All papers listed below are available at :

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Halima_Saadia_Kassim/research

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Inadvertently written into history: The Muslims who arrived in Trinidad, 1887-1891 (A Preliminary Assessment) Presentation outline

Conference Paper · June 2018 

Conference: Conference Legacy Of Slavery And Indentured Labour, Migration And Diaspora, At Anton de Kom University of Suriname. Paramaribo, Suriname

Abstract:

It is well known that over 147,000 Indentured Indians arrived in Trinidad during a 70-year period (1845-1917), however, less detail is known about specific religions and castes. This paper examines the characteristics of the Muslims (Mouselman and Pathans) recorded in the General Registers who came between 1887-1891. An estimated 14237 Indians left the port of Calcutta in 24 ships and 13936 of those were indentured labourers, of these 1404 were Muslims (10.1% of the landed Indian population). Most of Indian immigrants were Men (57.3 %) followed by Women (25.3%), Boys (7%), Girls (5.7%) and Infants (4.7%) with the Muslims following a similar distribution except the proportion of Men was slightly lower and females slightly higher. Overall, Males (61.1%) outnumbered Females (38.9%), however relative to the similar categories in the Indian landed population, there was a greater percentage of Women and Girls followed by Boys, Men and Infants. Approximately 75% of the Muslim Males and 72% of the Muslim Female populations were between the ages of 16-30. Muslim Male (161.3 cm) and Female (141.2 cm) heights were generally constant. Bodily makers were recorded for almost all Muslims and these were arks, mainly scars and to a lesser extent, warts, tattoos, moles and pock marked face. Approximately 45% of Muslims has a family member accompanying them on the ship and 194 family units were identified. Mothers (no accompanying husband) with children was the largest category (62) if couples without children (56) and couples with children (49) are treated separately. Although there is missing data for four ships, there were 261 recorded deaths and 112 recorded births on the ship with 21 deaths and one birth attributable to Muslims. Muslims went to 98 estate categories with the most popular being Caroni, Orange Grove and Waterloo. There were 116 persons who we considered second indentured with 88% having previously indentured in the Caribbean (including Trinidad) and the rest from Borbon, Fiji, Natal and Mauritius). After their indentureship, 337 Muslims returned to India while a few left for Demerara or the Spanish Main. These data suggest that the patters for sub-group Muslims are consistent with the findings in the literature for the overall Indian migrants and further research is required to determine if recruiting requirements also considered sub-groups. Further research is also required to determine if the patterns for Muslims continue between 1892-1917.

 

 

Regional Report: Historical and Contemporary Overview of Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago

Conference Paper · July 2017 

Conference: Caribbean Muslim Networking Conference, At Trinidad Muslim League (TML) Headquarters, St Joseph, Trinidad

Abstract:

This paper presents a more historical than contemporary overview of some developments within the community in Trinidad; however, it is by no means comprehensive. It pinpoints the Muslim migration streams and briefly traces the development of the community and identifies the identities within the community. The aim is to look at the historical pattern of development and identify some practices that may be useful for other communities now establishing themselves or pitfalls that can hopefully be avoided. It also hints at the need for more research both within the numerically smaller Muslim communities and a deeper understanding of how the larger Muslim community positions itself within the political economy and the international religious community.

 

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The Impact of the Early Muslims on the Indian Diaspora – The Case of Trinidad

Research · June 2017 

Address (audio-recorded) to commemorate Indian Arrival Day looking at the contributions of Muslims in the development of their community. It also celebrate the Book Launch of Imam’s Iqubal Hydal’s “Bedtime Conversations with Nana” (May 30, 2017, Gasparillo Mosque).

