WHY HAVE THE SUNNI PUNJABI MUSLIMS CHOSEN THE

UNDESIRABLE PATH OF EXCLUSIVENESS?

Punjabi Muslims came to Kenya by the thousands, but they were the last of all the
major Sunni Muslim groups to arrive. There is no record of any Punjabi Muslim being
in Kenya before the 1890's.
The vast majority of Punjabi Muslims, like their fellow Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus,
came as indentured laborers, as workers and as artisans of many crafts. Others
came to work in various clerical capacities with the Railway. Still others came with
the Army and Police. A few joined the Administration. The remainder when they
heard about the opportunities in Kenya came over as independent immigrants to set
up businesses.
Certainly there were some very successful businessmen amongst the early Punjabi
Muslims, men such as Imtiazali, Chaudry Mauladad and the Sheikh brothers in
Nairobi, and Ibrahim Karimbux in Nakuru. However, even such energetic and
enterprising businessmen were at a disadvantage in commerce vis-a-vis other
communities, (or the Punjabi Muslims never had the tightly knit organization that
characterized, for instance, the Ismailis, the Bohras, the Nasserpurias and other
trading communities.
Since much of the information contained in the monumental work of Cynthia
Salvadori in her book THROUGH OPEN DOORS was obviously not obtained from any
authentic records maintained by community organizations, she relied primarily on
oral transmissions from sources she came into contact with. There was in my view,
some degree of bias against certain prominent Punjabi Muslims whose contributions
in various aspects of community services were equally noteworthy and deserving
acknowledgement. Some of the names that come to mind include but not limited to
Seth Mohamed Bux of Lumbwa, Jan Mohamed Contractor, Toray Khan Contractor,
Ahmed Khan Contractor, Abdullah Fatehdin, Ibrahim Toto, Suba Khan, Noor Allam
Khan.
Traditionally, even many centuries after they were converted to Islam, the Punjabi
Muslims remained organized along village and caste/occupation lines and the
situation has, in recent times been further aggravated by divisions based on the
various religious orders that determines those who control the various places of
worship and who associates with such groups.
However, in the year 2010 Salvadori was commissioned by Park Road Mosque Trust
to undertake the publication of a book titled SETTLING IN A STRANGE LAND, Stories
of Punjabi Muslim Pioneers in Kenya that captured some of the accounts of the
lives and works of early Punjabi pioneers based on interviews and written
submissions and family photographs availed by their surviving descendants. Other
than this publication there are no other scholarly records ever published by the
various Punjabi Muslim communities present in Kenya.
In fact, the Punjabi Muslims had no organization at all. They were, and still are, the
most amorphous of all the Asian communities in Kenya. There has never existed in
Kenya a specifically Punjabi Muslim organization or institution. It is difficult even to
get an idea of the Punjabi Muslim population, past or present (one source estimates
it as 30,000-40,000 at its peak in the 1960's and about 10,000 at present) The

group cohesion that characterizes latter day Punjabi religious movements, such as
Sikhism, the Ahmadiyya and the Arya. Samaj does not exist even in embryonic form
amongst the Punjabi Muslims.
Although the Punjabi Muslims never established any exclusive communal
institutions, they had the opportunity and technical skill as well as the religious
motivation to build many mosques and attached madrassas in Kenya, especially
along the line of rail, and to found the associations required to run the mosques.
The first mosque the Punjabi Muslims built was when and where they first stepped
onto Kenyan soil -in 1896 in Mombasa. The Kilindini Mosque was a small, simple
building; subsequently a more substantial mosque was built (and is still being used)
in the permanent Railway headquarters area, Makupa. As the Railway steamed on
to Nairobi so, of course, did the Punjabis who were building it -and they literally took
their mosque with them. Punjabi Muslims were also responsible for building most of
the original mosques along the line of rail. The Punjabi-founded mosques and
madrassas now cater predominantly to non- Punjabi congregations and students.
In other towns, both large and small, the Punjabi Muslims continue to collaborate
with the other resident Sunnis in building and maintaining mosques and madrassas.
The emphasis on inter-communal cooperation has paid many dividends for the
Punjabi Muslims, who long ago lost their original stereotype of 'coolies' and have
become, by and large, a well-educated, cosmopolitan 'non-community'. A Punjabi
Muslim, Mohamed Ali Rana, was not only a respected doctor (he had served the
Sultan of Zanzibar before coming to Kenya in 1933) but was also the founding father
of the. Mombasa Muslim Association (q.v.); moreover, he was a member of LegCo
for several years. Many other Punjabi Muslims have been active in both Muslim and
non-sectarian activities in Kenya.
Since there are no community organizations, there are no specifically Punjabi
Muslim publications. However, in 1967 the Railway Landhies Association started
publishing pamphlets in Kiswahili on Islam. In 1980 it brought out a substantial book
on Islam commemorating the beginning of the 15th Islamic century. This became
the first issue of Al-Momin, subsequently published every three years (1983 and
1986), and remarkable not only for its excellent content but also its impeccable
English.
The Kashmiris.
Although the Punjabi Muslims as a whole never constituted a coherent community,
some of their members did. These were the Kashmiris, descendants of the fairskinned and often fair-haired people who had migrated (some say due to a famine,
others say due to persecutions by Ranjit Singh) from Kashmir, particularly from the
Jammu area, to the Punjab in the 19th century. Like other Punjabis, most Kashmiris
came to Kenya to work with the Railway and the Administration, though a few came
as independent traders.
Although the Punjabi Muslims as a whole never constituted a coherent community,
some of their members did. These were the Kashmiris, descendants of the fairskinned and often fair-haired people who had migrated (some say due to a famine,
others say due to persecutions by Ranjit Singh) from Kashmir, particularly from the
Jammu area, to the Punjab in the 19th century. Like other Punjabis, most Kashmiris
came to Kenya to work with the Railway and the Administration, though a few came

