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Islam (Sunni, Shafi'i, Sufi Islam) |
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The Hadhrami (Arabic: حضرمي) or Hadharem (Arabic: الحضارم) are people from the Hadhramaut and their descendants in diaspora communities around the world. They speak Hadhrami Arabic.
Though most of the Muslim peoples of the Arabian peninsula speak Arabic and have similar ancestry and dress, they are not all one people. Among the two million inhabitants of Democratic Yemen, there are 1,300 distinct Arab tribes. Even unity among the 151,000 Hadrami people is not very strong. Antagonism between townsfolk and wandering tribesmen has been so bitter that the towns are surrounded by stone walls to protect them from attack by their tribal countrymen.
Many Hadramis still practice the nomadic lifestyle of their ancient ancestors. But today approximately half of the Hadramis live in the towns and villages scattered through the deep valleys of their region. Even among these settled peoples, there are sharp distinctions, the highest social prestige belonging to the wealthy, educated Sadahs, who claim to be direct descendants of Muhammed. Hadramis rarely marry outside their own social level, and often live in segregated groups in separate parts of town.
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The Hadharem have a long sea-faring and trading tradition, which has seen them migrate in large numbers all around the Indian Ocean basin, from the Horn of Africa and the Swahili Coast in East Africa to the Malabar Coast and Hyderabad, India in South India, and to Maritime Southeast Asia.[1]
There are Hadharem communities in the trading ports of the Arab Gulf states and the Red Sea. The money changers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia have usually been of Hadhrami origin.[2]
The Hadhrami have long had a notable presence in the Horn region, especially in Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Hadhrami settlers were instrumental in helping to consolidate the Muslim community in the coastal Benadir province, in particular.[3] During the colonial period, disgruntled Yemenis from the Hadhrami wars additionally settled in various Somalian towns[4], and were frequently recruited in the armies of Somali Sultans.
Some Hadhrami communities also reportedly exist in Mozambique and Madagascar.[5]
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South Asia
Indonesia
East Timor
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Malaysia
Singapore
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East Africa
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Yemen
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