 

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Identity and Acculturation of Trinidad Muslims - An Exploration of Contemporary Practices

Chapter · May 2016

In book: Indentured Muslims in the Diaspora: Identity and Belonging of Minority Groups in Plural Societies, Chapter: Identity and Acculturation of Trinidad Muslims - An Exploration of Contemporary Practices, Publisher: Manohar Publishers, Editors: Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed, Lomarsh Roopnarine, pp.141-180

Abstract:

The Indo-Muslim community in Trinidad were among the second wave of Muslim migrants to arrive in the colony and adapted to the new environment by applying and integrating cultural and religious beliefs into their new context. Communities, families and individuals came under considerable stress to make these adjustments and at the same time the interconnectivity among those factors reinforced the high religiosity of the community. External influences impacted and interacted with the internal Muslim group dynamics that created particular identities and the development of organisations within the Muslim community in the early to mid twentieth century. This paper builds on the historical narrative and examines the global pressures and influences that impacted on the community as well as the more recent examples of personal and group identity challenges experienced by the Muslim community. It also assesses the culturally charged issues relating to personal and group identity that demonstrates that acculturation is an ongoing but dynamic and complex process based upon environment, social and geopolitical processes. Key words: inter-culturality, plural society, women, marriage (nikah), carnival, fatwa, believers/non-believers, Sunnis, Ahamdis, purist Islam, liberal Islam, modernity. NOTE: A version of this paper was presented at the "Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour Past, Present and the Future Conference on Bonded Labour, Migration, Diaspora and Identity Formation in Historical and Contemporary Context." Suriname. June, 2013.

 

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Caribbean Representation of Gender in the Muslim Community in the Production of Itinerant Feminist Forms

Conference Paper · February 2016 

Conference: Turning Tides: Caribbean Intersections in the Americas and Beyond Conference. Jointly held by Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut and The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine., at UWI St Augustine

Abstract:

The paper looked at configurations of feminist forms in the Indo-Muslim community of Trinidad using secondary sources and conversational narratives. Drawing upon historical and contemporary examples of Muslim women’s presence/absence in the religious public sphere, and the use of social media and declaration of Muslim identity, women’s experiences in religious spaces were examined. The paper argues that: (i) the Muslim community though a minority is heterogeneous, (ii) the consciousness and practice of Islam is quite nuanced, and (iii) Muslim women (and men) developed a bicultural identity by selecting and adding aspects of local/Western culture to their Muslim identity (or the inverse may apply). As such, the paper concluded that Muslim females were not only beneficiaries of a changing social and technological order and that community social spaces reinforced certain cultural beliefs, practices and attitudes, but also that Muslim women draws together the strands of their religious identity and politics to exercise and extend their ownership of choice and express their empowerment within the sub and wider community.

 

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Forming Islamic Religious Identity among Trinidadians in the Age of Social Networks

Chapter · September 2015 

In book: Crescent over Another Horizon: Islam in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino USA, Chapter: Forming Islamic Religious Identity among Trinidadians in the Age of Social Networks, Publisher: University of Texas Press, Editors: Maria Del Mar Logroño Narbona, Paulo G. Pinto, John Tofik Karam, pp.225-254

Abstract:

This chapter seeks to provide an exploratory assessment of young Muslim adults' use of SNS in the construction of their identity in Trinidad. Rather than argue that SNS is a medium that necessarily competes with or substitutes for "traditional" Muslim spaces, this chapter demonstrates that SNS provides an additional arena to continue and build on debates or conversations that are part of this wider Islamic public sphere. This chapter seeks to understand the place of religion in the lives of young Muslim adults through their use of SNS. It contributes to understanding young Muslim adults' presence on the Internet and their participation in the production of online content through extended conversations about religion and religiosity.