as independent traders.
Although they were neither very numerous (no more than 1000 people) nor very
compact (but scattered all along the line of rail and even beyond it), the Kashmiris
formed a Kashmiri Association in the 1930s. Its registered headquarters were in
Nairobi, but i t never had its own premises. For social get-together, such as
weddings, they made use of places such as the Sir Ali Muslim Club. For religious
events they, of course, joined in at the Sunni mosques which they helped to found
and maintain.
Although the Kashmiris now speak (and have done so for two or more generations)
Punjabi rather than Kashmiri as a home language, and although their social
customs, as well as their religion, are almost indistinguishable from those of their
fellow Punjabi Muslims, the Kashmiris still feel they are a distinct group and still
prefer to marry amongst themselves. Thus the hundred or so Kashmiris now living in
Kenya {most of them in Nairobi, a couple of families in Mombasa, and one each in
Kajiado, Nanyuki and Isiolo} maintain their communal identity even though they no
longer have a formal association. The result is that even among the youngest
generation of Kenyan Kashmiris the blond and red hair and the blue and green eyes
of their ancestors are evident.

In the backdrop of what is stated in this article, it is ironic for some Kenyan Punjabi
Sunni Muslims to isolate the community at this moment in time by constituting and
registering a community based SUNNI PUNJABI ORGANISATION with the Ministry of
Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services. This is a serious contradiction to the
letter and spirit of Islamic teachings and the long tradition of inclusiveness practiced
by pioneers of the Punjabi Sunni community in Kenya and perhaps anywhere in
Africa. Whereas many other Asian communities are registered in Kenya, this is
anchored in their diverse religious sects that also provide their own communal
places of worship as well as social, educational, medical, and recreational facilities.
The same is also the case with various sects of the Shiite Muslims of Asian origins
such as The Ismailis, Bohras and Ithnasherias.
A number of non-Punjabi Sunni Muslim communities such as the Kokni, Memon,
Luhars, Bhadalas, and others also operate their own social and welfare
organizations but in places of worship they built, they practice no discrimination
against any Sunni Muslim who opts to use their Mosques.
(1) The definition of a Punjabi according to the constitution of SPO Nairobi region
states in part a Punjabi shall be a Sunni Muslim person born within a PUNJABI,
KASHMIRI OR PATHAN family and whose ancestry traces back to the descendants of
the community originating from Punjab, Kashmir or the North Western Frontier of
Pakistan and whose members have embraced Islam and speak the PUNJABI dialect
as their first language. What this definition fails to acknowledge is the fact that
within the three groups defined as Punjabis exist Sunnis who are followers of either
Deobandi, Barelvi, Wahhabi, Parvezi or various Sufi orders and do not therefore
constitute a coherent community. There also exists within the group an age old
practice of recognizing their identities along village and caste/occupation lines. Here
in Kenya they are often referred to as Lahori, Jhelumi, Jhallundris, Kashmiris,
Chacchis, Julayas, Darzis (Tailors), Dhobi, Nayi(Barbers),Zimidar(Farmers)Luhar(Iron

mongers)Tarkhan(Carpenters)Rajput etc. Some among these groups are considered

low castes as it is in the Hindu caste system.
(2) ARTICLE 7 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Since the inception of SPO Nairobi chapter, the Muslim community has witnessed
greater disagreements and divisions arising from its participation in a meaningless
awards scheme and its intervention in a case of a Madrassa teacher who it has
caused to be charged by Police and arraigned in court on criminal charges of child
abuse. Both these matters have become the subject of acrimonious exchanges on
social media causing much pain to and humiliation of certain individuals within the
community. The issue of the Madrassa teacher is also likely to create unnecessary
divisions between the Punjabis and members of Memon Jamat whose are the main
benefactors of the Madrassa.
In order to ensure that Kenyans remain a society whose values are harmonious and
non-discriminatory for peaceful co-existence, the Government of Kenya established
the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and long before its
establishment, all tribal land buying companies, sporting clubs, Associations and
Societies were de registered and no such tribal or racial societies or CBOs were
registered thereafter.
The registration of SPO as a CBO is a case that certainly justifies re-evaluation and
de registration by the relevant registering government Ministry.