Iraqi biradri

Iraqi Biradri

The word "Birâdrî" (Persian: برادري) means "Brotherhood" originating with the word "Birâdar" meaning "Brother" in Persian. In India and Pakistan it is used to denote a number of social strata in the caste system among South Asian Muslims.

The Iraqi Biradri is not currently relevant to people presently living in Iraq, but a reference to a group in India and Pakistan of Iraqi origin. Today, they consist of originally trading people who came from Iraq and settled in eastern UP to further migrate to larger cities in Uttar Pradesh (UP), as well as other parts of North India and Pakistan.

Religion

The Iraqi Biradri are Muslims, the majority of whom follow Sunni Islam.

Language

Most of the Iraqi Biradri speak Urdu though the more highly educated also speak Persian and some more religious oriented families also speak Arabic.

Theories of Origin

Most members of this caste claim that the name Iraqi is an ethnonym based on their Iraqi Arab ancestry. In Persian, and Urdu, the terminal 'i' is what is called in Arabic morphology "yâ' an-nisba" (ياء النسبة) meaning "the letter "yâ" of association". Though most Iraqis of the Subcontinent speak Urdu, gravestones from as far back as the 1800's found in UP and Bihar are branded with both Persian and liturgical Arabic. Recent genetic tests have also proved their Iraqi ancestry by showing that 97% of their genetic make-up is similar to those of Iraqis. Such high level of genetic make-up to be maintained for centuries is because of the fact that people of this community usually only marry within their community. Marrying with other communities is strongly discouraged which has ensured that their ethnic identity is preserved over the years.

There is another story, possibly forged to derogate the Iraqis, that claims the term comes from "`Arq" (عرق) which in Arabic means root or essence and from this is the supposed morphological derivative of "`Arqî" (عرقي). It is a term alleged to be used for distillers of alcohol and is considered an insult according to Islamic tradition as alcohol is forbidden in Islam. Others have postulated that in the past people of this caste used to work in sugar factories or in some other similar trade and got their name from that. These theories of alcohol distillers and sugar caners are refuted by linguistics alone as "`Arqî" is a morphologically incorrect usage. In Persian a distiller would be "`Arq-kâsh" (عرق كاش) and not "`Arqî". In Arabic it is even more erroneous as "`Arqî" means "Ethnic". Thus, the only linguistically and historically sound conclusion is that the name of the Biradri comes from the obvious "Iraqi" meaning only "One from Iraq".

Geographic Distribution

They live in high concentrations in eastern UP Cities like Ballia, Varanasi, Deoria, Azamgarh, as well as other cities in Upper North India and Pakistan. Karachi, Pakistan has a sizable Iraqi community. Many now live in Kanpur, particularly in the Jajmau region of the industrial town and are involved in the leather tanning industry.THE KOLKATA-HOWRAH REGION IN THE INDIAN STATE OF WEST BENGAL IS ALSO HOME TO A LARGE NUMBER OF THE MEMBERS OF THIS BIRADRI.

Significant expatriate communities live in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.