Gujarati Muslims - Communities

Communities

Historically, each of the Muslim communities are endogamous. The communities practice both cross-cousin and parallel cousin marriages. Recent studies of Gujarati Muslims in the United Kingdom have shown that endogamy remains important. There are approximately 130 communities, with membership ranging from 65,000 to as low as 100 individuals. Among the largest Muslim communities are the Shaikhs, Sunni Bohras, Ghanchi, Pathans, Memon and Daudi Bohras. Each of these communities were traditionally associated with particular occupations. Important trading communities include the Alavi Bohra, Daudi Bohra, Khoja, Memon, Sulaymani Bohra and Vyapari. Other communities are associated with particular trade, and are similar to guilds in medieval Europe. For example the Chundrigar were silk printers, the Ghanchi were oil pressers, the Ansari were weavers. The greater mechanization of the Indian economy has seen as a decline in their traditional occupation, and these communities have suffered an economic decline. However the majority of Gujarati Muslim are small and medium sized farmers, and larger communities such as the Sunni Bohra, Molesalam, Pathan and Shaikh are all traditionally farmers.

The region of Kutch has always been historically distinct, with the Muslims there accounting for about twenty percent of the population. This region is characterised by salt desserts, such as the Rann of Kutch. Because of this landscape, the Kutch Muslims are Maldhari pastoral nomads found in the Banni region of Kutch. Most of them are said to have originated in Sindh, and speak a dialect of Kutchi which has many Sindhi loanwords. Major Maldhari communities include the Jath, Halaypotra, Hingora, Hingorja, Juneja and Samma tribes.