'Ajam of Kuwait

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ajam
العيم
Behbehani family (Persian: بهبهاني) were among the first merchant families to settle in Kuwait.[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Kuwait[3]
Languages
Kuwaiti Persian, Kuwaiti Arabic
Religion
Predominantly Shia Islam;[4]
Minority Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Ajam of Bahrain

'Ajam of Kuwait (Arabic: عيم الكويت)[5][6] are Kuwaiti citizens of Iranian descent.[7][8][9][10] The majority of Shia Kuwaiti citizens are of Iranian descent,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][1][18] although there are Ajam Kuwaitis who are Sunni.[10][2]

History

Pre-oil Kuwait City

Historically, Persian ports provided most of pre-oil Kuwait's economic needs.[1][19] Marafi Behbehani was one of the first merchants to settle in Kuwait in the 18th century.[1][2] The arms trade was exclusively under the domain of Ajam merchants.[2][20] Up until the 1950s, most Ajam (both Sunni and Shia) resided in the Sharq historical district in the old Kuwait City,[21] thereby forming a linguistic enclave which preserved the Kuwaiti Persian language for generations.[22] They communicated in Persian between each other,[22] and did not frequently mingle with Arabic speakers until the oil-led industrialisation of Kuwait City which scattered people to the suburbs.[22] The linguistic enclave was not present any longer therefore the Ajam had to learn Kuwaiti Arabic to survive in the new environment.[22]

In the pre-oil era, the Ajam introduced many new things to Kuwaiti society.[23][24] For instance, the first hotel in Kuwait City was built by Yusuf Behbehani;[23][24] the first telephone in Kuwait was brought by M. Ma’arafie;[24] the first radio agency in Kuwait was established by M. Ma’arafie in 1935;[24] and the first refrigerator in Kuwait was imported by M. Ma’arafie in 1934.[24] Murad Behbehani was the first person to officially introduce television to Kuwait.[23] He was the founder of Kuwait Television (KTV) before the company was nationalized by the government.[25]

Although present-day Kuwaiti citizens are ethnically diverse (consisting of both Arabs and Ajam),[26][27][28] the cultural identity of Ajam is suppressed and marginalized.[29] In the 1950s and 1960s, the community was subjected to xenophobic campaigns demanding their deportation to Iran (despite the fact most held Kuwaiti citizenship).[30][31] Some Ajam are stateless.[32][33][34][35]

The Ajam community originate from different Iranian ethnic groups including Lurs, Persians, Azerbaijanis, Arabs, and Kurds. The majority of Ajam are "Tarakma" originating from Lamerd in Fars Province.[36][37] There are also Kuwaiti Ajam of Sayyid descent especially those from the Al-Musawi family.[38]

Failaka Island

The majority of Kuwaitis from Failaka Island are of Iranian ancestry.[39] They originally migrated to Failaka from the Iranian coast, mainly Kharg Island and Bandar Lengeh.[39] These people are commonly known as the Huwala in the GCC states.[39] They are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak Arabic fluently, although prior to the discovery of oil they also spoke Persian fluently.[39] The most important Huwala settlement in Failaka Island pertained to 40 families who migrated from the Iranian island Kharg to Failaka in the years 1841-1842.[39] The most recent settlement occurred in the early 1930s after the imposition of the unveiling law by Reza Shah.[39] A minority of Failaka Island's Kuwaiti families are Shia Persians, they were noted as having their own hussainiyas and the older generations were frequent Arabic speakers, unlike the Kuwaiti Shia of Persian descent in mainland Kuwait City at the time.[39]

Culture

The Ajam of Kuwait have retained certain cultural traditions and idiosyncrasies that differentiate them from other ethnic groups in Kuwaiti society. Waleed Al-Rujaib's 2008 novel "Mustique" focuses on their culture in the 1960s.[40][21]

Cuisine

Marag sabzi is a common meal in the homes of Kuwaiti Ajam families.

