracing Christianity. I Asian culture how does that actually help their cause, the way I understand it Christians are treated even worse. You also say you hate sayyids! If you you are a Muslim than you might like to think about this. How is the holy prophet refered to "ya sayyidi"!

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  9. "nai" "mochi" what the heck is all this crap? how does a tribal name given to a tribe tell us something about that TRIBES CHARACTER IN THE phuking year 2010?

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  10. Anonymous09 July, 2010

    I'm an Indian muslim from South Africa and the caste system here is worse than ever..especially in the smaller towns in northern KwaZulu Natal.I was literally left broken..completely depressed when my boyfriend's parents found out that I'm Urdu speaking..this is the guy whom I wanted to marry,but due to his parents strong belief in the caste system,they prevented him from havin anything to do with me.this is discrimination in the first degree.I am still deeply scarred..as muslims we are all equal.just don't understand some people..

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    1. Anonymous23 June, 2013

      I'm sorry to hear that you are scarred by the fact that you were discriminated against especially considering that Islam promotes equality BUT how does, you having a BOYFRIEND fit into Islam?

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  11. Anonymous09 July, 2010

    Imagine that..I'm hated solely because I'm urdu speaking.his parents didn't give me a chance..didn't even wish to meet me.I'm still grieving over losing him due to this injustice..I don't know what to do with myself because of the depression:(:(But I'm not giving up.his parents are wrong,naiive and outdated to believ in this nonsense cast system.they'l eventually will have to accept me,right?I can't live without my guy!

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  12. Anonymous09 July, 2010

    Slmz again..
    His parents didn't even want to get to know me..did'nt meet me.I'm stil grieving over him..in tears atm:(but I won't give up.his parents,I pray,will learn to accept me and treat me as an equal.ameen.

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  13. i agree.. the caste system is totally wrong.. im from the 'jatt' clan and the guy i want to marry isnt.. so my family are not giving me permission to marry him.. at the end of the day he's muslim and so am i.. thats all that should matter right?

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    1. Exactly I'm also in the same position as you and totally diagree with the caste system. Islam allows us to marry but it's the cultural barrier that comes in between which should not interefere at all!

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    2. This is exactly what me and my older sister are facing at the moment. we are 'jatts' which means nothing to either of us and the people we wanted to get married are not.. how does our family manage to be more considerate to other peoples feelings that ours? i mean they think that their happiness is above ours and that we get mixed up in love - but they want us to sacrifice our lives for them.. i mean its just disappointing that they do not learn from mistakes and have been caught up in the caste system where there is nothing to do with someones imaan and faith and its all about getting one up on someone else due to some social heirarchy that hardly anyone cares about.

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  14. i also agree that caste system is totally wrong.but in my city i m sirprised to hear some educated people also believe on such type of caste system

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  15. fundamentally all pakistanis are descended from hindus and sikhs and many landowners refused to leave pakistan during partition and preferred to change religion rather than lose their land. They could not fully accept islam and preferred to taint islam and make it into Sikhslam- whereby they took up and accepted the best parts of both religions. In islam it is clear cut- all men are equal and by their actions and refusal to accept this- they are destined for hellfire. Any believing muslim should throw stone these people- because they accepted islam and then try to mutate islam to suit their ancestorial beliefs.
    The Prophet fought against these people all his life- read and understand his life and then you will see descendants of Abu Sufian in their actions.
    iSLAM HAS NO NEED OF pISLAMIS- THEY HAVE NEED OF ISLAM AND URGENTLY.
    Islam is not backward but progressive and forward thinking. Remember- Islam tells us to shut shaitan and all his peoples and vassels for they would take you off the right path. belivers of the caste system are not people of the book and are closer to Satan than allah and by their hearts and actions will they be judged.
    Iqra Iqra Iqra- were the first words heard by the Prophet PBUH- not Jat Jat Jat !

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  16. Alhamdulilah! I enjoyed reading your post....
    I personally feel that the caste system will die off, InshaALLAH if the next generation make a change for the better and follow Islam according to the QURAN and SUNNAH. This would save so many from the hell fire!

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  17. Assalam-alaikam,
    thank you for all of you interesting and thought provoking comments. Personally I am still seeing a lot of of people considering caste when getting married, but more and more young people who have grown up here andknow nothing about caste defying their parents wishes on this matter (including one or two of my family members).

    Anonymous dear, May Allah (SWT) make things esaier for you an dbring peace to your heart and help you towards what is best for you insh'Allah.

    Brother Ali,
    jazakh'Allah-khairun for the link, looks interesting and I will certainly make the time to read it.

