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“Following Custom”? Representations of Community among Indian Immigrant Labour in the West Indies, 1880–1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2006

Prabhu P. Mohapatra
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Abstract

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On 25 June 1887, a curious incident was reported in the San Fernando Gazette of Trinidad in the British West Indies. At the end of the month of Ramadan that year, on the great festival day of Eid ul-Fitr, the Indian Muslims of Victoria village and of nearby estates congregated for the mass prayer in the Little Masjid. A fracas began unexpectedly when several Muslims objected to facing east in the direction of Mecca for the prayer. They argued instead that they should face west as they were wont to do in India. Theological debates soon gave way to a free exchange of blows between the votaries of eastward and westward prayer. Peace was restored after a considerable period, but with appeals to the eminent lawyers, Messrs Wharton and Farfan, to mediate in the dispute. Was the dispute simply due to ignorance as to the true direction of Mecca? Or was it a case of “following custom”, the much maligned traits that the Indian Muslims shared with their compatriots?

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 51 , Issue S14 , December 2006 , pp. 173 - 202
Copyright
2006 Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis

Footnotes

A version of this article was presented at the AILH International Conference on Indian Labour History, New Delhi, in March 2004 and at the SEPHIS Workshop on “Labour Migration in an Earlier Phase of Global Restructuring” in April 2004 in Xiamen, China. I would like to acknowledge the comments of the participants at those conferences. I am especially indebted to Kaushik Ghosh, University of Texas, for his thoughtful remarks. A completed version of this paper was presented at the South Asian Studies Seminar at the Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge University, on 17 May 2006, where I sorely missed the acute observations of Raj Chandavarkar, Director of the Centre, who passed away just over three weeks before my presentation. I dedicate this essay to the memory of this outstanding historian of labour in South Asia. I would also like to acknowledge the generous support of the Trustees of the British Indian Golden Jubilee Banquet Fund in enabling me to complete the research for this essay.