The Ajam community has unique culinary traditions such as marag sabzi, mahyawa,[41] nakhi, and bajella.[42] The Ajam are particularly known for bread-making especially Iranian bread.[43][44][42] The Iranian zubaidi fish is a staple food.[43] Various other Ajam food items are derived from modern Iranian cuisine, especially desserts, sweets, and snacks.[45][42][43]

Music

The Ajam of Kuwait are known for the habbān, which is a type of bagpipe used in southern Iran and the coastal regions of the Persian Gulf.[46][47] In the 1990s and 2000s, the Kuwaiti record label Al-Nazaer released various music in the Kuwaiti Persian language.[48][49][50][51][52][53] Even some non-Ajam Kuwaiti musicians have released music in the Kuwaiti Persian language, such as the Miami Band (Ferqat Miami).[54][55]

Qiddu

Qiddu (Persian: القدو) is a smoking method very similar to Iranian hookah, there is no honeydew added to it, and its base is made of pottery (not glass). Historically, both men and women smoked qiddu. Unlike the restrictive gender norms of Arabia, smoking qiddu has always been socially acceptable among Ajam women.

Religion

The majority of Shia Kuwaiti citizens are of Iranian descent.[11][12][13][14][15][16][1][17][18] Ajam Shia have distinct cultural beliefs, customs, and rituals; which can be exemplified by the stark contrast between Sunni and Shia graves at the national cemetery of Kuwait.[56]

Many Kuwaitis of Iranian descent are Sunni Muslims such as the Al-Kandari and Al-Awadhi families of Larestani ancestry.[57][58][37][59] They tend to have strong transnational ties to Sunni Ajam families in Bahrain and the UAE (especially Dubai). Iranian Balochi families (Sunni and Shia) first immigrated to Kuwait in the 19th century.[60][61][58]

In the pre-oil era, the term Ajam pertained to both Sunni and Shia families of Iranian descent in Kuwait.[10][62] In the 20th century, the term Ajam became synonymous with Shia families; which can be partly attributed to the politicization of sectarian identities following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Language

Main article: Kuwaiti Persian

The Kuwaiti Persian language is a combination of different varieties of the Persian language and Achomi language historically spoken in Kuwait.[63][64][65] It was passed down through generations in the historical Sharq district of Kuwait City.[8] Husseiniyat Marafi is among the oldest husseiniyas in Kuwait, as it was founded in 1905, and reading there was initially in the Persian language.[66]

Nowadays, the Ajam speak Kuwaiti Arabic but it is believed they incorrectly pronounce various Kuwaiti words.[67] Consequently, there is an Ajami accent of Kuwaiti Arabic, which is sometimes a subject of mockery in the media. Most recently, the media personality Fajer Al-Saeed mockingly imitated the Ajami accent of Hassan Jawhar.[68]

The Iranian sub-dialects of Larestani, Khonji, Bastaki and Gerashi have influenced the vocabulary of Kuwaiti Arabic.[69]

Language shift

The anti-preservation attitude of the Kuwaiti government towards the Kuwaiti Persian language will eventually lead to the disappearance of the language in Kuwaiti society, as Abdulmuhsen Dashti projects.[70] The government of Kuwait tries to delegitimise the use of the language in as many domains as possible.[70]

In 2008, the Kuwaiti writer Waleed Al-Rujaib was criticised[71] for releasing a novel set in the 1960s featuring the community's Persian language[72] and culture, Al-Rujaib considered the backlash a testament to "blind hatred for all those who are different from us".[71] The Kuwaiti television series Karimo attempted to address the identity crisis of Kuwaitis of Iranian descent.[29] The show featured Kuwaiti actors speaking fluent Persian;[29] which resulted in some racist discourse against the Ajam community.[73] The Alrai TV channel advertised the show in Farsi and Arabic.[29]

In 2009, it was estimated that 89% of Kuwaiti Ajam aged 40-70 spoke Persian fluently as their native language; whereas only 28% of Kuwaiti Ajam aged 12-22 spoke Persian.[74] Cultural, political, and economic marginalization creates a strong incentive for Kuwaiti Ajam to abandon their language in favor of Arabic which is widely perceived as a more prestigious language.[75][8] This happens because Kuwaiti Ajam families want to achieve a higher social status, have a better chance to get employment and/or acceptance in a given social network so they adopt the cultural and linguistic traits of socially dominant groups with enough power imbalance to culturally integrate them, through various means of ingroup and outgroup coercion.[8] The generation of Kuwaiti Ajam born between 1983 and 1993 are reported to have a minimal proficiency in their language unlike the older generations of Kuwaiti Ajam.[74][75][8] Since the 1980s and 1990s, many Kuwaiti Ajam parents have reported an unwillingness to pass the Persian language on to their children, as it will hurdle their integration into the dominant culture.[74] The Ajam feel pressure to abandon ties that could be interpreted as showing belonging to Iran, as Persian is synonymous with Iranian, and the Persian language is actually called Irani in Kuwaiti Arabic.[75] In several interviews conducted by PhD student Batoul Hasan, Ajam youth have shown hesitation to use or learn Persian due to stigmatisation and prejudice in Kuwait.[75][74]

