Mythologies of the Muhajir People

The Muhajir people (also spelled Mahajir and Mohajir) (Urdu: مہاجر, lit. 'Immigrant') are Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the Partition of India to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other parts of urban Sindh. The Muhajir community also includes stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who migrated to Pakistan after 1971 following the secession of East Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War. The total population of the Muhajir people worldwide is estimated to be around 15 million, and the overwhelming majority of this figure (14.7 million) is located in Pakistan, according to the 2017 Pakistani census. The official census of Karachi, which has historically hosted the country's largest Muhajir population, has been challenged by most of Sindh's political parties. Some independent organizations have estimated that the Muhajirs number around 30 million people.

Muhajir History or History of Muhajirs refers to the history and origins of the Muhajir people in Pakistan. Most Muhajirs migrated from what is now Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, and West Bengal and that results in close ties between the ethnic groups and histories. Hominin expansion from Africa is estimated to have reached the Indian subcontinent approximately two million years ago, and possibly as early as 2.2 million years before the present. But anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. These were the ancestors of most South Asian ethnic groups including Muhajirs. Muhajirs are sometimes called ''the grandchildren of Mughals''. Most of the Muhajir culture is derived from the Mughal culture, especially the cuisine. Many Muhajirs are descendants of Mughals. The development of Urdu, the most famous Muhajir language, as a common language of communication for people speaking different dialects is considered the greatest contribution in the field of literature during the Mughal rule. Mughals especially the later kings have the most vital role in the development and evolution of the Urdu language. They patronized literary men and created an enabling environment for the development of Urdu.

Muhajir, Muslim person, usually Urdu-speaking, who either migrated during the partition of India in 1947 to territory that would become Pakistan or is descended from such migrants. Those who migrated were predominantly from Uttar Pradesh, the Delhi area, and Bihar and primarily settled in urban centers in Sindh province, especially the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad. Hundreds of thousands, mostly from Bihar, settled in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), but only a fraction remained there as Bangladeshi citizens after the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971). The term muhājir means “migrant” in Urdu and carries a certain religious significance. The word comes ultimately from Arabic and is used in the Qurʾān to refer to the earliest followers of the Prophet Muhammad, who migrated (622 CE) from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) upon invitation in order to escape persecution (see Hijrah). After arriving, Muhammad negotiated the Constitution of Medina with the local clans and thereby established the first Islamic sociopolitical entity in history. The event marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The term draws parallels between that historic event and the muhajirs’ plight. When the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament in July 1947, millions of Muslims were hastily relocated to the territories the act had defined as belonging to Pakistan (which had been conceived as a state for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent). Muslim migrants who spoke Punjabi or Bengali largely moved to the large Punjabi- and Bengali-speaking regions of the new country, while many of the other Muslim migrants, who had in common their knowledge of Urdu, settled in Sindhi-speaking areas in West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and Bengali-speaking areas in East Pakistan. Due in part to the privileged status of the Urdu language in the newly created Pakistan, along with muhajirs’ high level of education and skill relative to the country’s general population, the muhajirs had a significant influence on the formation of the new Muslim state and its public policy. Although muhajirs tended to be socially liberal, they promoted the cultivation of a national Pakistani identity that was united by a common faith: Islam. Such a national identity was inclusive of muhajirs, who did not typically belong to the Punjabi, Pashtun, Sindhi, Baloch, or Bengali ethnolinguistic groups that made up the vast majority of Pakistanis. They therefore backed religious parties in the first several decades following Pakistan’s independence.

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. 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

The Mohajirs (Urdu-speakers) of Pakistan are largely settled in the Sindh province. In the province’s capital, Karachi (that is also Pakistan’s largest city), the Mohajirs have for long been a majority. Unlike the country’s other major ethnic groups, Mohajirs are not ‘people of the soil’. Their roots lie in areas that are outside of what today is Pakistan. A majority of them began arriving from cities and towns (especially from North Indian regions) after the division of India into two separate states in 1947. They mostly settled in Karachi and soon became a part of the otherwise Punjabi-dominated ruling elite of the new-born country due to the high rates of education found in the Mohajir community, its urbane tenor and the required expertise it possessed in running Pakistan’s nascent bureaucracy and economy. Socially, the Mohajirs were urbane and liberal. But politically they sided with the country’s two major religious parties: the (then middle-class-oriented) Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), and the more petty-bourgeois and populist Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP). The dichotomy between the Mohajirs’ social and political dispositions was a result of the sense of insecurity that the community felt in a country where the majority of its inhabitants were ‘natives.’

