The Khalifa Community
Origin
The Khalifa community originates from the State of Gujarat in India. Gujarat is a highly fertile state existing on the western region of India. As per the rest of India the majority population in Gujarat are the followers of Hinduism. However, Gujarat consists of a sizeable Muslim population also. One of the communities amongst this Muslim population in Gujarat is the Khalifa Community. The initiation of the existence of Khalifas in Gujarat is unknown but it would appear that they have existed there for a long time. The Khalifa population predominantly exists in the villages, towns and cities located on the western coast of Gujarat. The main city around the inhabitation of the Khalifa Community is Surat.
Historically the Khalifa community was from a deprived economical background. The community adopted the art of hairdressing as their primary and their predominant source of income. This employment generated a moderate income scarcely enough to sustain their family. However, there were a number of individuals who were working within commercial or professional fields. An outstanding aspect of the Khalifa Community was the love and unity amongst themselves.
The social hierarchy of the Khalifa community in Gujarat, India is of great interest, as it was very comprehensively structured. As it was a close knit community it had to have a social organisational mechanism appropriate for the community for it to operate smoothly and efficiently. Hence, to this end every inhabitation of the community, be it in a village, a town or a city was structured in the form of a ‘Jamaat’ (Society) of which all individuals belonging to the Khalifa community were members. Apparently, there were around ninety-nine villages within this organisation. Furthermore, these villages were grouped together by vicinity known as the ‘Centres’ and this was the regional management structure. Finally, there was the national body the ‘Samast’ an organisation which regulated the Centres and through Centres all villages. The aims and the objectives of this social organisation were to maintain and develop the unity of the Khalifa community, to regulate the social aspect of the community requirements in light of Islam, to promote religious as well as secular education within the community, to promote economical advancement amongst the community etc.
It should be emphasized here that although the Khalifa community was of a poor economical background, the community members must have been very thoughtful and highly intelligent to set up a sophisticated but highly successful organisational social structure of the community as outlined above.
Journey for success
Obviously a question will arise, in the minds of future generations, as to how community members would have emigrated from their mother land Gujarat, India, and how they have come to settle in Britain.
South Africa
The initial community migration occurred prior to the Second World War, in that, a moderate number of community members immigrated to South Africa around this time and settled there. Initially, the community members who had moved to South Africa kept strong ties with their families and friends, in their native Gujarat. This was in the form of regular visits from South Africa to India as well as marrying their children with children of Khalifa families in India. However, as time passed this relationship became weaker in that the visitors of South African Khalifa became very scarce.
Kenya - East Africa
The second and a sizable migration occurred during and after the Second World War. This time to East Africa, which at the time was a British colony. An opportunity was provided by the British Government for the Indians to emigrate to East Africa. Amongst the Indian population at large number of pioneering Khalifa Community elders took up this opportunity and emigrated to East Africa. Now, East Africa at that time was divided into three countries namely; Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The majority of the Khalifa elders settled in Kenya and only a few members had gone to settle in Tanzania and Uganda. They had brought with them the experience in the art of hairdressing, so they started trading in this field in Kenya.
Majority of the elders had initially migrated on their own leaving behind their families in India, however, over time all of the elders got their families to join them in Kenya. Hence, by around mid-fifties a sizable number of Khalifa families had settled in Kenya. Majority of the community settlement was in two cities i.e. Nairobi and Mombasa. Nairobi was the capital city of Kenya whereas Mombasa was the port city of Kenya. The weather conditions were not that different to that of the weather conditions in Gujarat, hence, adapting to the weather conditions was not a major challenge for the community members.
The Khalifa elders who had emigrated to Kenya maintained the unity and brotherhood just like it was in India. Eventually they felt a need to set up a community organisation in order to regulate it socially. As the elders who had moved to Kenya were well versed with the social organisational structure that was created and setup in India, they established Jamaat (Society) on similar principles in Kenya. Hence, a Jamaat (Society) in Nairobi and in Mombasa was setup with similar aims and objectives as that of the Societies in India.
Now, as the children of the Khalifa community in Kenya were growing up they were taking up career paths into professional / commercial fields. Hence, to this end number of Khalifa youths were working in offices and banks.
The community members of Kenya kept very close ties with the families and the community at large in India. This was by regular visits to native Gujarat and also, by marrying their children with children of family or community members in Gujarat. Thus an increase in the community numbers in Kenya occurred through the marriages. This was as the spouses of Kenyan Khalifa children marrying in India emigrated to settle in Kenya.
Whilst the British were governing Kenya as their colony, they gave an option of adopting British Citizenship and consequently acquiring British passport to the Asian immigrant population of Kenya. Taking this opportunity, majority of the Khalifa community members became British Citizens.
United Kingdom
Eventually, in the early sixties Kenya was given independence by the British and thereafter the socio-economical position of Kenya began to deteriorate. By the late sixties the position for all immigrants in Kenya had become difficult and unbearable as robbery, looting and personal attacks on individuals as well as businesses became common. The political situation was somewhat chaotic also. So as a result, the Khalifa community generally decided to emigrate from Kenya to the UK, and to this end majority of the community came to Britain in the late sixties.