In 2012, MP Muhammad Hassan al-Kandari called for a "firm legal action" against an advertisement for teaching the Persian language in Rumaithiya.[76]

UNESCO recognise Kuwaiti Persian as an endangered language.[77] The decline of Kuwaiti Persian is a reflection of the forced homogeneity of Kuwait's national identity and marginalisation of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity among Kuwaiti citizens.[31][78] Unlike Bahrain and Dubai where the Ajam citizens still speak their language (including the youngest generations).[79]

Notable people

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Mohammad E. Alhabib (2010). The Shia Migration from Southwestern Iran to Kuwait: Push-Pull Factors during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Thesis). Georgia State University.
  2. ^ a b c d Mohammad E. Al-Habib (21 November 2023). "Kuwait's ʿAjam merchants: a transnational community (1896–1950)". Middle Eastern Studies: 1–19. doi:10.1080/00263206.2023.2279519. S2CID 265365149.
  3. ^ "Under the Sails: Maritime Conversations on Trade and Seafaring - Perspectives from Iran and Kuwait". UNESCO. 2021. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022.
  4. ^ Moojan Momen (2015). Shi'i Islam: A Beginner's Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781780747880.
  5. ^ Article in AL-AAN online newspaper Archived 15 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic) November 2010
  6. ^ Article by Waleed aj-Jasim in Al-Watan daily newspaper Archived 15 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic). 25 May 2013
  7. ^ "Symposia Iranica - Institute of Iranian Studies" (PDF). University of St Andrews. pp. 20–21.
  8. ^ a b c d e Taqi, Hanan (2010). Two ethnicities, three generations: Phonological variation and change in Kuwait (PDF) (PhD). Newcastle University.
  9. ^ "Policing Iranian Sanctions: Trade, Identity, and Smuggling Networks in the Arabian Gulf" (PDF). Naval Postgraduate School. pp. 25–27.
  10. ^ a b c Mohammad al-Habib (2016). The Formation of the Shi ͑a Communities in Kuwait: Migration, Settlement and Contribution between 1880 and 1938 (PDF) (Thesis). Royal Holloway, University of London. pp. 32–37.
  11. ^ a b Butenschøn, Nils August; Davis, Uri; Hassassian, Manuel Sarkis (2000). Citizenship and the State in the Middle East: Approaches and Applications. Syracuse University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780815628293.
  12. ^ a b Potter, Lawrence G. (June 2014). Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf. Oxford University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9780190237967.
  13. ^ a b Louër, Laurence (2011). Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf. Hurst. pp. 46–55. ISBN 9781849042147.
  14. ^ a b Michael Herb (1999). Ethnic Conflict and International Politics in the Middle East (PDF). University Press of Florida. p. 164. ISBN 9780813016870. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Unlike the Shi'a of Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, the Kuwaiti Shi'a mostly are of Persian descent.
  15. ^ a b Hertog, Steffen; Luciani, Giacomo; Valeri, Marc (2013). Business Politics in the Middle East. Hurst Publishers. p. 71. ISBN 9781849042352.
  16. ^ a b Ende, Werner; Steinbach, Udo (2002). Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society. Cornell University Press. p. 533. ISBN 0801464897.
  17. ^ a b Rivka Azoulay (2020). Kuwait and Al-Sabah: Tribal Politics and Power in an Oil State. Bloomsbury. p. 115. ISBN 9781838605063.
  18. ^ a b "Political Activism Among the Shi'ah of Kuwait" (PDF). J.E. Peterson. 2009. p. 1.
  19. ^ Peterson, J. E. (2016). The Emergence of the Gulf States: Studies in Modern History. Bloomsbury. p. 107. ISBN 9781472587626.
  20. ^ "Researcher talks about history of trading in weapons in Kuwait". Kuwait Times. 10 June 2017.
