THE ARAB IMMIGRANTS -A STUDY ONTHE HADRAMI DIASPORA IN MALABAR
Dr.Hussain Randathani
The term diaspora in its wider sense is defined as “ethnic minority groups of migrant origin residing and acting in host countries or regions, but maintaining strong sentimental and material links with their countries of origin”[1]. The question of identity maintenance is very debatable in contemporary literature on the Hadrami[2] diasporas around the Indian ocean because the Hadramis themselves have maintained a dual identity based on relative degree of their assimilation into the host societies and preservation of some of their cultural values and biological descent. Sayyid Farid Alatas discerns the Hadrami diaspora around the Indian Ocean as “transnational not ethnic, but was based on kinship and its locus was nasab (lineage) which formed the basis of a uniquely Hadrami type of asabiyya(family spirit)”[3]
Taking the arguments of Non-Euro-centric scholars Gwyn Campbell records that Islam helped to mould the administrative, legal, educational, and spiritual structures that underpinned the expansion of the Indian Ocean World global economy from the seventh century. While such structures were forged in the Islamic heartland (dar al-Islam), their influence spread further, carried by Muslim traders and missionaries to regions throughout the Indian Ocean world, from Indonesia to Africa. Here a number of local authorities adopted and adapted those aspects of Islam that most promoted the integration of their region into the Indian Ocean World economy.[4]. Islam could provide a unified yet flexible legal frame work for economic activity across much of the Indian Ocean World. The political decentralization, characteristics of the region favoured the spread of Islamic legal practices, especially in the largely autonomous mercantile communities that dominated the port cities, while the local authorities frequently summoned the Muslim holy men and scholars for legal advice[5]
Among the Arabs it was the Hadramis who made major step in the Indian Ocean migration which became intensive during colonial period. They as missionaries and traders were very particular in upholding Islam in all walks of life and that was the main reason for the spread of the religion as well as trade in the region. The traders not only adapted the Islamic system despite their religious differences, but also Arabic became the lingua franca of the trading communities. In 1498 when the ruler of Portugal wrote a letter to Lord Zamorin to start trade relations expelling Moors, the language he used was Arabic.[6]. The use of written Arabic, facilitated by teaching Quran, and the adoption of paper making from the end of the eighth century, greatly promoted accuracy in commercial transactions, as well as legal security.[7] The merchants and political elites often learned Arabic, in a pattern repeated elsewhere in Indian Ocean lands though Arabization did not necessarily follow conversions.
The Hadramis went through three distinct periods that shaped the role of Hadrami diaspora in Indian Ocean region; the Pre colonial, colonial and post colonial periods. The period extends from about the ninth to the nineteenth centuries. It saw a gradual increase in the number of the Hadrami migrants, who landed in the region and engaged in trade, shipping, ship building, scholarship, missionary activities, diplomacy and even local politics.[8] From the nineteenth century onwards there was a rapid growth of the Hadrami Diaspora in Malabar and South India., particularly after opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the introduction of the steam boats that facilitated shipping in the Red Sea and the India Ocean.
The harsh political and economic realities in Hadhramaut and the Islamic perception of geography, which considered the world to be a universal unit without territorial frontiers was an important drive behind migration of Hadramis. The plague and epidemics in 15th century has led to a significant migration of the Arabs to Asian and African lands.[9] During the period of recurrent droughts between the early sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries prompted a large number of Arabs to migrate to the Indian Ocean region.[10] Hadrami trader, who often like the legendary sailor Sindbad, risked his life and capital to set sail upon the sea and to go about the islands of South East Asia buying and selling that they like and love travelling and exploring.[11] Monsoon based trade in the Indian Ocean can be traced back to the third Millennium B.C. Ports on the coast of Hadhramaut and Zafar formed part of this wider trade network which expanded with the rise of Islam and the establishment of Muslim merchant communities around the Indian ocean. It is highly likely that ever since that trade existed, Hadramis joined ships heading for East Africa and the Red sea, as well as for India, but Sergeant opines that there is scant documentary evidence as to the actual occurrence and extent of migration.[12] However there exists consensus that from the 17th century onwards Hadrami sayyids started to emigrate in rapidly increasing numbers to India and other Asian and African regions with a peak in immigration in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.[13] Their movement into the Indian Ocean region was gradual, sporadic and small in scale though always significant. The historians argue that the scholars in the hour of despair lived up to its religious and social responsibility without wanting to take over political power for themselves. The standard demand of the reformers in this version was the rule of sharia. The pious hadramis found migration the only way out from the political chaos of the homeland.
