Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia

Abstract

The introduction to the special issue provides a framework to think about the changing conceptions of Sayyid-ness in various historical contexts in South Asia. First, we review some of the sociological and anthropological literature on caste among South Asian Muslims, to argue for a contextualised and historicised study of Muslim social stratification in Muslims’ own terms. Second, we throw light on the fact that Sayyid-ness, far from being a transhistorical fact, may be conceptualised differently in different socio-political and historical contexts. For instance, Sayyid pedigree was at times downplayed in favour of a more encompassing Ashraf identity in order to project the idea of a single Muslim community. Far from projecting an essentialising image of Sayyid-ness, by focusing on historical change, the articles in this collection de-naturalise Sayyids’ and Ashraf's social superiority as a ‘well-understood and accepted fact’. They further shift attention from the debate on ‘Muslim caste’, often marred by Hindu-centric assumptions, to focus instead on social dynamics among South Asian Muslims ‘in their own terms’. In so doing, these studies highlight the importance of the local, while pointing to possible comparisons with Muslim groups outside South Asia.

Sociocultural Values and Pragmatics of Caste Address Form in Multilingual Pakistani Student and Teacher Discourse

“…In other words, the caste system, which identifies the status and social distinctiveness of the interlocutor, is the most prevalent form of social organization. The term caste is used to describe the uniqueness of social stratification [2], and its identity embedded within occupational differences, which are connected to status and ideas of purity and pollution [3].…”

“…The reason for choosing a university is due to a rapid increase in the mobility of multicultural and multilingual environments. Teachers believe multilingualism and collaborative use 2 Ibid. 3 Fasold R. Sociolinguistics of Language.…”

The social space of Muslim spokespersons in India: A typology

“…23 Sayyids claim descent from Prophet Muhammad and are generally considered at the top of the Muslim social hierarchy (Gautier and Levesque, 2020). 24 In 2000, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance appointed her at the head of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, a prestigious governmental organization.…”

From Sainthood to Saintly Kinship: How Claiming Saintly Kinship Is Structuring the Social and Patronage Relationships in Rural Punjab, Pakistan

“…Colonial social engineering instigated and sustained by British colonisers gave birth to economic hierarchies in Punjabi society which was a somewhat less hierarchical society in and before Mughal times. These hierarchies were not only economic but also social and religious where the role of hierarchy remains important in everyday Islam (Ahmad, 1966; Gautier and Levesque, 2020; Hussain, 2019; Lindholm, 1986). Similarly, colonial administration extended political and economic patronage as an empire with far-reaching socio-religious consequences (Robinson, 1998).…”