Re: Memon Pride
Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousgirl
hmmm...I was just thinking..what are the chances an 'entire' jamat would leave the country...but yeahh I guess its possible considering they were an intimate bunch! but then again...there doesnt seem to be recorded evidence of "nasserpuria memon jamat" in india before they all went to east coast of Africa...although there is recorded evidence fo memons (kutchi, etc.) going to Africa..then again I do realize that this evidence might actually be there, and even if it isn't doesnt mean that wasnt the real case..
we need a good nasserpurian memon historian to do some intensive research! lol
anyway this topic is one that always sparks up a hot debate over family dinners!
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They identified themselves by their village before going to East Africa, but that identity was probably quite a bit less enforced. But there's no doubt about where we came from and how we got there; there is recorded history, and as I learned recently, there are still pieces of land and 'qilla' in Kutch which some families in our Jamat hold deeds to.
A good Nasserpuria "historian" to have a conversation about these topics with is someone like the Jamat elder & ex-chairman. Ask your parents if you don't know him - his son Abdul Bha was also a former chairman, and participated in that debate that you saw. Nazir Uncle's spent time in Thatta, Nasserpur, and Kutch and researched this topic extensively. Or just ask your dada/dadi or nana/nani, if they're still in this duniya. A lot of the dadis/nanis know our history very well, going back to when much of our Jamat was still in Mandvi.
edit: Nazir Uncle is also the founder and editor of the "Memon Prakash," the jamat monthly magazine. I'm sure you've seen copies of before.. it often contains a tidbit or two of our history. Here's a random article from an old copy, which I've posted before -
Quote:
-- From Memon Prakash
HOW DID THEY ALL BECOME "JINS"?
Long time ago, seven to eight generations back, some time after our
community became Muslims, in a small village somewhere in India, there
was an old man, called Myedinu who lived with his wife and his married
son, (let me call this man 'grandpa'). Grandpa's wife, grandma, due to
the economic situation worked as a mid-wife; helping the women of that
and the neighboring villages through childbirth for that was her
profession.
At the end of one of the hectic days in their life, quite late into the
evening, there was a knock at the door and grandpa answered. There at
the door was a complete stranger, someone grandpa had never seen
before. Assuming this visitor was a traveller, grandpa welcomed him in,
but he turned down the offer saying that his wife was in the state of
childbirth somewhere in the jungle. The traveller told grandpa that he
was informed that grandpa's wife (grandma)was a midwife and that the
visitor would like her to help his wife.
''At this time," grandpa thought, "but considering the traveller, it
will be ok if I ask my wife to go with him, and it is a teaching of our
religion to help out travellers." So grandma accompanied the stranger.
She walked with him and they were soon deep in the jungle, there in a
small clearing she saw a woman, went over to her and helped her. The
woman gave birth to 7 children one after the other, and each child
crawled towards the fire to get some warmth. Grandma was surprised, but
she did what she had to do.
After all was done, the stranger walked grandma back home and when the
house was in sight, the stranger plucked some leaves from the nearby
tree and gave her as payment. She thought 'what a person, his wife
gives birth like a cat and all he gives in return are these leaves'. So
she held the leaves with her chunni, most of the leaves fell due to the
fright, and those that remained she threw into a grinding stone on
getting home and went to bed.
The following day, grandpa's daughter-in-law went to the kitchen to get
breakfast ready and saw thin plates of gold in the grinding stone, the
size of the leaves given to grandma, the leaves had changed to gold, so
the family considered this as a gift from God for helping people and
they lived a better life.
But this does not end here. This is where it started, some years later,
after this particular episode was forgotten, when it all came back.
One day grandpa left for the mosque and told grandma that he would be
passing by a neighbour, whose son was very sick, to give some heart to
the family.
When he got to the sick boy's home, and knocked at the door, he was
surprised to see that the sick boy opened the door for him and welcomed
him in and asked grandpa to sit next to him. Everyone present there was
shocked, one minute the boy is unconscious and the next minute he is
welcoming a guest as if he is perfectly well. So grandpa asked him what
the deal was. The boy asked him, 'Do you not remember me,'' his voice
sounded a lot older than himself. ' I know you as the son of this
particular person, and what happened to your voice?' grandpa told him,
pointing to the boy's father. 'No,' the boy said, I am the stranger you
helped when I needed a midwife for my wife, I am actually a Jin, one of
the creatures of Allah, the body is of the boy, but I now possess it.
Grandpa asked: 'why have you possessed this boy, why are you harassing
him?'
'This boy has done a great crime', the Jin told grandpa, 'it was the
time of Maghrib prayers and I had laid out my praying mat under a
tree to say my prayers, when this boy came to the tree and relieved
himself, dirtying me and my prayer mat. This is a very big crime and
according to us, the Jins, it is only punishable by death, so this boy
has to die. Anyway you tell me about yourself, how are you, and because
of your deed the other day, I would give you anything in my powers, all
you have to do is ask'.
'From the leaves you gave my wife, they turned to gold, so now I'm rich
and I have all I would need,' said grandpa, 'but there is one thing I
want from you and that is the health of this boy, let him go." 'Now
that will be difficult, because the boy has to be punished," said the
Jin. Grandpa said: "I think the boy would have learnt a lesson, all I
want is you let him go, if you really want to give me something, that
is what I want". On this the Jin patted grandpa on his back and said:
'you are a great man, not at all selfish, and for this I, as a leader
of the Jin creation, promise you that there will be harmony between us
(the Jins) and your descendants for seven generations as your wife
helped give birth to my seven children'.
With that the boy suddenly lost consciousness and gained it back after
some time and was well again. Everyone was happy and from that day,
people of the village referred to grandpa as 'JIN' because he was able
to communicate to them and since then we as the descendants of Myedinu
use "JIN" as our family name.
........... A very interesting and enlighting tale, indeed. But we
don't have only Jins in our community. We have Baghas, Admanis,
Salyanis, Harunanis, Bachanis and so on. Would someone oblige us with
similar tales of how they became what they are. Its part of our
history, and the more we know about our beginnings, the better.
However, we shall not vouch for the authenticity of such tales. That,
of course we shall leave it to our readers to decide.
Ch. Editor
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Last edited by sally; 07-19-2008 at 12:31 AM.
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11-27-2007, 03:51 PM
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