 

 

 

A Young Soldier of Islam:Haji Ruknudeen Sahib

Research · May 2015 

[Lecture prepared for the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Haji Ruknudeen’s death, Tunupuna Masjid (Back Street, Tunupuna); 06/2013] This lecture, A Young Soldier of Islam: Haji Ruknudeen Sahib, examines the contributions made by this indentured immigrant who came to these shores some 120 years ago and spent 75 years in service to the Muslim community. A humble man, dedicated to the cause of Islam he joins the legions of other men such as Syed Abdul Aziz, Yacoob Ali Meer Hassan, Beekham Syne, Zahoor Khan, Ishmile Khan, Hafiz Naziruddeen, Baboo Meah, Abdul Ghany (Gany), Yacoob Khan, Subrate Meah, Mohammed Ibrahim, John Mohammed, etc. who made sterling contributions to the consolidation and propagation of Islam in Trinidad and whose stories also need to be written and understood by my generation and younger generations. Like many of my generation, had it not been for the legacy I grew‐up surrounded by, the trials, the tribulations and the triumphs of the Muslim community would have been largely ignored, for I benefitted from the struggles of our fore parents and did not need to interrogate what existed. It is also a struggle that takes on new twists and turns in my generation and those after me. How to be Muslim in a globalised world with its distinct myriad images of individuality and modernisation, with attendant norms and values that runs counter to the very principles of Islam; submission to the will of Allah, humility, goodwill, community, cooperation and service? This challenge is made even more acute as we also live in an Islamophobic (as defined by Runnymede Trust, 1997) world. The struggle to constantly adapt, to live a life in service of Islam in a new world by Ruknudeen provides lessons for all of us even fifty years after his death. Note: due to the strict enforcement of 'purdah' by the imam of the masjid on the day of the lecture, this was not delivered but forwarded to the organisers of the function

 

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Entries: Sunni Islam - Education, Hindu-Muslim Efforts, Islamic Religious Traditions and Practices in The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions Volume 1: A-L; Volume 2: M-Z

Edited by: Patrick Taylor and Frederick I. Case. September 2013.

 

 

Identity and Acculturation Of Trinidad Muslims - An Exploration Of Contemporary Practices

Conference Paper  · June 2013 

Conference: Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour Past, Present and the Future Conference on Bonded Labour, Migration, Diaspora and Identity Formation in Historical and Contemporary Context, At Paramaribo, Suriname

Abstract:

The Indo-Muslim community in Trinidad were among the second wave of Muslim migrants to arrive in the colony and adapted to the new environment by applying and integrating cultural and religious beliefs into their new context. Communities, families and individuals came under considerable stress to make these adjustments and at the same time the interconnectivity among those factors reinforced the high religiosity of the community. External influences impacted and interacted with the internal Muslim group dynamics that fostered particular identities and organisations within the Muslim community in the early to mid twentieth century. This paper builds on the historical narrative and examines the global pressures and influences that impacted on the community as well as the more recent examples of personal and group identity challenges experienced by the Muslim community. It also assesses the culturally charged issues relating to personal and group identity that demonstrates that acculturation is an ongoing but dynamic and complex process based upon environment, social and geopolitical processes. Key words: inter-culturality, plural society, women, marriage (nikah), carnival, fatwa, believers/non-believers, Sunnis, Ahamdis, purist Islam, liberal Islam, modernity.

 

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The Depths of Rose, ‘A Wind that Rose’: A Woman called Feroza Rose Mohammed.

Article · March 2013 

Abstract:

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me (Pastor Martin Niemöller [1892– 1984], as quoted in Mohammed 2009). “Speak Out” against injustices is the doctrine that guides Feroza Rose Mohammed, a woman many know simply as Rose. It is this belief that brought her the glare of publicity and created a storm of controversy in October 2007, when she protested on Eid day against the placing of wooden barriers to separate men and women at the TML mosque. The words of Muhammad Ali (1942-), “service to others is the rent you pay here for your room on earth”, underpin the philosophy of Rose as wife, mother and citizen. Guided by the dictates of her faith, Islam, and the admonitions of the Qur’an—“You are the best people ever raised for the good of mankind because you have been raised to serve others; you enjoin what is good and forbid evil and believe in Allah.” (3:111)—she firmly believes in the promotion of good which would lead to the improved welfare of Trinidadian society. If one is to be defined by labels, Rose would want the following ascribed to her: Muslim, Trinidadian, passionate, simple, humble, service-oriented, empathetic and tolerant. Most of all, Rose embodies the elusive spirit of the transformative leader.

