Memons in South Africa

Last updated

Memons in South Africa form a prosperous Muslim subgroup in that country's Indian community and are largely descended from Memons from Kathiawar who immigrated from India in the late 19th century/early 20th century. [1] Villages and towns that South African Memons originated from include Porbander, Bhanvad, Ranavav and Jodiya.

Memons were converted to Islam by the aulad of Hadrath Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, around 700 families, in the 15th century. Memons played a major role in the promotion of Islam in South Africa, and there have been rivalries for the management of local mosques between Memons and Surtis, who are Gujarati-speaking Sunni Muslims. [2] This is primarily due to the different 'Maslak' (path) tablighis mainly Surti, and Sufi who are mainly Memon although they are far less prominent than they were in the past.[ citation needed ]

Although the Memoni language (called the Memon language in South Africa) is not widely spoken by younger Memons in South Africa, South African Memons continue to maintain a strong (although slowly eroding) Memon identity. Already, few younger Memons are aware of the towns where their ancestors came from.[ citation needed ] Although the early Memons practiced endogamy (marrying within their social group, including ancestral village), intermarriage between Memon groups and other Sunni Muslims is now widely accepted, mirroring a similar integration among Gujarati Hindu groups from Surat and Shauarashtra. [3]

Memon organisations in South Africa include the Memon Association of South Africa (formerly the 'Memon Association of the Transvaal'), the Southern African Memon Foundation and the Natal Memon Jamaat. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslims</span> Adherents of Islam

Muslims are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous revelations, such as the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injeel (Gospel). These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad (sunnah) as recorded in traditional accounts (hadith).

The Memon are a Muslim community in Gujarat India, and Sindh, Pakistan, the majority of whom follow the Hanafi fiqh of Sunni Islam. They are divided into different groups based on their origins: Kathiawari Memons, Kutchi Memons and Bantva Memons from the Kathiawar, Kutch and Bantva regions of Gujarat respectively, and Sindhi Memons from Sindh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khoja</span> Nizari Ismaili Shia Islamic community in India

The Khoja are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people from the western Indian subcontinent. Khojas predominantly reside in India, Pakistan and eastern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Ghana</span> Religion in Ghana

Islam was the first Abrahamic monotheistic religion to arrive in Ghana. Today, it is the second most widely professed religion in the country behind Christianity. Its presence in Ghana dates back to the 10th century. According to the Ghana Statistical Service's Population and Housing census (2021), the percentage of Muslims in Ghana is about 20%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Sri Lanka</span> History of Islam in Sri Lanka

Islam is the third largest religion in Sri Lanka, with about 9.7 percent of the total population following the religion. About 1.9 million Sri Lankans adhere to Islam as per the Sri Lanka census of 2012. The majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka are concentrated in the Eastern Province of the island. Other areas containing significant Muslim minorities include the Western, Northwestern, North Central, Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Muslims form a large segment of the urban population of Sri Lanka and are mostly concentrated in major cities and large towns in Sri Lanka, like Colombo. Most Sri Lankan Muslims primarily speak Tamil, though it is not uncommon for Sri Lankan Muslims to be fluent in Sinhalese. The Sri Lankan Malays speak the Sri Lankan Malay creole language in addition to Sinhalese and Tamil.

Islam is the majority and state religion in Algeria. The vast majority of citizens are Sunni Muslims belonging to Maliki school of jurisprudence, with a minority of Ibadi Muslims, most of whom live in the M'zab Valley region. Islam provides the society with its central social and cultural identity and gives most individuals their basic ethical and attitudinal orientation. Orthodox observance of the faith is much less widespread and steadfast than is identification with Islam. There are also Sufi philosophies which arose as a reaction to theoretical perspectives of some scholars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memoni language</span> Indo-Aryan language

Memoni is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Kathiawari Memons, from the Kathiawar region of Gujarat, India. Memon from Okha Port, Kutch and some other communities from Kathiawad also use Memoni at their homes.

Lohana are a trading or mercantile jāti mostly in India and also in Pakistan.

Indians in Réunion are people of Indian origin in Réunion. They form two ethnic groups on the island, Malbars (Tamils) and Zarabes (Muslims).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Kerala</span> Overview of Islam in the Indian state of Kerala

Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam-speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants. The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.

