As in other regions of Yemen, Hadhrami society is stratified into several groups. At the top of hierarchy are the religious elites or sayyids, who trace their descent to Muhammad. These are followed by the sheikhs, tribesmen, townspeople, dhu'afa (farmers, fishers and builders). At the bottom of the hierarchy are al-Muhamashīn "the Marginalized" (previously referred to as al-akhdam "the servants")[3]
Hadhramaut was under Muslim rule and converted to the faith during the time of Prophet Muhammad.[4] A religious leader from Iraq introduced the Hadharem to Ibadi Islam in the mid eighth century until in 951 AD when Sunnis took Hadhramaut and put it under their domain. To this day the Hadharem follow Sunni, specifically the Shafi' school. Hadharem women have had more freedom and education than women in many other Arab countries.[2]
The Hadharem speak Hadhrami Arabic, a dialect of Arabic, although Hadharem living in the diaspora that have acculturated mainly speak the local language of the region they live in.[5]
The Hadharem have a long seafaring and trading tradition that predates Semitic cultures. Hadramite influence was later overshadowed by the rise of the Sabaeans, who became the ruling class. This prompted Hadhrami seamen to emigrate in large numbers around the Indian Ocean basin, including the Horn of Africa, the Swahili Coast, the Malabar Coast, Hyderabad in South India, Sri Lanka, and Maritime Southeast Asia.[6] In the mid 1930s the Hadhrami Diaspora numbered at 110,000, amounting to a third of the total Hadhrami population.[7]
Hadhrami immigrants in Surabaya (Indonesia), 1920Hadhrami Arab neighborhood in Surabaya, 1880Hadharem of Palembang, 22 February 1937
Hadhrami East Africans
The Hadharem have long had a presence in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia), and also comprise a notable part of the Harari population. Hadhrami settlers were instrumental in helping to consolidate the Muslim community in the coastal Benadir province of Somalia, in particular.[9] During the colonial period, disgruntled Hadharem from the tribal wars settled in various Somali towns.[10] They were also frequently recruited into the armies of the Somali Sultanates.[11]
Lemba people (Sena) who are of paternal Yemeni ancestry via Hadhramautic settlers in South East Africa; These Hadhrami settlers were primarily from the city of Sana.
Ho, Engseng (2006). The graves of Tarim: Genealogy and mobility across the Indian Ocean. University of California Press. ISBN9780520244535. OCLC123768411.
Freitag, Smith, Ulrike, William Clarence (1997). Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s-1960s. Brill. p.5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin (2007). "The Role of Hadramis in Post-Second World War Singapore – A Reinterpretation". Immigrants & Minorities. 25 (2): 163–183. doi:10.1080/02619280802018165. ISSN0261-9288. S2CID144316388.
Al-Saqqaf, Abdullah Hassan (2008). "The Linguistics of Loanwords in Hadrami Arabic". International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 9 (1): 75–93. doi:10.1080/13670050608668631. ISSN1367-0050. S2CID145299220.
Freitag, Ulrike (1999). "Hadhramaut: A Religious Centre for the Indian Ocean in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries?". Studia Islamica (89): 165–183. doi:10.2307/1596090. JSTOR1596090.
Jacobsen, Frode F. (2008). Hadrami Arabs in present-day Indonesia: An Indonesia-oriented group with an Arab signature. Routledge. ISBN9780203884614. OCLC310362117.
Manger, Leif (2007). "Hadramis in Hyderabad: From Winners to Losers". Asian Journal of Social Science. 35 (4): 405–433. doi:10.1163/156853107x240279. ISSN1568-5314.
Manger, Leif (2010). The Hadrami diaspora: Community-building on the Indian Ocean rim. Berghahn Books. ISBN9781845459789. OCLC732958389.
Miran, Jonathan (2012). "Red Sea Translocals: Hadrami Migration, Entrepreneurship, and Strategies of Integration in Eritrea, 1840s–1970s". Northeast African Studies. 12 (1): 129–167. doi:10.1353/nas.2012.0035. ISSN1535-6574. S2CID143621961.
Romero, Patricia W. (1997). Lamu: History, society, and family in an East African port city. Markus Wiener. pp.93–108, 167–184. ISBN9781558761070. OCLC35919259.
Yemen (mainland)
United Kingdom
