Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi Muslim agricultural community with a strong political identity and level of organisation. At the beginning of the last century, they numbered around 1 million and were mainly rural cultivators and landowners concentrated in four districts: Lahore, Jalandhar,

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

and Ambala, all in the British Punjab province. Following the 1947 partition of India, they are now mainly present in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. A self-conscious community, several meetings were held to establish an organisation to represent the Arain community in the 1890s. Eventually, in 1915, Anjuman Ra’iyan-i-Hind emerged as such a body in Lahore and a national community newspaper, titled ''Al-Rai'', was established.

History

Origins

The historian and political scientist

Christophe Jaffrelot Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...

believes that the Arain are displaced farming communities who moved to Punjab from Sindh and Multan as Arab Muslim armies encroached; they originally practised Hinduism but many later converted to Islam. He says that the community is related to the Kamboj and Rajput communities mainly located in northern India and eastern Pakistan. Ishtiaq Ahmed, a political scientist who is also a member of the Arain community, acknowledges that some early Arain texts ascribe a Suryavanshi Rajput origin, while others note a Persian one to reflect to others the status of being "conquerors". He believes that the Arains "are a mix of many ethnicities and races", similar to other "farming castes of the Punjab and Haryana".

Medieval period

According to Ahmed, during the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

and

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

periods Arain held prominent positions, such as governors and army generals; he also believes that numerous names adopted by the community may indicate a tradition of military employment.

Colonial period

During the Indian rebellion of 1857, Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi, an Arain, led an uprising from Ludhiana to Delhi where he was killed. In the aftermath, the British viewed the Arain as a disloyal community, and categorised them as a non-martial caste which denied them entry into the

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

. Due to lobbying by the Arain community, in the early 20th century the Arain were officially re-classified as an "agricultural tribe", then effectively synonymous with the martial race classification. Traditionally associated with farming, when the British wanted land developed in the Punjab, Arain were brought in to cultivate lands around cities, and were one of the agricultural communities given preference to assist with opening up the agrarian frontier in the Canal Colonies between 1885 and 1940. Shahid Javed Burki says that the British favoured the Arain for their "hard work, frugality and sense of discipline". The development of towns and cities and increasing urbanisation resulted in the value of the land settled by Arain to rise significantly, and Arain families flourished. Education was prioritised with the new-found wealth and Arain came to dominate the legal profession amongst urban Punjabi Muslims. Many used law to enter politics. During the colonial era, detailed decadal census reports covered the plethora of castes, subcastes and tribes that existed throughout British India. Information regarding the Arains was highlighted in census reports taken from Punjab Province.

Demographics

Numbers

In 1921, Arains formed 9,5% of British Punjab's total Muslim population, up from 8,3% in 1901 and 6,6% in 1881. At the time of the

2017 Pakistan census The 2017 Census of Pakistan was a detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population which began on 15 March 2017 and ended on 25 May 2017. It was the first census taken in the country in the 21st century, nineteen years after the previous one in ...

, Arains constituted the largest community of the Lahore District, making up 40% of the district's total population or 4,45 million out of the total of 11 million back then, followed by Kashmiris (30%). The Arain biradari is particularly active in Lahore's industrial and commercial activities as well as in its politics.

Religion

The 1881 Census of India detailed the Arain population was 795,032 in Punjab, of which 791,552 (99.56 percent) were Muslims, 2,628 (0.33 percent) were Hindus, 848 (0.11 percent) were Sikhs, and 4 (0.0005 percent) were Christians. As of 1931 Census of India, out of the total Arain population of 1,331,295 in Punjab, 1,330,057 (99.91%) were Muslims, 1,146 (0.086%) were Hindus, 67 (0.005%) were Sikhs and 5 (0.00038%) were Christians. Academic Ashish Koul, who specializes in the history of the group, has said of the Arains that they have been "a distinctive Muslim community with innately Islamic attributes."

Diaspora

There are several

diasporic A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

Arain communities in British towns and cities, such as Manchester, Glasgow and Oxford. The tribe has its own organisation, Arain Council UK, which was established as Anjuman-e-Arains in the 1980s and renamed in 2008. British Conservative Party politician Sajid Javid's family were farmers from the village of

Rajana Rajana is a town of district Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, Pakistan. It is 15 km away from Toba Tek Singh. It is located west of Faisalabad, east of Multan, south of Toba Tek Singh and north of Kamalia and Vehari. The closest villages are Chak ...

near Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, from where they migrated to the UK in the 1960s; Javid speaks some

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

. Javid was the first British Asian to hold one of the British Great Offices of State, being first Home Secretary (2018–2019) and then

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

(2019–2020).

Notable people

Politics

* Adina Beg, last Mughal Governor and the only Nawab of Punjab. * Mian Shah Din, first Muslim judge at the Chief Court of the Punjab * Mian Iftikharuddin, activist and politician, founder of the Pakistan Times * Sajid Javid, former British Home Secretary and

* Sir Mian Abdul Rashid, first

Chief Justice of Pakistan } The Chief Justice of Pakistan (Urdu: ) (Initialism, initials as CJP) is head of the court system of Pakistan (the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicature branch of Government of Pakistan, government) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Paki ...

* Anas Sarwar, leader of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

* Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, businessman, Labour Party MP and 33rd Governor of the Punjab * Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, lawyer and co-founder of All-India Muslim League * Jahanara Shahnawaz, politician and All-India Muslim League activist * Sir Mian Muhammad Shahnawaz, politician * Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the 6th President of Pakistan

Arts and literature

* Shah Inayat Qadiri,

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

scholar better known as the teacher of Bulleh Shah *

Qudratullah Shahab Qudrat Ullah Shahab (or Qudratullah Shahab, ur, ; 26 February 191724 July 1986) was an eminent Urdu writer and civil servant from Pakistan. Shahab holds the distinction of having served as the Principal Secretary to three heads o ...

, Pakistani writer and diplomat

Entertainment

Sultan Rahi Sultan Rahi ( ur, ﺳﻠﻄﺎﻥ ﺭﺍﮨﯽ ; June 24, 1938 – January 9, 1996) was a Pakistani actor, producer and screenwriter. He established himself as one of the leading and most successful actors of Pakistani and Punjabi cinema, and ...

, Pakistani actor * Tariq Aziz, Pakistani television personality *

Sonia Ahmed Sonia Ahmed (Urdu: سونیا احمد) (born 23 August 1980) as Sonia Iqbal Ahmed, is a Kuwait-born Canadian Pakistani and founder of Miss Canada Pakistan Inc., now known as Miss Pakistan World, Mr. Pakistan World and Mrs. Pakistan World that ...

, President of

Miss Pakistan World Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event is held annually in Canada. History The pageant was originally launched in 2002 by Sonia Ahmed under the name of Miss Canada Pakistan. ...

Mrs. Pakistan World Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event is held annually in Canada. History The pageant was originally launched in 2002 by Sonia Ahmed under the name of Miss Canada Pakistan. ...

Sports

* Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer * Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer, politician and diplomat

Military

* Fazal Din, Indian soldier in World War II, recipient of the Victoria Cross