Social Stratification in Muslims
On the other side, Muslims, the largest minority in India, have no caste system. The power structures among Muslims have been laid on an entirely different framework - names and titles. W. F. Sinclair claims that important titles or surnames (or ‘caste’ names) like Khan, Sheikh & Syed, have been adopted by many Muslim converts and these have catapulted them to a high social status (Sinclair, 1889: 171–2). Titles or surnames in Muslims like Khan, Malik, Chaudary and Sardar indicate titles of respect (Lyon, 2002: ii). All the aforementioned surnames have almost the same meanings - ‘Khan’ means ‘chief’, ‘Chaudhary’ also means ‘chief’, ‘Sheikh’ also means ‘chief’, ‘Malik’ means ‘owner”, ‘Sardar’ means ‘leader’ and Syed also means ‘leader’. It may be well established that these surnames form the upper or higher ‘class’ in the socio-political framework and power structures among Muslim societies. Such surnames which separate one ‘class’ of people from rest of Muslims have been the fundamentals to the social stratification of Muslims. For example; there are different sub-categories of the category ‘well-known family’ among Muslims. In a case, landowning families in Pakistan are categorized under the head of ‘caste’ among the category of ‘well-known family’. Families which have gained prominence through business, such as the famous twenty-two industrialist families of Pakistan, are included under this head (Rahman, 2015). Accordingly, such families adopt a ‘title’ or surname for attaching a sense of respect to their family.
Other Muslim families involved with different occupations adopt different ‘titles’ which over the period of time becomes hereditary and is being identified as a ‘caste’. Through this framework, ‘class’ system among Muslims, although not defined or outlined religiously, has become operational in the day-to-day social exchanges.
It is important to mention that there is not a complete similarity in ‘titles’ or ‘surnames’ among Muslims with same occupations in different regions of the world. This method of social stratification has been instrumental in creating different ‘classes’ in Muslims - who otherwise are based on a universal brotherhood - laying the framework for understanding the power structure in this religious community.
Besides that, among all the titles, the surname ‘Khan’ is not used as a title but loosely as a part of the name (surname) even among poor people (Rahman, 2015). Over the period of time, this surname ‘Khan’ has been adopting different meanings in different contexts through its portrayal in the media.