Hadhrami people
Hadhrami immigrants in Surabaya, 1920
|
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Languages | |
| Hadhrami Arabic, (Urdu or Tamil in South Asia, Malay and Indonesian in Southeast Asia, Swahili in East Africa) | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (Sunni, Shafi'i, Sufi Islam), Christianity and Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arab people, Arab Singaporean, Arab Malaysians, Arab Indonesians, Chaush, Arabs in India, Sri Lankan Moors, Hyderabadi Muslims |
The Hadhrami (Arabic: حضرمي, sing.) or Hadharem (Arabic: الحضارم, pl.) are people inhabiting the Hadhramaut region in Yemen and their descendants in diaspora communities around the world. They speak Hadhrami Arabic, which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.
Among the two million inhabitants of Hadhramaut, there are 1,300 distinct tribes. Historically, antagonism between townsfolk and wandering tribesmen had been so bitter that the towns are surrounded by stone walls to protect them from attack by their tribal countrymen.
Few Hadramis still practice the nomadic lifestyle of their ancient ancestors. Today, approximately half of the Hadramis live in the towns and villages scattered through the deep valleys of their region. Among these settled peoples, there are sharp distinctions, the highest social prestige belonging to the wealthy, educated Sadahs, who claim to be direct descendants of Muhammad. In the past, Hadramis rarely married outside their own social level, and often lived in segregated groups in separate parts of town.
The Hadharem have a long seafaring and trading tradition. Hadhrami seamen have navigated in large numbers all around the Indian Ocean basin, from the Horn of Africa to the Swahili Coast to the Malabar Coast and Hyderabad in South India, Sri Lanka to Maritime Southeast Asia. They were involved in many places as organizers of the Haj.
There are Hadharem communities in the trading ports of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The money changers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia have usually been of Hadhrami origin.
...
Wikipedia