The Al-Muhamashīn ( Arabic : المهمشين ), " the marginalized ones "); previously called al-Akhdām , Akhdām or Achdām ( Arabic : الأخدام ) ("the servants", singular Khadem, meaning "servant" in Arabic), are an Arabic -speaking ethnic or socio-economic group whose members live in Yemen . Although the Muhamashīn are Arabic-speaking Muslims just like most other Yemenis, they are considered to be at the very bottom of the supposedly abolished caste ladder, they are socially segregated from other Yemenis and they are mostly confined to menial jobs in the country's major cities. According to unofficial estimates, the Muhamashīn number between 500,000 and 3,500,000 individuals.
28-671: The Chaush or Chaus are a community who are of Hadhrami Arab descent. They are found in the Deccan region of India. The Chaush or Chaus were brought from Yemen to work in the former Hyderabad State as military men for the Nizams . It is said that especially when it came to safe guarding his family, the 7th Nizam had absolute trust on these Arab Soldiers. They are most concentrated in Marathwada , Telangana and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions and most of their population concentrated in
56-589: A number of stereotypes. They are considered immoral because men let their wives interact with other men, ignorant of the Islamic religion, lenient towards theft and alcohol, or they are nomads without any property. The emergence of the notion of race and racism in contemporary Yemen is linked to the emergence of the European racial configuration in the 1930s and then in Egypt following the revolution of 1952 . In
84-533: A poorer understanding of HIV risks amongst the Al-Akhdam community. Accordingly, group members also have higher reported rates and risks of contracting HIV infections. Many NGOs and charitable organizations from other countries such as CARE International are reportedly working toward improving the living circumstances of the Akhdam. Such initiatives include the building of a chicken farm, sanitation projects,
112-410: Is hardly possible for the Akhdam people to afford shelter with even the most basic amenities such as electricity, running water and sewage disposal. Accordingly, Akhdam generally live in small huts haphazardly built of wood and cloth. Due to poverty and the unsanitary living conditions, the Akhdam people are vulnerable to preventable diseases. The death rates from preventable diseases are worse than
140-627: The Hadhramaut region in the Arabian Peninsula , which is part of modern-day Yemen . The spoken language of the Hadharem is Hadhrami Arabic . Among the two million inhabitants of Hadhramaut , there are about 1,300 distinct tribes. As in other regions of Yemen, Hadhrami society is stratified into several groups. At the top of hierarchy are the religious elites or sayyids , who trace their descent to Muhammad . These are followed by
168-648: The Hadhrami Jews now live in Israel . The Hadharem presence in Singapore came from encouragement of Stamford Raffles to trade in his newly established colony of Singapore . Al-Muhamash%C4%ABn The exact origins of the Akhdam are uncertain, with some believing that they are the descendants of African slaves or 6th-century soldiers from the Kingdom of Aksum . The popular belief holds that they are
196-705: The Harari population. Hadhrami settlers were instrumental in helping to consolidate the Muslim community in the coastal Benadir province of Somalia, in particular. During the colonial period, disgruntled Hadharem from the tribal wars settled in various Somali towns. They were also frequently recruited into the armies of the Somali Sultanates . Some Hadhrami communities also reportedly exist in Mozambique , Comoros , and Madagascar . The vast majority of
224-1166: The Hyderabadi Muslim people , and seen at almost all wedding ceremonies. The Hyderabadi haleem , marag (mutton stew), murtabaq , shorba , harira , mandi , kabsa , maqluba , tas kabab , lukhmi , sheer khurma , qubani ka meetha and malida have been introduced in Hyderabad by the Chaush or Arabs. Hadhrami people [REDACTED] Saudi Arabia [REDACTED] Oman [REDACTED] Indonesia [REDACTED] Malaysia [REDACTED] Philippines [REDACTED] Singapore [REDACTED] Sudan [REDACTED] Somalia [REDACTED] Kenya [REDACTED] Tanzania ( Zanzibar ) [REDACTED] India [REDACTED] United States The Hadharem ( Arabic : حضارم , romanized : ḥaḍārim ; singular: Hadhrami, Arabic : حضرمي , romanized : ḥaḍramī ) are an Arabic -speaking ethnographic group indigenous to
