Pasmanda Muslims

Context

In a political conclave in Hyderabad, PM made a special mention for the Pasmandamuslim community and their social upliftment.

The term ‘Pasmanda Muslims’ was first used in 1998 by Ali Anwar Ansari when he founded the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz.

It is used to describe depressed classes among the Muslims, while underlining their deliberate or conscious exclusion.
Pasmanda has become an umbrella identity used by backward, Dalit, and tribal Muslims to push back against caste-based discrimination against them within the community.
This community has its stronghold in Uttar Pradesh where the Pasmandas account for around 75% of the total Muslim population.
In fact, 85% of the total population of Muslims in the country is known as Pasmanda.
It is believed that the so-called untouchable Hindu converts are categorised as Pasmanda.

Actually the Pasmanda movement in India is 100 years old. A Muslim Pasmanda movement had emerged in the second decade of the last century.
After this, in the 90s in India, two big organisations were formed in favour of the Pasmanda Muslims.
This was the All India United Muslim Front, whose leader was Ejaz Ali.
Apart from this, Ali Anwar of Patna founded an organisation named All India Pasmanda Muslim Merej.
However, both are termed as non-Islamic by Muslim religious leaders.
All the small organisations of Pasmanda Muslims are mostly found in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

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Ashrafs:At the top of the pyramid are the Ashrafs (literally, the ‘nobles’, who trace their ancestry to inhabitants of the Arab peninsula or Central Asia or are converts from Hindu upper castes)
Ajlafs (literally, the ‘commoners’, who are said to be converted from Hindu low castes)
Arzals (literally, the ‘despicable’, who are said to be Dalit converts)

In short, Ashrafs are the Brahmin equivalent, Ajlafs are the Vaisya equivalent and Shudras, and Arzals are the Atishudras or Dalit equivalents of Islam.