 

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Words and Work: Education and Work Among Indo-Muslim Women in Trinidad, 1930–1960.

Article · March 2013 

Abstract:

This paper examines Indo-Muslim females’ access to education and participation in formal work over three decades, 1930–1960. In particular, it acknowledges that access to primary and secondary education at the micro level was attained in circumstances of negotiation and collusion and in circumstances where there was a growing recognition of the universalistic-achievement values. Increasing female access to education is assumed to enable empowerment. As such, this paper also examines the employment opportunities available to young women. For young Indo-Muslim females, opportunities were generally limited to private and what can be termed the “semi-public” sphere. The existing patriarchal norms which operated served to ensure that marriage and motherhood, though not explored in this paper, were the means by which these young females were fully accepted by society. Using both written sources and interviews with Indo-Muslim females growing up between the 1920s and 1950s, this paper focuses on their education and labour market participation experiences as representatives of the Muslim community. These experiences in the school and in the labour market led to a reimagined and reshaped social order that added layers to their Muslim identity.

 

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The Crescent in Trinidad and Tobago: building community

Research · September 2011

Abstract:

Introduction: As I stand before you this evening, I am reminded that one week ago today, a first occurred. As a country we commemorated the dual occasion of the 49th anniversary of our Independence and Eid-ul-Fitr. Both occasions provided the opportunity for celebration of our achievements as individuals, as a community and as a country. It also allowed us to reflect on who we are and our pathways to the future. This was indeed a proud moment for us all – the spirit of patriotism sharing a moment, a space, with the spirit of religiosity.

 

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Institutionalising Islam: Community Building and Conflict in the Caribbean.

Conference Paper · June 2011 with 80 Reads

Conference: Conference on The Global South Asian Diaspora in the 21st Century: Antecedents and Prospects.,, At The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Abstract:

The Muslim community in the post-indenture Caribbean witnessed several changes that affected the character of its practices. As a way of institutionalizing the faith, the community had established masajid (mosques), schools and other organisations. As these physical manifestations and legal entities were being inserted into the local space, foreign missionaries who visited imposed their brand of Islam on the local landscape. The tension which arose resulted in the splintering of the Muslim community. Each strain, Sunnism and Ahmaddiyaism, vied for supremacy – territoriality-by supporting missionary visits from India and later Pakistan, and embarking upon da'wah (invitation to...). As these streams of Islam collided or solidified, organisations, either at the community or national levels, were established. As part of forging the ummah (community) Muslim leaders established links with South American Islamic bodies, principally those of British Guiana and Suriname. This development of Islamic consciousness and cooperation culminated with a regional conference in 1950 in Trinidad that involved Muslims from Trinidad, British Guiana, Suriname and Barbados. This conference was the highlight of Islamic consciousness in the Caribbean and preceded the departure of two eminent Islamic scholars, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and Dr. Fazl-ur Rahaman Ansari. This paper, therefore, takes a look at the above issues and rethinks them in the context of interconnected networks and sometimes, through the lens of the local-global nexus. It views it as a noble attempt by the Muslims to assert the ummah beyond national boundaries and a forerunner to other efforts in the later twentieth century.

 

 

 

Rings, Gifts and Shekels: Marriage and Dowry Among the Indo-Muslim Community in Trinidad, 1930 to the globalised present

Chapter · February 2011 

In book: Bindi -The Multifaceted Lives of Indo-Caribbean Women, Chapter: Rings, Gifts and Shekels: Marriage and Dowry Among the Indo-Muslim Community in Trinidad, 1930 to the globalised presen, Publisher: UWI Press, Editors: Roseanne Kanhai, pp.52-97

 

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The Hindu-Muslim Education Crossroads: A (Re)Examination of the Hindu- Muslim Education Efforts.