However, one scenario of interest, which occurred at the time of exodus from Kenya, is worth mentioning at this instance. Majority of asian population including the Khalifa community was of average economical standing and due to this it was going to be difficult or even impossible to bear the expense of going to Britain with their families. Due to this the Khalifa community was in a dilemma and were considering returning back to India. However, it so happened that the wealthy asian entrepreneur of Kenya set up a scheme of “chartered planes” from Kenya to the UK, this, for the potential migrants wishing immigrate to UK. The travel cost on this flights were very nominal and in some cases free. The only condition was to take a set amount of money of these entrepreneurs to Britain. This scheme was of an invaluable assistance to the Khalifa community and the asian population at large. Taking advantage of this scheme majority of Khalifa community eventually came to Britain in the late sixties.
Once in UK the community took up residence in various cities in the main within England i.e. Bradford, Blackburn, Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nuneaton, Wolverhampton, etc.
The community elders, who emigrated to UK, underwent some hardship in that the climate conditions were completely different to the one they were used to. Also, there was the language barrier as majority of the elders were alien to the English language. However, the government’s socio-financial assistance system was of immense assistance to the community as they were in receipt of nominal financial assistance until they were in employment. Generally, the employment which the community took up was of labouring nature. After an initial turbulent period, the community finally began to come to terms with the new ways of life in the UK and started settling down.
When the Khalifa community came to Britain in the late sixties, there were already a small number of Khalifa families here, who, had apparently emigrated from India prior to the Kenyan exodus.
It must be emphasized that the inherent quality of love and brotherhood amongst the community members continued in the UK. To this end, there were frequent visits to relatives especially in the event of illness and hardship at weddings etc.
Now, Khalifa elders in UK felt a need to set up a community organisation just like they had done in Kenya. Using their previous experience they set up Jamaat (Society) in cities and towns i.e. Bradford, Leicester, Nuneaton, Blackburn and Coventry which were of reasonable Khalifa population.
As briefly mentioned above the Jamaat (Society), i.e. Khalifa Islamic Society, was formed in Coventry in the late sixties. The aims and objectives of the establishment were similar to the ones in India i.e. to maintain and develop the unity of the Khalifa community, to regulate the social aspect of the community requirements in light of Islam, to promote religious as well as secular education within the community, to promote economic advancement amongst the community etc.
After the existence of the Jamaats in different cities for some time, the then community elder felt a need for a national body that would regulate the national issues. Hence in the early seventies a national body was set up and was called The Federation of Gujarati Muslim Khalifa Societies of UK. All the societies that existed in different towns or cities were affiliated to this national body and those cities or town where there were no Jamaats due to small Khalifa population, were members of the Federation as areas.
Again just like from Kenya, the community members of the UK kept very close ties with the families and the community at large in India. This was by regular visits to native Gujarat and also, by marrying their children with children of family or community members in Gujarat. A notable increase in the community number in UK has occurred through the marriages. This was as the spouses of the UK Khalifa children marrying in India immigrated to settle in UK on marriage basis.
As time passed some the Khalifa children growing up in the UK took advantage of the world renowned British education system and became professionally qualified and are working in their respective profession. The majority of Khalifa population is now employed as professionals, semi-professionals, skilled workers, semi-skilled workers with very few continuing with employment in the field of hairdressing.
As well as Khalifa children taking up qualifications in secular fields some of the have taken up studies in the honourable field of Deen (religion) and have qualified as Hafiz and Aalims. To this end the community now has number of qualified Hafiz and Aalims providing invaluable service to the muslim community at large.
The Khalifa Islamic Society after its establishment has strenuously worked towards its aims and objectives. It has worked at local as well as the national level. Nationally the Society is recognised for the achievements that were made at national level, when the society was in-charge of the Federation.
The Khalifa Islamic Society- Coventry today consists of Hafiz, Aalims, and professionally qualified members as well as skilled and semi-skilled members. Its members are positively serving the Khalifa community of Coventry as well as other communities locally and nationally.
The society is structured in that it has a Women branch as well as the Youth branch especially to actively work within those specific areas to full-fill their requirements and in particular bring about development in the field of religious and secular advancements.
Fiji
Pioneering members of the Khalifa community emigrated from India to Fiji in the fifties and sixties after enduring long journeys by sea. Fiji was a British colony as was India and the British government needed migrants to support the economy.
Initially the Khalifa community in Fiji mostly earned a living through hairdressing. However like the general population they became integrated into wider society therefore young people took up a variety of jobs .
Throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties, the community prospered and many individuals became outstanding members of the towns and cities where they lived. Children continued to get a good education and secure good jobs and set up businesses.
Following a turbulent political period in Fiji from the 1980s to the current day, many of our community have migrated to Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and to the UK. There are members from Fiji in Batley, Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester and Nuneaton. They have integrated into the Khalifa community of the UK to serve the community.