  21. ^ a b Waleed Al-Rujaib (2008). موستيك: رواية (in Arabic). Dar Al Farabi. ISBN 9789953713120.
  22. ^ a b c d Taqi, Hanan (2010). Two ethnicities, three generations: Phonological variation and change in Kuwait (PDF) (PhD). Newcastle University. p. 13-23.
  23. ^ a b c Ahmad Hamada (2015). The Integration History of Kuwaiti Television from 1957-1990: An Audience-Generated Oral Narrative on the Arrival and Integration of the Device in the City (Thesis). Virginia Commonwealth University. p. 192. Similarly to television, the Behbahani family, particularly the merchant Murad Behbehani, is acknowledged by historical sources as the first to have officially brought television into the city (Al-Mudhaf, 2015). Murad was the son of the prominent merchant Yousef Behbehani, who opened the first hotel in the city of Kuwait in 1947, and imported weapons and cigarettes (Al-Habeeb, 2012; Al-Hatim, 1980). In the testimony below, Mubarak Al-Mubarak (75) remembers how the Behbehani house was a frequent destination for the neighborhood kids.
  24. ^ a b c d e Waleed A.A. Al-Munais (1981). Social and ethnic differentiation in Kuwait: A social geography of an indigenous society (PDF) (Thesis). SOAS University of London. p. 151. According to Al-Hatim, 1961, Ibid, the Persian-Kuwaitis, have brought many new things to the society, i.e. the first hotel in Kuwait in the later years of preoil era was built by Y. Behbehani; the first telephone in Kuwait was brought by M. Marafie; the first radio agency was established by M. Ma'arafi in 1935; the first refrigerator in Kuwait was brought by M. Ma'arafi in 1934, see pp. 249, 282, 346, etc.
  25. ^ Ahmad Hamada (2015). The Integration History of Kuwaiti Television from 1957-1990: An Audience-Generated Oral Narrative on the Arrival and Integration of the Device in the City (Thesis). Virginia Commonwealth University. p. 1. It is generally known that Kuwaiti television (KTV) started as the private initiative of the Kuwaiti merchant Murad Behbehani in 1957, before being quickly governmentalized on November 15, 1961 (Al-Mudhaf, 2015; Dajani, 2007).
  26. ^ Al Sager, Noura, ed. (2014). Acquiring Modernity: Kuwait's Modern Era Between Memory and Forgetting. National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. p. 7. ISBN 9789990604238.
  27. ^ Hamad H. Albloshi. "Social Activism and Political Change in Kuwait Since 2006". Baker Institute.
  28. ^ Hamad H. Albloshi. "Kuwait's National Assembly: Roles and Dynamics".
  29. ^ a b c d Andrew Hammond (2017). Pop Culture in North Africa and the Middle East: Entertainment and Society Around the World. California: ABC-CLIO. p. 143. ISBN 9781440833847.
  30. ^ Albloshi, Hamad (2022). "Identity and Political Cartoons: Arab Nationalists and Ajam in Kuwait in 1960s".
  31. ^ a b Rana Almutawa (18 December 2018). "Monolithic Representations of 'Arabness': From the Arab Nationalists to the Arab Gulf".
  32. ^ "Like Orcas and Tangerines". Hyperallergic. 27 March 2022.
  33. ^ Ajam Media Collective (2018). "Between Two Deserts: Visual Vignettes from an Iranian-Kuwaiti Bidoon in New Mexico". Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  34. ^ "Stateless at Home: The Kuwaiti-American Artist Zahra Marwan". October 2021.
  35. ^ "EVENT: Statelessness, watercolours & ink – Zahra Marwan – An MRG Sofa Talk". Minority Rights Group International. 23 November 2023.
  36. ^ Azoulay, Rivka; Hertog, Steffen; Luciani, Giacomo; Valeri, Marc (2013). Business Politics in the Middle East. Hurst Publishers. p. 85. ISBN 9781849042352.
  37. ^ a b Mehran (2 March 2023). "كتاب تاريخ جنوب فارس لارستان وبستك" (in Arabic).
  38. ^ Murtadha Mutahhari, Majmu'at al-Athaar, Part 18. Qum, Tehran. p. 124
  39. ^ a b c d e f g Zubaydah Ali M. Ashkanani (June 1988). Middle-aged women in Kuwait: Victims of change (Thesis). Durham University. pp. 309–310. The Social Composition of Failakans