Chapter · December 2004 

In book: The Construction of An Indo-Caribbean Diaspora, Chapter: The Hindu-Muslim Education Crossroads: A (Re)Examination of the Hindu- Muslim Education Efforts, Publisher: School of Continuing Studies, The University of the West Indies, Editors: Brinsley Samaroo, Ann-Marie Bissessar, pp.158-181

Abstract:

This chapter seeks to briefly review the attempts by the East Indian intelligentsia to put in place a system of education which reflected some of their cultural values in what was essentially a Western-education syllabi. This paper suggests that the both Hindus and Muslims were united in their cause to acquire an education space uniquely theirs’ and one that reflected their religious perspective. They supported their intention to have an educational system suitable to their people with the establishment of religious classes and linguistic schools that existed side by side with the secular. Eventually, these efforts culminated in a cooperative effort by the Hindus and Muslims in Woodford Lodge Village, Chaguanas in 1929. This paper re-examines the efforts that led to the establishment of that Hindu-Muslim school and its resultant demise. The paper briefly examines the effect that this school had on the psyche of the community; it questions whether this set the tone for separateness within the Indian community which may have been further exacerbated by the lowering of the India flag and hoisting of the Pakistan flag at The India Club, Queen's Park, Port of Spain. The paper acknowledges, perhaps with hindsight, that the community's ultimate aim was the establishment of state-aided schools. It also sees the agitation for state-aided institutions in context of the Indian National Movement, an event external to the colony of Trinidad and Tobago. It concludes that Ordinance No 10 of 1948 was passed primarily because the colony’s education system was in a precarious situation.

 

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The Muslim Community Active Agents in their Acculturative: Gender and Education

Conference Paper · October 2002 

Conference: La Sociedad Latino Americana de Estudios Sobre America Latina y el Caribe (SOLAR),, At The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.

Abstract:

The Muslim community as a minority group and as a subset of the Indian community was precariously placed to face the threat of assimilation of aspects of its identity. Yet, the community's religious beliefs insulated them providing them with a strength to defy assimilation. Of necessity change would occur, a consequence of time and contact. This paper will acknowledge that aspects of the Muslim community's identity was subsumed, at times, under the rubric of the Hindu community, by virtue of its numbers, and at other times, by the wider/mainstream society. Hence, this paper will review the issues of gender and education as particular areas in which the Muslim community found their identities intersecting with powerful forces that was internal to and external to the society in which it inhabited. These forces while destroying the 'pure' heritage the immigrants introduced into their host society may have contributed to the community's survival (rather than their assimilation) as a consequence of adaptation. They were 'aliens' in a Western-Christian society removed (voluntary and induced/seduced) from their homeland by the British, the rulers of the colony they now inhabited, their new homeland. The concept of " multiple identities " is the key to understanding of the Muslim community-they separated the sacred from the secular that allowed them to view how others may see them. Of necessity, this evaluation had to be done for survival, i.e., if they wanted to bring themselves to the point of 'inclusion' rather than 'exclusion'. Further, this evaluation had to be undertaken not by the first generation immigrant but by the second or third generation, the locally-born Indians. Thus, with the internalisation of identification the community gains an identity removed from the 'stigma' of the culture introduced by their ancestors. They further gained an identity from the way they interact with other individuals and groups. Thus, the choice of identities is determined by the social roles and responsibilities to the Muslim community and the wider/mainstream society. Their acculturation, therefore, was not a passive choice but an active responsibility to changes and the internalisation of identities.

 

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Transformation of Trinidad Islam: The Works of Moulvi Ameer Ali and Moulvi Nasir Ahmad, 1935-1942

Conference Paper  · January 2002 with 142 Reads

Conference: Conference on Religions of the New World: Adaptation and Change., At The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.

