Tribes With Arabic Heritage
Due to the long history of Arab contact with the Indus region in Pakistan, there are now a substantial number of Pakistanis who claim Arabic origin, descent and heritage. A sizeable population of the eight million Muhajirs who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 from India also claim to have Arab ancestral root. Found among the Muhajirs, are the Iraqi biradri, who claim to have originally come from Iraq.
In Punjab, there are numerous tribes who have Arab ancestry, such as the Siddiqui, Salara, Awans, the Khagga, the Dhund Abbasi, the Dhanyal, the Hans, the Hashmi (Nekokara), the Kahut and the Bodla.
The Dhond Abbasi of Murree and Kalhora of Sindh claim direct descent of Abbas ibn Abd Al-Mutalib paternal uncle and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The Thaheem of Sindh and Punjab claim descent from the Banu Tameem of Arabia
The 'Poswal'. The word "Poswal" is derived from the Arabic word "Boswal", which literally means "one who asks questions", but it has been pronounced as Poswal for many centuries in South Asia. Poswals are a branch of the main Gujjar Tribe, which spans across India (Gujarat), Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Poswals actually used to live in Arabia until Islam spread across Persia and South Asia. The first contingent of Poswals arrived in South Asia with the Forces of Muhammad bin Qasim when he invaded sindh in 712 A.D.Even before Poswals arrived, hundreds of thousands of Gujjars were living across the subcontinent though no Poswals were residing there at that time. Today, many Poswals may be found in the Punjab and NWFP provinces of Modern Pakistan, in Uttar Pradesh of India and in modern Saudi Arabia. However, the word Poswal doesn't exist in Arabic, as this language does not support the /p/ sound; consequently, many Poswal Arabs are Boswal, or they have adopted the name of their great great ancestor as their subtribe and trace there decendence back to Sahabi-e-Rasool Hazrat Wahi Kalbi R.A who was from the Arab tribe of Banu Kalb.
The Mashwani and Kakakhel tribes among the Pashtuns also claims to be of Arab heritage. Though this is most likely a show of being ill-informed on their part as their lineage is documented and traced to being offshoots of other Pashtun tribes. Pashtuns are a specific ethnicity and claiming Arab descent would result in the implication that they are not Pashtun. On a scholarly basis, Pashuns are likely to have a common Iranian origin with other Iranian peoples such as the Persians, Kurds and Pamiris.
Read more about this topic: Arabs In Pakistan
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