Muhajir Urdu

Information about Muhajir Urdu

See Muhajir page for all Muhajir groups in the world
Muhajirs
Total population
13.2 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Australia, United Arab Emirates, United States, Canada
Languages
Urdu
Religions
Islam (a Sunni majority and a Shia minority)
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples Punjabis, Memons, Gujaratis, Pashtuns, Sindhis
Muhajir or Mohajir (Urdu: مہاجر) is a term widely used to describe the Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after the independence of Pakistan. This terms is also adopted by some of their descendants living in Pakistan. The majority of the population prefers the term Urdu-speakers instead of Muhajirs to describe themselves. As there were no native Urdu speakers in the areas that became Pakistan, they are broadly defined as people whose first language was Urdu and whose ancestors migrated from India at the time of partition or shortly after that event.

Origin and meaning

Enlarge picture
Photo of a railway station in Pakistan during the Partition of India. Many people abandoned their fixed assets and left for the country of their choice.
Muhajir is an Arabic word, widely used in the Muslim world that refers to someone who has emigrated from one place to another. Originally, it referred to the early Muslims, companions of Prophet Muhammad, who emigrated with him from Makkah to Medina in the wake of the Hijra, as opposed to the Ansar, or Madinan Muslims of the time. (See Muhajirun.)

Historical background

Muhajirs are the descendants of Muslims who migrated to India from other parts of the Muslim world as well as converts from the native Indian population. They were living as a minority in provinces of India before partition. Many Arab, Afghan, Turkish Muslim scholars and saints also migrated to India to convert the local population to Islam. Their origins were from Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The surnames of some urdu speakers such as Ghauri, Bukhari, Gilani, Sherwani etc. suggest the names of their ancestral cities. The Mughals, whose dynasty had lasted 300 years, had ruled India from Delhi, but after the death of Aurangzeb, the empire slowly collapsed, the Punjab and the Frontier provinces were ruled by Sikhs while Marhattas were ruling large parts of central India. The former former United Provinces of Agra and Awadh and Hyderabad were ruled by Muslims until the war of independence in 1857. The remains of Awadh (Lucknow empire)and Delhi (present day Uttar Pradesh) had a very significant influence on the creation of Pakistan and its culture. The Urdu language was mostly developed in Delhi and the UP regions, in addition to Hyderabad Deccan. The famous poet Mir Taqi Mir was born in Lucknow in the early 18th century. The Muslim League was headquartered in Lucknow before partition and it was founded by nawabs of UP and Hyderabad. Aligarh University which provided roots to Pakistan movement was in Aligarh, U.P. Liaquat Ali Khan and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan were born in Karnal and Delhi respectively. Sir Muhammad Allama Iqbal who composed poetry in Persian and Urdu was known as the greatest poet of his time and also known as for his poetry in modern era of today. Iqbal used his poetry to inspire the creation of Pakistan as an Independent state for the Muslims of India. His poetry work was mostly written in Persian instead of Urdu. One of the reasons for the creation of the Muslim league was due to people who held heritage of Muslim rule were afraid that their heritage will be destroyed by Hindu majority. Urdu speakers take great pride that Urdu was developed mostly by their ancestors which was once called as language of the army and was used by Persian and Turkish speaking Muslim soldiers. The Persian language deeply influenced and played an important role in the formation of Urdu. Muhammad Iqbal and many other Muslim poets used Persian poetry to get the attention of the Muslims people in order to convey them their message.It is also important to know that despite a strong heavy influence of Persian language on Urdu linguistically did not classify Urdu as an Iranian language. The Persian language is regarded as the mother language of Urdu.

Muhajirs in Bangladesh

Main article: Biharis
See also:


In addition to the above population, an estimated 600,000 Urdu speaking Muhajirs that had origins in Bihar prior to partition. They were unfortunate victims of the Pakistani civil war of 1971 and live in 64 refugee camps throughout Bangladesh.Also there are some Bangladeshi Muslims who are still settled in Karachi Pakistan and are referred as Urdu Speaking community.

Culture

Muhajirs are inheritors of the great Muslim cultural heritage of India. Their culture has traits of Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Marwad as well as culture of Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh.

Political ideology

Muhajirs hold opinions ranging from conservative to liberal. Most tend to be secular and support ideals of Western democracy. Most Muhajirs held comfortable vocations in British India.

Intermarriages

After the partition in 1947 there have been many intermarriages that took place between Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pashtun, Bengali and Persian/Urdu speaking communities which is the reason that its hard to identify native Urdu speaking communities in Pakistan,except for the province of Sindh, where the Urdu speaking people have hardly integrated with the local Sindhis . Many Urdu speaking communities are so much merged with the Punjabi, Pashtun and Kashmiri communities that they do not identify them as Urdu speaking at all. The second and third generations of these Pakistanis identify themselves as native Pakistanis instead of any specific communities. However, intermarriages between Shia and Sunni Muslims remains very rare in Pakistan.