252-477: The Zaydi Imamate , had created a hereditary, caste-like society. Today, the Akhdam people still occupy the very bottom of Yemen's social strata. In the mid-20th century, the Akhdam people who lived in the vicinity of al-Gades (an exclusively Jewish village) were given the name "Kano" by Jews . While a Shafi'i lowland Muslim would eat from the same dish as a Jew, he would break a vessel touched by one of
280-553: The sheikhs , tribesmen, townspeople, dhu'afa (farmers, fishers and builders). At the bottom of the hierarchy are al-Muhamashīn "the Marginalized" (previously referred to as al-akhdam "the servants") Hadhramaut was under Muslim rule and converted to the faith during the time of Prophet Muhammad . A religious leader from Iraq introduced the Hadharem to Ibadi Islam in the mid eighth century until in 951 AD when Sunnis took Hadhramaut and put it under their domain. To this day
308-547: The Akhdam are still stereotyped by mainstream Yemeni society: they have been called lowly, dirty, and immoral. Intermarriages between non-Akhdam and Akhdam are taboo and virtually prohibited, as the Al-Akhdam are deemed as untouchables . Men who do marry into the community risk banishment by their families. Today, in Yemen, children born from mixed Akhdam and Yemeni parentage are called muwāldedīn , and are often still discriminated against in society. The social inequality of
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#1732782914436336-481: The Akhdam is also analysed by Anne Meneley from a gendered perspective. Indeed, in Yemeni society, women have a certain number of practices to respect in order to be considered pious in the eyes of society. These practices are, among others, a certain behavior to be respected such as wearing the veil or a way of socializing and maintaining relationships. Women from the elite are linked to power and contribute to reproducing
364-408: The Akhdam people who are employed are not spared from discrimination. Akhdam street sweepers are rarely granted contracts even after decades of work, despite the fact that all Yemeni civil servants are supposed to be granted contracts after six months. They receive no benefits, and almost no time off. The Akhdam reside in slum districts that are generally isolated from the rest of Yemeni society. It
392-504: The Akhdam, although it is reported that 30% of Akhdam who received such state housing sold it, choosing instead to return to their original neighborhoods. Despite the supposed absence of official discrimination, many Akhdam claim that officials often block their attempts to seek state services at schools and hospitals. The search for rights and recognition is a daily task for the Akhdams. This daily struggle for survival further reinforces
420-481: The Akhdam. Jewish women, however, still sang the songs of Ahkhdam women, who were often hired as farmhands. The Akhdam community suffers from extreme discrimination, persecution, and social exclusion from mainstream Yemeni society. The contempt for the Akhdam people is expressed by a traditional Yemeni proverb: "Clean your plate if it is touched by a dog, but break it if it's touched by a Khadem.″ Though their social conditions have improved somewhat in modern times,
448-503: The Hadharem follow Sunni, specifically the Shafi' school. Hadharem women have had more freedom and education than women in many other Arab countries. The Hadharem speak Hadhrami Arabic , a dialect of Arabic , although Hadharem living in the diaspora that have acculturated mainly speak the local language of the region they live in. The Hadharem have a long seafaring and trading tradition that predates Semitic cultures. Hadramite influence
476-668: The Middle East, it is the "'unsuriyya" term that will spread. The notion of “'unsuriyya” or racism emerged in public discourse in Yemen in the 1950s as a critique of Hashemite privilege. Akhdam activists and politicians rely on the color of their skin to denounce the marginalization of their people. This amplifies their international visibility. According to official estimates, the Akhdam numbered around 500,000 individuals in 2004. An organisation called "Yemen’s Sawa’a Organisation for Anti-Discrimination" said while official figures put them at about 1.5 million, their in field estimates put
504-517: The descendants of Ethiopian Aksumites during the latter's occupation of Yemen in pre-Islamic Yemen . Once these troops were finally expelled at the start of the Muslim era, some of the Ethiopian migrants are said to have remained behind, giving birth to the Akhdam. Anthropologists such as Vombruck postulate that Yemen's history and social hierarchy that developed under various regimes, including
