Arain

The Arain (Punjabi, Urdu: آرائین), are a Muslim agricultural caste settled mainly in the Punjab, with significant numbers also in Sindh.^[1] They are chiefly associated with farming, traditionally being landlords or zamindars.^[2][3][4]

Origin

In the Punjab Census Report (1911), Pandit Harikishan Kaul points out that members of the Arain tribe are “mostly Muhammadans,” (in the Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province, Denzil Ibbetson also refers to the Arains as, “Almost to a man Muhammadans”), and as a corollary, reference is also made to Hindu and Sikh sections of the tribe which make up 3% of Arains, with 97% Sunni Muslims.^[5]

Kaul also states that the term ‘Arain’ is, “derived probably from Rain or Rahin, equivalent to Rahak (tiller of soil).” This is consistent with the Arains traditionally being chiefly associated with market-gardening.

Some Arain however propose descent from Arabs belonging to Muhammad bin Qasim's expeditionary force to India. Such claims are given credance by how nearly all Arain are, and have been, Sunni Muslim, much like the early Arabs accompanying Muhammad bin Qasim. This assertion is supported by numerous references made in several Urdu language texts; Tareekh-e-Arain, Sham Ta Multan, Tareekh Frishta, Tohfa Tul Ikram and Aina-e-Haqeekat Numa, that reliably trace the lineage of many notable Arain including Zia Ul-Haq and the famous Mian Family of Bhaghbanpura. According to these sources, the word Arain is derived from Areeha which is the Arabic name for the city of Jericho in the West Bank, Palestinian Territory, the place from where they allegedly came.^[11][12]

Distribution

Historically, the Arain community was concentrated in territory that is now part of Indian Punjab, especially the Jalandhar Doab. According to 1911 Census of India, the highest concentrations of Arains was in the Kapurthala State, where they accounted for 16% of the population, and neighbouring Jalandhar District, where they formed 15% (about one third of the Muslim population) of the population. By the late 19th Century, the Arain were encouraged by the British colonial authorities to settle in the new canal colonies in the Sandal and Neeli bar regions, and by 1911 Arain formed 12% of the population of Lyalpur District and 7% of Montgommery District. Other districts with large Arain populations were Lahore (10%), Gurdaspur (7%), Ferozepur (6%), Gujranwala, Sialkot (6%) and Multan (5%).^[13] In the Phulkhian States, Hoshiarpur, Karnal, Delhi and Hissar they formed less than five percentage of the population. North and west of the Jhelum, they were practically absent in the Pothohar region, the Salt Range and the Thal Dessert, where there place was and still taken by the Maliar caste. Those few Arains who were found in this region are often treated as sub-tribe of the Jats.^[13] In essence the Arain were found in territory stretching from the Chenab in the west to the Sultlej in the east, in what was the Punjabi speaking heartland of the British colonial province of Punjab. This was also the region that suffered the worst violence during the partition of India in 1947, with almost the entire Arain population of Indian Punjab migrating to Pakistani territory. However, there are still a small number of Muslim Arains still found in Malerkotla, Sangrur and Patiala districts.^[14]

The bulk of the Arain population is now settled in the districts of Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh,^[15] with a large number of refugees settled by the Thal Development Authority in Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Layyah.^[16]

Related communities in North India

There are a number of communities in North India, that claim kinship with the Arain of Punjab. The Arain of Delhi claim to be descended from Arains, who settled in Delhi during the rule of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.^[17]

Another community that claims a connection with the Arain are the Rayeen are Muslim tribe found in Bareilly, Pilibhit, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Rampur, Bijnor and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh, India.^[18] According to Sir Denzil Ibbetson, it was after the famines of 1783 AD many of the Arains emigrated from Ghaghhar valley and setteled in the area near Bareilly i.e. Rohilkhand.^[19]

Arain Migration

Like many other Punjabis, a significant number of Arain migrated after the India/Pakistan partition. With incomes mainly based on zamindari many Arain Punjabis from the Indian Punjab struggled financially on substandard land in Pakistan choosing instead to migrate.

Arain migrated more freely than other Punjabis mainly due to better education and communities can be found in many areas of Europe, Africa and North America. Countries with well known significant Arain populations include:

• USA - with a significant numbers in Chicago and New York

• Canada

• UK - there is a small but active Arain community, mainly settled in the South of England and Scotland

• Norway

• South Africa

• Kenya

Notable Arains

• Mian Muhammad Aslam Advocate Former Vice President of High court Bar Association.
• Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, a renowned politician and painter belonging to district Kasur.
• Justice Mian Shah Din, the first Muslim judge in British India.^[20]
• Lieutenant Karam ud Din, Tamgha-i-Khidmat(M), ex Pakistan Navy officer
• Muhammad Farooq, journalist, Qari and Naat Khawan.
• General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, president of Pakistan from July 1977 to 1988.^[21]
• Sir Fazli Husain, an eminent British Indian politician and a founder of the Unionist Party.^[22]
• Mian Iftikharuddin, a politician and landlord who played an important role in turning the Muslim community of urban Punjab towards favouring an independent Pakistan.
• Mian Tufail Mohammad, lawyer and politician, former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami.
• Mian Sir Muhammad Shah Nawaz, an influential politician of the Punjab in the 1920s.
• Pir Shah Inayat Qadiri Shattari, a Sufi saint and the spiritual guide of Baba Bulleh Shah.
• Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
• Sir Abdul Rashid, first Chief Justice of Pakistan.^[23]
• Mohammed Sarwar, the first British Muslim member of the UK Parliament.
• Sir Muhammad Shafi, president of the All India Muslim League.
• Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir, Pakistan's Chief of Naval Staff.
• Adina Beg, Governor of Punjab in 1758.
• Wasim Akram, Cricketer
• Kamran Akmal, Cricketer
• Umer Akmal, Cricketer

See also

• Arain of Delhi
• Rayeen
• Tribes of the Bar Region of the Punjab'

Bibliography

• Punjab Census Report, 1911, Pandit Harikishan Kaul
• A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, H. A. Rose
• Kinship and Continuity: Pakistani Families in Britain, Alison Shaw
• Tareekh-e-Arain, Asghar Ali Chaudhry
• Sham Ta Multan, Muhammad Idrees Advocate

References