Dalit Muslims of Barak Valley: A Socio-Historical Study

This article is an attempt to examine the historical background of Dalit Muslim communities in the Barak Valley of southern Assam in the context of Dalit Muslims in India. The Marathi word ‘Dalit’ (broken) has been widely used in the intellectual discourses to mean the oppressed class of people among the Hindus—the untouchables and low castes. It was the outcome of age-old social inequality and discrimination prevalent in the Indian subcontinent that a large segment of the population was being pushed to the outer edge of human society. They were destined to live a life of semi-human beings. Following from this, the word ‘Dalit Muslim’ is quite new in the academic and political discourses and strongly resented by the orthodox Muslims. Theoretically, Islam does not recognize any social distinctions based on race, ethnicity, occupation and, of course, caste. However, empirical studies including censuses since the British period confirm the presence of severe social inequality and discrimination among Indian Muslims similar to the Hindu caste system. The origin of Dalit Muslims was associated with the historical expansion of Islam in India following the conversion of millions of low castes and Dalits to Islam in order to escape social discrimination. But their conversion to Islam did not mitigate caste; rather, they were simply added to the new social organization with similar class and status. They continued to pursue their hereditary occupation, being considered demeaning by their ashraf co-religionists, and branded them with derogatory terms such as ajlaf, razil, kamin, itr, arzal, or lowborn. They were treated the most contumely without having the slightest regard for the Islamic principle of social equality by the upper caste Muslims due to their association with the demeaning occupations. Therefore, they were destined to live apart from the mainstream social life and reduced to the extent of outcastes or Dalit as compared to the Hindu caste organization. This article examines the socio-historical background of different Dalit Muslim communities in the Barak Valley of southern Assam.