532-442: The diversity of identities within Yemeni society. By egalitarian citizenship, the Yemeni people mean that every Yemeni on the street is equal. This uprising led to a transition period, running from March 2012 to February 2014, which was supposed to lead to a new, more cohesive Yemen. Many had hoped that the revolt would help end the cycle of racism that has placed them at the bottom of the social ladder. The Akhdam are associated with
560-460: The dominant class, accentuate the domination of this class by opposing the respectable and pious elite and the Akhdams women who do not wear the veil and are morally inferior. In the face of extreme societal discrimination, the Al-Akhdam people are effectively forced to work in menial and undesirable jobs such as sweeping, shoe-making, and the cleaning of latrines. Those who are unemployed, most of whom are women, usually resort to begging. Even
588-448: The nationwide average in Yemen. Many Al-Akhdam children suffer from diseases such as dyspnoea , malaria and polio , and the death rate is high. The reported infant mortality rate is also described as "appalling" by Robert F. Worth . Out of the deaths reported in an Akhdam shantytown over a year, about half were children under the age of 5, a quarter of whom were in the first month of life. Studies by Al-Serouri et al. further report
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#1732782914436616-812: The neighbourhoods of Barkas in Hyderabad , Shasha Mahallah in Karimnagar , Al-Tamash in Aurangabad they also live in Adilabad , Asifabad , Kagaznagar , Nizamabad , Mahabubnagar and Warangal The founders of both the Qu'aiti and Kathiri states in Hadhramawt had previously served as jemadars in Hyderabad . Among the cultural contributions of the Chaush to India are Marfa music and dance, and Hyderabadi haleem , both which are culturally important to
644-480: The provision of electricity and classes aimed at eradicating illiteracy. The extent of these efforts, however, is disputed, most notably by Huda Sief . Government corruption also means that monetary aid intended for the Akhdam is often misused or stolen. Government officials, while admitting a historical disdain for the Akhdam among conventional Yemeni society, insist that there is no official discrimination. The Yemeni government has occasionally built shelters for
672-410: The relations of dominance that are exercised towards the Akhdams. In the eyes of the elite, Akhdam women are not respectable because they do not have acceptable moral behavior. They do not wear the hijab but, instead, they wear colorful gowns with wide sleeves and they go to the suq to sell goods even though the suq is supposed to be a place for men only. All these inappropriate behaviors, according to
700-455: The stereotypes that other social classes have about the Akhdam community. To change this, many petitions and letters are being written asking the state for welfare and other assistance. This way of negotiating without violence and insurgency is due to the fact that the Akhdam community does not take the state as the enemy but as the one that has to defend the weakest citizens. These requests and petitions rarely succeed. A significant step forward
728-671: The total Hadhrami population. Hadharami communities exist in western Yemen, the trading ports of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf , and on the coast of the Red Sea . The money changers in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia have historically been of Hadhrami origin. The Hadharem have long had a presence in the Horn of Africa ( Djibouti , Ethiopia and Somalia ), and also comprise a notable part of
756-428: Was achieved with the formation of a political party to represent them and possibly alleviate their conditions. The Yemeni revolt in 2011 had also roused many Akhdam people to participate in the uprising by appearing regularly in the demonstrations and sit-ins that filled the mains squares of the capital city Sanaa and Taiz. This popular uprising was taking place that called for egalitarian citizenship and recognition of
784-823: Was later overshadowed by the rise of the Sabaeans , who became the ruling class. This prompted Hadhrami seamen to emigrate in large numbers around the Indian Ocean basin, including the Horn of Africa , the Swahili Coast , the Malabar Coast , Hyderabad in South India , Sri Lanka , and Maritime Southeast Asia . In the mid 1930s the Hadhrami Diaspora numbered at 110,000, amounting to a third of
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