Language

The original language of the Mughals had been Turkish, but after their arrival in India, they came to adopt Persian and later Urdu. The word Urdu is believed to be derived from the Turkish word 'Hordu', which means army. This word was later anglicised as 'Horde'. Urdu, though of Indian origin, came to be heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic. urdu speakers have been speaking this language as their Mother tongue for several centuries. Urdu has been the medium of the literature, history and journalism of South Asian Muslims during the last 200 years. Most of the work was complemented by ancestors of present Punjabis and native Urdu speakers in India. Persian language which had its roots during the time of Moguls was then replaced later by Moguls like Shah Jahan who adopted Urdu instead of Persian. But Persian language still remembered in the minds of the Muslims as it contains an important history of the Muslim Mogul Empire. Though Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and every Pakistani speaks and understands Urdu very well. Bollywood the Indian film industry is believed to be another reason that Urdu is still alive in India.

Punjabi Community's Dedication to the Urdu Language

The Punjabi community in Pakistan have done a lot of work in the emergence of Urdu language. Punjabi native speakers earlier used to speak Hindi Punjabi before the partition in 1947 but after the partition they adopted Urdu as their mother tongue and started speaking Urdu based Punjabi, which is spoken in Pakistan. That is one of the reason Punjabi community find itself more close to Urdu language than any other community in Pakistan. Also many poets such as Zafar Iqbal, Sir Mohammed Iqbal and Ahmad Faraz contributed their efforts for the Urdu language.

Patriotism

Many Urdu speaking or other Muhajir communities still do not identify themselves as native Urdu speaking community due to their true loyalty for Pakistan. They consider themselves as Pakistani first then identify which province they belong to. Patriotism is the reason that binds all Pakistanis together who feel proud of being Pakistani. President General Musharraf is known example of a devoted Pakistani who played a major role after the 9/11 attacks when Pakistan came under serious war crisis with the United States. Doctor Abdul Qayyum Khan is another example of true patriotism.

Lifestyle

The lifestyle plays a very important between the communities . Pakistan is a Muslim country therefore all Pakistanis share a common Islamic lifestyle together which binds all Muslims together. Islamic culture is also followed the same in all the Muslim countries. After the partition when Muslims migrated to Pakistan they brought different values with them that varied from region to region they migrated from. The urban lifestyle was mostly coloured by the people who migrated to Pakistan after the partition in the major cities of Pakistan, as they originally immigrated from mostly urban centres of India before the independence of Pakistan. They have literally developed the Pakistani social and cultural values.

Discrimination

The term "Muhajir" refers to the immigrants of Pakistan who migrated to Pakistan after the partition in 1947. Therefore it represents all Muhajir communities together such as Punjabi community, Pastun Community, Persian or Urdu community, Kashmiri community equally. Therefore referring only one community with term "Muhajir" will cause major discrimination for the other communities who also migrated to Pakistan after partition.

Tamil Community in Pakistan

Few Tamil speaking Pakistanis also refer themselves as Urdu speaking Pakistanis even though their native language was Tamil.

Cuisine

Muslims who migrated to Pakistan brought with them one of the most exquisite culinary traditions in South Asia. Many popular foods of South Asia are still famously known due to that. They invented hundreds of exquisite recipes, especially under the patronage of Nawabs of U.P and Hyderabad State before partition. When some of them migrated to urban areas of Pakistan, they carried these rich cuisines with them. Some of the most famous dishes are such as "Shami Kebab", "Biryani", "Qorma", "Nihari","Kheer","Haleem","Halwajat", Bahari Kabab", Nargisi Koftay", "Pati wala Paan" and hundreds of other dishes. Qorma was actually pronounced as Korma is known as the ancient Persian dish from the time of the Muslim Mogul Empire. Today, many observers have said that the open discrimination against Muhajirs has considerably been reduced, although the quota system is still applied. This was helped by the fact that some of the top Pakistani figures are of muhajir descent, including people of the performing arts and sports. It is also believed that discrimination against muhajirs has reduced or even vanished in some areas as current President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, and the Governor of Sindh are both Muhajirs. In addition to that, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which was once a Muhajir political party, is running the city district government of the city of Karachi and is publicly allied to the central government in Islamabad. Another reason why discrimination has been reduced, is that many Muhajirs have intermarried with the other ethnic groups of Pakistan.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Muhajirs only constituted 7% of the Pakistani population but formed a large part of its bureaucracy due its higher educational levels and support provided by federal government. This created resentment in other linguistic and ethnic groups of Pakistan. The Pakistani government tried to create a balance by introducing job quotas in bureaucracy and educational institutions to help other ethnic and linguistic groups to get their fair representation comparable to their share in the Pakistani population. This affirmative action by the government of Pakistan was resented by the Muhajirs who preferred qualification and merit as the only criteria for jobs and admission into universities.