The migrant hadramis engaged in trade, commerce, shipping, shipbuilding, scholarship, missionary activities, diplomacy and even local politics. This was achieved through indigenization of the migrant Arabs through marriage of native woman and adopting native culture. It is therefore not at all surprising that many of the national heroes of the region as well as local ruling houses were actually Arab in origin.[14]
The advantages of conversion to Islam by the natives of the coast were considerable. Membership of any distinct guild based on religion could be economically advantageous in terms on building bonds of mutual trust and confidence. It gave access to credit and promotion of commercial frontiers over a wide geographical area. Members of the political and mercantile classes were particularly attracted to a religion that embraced much of the Indian Ocean World and beyond, and in which commerce and Islam increasingly overlapped, due to the often close involvement of merchants in the sufi order or tariqa.[15] The converts along the coastal trade routes also took advantage of the hajj and other Islamic pilgrimages to advance their commercial interests and consolidate long distance trading contacts.[16] Often mass conversions took place due to the influence of sufis and the new converts retained indigenous languages and cultures common to their non Muslim neighbours. The migrant sufis in order to facilitate the preaching of Islam and the commercial activities created new dialects by giving Arabic scripts to the vernacular languages as the sawahili, javi, Malay and Arabic Malayalam dialects in different regions of Indian Ocean coast.[17]
Though many Hadramis established political authority in certain regions most of the Indian Ocean lands were ruled by Non Muslim rulers. Surprisingly enough, the Islamic scholars of migrant groups regarded these lands as dar al Islam of Dar al Sulh, since these non Muslim rulers were friendly to the migrants and the presence of the Muslims was beneficial to the progress of commerce. Abdu Razaq had observed in 1442 when he visited as an ambassador of Shah Rukh, the Persian king, the city of Calicut, the capital of the Hindu ruler Zamorin contained “a considerable number of Musalmans, who are constant residents and have built two mosques, in which they meet every Friday to offer up prayer. They have one kadi (qazi) a priest and for the most part, they belong to the set of Shafie (Shafi School of law)’[18]
Thus Shaikh Zainuddin, the Fifteenth century Muslim scholar of Malabar regarded the land as land of Islam, though the ruler Zamorin was a Hindu.[19] He also states that the glory of Zamorin was due to, “the blessed influence of Islam, and his love for the Muslims and respect for them, especially for those who came from far off lands.[20] Qazi Muhammed, a seventeenth century poet and scholar of Calicut praises Zamorin as the friend and protector of Islam[21] The cordial relations between the religious communities in the region stemmed from a commercial rationale, from religious tolerance and from shared linguistic and cultural traits. Here the indigenization of Islam is more evident than the other parts of the world and there existed a peaceful coexistence among various communities.
As mentioned above the ability of Hadrami expatriates to maintain a sense of identity with their homeland, while adapting to and flourishing in their countries of adoption, was the remarkable feature of the Hadrami Diaspora. They remitted money to their families in Hadhramaut, often sent their foreign-born sons there to absorb intrinsic Hadrami values and to experience the local way of life; and more often than not they aspired to retire. Many Hadrami Sayyis intermarried with their host societies and integrated so completely that after passing of a generation or two that their descendants could not be regarded as members of a diaspora.[22] Others however chose to retain their affiliation to the home land and might have returned at the end of their resembling more temporary migrants than members of an overseas diaspora. Many married descendants of other immigrants, thus creating fairly a stable community of muwalladun.[23] A number of Hadramis migrated as scholors or enrolled in foreign armies as in the case of India, while others combined trade and religious teaching.
In the centuries that followed Hadrami immigration ascribed religious status enabled them to take on more secular functions in society. By establishing hawtas (hospices) they created a ‘neutral territory’ where arbitration could take place and disputes could be settled. Some Hadrami elites even offered their collaboration and played leadng roles as intermediaries between indigenous rulers and Europeans colonizers.[24] In this way Hadrami families were able to gather a considerable following among the local population. Their spiritual influence over the local people came to be translated into some degree of political power later. This meant that the hadramis by nineteenth century held considerable leverage vs a vis the political affairs which often depended on support from leading Hadrami families.
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In sixteenth century when the Portuguese broke the peace of the Indian Ocean region, there was a setback for Arab trade. By 1515, the Portuguese had diverted about half of all spices to Europe around the Cape and continued to do so until the early 1560s. Also they attempted to regulate all other Indian Ocean maritime trade through passes and taxes.[25] After the European intrusion, though there was considerable decline in Arab trade that in no way affected the Hadrami immigration. The hadrami despite their trade misfortune turned to intensive missionary activities and most often gave leadership to the Anti colonial struggles as it happened in Indonesia and Malabar.