Abstract:

Trinidad Islam is essentially a collage of the faith that originated in Arabia. The second phase of Islam that entered Trinidad from 1845 to 1917 was a result of the arrival of East Indian indentured immigrants. Of the aggregate 15% of Muslims that arrived in the colony the majority were Sunni with a few Shi'ites and even fewer Wahabbis. From as early as 1914 Muslim missionaries began to arrive which affected the Islam that had evolved here-island Islam. The stage was therefore set. Conflict and tension ensued as island Islam clashed with introduced Islam.

 

 

 

Education and Socialization among Indo-Muslims of Trinidad, 1917-1962

Conference Paper · August 2000 

Conference: Conference on Asian Migration in the Americas., At University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Abstract:

This paper will examine the formal and non-formal modes of education that co-existed in the Muslim community post-indenture. It will evaluate the persistence of the old culture and the attempts at acculturation. There will be an examination of maktabs (religious schools), Indic language schools, and literary and debating societies as examples of the non-formal mode of knowledge transmission. Early attempts at formal schooling will also be explored. These two types of educational systems will demonstrate the schizophrenic nature of the Indo-Muslim community. There will be a probing into the competitive struggles that evolved among the Indo-Muslim middle class and the Indian middle class to support the increase of literacy. The paper will conclude on the note that the Indo-Muslims acculturation was self-imposed.

 

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“Schisms in Caribbean Islam: The Ideological Conflict in the Muslim Community, 1920-1950.” Published in Journal of Social Sciences June + December 1999 (Vol. VI 1+2). pp. 156-185.

Article in Journal of the Social Sciences VI(1+2):156-186 · June 1999

Abstract

The Muslim community in the Caribbean in the post-indenture period witnessed several changes that affected the character of its practices. The Islam of the Indo-Muslim immigrants had to undergo changes within this new environment. Hindu elements further entered into the Islamic faith as the religion continued to be re-constituted in a new atmosphere. To further solidify and maintain the faith, the community began establishing itself into bodies. These organized bodies also sought to rejuvenate the faith by inviting missionaries from India to visit the Caribbean. Some of the missionaries who arrived from India, began preaching varying messages of Islam, that opposed the acculturated forms that existed here. Others, however, gave credence to what was present in the local setting. The community, as a result of being exposed to varying forms of Islam, came under threat. Each form drew crowds and as interest began to expand in the alternative form. The tension which arose resulted in the splintering of the Muslim community. Each strain, Sunnism and Ahmaddiyaism, vied for supremacy, by supporting missionary visits from India, and embarking upon a religious education programme. As these streams of Islam solidified, organisations, either at the community or national levels were established. Within each form there were class divisions. Ethnicity was equally important in formulating religious links. Simultaneously, each Islamic ideology operated within set geographical parameters. To further strengthen the community, Muslim leaders established ties with South American Islamic bodies, principally those of British Guiana and Suriname. Muslim leaders vowed to work together to improve the Islamic consciousness of the Muslims of the region. Aside from the Muslim leaders and visiting missionaries, youths in the region also engaged in religious exchange programmes. This religious cooperation culminated with a regional conference in 1950 in Trinidad that involved Muslims from Trinidad, British Guiana, Suriname and Barbados. This conference was the highlight of Islamic consciousness in the Caribbean and coincided with the visits of two imminent Islamic scholars, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and Dr. Fazl-ur Rahaman Ansari.

 

 

Muslims and Missionaries in Trinidad.” International Institute for the study of Islam Modern World Newsletter.March 1999. p. 27.

Article · March 1999

Abstract:

This article provides an overview of the retention of Islam post-indenture in Trinidad through group cohesion and activities in support of that, the arrival of missionaries from India and Pakistan, and early examples of descendants of indentured labourers returning to India to study Islam and their subsequent return to Trinidad.

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All papers listed above are available at :

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Halima_Saadia_Kassim/research