The Gujarati people, or Gujaratis, are an Indian ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to a region of the Indian subcontinent primarily centered in the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indian language. While Gujaratis mainly inhabit Gujarat, they have a diaspora worldwide. Gujaratis in India and the diaspora are prominent entrepreneurs and industrialists and maintain high social capital. Many notable independence activists were Gujarati, including Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Vallabhbhai Patel.

Sunni Vohras or Sunni Bohras, are a community from the state of Gujarat in India. Sharing the same name as the Dawoodi Bohras, they are often confused with that community. A few families use the slightly different spelling of "Vora" or "Vahora" as their surname. Another common surname is Patel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian South Africans</span> South Africans descended from British Indian indentured labourers, read as slaves, and migrants

Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the largest ethnically Indian-populated cities outside of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of the Arab world</span>

The Arab world consists of 22 states. As of 2021, the combined population of all the Arab states was around 475 million people.

The term Gujarati Muslim is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the state of Gujarat in western coast of India. Most Gujarati Muslims have the Gujarati language as their mother tongue, but some communities have Urdu as their mother tongue. The majority of Gujarati Muslims are Sunni, with a minority of Shi'ite groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim Romani people</span> Ethnic group

Muslim Romani people are people who are ethnically Roma and profess Islam. There are many different Roma groups and subgroups that predominantly practice Islam, as well as individual Romani people from other subethnic groups who have accepted Islam. Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non-Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the largest Arlije and Gurbeti Muslim Roma settlement in Europe in Šuto Orizari, locally called Shutka in North Macedonia have their own Romani Imam and the Muslim Roma in Šuto Orizari use the Quran in Balkan Romani language. Many Romanlar in Turkey, are members of the Hindiler Tekkesi a Qadiriyya-Tariqa, founded in 1738 by the Indian Muslim Sheykh Seyfullah Efendi El Hindi in Selamsız. Roma Muslims in Turkey and the Balkans are mostly cultural Muslims or nominal Muslims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digor people</span> Ossetian subgroup

The Digor or Digor people are a subgroup of the Ossetians (Alans). They speak the Digor dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language, which in USSR was considered a separate language until 1937. Starting from 1932 it is considered just a dialect of Ossetian language. The speakers of the other dialect - Iron - do not understand Digor, although the Digor usually understand Iron, as it was the official language of the Ossetian people and officially taught in schools. In the 2002 Russian Census 607 Digors were registered, but in the 2010 Russian Census their number was only 223. It was estimated that there are 100,000 speakers of the dialect, most of whom declared themselves Ossetians. The Digor mainly live in Digorsky, Irafsky, Mozdoksky districts and Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia–Alania, also in Kabardino-Balkaria, Turkey and Syria.

African-American Muslims, also colloquially known as Black Muslims, are an African American religious minority. African American Muslims account for over 20% of American Muslims. They represent one of the larger minority Muslim populations of the United States as there is no ethnic group that makes up the majority of American Muslims. They are represented in Sunni and Shia denominations as well as smaller sects, such as the Nation of Islam. The history of African-American Muslims is related to African-American history in general, and goes back to the Revolutionary and Antebellum eras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Mauritius</span>

Mauritius is a religiously diverse nation, with Hinduism being the most widely professed faith. According to the 2011 census made by Statistics Mauritius, Hinduism is the major religion at 48.54%, followed by Christianity at 32.71%, followed by Islam 17.30% and Buddhism 0.18% in terms of number of adherents.

Muhajir culture is the culture of the various Muslims of different ethnicities who migrated mainly from North India 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.

References

  1. McGilvray, Dennis B. (2016-11-03), "Rethinking Muslim Identity in Sri Lanka", Buddhist Extremists and Muslim Minorities, Oxford University Press, pp. 54–77, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190624378.003.0003, ISBN   978-0-19-062437-8 , retrieved 2022-05-26
  2. Roberts, Mary Lucy (1999). Immigrant Language Maintenance and Shift in the Gujarati, Dutch and Samoan Communities of Wellington (Thesis). Victoria University of Wellington Library. doi: 10.26686/wgtn.16970086 .
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-09-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)