Muhajir (also known as Urdu-speaking people) (Urdu: مهاجر) is a term used by and for those people of Pakistan who are predominantly native Urdu speaking Muslims of British India, migrated to Pakistan following independence in 1947. Sometimes, the term is used broadly to also include Muslim Biharis (whose mother tongue is not Urdu but one of the Bihari languages such as Magahi, Bhojpuri, Maithili) and Muslim Gujaratis (whose mother tongue is Gujarati) who also speak Urdu beside their mother tongue. Thus, the terms 'Muhajir' or 'Urdu-speaking' do not exactly define an ethnic group as such, since many of these people came from diverse ethnicities as they migrated from various parts of Northern and Central South Asia at independence. The Muhajirs are a multi-ethnic community who are partly descended from Arabs, Persians, Afghans and Turks. The Muslims of Middle East and Central Asia have historically, travelled to South Asia as technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire and settled permanently. Most Muhajirs have converted to Islam during the Muslim rule of South Asia under the influence of Sufis. It is estimated that around 30 to 35% of Muhajirs are of Pashtun heritage. The Muhajir community also includes peoples of Punjabi heritage. In broader terms, it also includes Memons, Bohras and Ismailis that spoke Gujarati, Kutchi and Memoni languages and are now assimilating into Muhajir community. The Bengali and Rohingya refugees in Karachi are also assimilating into Muhajir community. The uniting factors of Muhajirs are Islam and Urdu language. In Arabic, Muhajir refers to a person who has performed a Hijrat, meaning migration. There were other migrants into Pakistan like the Punjabi people (from East Punjab) but they did not need a separate new identity as these people already formed a large part of the population of the territory that became Pakistan at the time of independence.

A muhajir, denoting a person who migrates from one place to another, is the name given specifically to Meccan Muslims, who were forced by the unbearable increase of torment and oppression to leave to Medina. The Muhajirun had left Medina, relinquishing all what they had behind except for the meager amount they could carry. The idolaters had immediately pounced on and seized their possessions in Mecca. The financial loss of the Muslims was indeed huge. But neither did they have their sights set on wealth, nor were they after any worldly gain; they had tasted the sweet zest of faith too much for that. Thus they were more than ready to sacrifice all of what they had in the way of Allah, glory unto Him. They considered an imperative command even the slightest wish of the Blessed Prophet -upon him blessings and peace-, constantly ready to be at his disposal, wholeheartedly putting their hands up with the words “may our parents be ransomed for you, Messenger of Allah”, which only echoed their feelings of devotion deep inside. One of the most striking examples of this state of mind is provided by Suhayb ibn Sinan, better known as Suhayb ar-Rumi -Allah be well-pleased with him-, who revealed where he kept his wealth hidden in Mecca, just to get away from the idolaters trying to prevent him from embarking on the Hegira. Having already been on the receiving end of the worst kinds of torment inflicted by the idolaters, Suhayb -Allah be well-pleased with him- set out to migrate to Medina right after Ali -Allah be well-pleased with him-, only to be thwarted by a group of Meccans who caught up with him on the way.

Mahajirs/Mohajir/Muhajir (مہاجر‎) constitute about 8 percent of the population. They are Muslims who settled in Pakistan after the end of British India in 1947. Unlike other cultural ethnic groups of Pakistan, they do not have a tribe-based cultural identity. Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, is their native tongue, though many muhajirs speak other languages such as Gujarati, Memoni, Marwari etc as their mother tongue. Mohajirs were the vanguard of the Pakistan Movement, which advocated the partition of British India in order to create the independent nation of Pakistan for Indian Muslims. After the partition, a large number of Muslims migrated from various urban centers of India to live in the new nation of Pakistan. These migrants later identified themselves as mohajirs. A large number of Mohajirs settled in the cities of Sindh Province, particularly Karāchi and Hyderābād. Today they remain mostly urban.

The Muhajir (Urdu: مہاجر‎, also spelled Mahajir and Mohajir) are Muslim immigrants, of multi-ethnic origin, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the Partition of India to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan . The term Muhajirs refers to those Muslim migrants from India who mostly settled in urban Sindh. The Urdu term muhājir (Urdu: مہاجر‎) comes from the Arabic muhājir (Arabic: مهاجر), meaning an "immigrant", and the term is associated in early Islamic history to the migration of Muslims. After the independence of Pakistan, a significant number of Muslims emigrated or were out-migrated from the territory that became the Dominion of India and later the Republic of India. In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the two newly formed states. In the riots which preceded the partition in the Punjab region, between 200,000 and 2,000,000 people were killed in the retributive genocide. UNHCR estimates 14 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were displaced during the partition; it was the largest mass migration in human history.

Mohajirs (مہاجر) constitute about 8 percent of the population. They are Muslims who settled in Pakistan after the partition of British India in 1947. Unlike other cultural ethnic groups of Pakistan, they do not have a tribe-based cultural identity. They are the only people in the country for whom Urdu, the official language, is their native tongue. Mohajirs were the vanguard of the Pakistan Movement, which advocated the partition of British India in order to create the independent nation of Pakistan for Indian Muslims. After the partition, a large number of Muslims migrated from various urban centers of India to live in the new nation of Pakistan. These migrants later identified themselves as mohajirs. A large number of Mohajirs settled in the cities of Sind Province, particularly Karāchi and Hyderābād. They were better educated than most indigenous Pakistanis and assumed positions of leadership in business, finance, and administration. Today they remain mostly urban.