    Sister Unknown,
    Insh'Allah and ameen to your words about the coming generations following the Quran and sunnah and throwing this thing off.

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  18. Assalamu alaikum Yeah! I am an Indian! There is no justice in casteism. Casteism is total b**lsh*t. It is pissing me off! Even the educated people of modern India still practising rituals and oppresssing lower caste people. Higher People tend to become arrogant when we try to explain them. Lower caste people says we are supposed to be oppressed because we were criminal in previous birth or it is the law of 'Gods'. I fear my hatred may become reversed by 'reverse psychology'. Please pray for me!

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  19. Anonymous26 June, 2012

    Thanks for your post, and I totally agree with you that judging people on the basis of their caste or occupation is tragic. But we should realize that this happens everywhere, in every country, among members of all religions. As a non-religious person living in a western European country, I see the rich of my society living in their beautiful houses and looking down on the lower classes, for instance, the men that come to paint their beautiful houses. The painters are low-class, uneducated, not really worthy of a conversation. They are just people who come to do the work. And if the son of the rich family fell in love with the daughter of the painter, whould the rich parents approve of the wedding? Hardly..... As you can see, class discrimination happens everywhere, whether it is based on caste or not. It is so sad, and I hope that we will all someday realize (most likely long after I am gone....) that we are all TRULY equal.

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  20. Anonymous01 July, 2012

    Assalamualaikum - This blog is very interesting.i don't understand this caste system at all.i am an Indian,and the girl I wish to marry is Pakistani.we have everything in common..but because her family are great believers of the caste system..i am not good enough for her simply because I'm Indian.we both live in the UK.I am Hafiz..I graduate from my university course in 2 weeks..and i've started my new job.I feel as if I can make a start on our future together Inshallah.but because of this caste system,n her parents worry of 'izzat' and what the community are going to say.i hate it.on the Day of Judgement..Allah isn't going to separate us into our castes and nations is He?so why are we separating ourselves?it should be Muslim and proud..not Paki and proud..

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  21. ASALAM ALYKUM

    please go through my concern propoerly.

    Just want to bring to every ones notice that im in long distance relationship with a girl from last 11 years, who is a muslim as well, our relationship is no more because girl's family members are not willing to marry her to me because of my caste, which they think is inferior to their caste. Girl has left me because she can not face her family. now im collecting some material where in i can prove them that they are wrong. in order to defend themselves they always says that if caste system does not exist then why MUHAMMAD(SAW) took birth in Qurayash tribe n not in any other tribe, bcz quraysh tribe was the superior that what they say all the time. if anyone has answer about it please let me know. im in deep trouble . please help me out. my contact no as if now is 9419390724. would be great.

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  22. The reason i hate pakistan I was born in Pakistan in low caste muslim family so called high caste muslims they treat us like shit we cant even sit with them if they are sitting on chair we have to sit on ground they dont eat with us they will come to our weddings for eat but they dont go with barat nor only uneducated people do that but educated do the same I m muslim imagine if I was non muslim.so tell me how can I love my country which gave us nothing but shamfull worthles ID?

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  23. Anonymous29 June, 2014

    Only people with no Islamic knowledge or common sense judge other people based on caste. Even in this day and age marriages are based on caste aswell. it makes my blood boil soo much. If Almighty has mentioned in the Quraan that he honours people who are pious. Why the hell do these uneducated asians who seriously lack incredible amount of knowledge point fingers and judge poeple regarding caste. caste means fxxx all. Get a grip you pathetic idiots

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  24. Anonymous23 June, 2015

    Ya'Allah, may Allah swt bless all of you who are suffering due to the caste system into happy and prosperous marriages and guide your families into the true meaning of Islam and marriage. Unfortunately I too am in the middle of my parents favouring izzat and caste over my happiness. Its sad as I told my parenrs last night and my dad gave me a lecture about how we should marry within our caste and how doing this means the marriage is sucessful and blessed.. My mum on the other hand cried because she is losing her izzat and people will look down on her because i want to marry someone who is not the same caste as me. It doesnt matter what we do as children but unfortunately, may Allah guide them and remove this dunyas pretences from their hearts, it is what will lose the proper relationships children have with their parents. Caste is not an Islamic protocol and even more so is not a reason to refuse a marriage. Further, izzat is a cultural manifestation which causes prid, big egos and arrogance. This is the opposite od what a true Muslim should be as it is cultural approval prople long for, instead of Allah swt approval. May Allah swt help us all and guide those who are under these false impressions to happy relationships.

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