Pashtun Killers Episode

During the 1964 Presidential Elections, clashes broke out between Urdu speakers and Pashtuns and Punjabis in Karachi, as they were in favour of Fatima Jinnah. It is the fact that President General Ayub Khan supported them, with his own family members taking part in it His son Gohar Ayub is reported to personally fired at people during a victory procession at Liaquatabad. Ayub Khan felt that Muhajir Urdu speaking Muslims were less patriotic than Pastuns and Punjabis.A Shuhuda-i-Urdu mosque was erected in memory of the martyrs at Liaquatabad in Karachi.

1972 Language Riots

In 1972, ethnic riots broke out between Muhajirs and native Sindhis in Urban areas of Sindh. Muhajirs suffered heavily and Sindhis drove them out of their lands from rural areas of Sindh.

Massacre of Aligarh

On December 15, 1986, a group of armed pushtoon/ANP Workers attacked the Aligarh, Orangi and Qasba colonies and adjacent areas of Karachi and killed innocent people, burnt shops and houses. Some buses and shops of innocent Muhajirs and Pushtoons were burnt and a number of them were attacked the next day, in revenge riots. A total of 150 people were killed in the riots. [1]

Mutahida Quami Movement

The MQM party, which sought to bring political representation to the Urdu speaking Muhajir community, was formed by Altaf Hussain in 1985. The Muhajir term that was used earlier to represent MQM was later changed to the word "Mutahida" Qauami Movement. The Pakistani government still does not recognize any "Muhajir" ethnic group, although MQM is a strong political party in Pakistan.

The MQM party currently holds a very strong footing in Karachi and urban Sindh ( Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas & Nawabshah). Now the MQM is making inroads into the Northern Areas including Azad Kashmir, and it is an area where the Awami National Party has been the traditional stronghold. It is also active abroad, most notably in the UK, the US, and Canada, where there is a significant diaspora of Pakistani muhajirs.

Arab Muhajirs

Arab Muhajirs were those people who came from Palestine, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan etc. They were the religious Muslim scholars who settled in South Asia to spread Islam. Many Muslim families in Pakistan belong to these Arab Muslims. These Arab Muslims were not related to the Urdu speaking Moguls. Many Pakistani Muslims still use their Arabic family names that refers to the Arab tribes located in the Middle Eastern countries. The generations of these Arab Muslims are called Arab Muhajirs not Urdu speaking Muhajirs. Even though many "Sheikhs" in Pakistan still speak Urdu quite fluently.

Well-known Muhajirs born in India prior to 1947 partition

See main article for complete list: Famous Muhajirs

Politics

Judiciary

Diplomats

Bankers

  • Agha Hasan Abedi (Founder, BCCI)
  • Ishrat Husain (Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan)
  • Zahid Hussain (Founder Governor, State Bank of Pakistan)
  • Imtiaz Alam Hanafi (Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan)
  • Saeeda Khalid

Industrialists/Entrepreneurs

Religious Scholars

Educationists

Scientists

Sports Celebrities

Actors

Art and literature

Performing art and media

See also

References

Notes

1. ^ taken from cia world fact book figures based upon the 1998 census of pakistan

External links

Muhajir or Mohajir (Arabic: مهاجر) is an Arabic word meaning refugee or immigrant or emigrant. The Islamic calendar Hejira starts when Muhammad and his companions left Mecca for Madina in what is known as Hijra.
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Motto
اتحاد، تنظيم، يقين محکم
Ittehad, Tanzim, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam   (Urdu)
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Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Sunnism or as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic:
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Punjabi people (Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, پنجابی, also Panjabi people) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from South Asia.
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Memon (Gujarati: મેમણ; Sindhi: ميمڻ; Hindi: मेमन; Urdu:
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Writing system: Urdu alphabet (Nasta'liq script) 
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Ittehad, Tanzim, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam   (Urdu)
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Muhajir or Mohajir (Arabic: مهاجر) is an Arabic word meaning refugee or immigrant or emigrant. The Islamic calendar Hejira starts when Muhammad and his companions left Mecca for Madina in what is known as Hijra.
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The Hijra (هِجْرَة), or withdrawal, is the emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word in the Latin alphabet are Hijrah, or Hegira in Latin.
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