Iraqi Biradari

Iraqi biradri/Sunni Iraqis (Tamimis) of India/العراقي برادری

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Total population
(approx. 500,000 (2011 census))
Regions with significant populations
Kanpur, Karachi, Lar, Chennai, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, Bahorwa, Delhi (NCR), Gorakhpur
Languages
Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Awadhi
Religion
Sunni Islam [ Hanbali Maddhab, Hanafi Maddhab (Barelvi fiqh, Deobandi fiqh) ]
Related ethnic groups
Bani Tamim, Thaheem

Iraqi Biradari, (العراقي برادری) or Iraqi Tamimis a Sunni Muslim community in India. They are a sub-tribe who migrated to Sindh, Pakistan and further to Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

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A child belonging to Iraqi biradri from Kolkata.

History and origin

A map of Muhammad bin Qasim's expedition into Sindh in 711 AD.

According to Wink, a historian, Umayyad interest in the Sindh was galvanized by the operation of the Meds and others. Meds, also known as Bawarij had pirated upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, in their bawarij and now were able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar. At the time, Kingdom of Sindh was the wild frontier region of al-Hind, inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturbed much of the Western Indian Ocean.Muslim sources insist that it was these persistent activities along increasingly important Indian trade routes by Debal pirates and others which forced the Arabs to subjugate the area, in order to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the nucleus, as well as, the overland passage. During Hajjaj's governorship, the Mids of Debal in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia, thus providing a casus belli to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that enabled them to gain a foothold in the Makran, eastern Balochistan, and Sindh regions.

All the above reason have their own importance for a first attack on Sindh. but immediate causes for the conquest of Sindh was the plunder of the gifts of Ceylon's ruler to Hijjaj and attack on Arab ships that were carrying the orphans and widows of Muslim soldiers who died in Jihaad against Africa. These Arab were imprisoned later on by the Governor Deebal Partaab Raye. A letter written by the an escaped girl from the Arab that are put in the prison of the Partab Raye. She asked Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf for help. When Hijjaj asked Dahir for release of prisoners and compensation, the later refused on the ground that he had no control over those. Hajjaj sent Muhammad Bin Qasim for this great expedition in 711 A.D. It was during this time when Spain and many parts of Africa and Central Asia were brought under the Muslim rule; and war was continue so Muslims were not in a position to start a new expedition. The only reason of this conquest was to rescue pilgrims that were taken captive by Hindu governor. Along with Muhammad bin Qasim thousands of people from Bani Tamim of Southern Iraq and Syria settled in Sindh after migration. Further in 16th century about a thousand people further migrated to Eastern UP for trade reasons and named themselves as Iraqi to be separated from Shaikh group of India which included converts from local Hindu castes. Thus Iraqi biradri could be considered a sub-tribe of Bani Tamim. The Biradari population practices endogamy according to family Shijra; first cousin marriages are not very common.

Cuisine

Some of the dishes made by people are: Baba ghanoush, Falafel, Kolba, Dolma, Manti, Muhammara, Biryani, Kofta along with local Indian dishes.

Eminent people

• Maqbool Ahmed Lari - a renowned social worker
• Nasreen Jalil - Naib Nazim of Karachi
• Yasmeen Lari - first woman architect of Pakistan
• Tabinda Lari - famous Pakistani singer

See also

• Baradari
• Bani Tamim
• Tamim
• Thaheem
• Arabs in India
• Ethnic communities in Kanpur
• Ethnic communities in Kolkata

External links

• Anjuman Iraqi Biradri (Pakistan)
• Map of Anjuman Iraqi Biradari Community Center, Karachi, Pakistan

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