The notion that the Portuguese supremacy completely ruined the Arab fortunes is also not always correct. The Portuguese attacks on Muslim shipping and trading communities quickly faded as the cost of maintaining a large armed presence was very high in the face of heavy losses of ships (due to enemy attacks and storms) and men (due to shipwreck, disease and warfare. Boxer in his book estimates the losses as high as fifty percent.[26] Of the 171,000 Portuguese who left for the Indian Ocean World between 1497 and 1590, some 17,000 were lost to disease and shipwreck on the way out and 11,000 on the return trip.[27] Despite the initial onslaughts of Muslim ships and communities by the Portuguese, Muslims remained a vital military and economic force in the region. The Ottoman naval force also came to the rescue of Muslim supremacy under the Mamluk rulers of Egypt (1250-1517). As inadequate resources ensured that the European powers could dominate Indian Ocean sea lanes, indigenous merchants were able to divert traffic from the Portuguese dominated route along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean to the southern equatorial route running from Indonesia through the Maldieves and subsequently direct to Aden and the Red Sea. This ensured the continuous flow of merchandise at the face of European supremacy.[28] After their accession the Ottoman rulers also focused on the Indian Ocean world which experienced a boom in trade in seventeenth century. Safavid, Mughuls and the Deccan Muslim rulers also joined hands in the trade boom.[29] Also there was an increased demand for coffee during this speriod from the Eastern Africa when it was introduced to Turkey as a beverage. The Muslim merchants (tujjar) amassed large profits from this business.[30]. Besides when Egypt came to the Ottomans there was large scale development in Agriculture and handicrafts. This also benefitted the Muslim merchants of Indian Ocean region.
One result of the Portuguese weakness and resurgent Muslim trade was the continued expansion of Islam in Indian Ocean coast. In this expansion the Sufi orders, particularly the Ba Alawi tariqa and the Muslim traders associated with them, played a key role. All the coastal Muslims, the traders, rich and poor alike joined hands with the sufis by attaching to the orders. Besides Ba Alawis, the Qadiris, the Shadilis, the Kubrawis, the rifais and the suhrawardis had their influence on the coast. This influence was augmented by the Hadramis and other Arab migrants to the coast where they engaged in trade and preaching. Thus as Martin recorded,”….the Muslim commercial empire partly destroyed by the Portuguese after 1500was in part established by sharif (sayyid) migrants throughout the Indian Ocean and that their social and religious prestige helped them very considerably in expanding trade[31]
In the eighteenth century the flow of the Ba Alawi sayyids was increased so much so that they established family net works that spanned the Indian Ocean world. The Jamalullaili branch of Ba Alawi which had established it self in East Africa in the sixteenth century had moved to Malabar and South East Asian coast and at Ache in Indonesia where they became the rulers. From Ache the son of Sulthan Sayyid Jamal al Layl quit his home city in disgust at the excesses of court life to cross the Indian Ocean on prayer rug and so reach in Malabar[32].
Following the establishment of the British hegemony in Indian Ocean World at the end of Napolianic wars the huge commercial boom that accompanied the international level in the nineteenth century. There was a resurgence of Hadrami emigration and they established family networks that spanned the Indian Ocean World. It brought a union of south Asia and South East Asia through their trade and missionary net work.
By the nineteenth century, the Bafaqis, an offshoot of Ba Alawis migrated to Malabar who engaged in Rice trade and other British occupied countries. One sayyid Ahmad Bafaqi, a descendent of Abdullah Antasaq Idid faqih migrated to Pantalayani in Malabar and engaged in trade and missionary works. He married from the Munafar family Ba Alawis of the same place and had a son, Hashim Bafaqi continued his business in rice in India Burma and around Indian Ocean. His son Sayyid Muhammad Bafaqi, and grand son Sayyid Abdul Qadir Bafaqi expanded the business to Maldives. The trade in fish with Maldives and Sri Lanka prospered during this time. Their attempt to develop the copra (coconut) business failed and Sayyid Abdullah Bafaqi, son of Abdul Qadir became pauperized, but later they recovered and continued business in rice. Sayyid Abdu Rahman Bafaqi, son of Abdul Qadir continued the rice business in Calicut. Calicut was not behind any other place in Western Indian Ocean in export and import that ships moved between Burma, Karachi, Sri Lanka and Laccadives. When there was acute food scarcity during the II World War trade in rice was very lucrative that the Bafaqi family rose to the occasion by distributing rice to the poor and needy. The family got the government license to distribute rice to the government retail shops. In 1949 they started Bafaqi and Company at Rangoon in Burma.[33]
