Dalit Muslim are low caste muslim
Untouchables, also called
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
s, who have converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
Background
Aftab Alam, a political scientist, states:
''"But caste and untouchability is a lived reality for Muslims living in India and South Asia, ''and untouchability is the community's worst-kept secret."
Even though Islam is egalitarian in its social ethics, Indian Muslim society is characterised by
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
-like features, consisting of several caste-like groups (''jatis'', ''biraderis''). Despite the conversion to Islam, the social and economic conditions of the Muslims in each caste hardly changed, and they remained tied down to their traditional occupations.
Reservation
Most of the people claiming Dalit muslim status are already getting reservation as OBC.
See also
*
Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz ( ur, ) ("Marginalised Muslim Front") is an Indian Muslim activist organization based in Patna, Bihar. Founded in 1998, it represents the concerns the "Pasanda" Muslims, a new identity that integates the Dalit Muslims (''Arza ...
, the political movement involving Dalit Muslims
*
Caste system among South Asian Muslims
Muslim communities in South Asia apply a system of religious stratification. It developed as a result of ethnic segregation between the foreign conquerors/ Upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam (''Ashraf'') (also known as ''tabqa-i ashrafiyya ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Dalit Muslims of India Al Jazeera Documentary