  40. ^ Waïl S. Hassan, ed. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Arab Novelistic Traditions. Oxford University Press. p. 289. ISBN 9780199349791.
  41. ^ Kanwal Hameed (July 2023). "Halwa, Mahyawa and Multiple Registers of Life in the Gulf".
  42. ^ a b c Lindsey Stephenson (2018). Rerouting the Persian Gulf: The Transnationalization of Iranian Migrant Networks, c.1900–1940 (Thesis). Princeton University. pp. 154–155.
  43. ^ a b c "Iranian bread permanent guest at the Kuwaiti table - AFP". YouTube.
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  45. ^ "أقدم صانع بوظة في الكويت.. قبل 70 عاماً". YouTube (in Arabic).
  46. ^ Anne K. Rasmussen; Issa Boulos; Virginia Danielson, eds. (2021). Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253057518.
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  51. ^ "Amnzt Drogh فرقة السلام – أمنزت دروغ". YouTube (in Persian).
  52. ^ "Mahlema Kalno Shorda فرقة الكواكب". YouTube (in Persian).
  53. ^ "Marain Jan Dlm فرقة الأنوار – مريم جان دلم". YouTube (in Persian).
  54. ^ "ميامي - بادا بادا". YouTube (in Persian).
  55. ^ "Miami Band - Hala Yarom - 2008 - فرقة ميامي - هلا يارم". YouTube (in Persian).
  56. ^ Monira Al Qadiri (2015). "How Toshihiko Made Me Understand Islam". Ibraaz.
  57. ^ Ali Al-Kandari. "The Political Identity of 'Ajam Sunna in Kuwait". Princeton University.
  58. ^ a b Rivka Azoulay (2020). Kuwait and Al-Sabah: Tribal Politics and Power in an Oil State. Bloomsbury. p. 40. ISBN 9781838605063.
  59. ^ khodo mania (27 April 2023). "كتاب تاريخ جنوب فارس لارستان وبستك". YouTube (in Arabic).
  60. ^ The Shia Migration from Southwestern Iran to Kuwait: Push-Pull Factors during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Georgia State University. 2012. pp. 71–72.
  61. ^ "The Baluch Presence in the Persian Gulf" (PDF). J.E. Peterson. 2013. pp. 742–743.
  62. ^ "'Ayam'" (PDF). 2017.
  63. ^ Dénes Gazsi. "The Persian Dialects of the ʿAjam in Kuwait" (PDF). Stony Brook University. p. 1-8.
  64. ^ Dénes Gazsi. "The Persian Dialects of the Ajam in Kuwait" (PDF). Stony Brook University.
  65. ^ Dénes Gazsi. "Dénes Gazsi - The University of Iowa - The Persian Dialects of the ʿAjam in Kuwait" (PDF).
  66. ^ Official Website of Husseiniyat Marafi (in Arabic). أول برنامج بدأت به حسينية معرفي هو موسم شهري محرم وصفر من العام التالي سنة 1326 هجرية وكانت القراءة باللغة الفارسية.
  67. ^ Asrar Johar Hayat (27 November 2018). ""كويتي مال أوّل"". Al Qabas (in Arabic).
  68. ^ تضامن واسع مع نائب كويتي تعرّض لإساءة عنصرية من إعلامية (in Arabic). 15 January 2022.
  69. ^ Al-Tajir (2013). Lang & Linguistic in Bahrain Mon. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9781136136269.
  70. ^ a b AbdulMohsen Dashti (2004). "Language Maintenance or Shift? An Ethnographic Investigation of the Use of Farsi among Kuwaiti Ajams: A Case Study". Arab Journal for the Humanities. 22 (87): 73–249.
  71. ^ a b "وليد الرجيب: لا أجد حرجاً في تناول قصة يهود الكويت فحقيقة وجودهم معروفة". Al-Jarida (in Arabic). عندما نشرت روايتي «موستيك»، قيل لي إنني أتعاطف مع الكويتيين من أصول فارسية، وغضب مني بعض المتعصبين للعروبة، أرأيت؟ هذا أسميه الكراهية العمياء لكل المختلفين عنا
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  75. ^ a b c d Batoul Hassan (2009). Ideology, Identity, and Linguistic Capital: A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Language Shift Among the Ajam of Kuwait. University of Essex.
  76. ^ الالكترونية, جريدة الآن. "ليس مقبولاً ربط الشيعة في الخليج بإيران.. بنظر د. صلاح الفضلي". Alaan Online Newspaper.
  77. ^ "Kuwaiti Persian". UNESCO.
  78. ^ Shaikha AlBahaweed (17 January 2023). "رحلة البحث عن الهوية الكويتية: هل يؤثر التجنيس على الهوية الوطنية؟". Manshoor (in Arabic).
  79. ^ Rana AlMutawa (2024). Everyday Life in the Spectacular City: Making Home in Dubai. Univ of California Press. p. 180-181. ISBN 9780520395060.

External links


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