The nineteenth century saw the wider expansion of British power all around the Indian Ocean from Muscut to Aden, and from Malabar to Indonesia and along the Somali land and the Swahili speaking littoral to eventually incorporate Natal in Africa. Concurrent with this imperial and administrative expansion was the consolidation ties of maritime transport. With the introduction of steam ships on routes such as those connecting Bushire, Muscut and Bombay, the experience of travel itself took on new forms of stamped with the imprint of Btritish power; commentaries on such new technologies became a common feature of nineteenth century Muslim travelogues. At the same time the specific geographical connection fostered by the British Empire opened a new chapter in large scale migration in the western Indian Ocean.[34]
[1] For details ,see Gabriel Sheffer(ed.), Modern Diasporas in International Politics, London, Sydney, Croom Helm,1986,p.3. ;See Also Ho, Engseng, The Graves of Tarim : Genaeology of Mobility Across Indian Ocean , Berkley, Los Angels, London, 2006
[2] The Hadramis are the Arab migrants of Hadhramaut area of Yemen region
[3] Sayyid Farid Alatas, “”Hadhramaut and the Hadrami Diaspora ; Problems in Theoretical History, in Ulrike Freitag and Glarence-Smith (eds.) Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Satesemen in the Indian Ocean,1780- 1960s, Leiden , New York, 19-34;Brill,1997 ,pp.19-34
[4] Gwyn Campbell, Islam in Indian Ocean Africa prior to the Scramble: A New Historical Paradigm, in Edward Simpson and Kai Kresse (ed.), Struggling with History, Islam and Cosmopolitanism in the Western Indian Ocean, London, 2007, p.50
[5] Ibid., p.51
[6] From the eighth to twelfth centuries the Hispano Peninsula including Portugal was ruled by Muslims. For details of Vasco de Gama’s Voyage to Calicut, See Sanjay Subramanyan, The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama,Cambridge,1997
[7] C.H. Becker, The Fatmid city, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, C.D.Rome edition, Vol.1.0. Leiden
[8] Ahamed Ibrahim Abushoukh & Hassan Ahmad Ibrahim, The Hadrami Diaspora in South East Asia: Identity Maintenance or Assimilation, Leiden, 2009, p.3
[9] M.W.Dols, The Black Death in the Middle East, Princetone, 1977, p. 311.
[10] D. Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 114-5
[11] Ulrike Freitag, W.G.Clarence –Smith, Hadrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in Indian Ocean,1752-1960s, Leiden,1997,p. 46
[12] Hadrami Net work . p 147,qf., Ulrike Freitag, W.G.Clarence –Smith,op.cit.,p.46
[13] Ibid., p. 50
[14] See, www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/baAlawi.shtml (Maldives Maldivian Royal Searches Yemeni Roots, Part Two.
[15] Gwyn Campbell, opp.cit., p. 52
[16] N.Ahmad, Muslim Contribution in Geography, Lahore, 1947, pp. 8-9
[17] O.S.A Ismail, The Historiographical Tradition of African Islam, in P.E.Mveng and T.Ranger(ed), Emerging Themes of African History, London, 1968,p.11
[18] K.P Padmanabha Menon, A History of Kerala, Cochin, Ernakulam, Vol. 1.1924, p.538
[19] Shaikh Zainuddin Makhdum, Tuhfat al Mujahidin, (Eng.Tnas.), Muhammad Husyn Nainan, Madras, 1945, p.15.
[20] Ibid., p.41.
[21] Qazi Muhammad, Fath al Mubin, Mal.trans., T.Aziz Moulawi, Kozhikode,1992, p.13
[22] Ulrike Freitag, op.cit., p.7
[23] Engseng Ho, The Graves of Tarim: Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian Ocean ,University of California Press, 2006, p.7
[24] Ahamed Ibrahim Abushoukh & Hassan Ahmad Ibrahim, op.cit.,p.8
[25] Pearson, The Indian Ocean, Routeledege, London, 2003, p.121
[26] C.R.Boxer, Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion 1415-1825, A Succinct Survey, Johannesburg, 1968, p.20
[27] Pearson,op.cit., p.138.
[28] Edward Simpson and Kai Kresse, op.cit., p. 71.
[29] Ibid., p.72
[30] Pearson, op.cit., p.132
[31] B.G.Martin, Muslim Brotherhood in Nineteenth Century Africa, Cambridge, 1976, p.279
[32] S.F.Dale, The Hadrami Diaspora in South Western India, The Rle of Sayyids of Malabar Coast, in U Freitag, and W.G.Clarence-Smith (ed.)Hadrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750-1960, op.cit.,p.182
[33] M.C.Ibrahim, Sayyid Abdu Rahman Bafaqi Tangal, Thiruvanathapuram, 2994, pp.16-27
[34] Nile Green “Saints, Rebels and Book Sellers: Sufis in the Cosmopolitan Western Indian Ocean ca 1780-1920, Edward Simpson, Kai Kresse,(ed),Struggling with history, op.cit., p.129
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