Maimal
Maimal are a Muslim community found in the state of Assam in India. They are a community of inland fishermen found in Western Assam. A few are also found in the Sylhet District of Bangladesh.[1] It should be worth mentioned that the "Maimal" were there in Shylhet district in the undivided India, and after the Independence some parts of that Shylhet district were merged with the state of Assam in free India. Now, this community people are spreading more or less everywhere in the Barak Valley districts in Assam.
Mohammed Abdul Waris Mahi is an inhabitant of village Lafashail a young energetic person. Now he is Chairman - Sub-Divisional O.B.C. Development Board Karimganj. There was no quota under reservations system in MADRASSA education in Assam for teachers appointments . Under the strong leadership of Maulana Waris file a writ petition to hon'be Gauhati High Court for establishing of OBC reservation quota. And accordingly the Gauhati High Court was declared and ordered to the government of Assam for abide by the reservations systems.
Origin
According to the traditions of the community, the word Maimal is a corruption of the Persian word mahi, which means a fisherman. The Maimal are said to have converted to Islam at the hands of the famous Sufi saint of western Assam, Hazrat Shah Jalal. They are found along the banks of the Sonai and Barak rivers. The community are found mainly in the districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, and speak the Sylhet dialect of Bengali.[2] আজকের দিনে মুসলিম সমাজে অনৈক্যের মূল কারণ হচ্ছে - কৃত্রিম জাতপাতের ভেদাভেদ ৷ বিশেষ করে বরাক উপত্যকায় তা মারাত্মক আকার ধারণ করেছে ৷ বরাক উপত্যকার মুসলিম সমাজে ব্যবহৃত উপাধি গুলো হচ্ছে যেমন- চৌধুরি ,তালুকদার, তাপাদার, মজুমদার ,লস্কর, বড়ভুঁইয়া, মাঝারভুঁইয়া ইত্যাদি ৷ এবং নামের সঙ্গে কোনো উপাধি নেই যেমন- মাইমাল ,কিরান ও পাটিকর ইত্যাদি ৷ উপরোক্ত উপাধিগুলো কোনো বংশানুক্রমিক উপাধি নয়, সেগুলো হচ্ছে অর্জিত উপাধি ৷ তদানিন্তন সময়ে যারা বিভিন্ন মাধ্যমে অর্জন করেছিলেন তারাই ছিলেন সেসব উপাধিধারী ৷ আজকাল এসব ব্যবহার করা বোকামির নামান্তর ৷ তদানিন্তন কালে যারা মাছ ধরে জীবিকা নির্বাহ করতো তারাই ছিল- মাইমাল এবং যারা কৃষিকাজ করতো তারাই ছিল -কিরান ৷ বর্তমান কালে যদি চৌধুরীর ছেলেকে- চৌধুরী ,তালুকদারের ছেলেকে-তালুকদার, মজুমদারের ছেলেকে-মজুমদার ,মাইমালের ছেলেকে-মাইমাল ও কিরণের ছেলেকে-কিরান বলা হয়, তাহলে উকিলের ছেলেকে- উকিল(উকালতি না পড়লে ও),শিক্ষকের ছেলেকে-শিক্ষক (স্কুলের বারান্দায় না গেলে ও),মওলানার ছেলেকে-মওলানা(মাদ্রাসার "ম"অক্ষর না জানলে ও) এবং একজন পণ্ডিতের ছেলেকে-পণ্ডিত বলতে হবে যদিও মূর্খ হয়ে থাকে৷ আসুন আমরা সবাই মিলে এসব কৃত্রিম ভেদাভেদ দূরীকরণার্থে সচেষ্ট হই ৷ এসব কথার দ্বারা ব্যক্তিগতভাবে আঘাত পেলে ক্ষমা প্রার্থী ৷
Present circumstances
The Maimal were a community of inland fishermen, but most are now settled agriculturists. They are mainly marginal farmers, growing paddy and vegetables. A small number of Maimal have taken petty trade. The Maimal live in multi-ethnic villages, occupying their own quarters, referred to as paras. They are strictly endogamous, and marry close kin. Historically, the community practiced village exogamy, but this is no longer the case.
Traditionally, the maimals are localized on the banks and nearby areas of rivers and other natural water bodies owing to their customary occupation of fishing. So, roads and other means of modern communications lack in their villages.Even there are some village like Kalachori par where water remain at least for 6 month.the flood damage all paddy fields, there is no communication system, No road, no electricity, And percentage of literacy is 1%.The government is not taking any step and the leader people like Gaon panchayat is sucking all the money and the community is going backward day by day.
On the socio-economic front also, they are legging behind the other communities due to their illiteracy and backwardness in education. Due to all-round backwardness, they have been the easy prey in the clutches of the so-called high caste people.
During the early 1960s, in an attempt to emancipate this downtrodden community from the curse of socio-economic backwardness some great leaders of this community like Morhum Maulana Mumtaj uddin, Morhum Maulana Shahid Ahmed(popularly known as Raipuri sahib),Mr.Sarkum Ali (Master of Krishnapur, Hailakandi) Morhum Maulana Shamsul Islam, Morhum Foyez uddin(Master saheb of Tinghori-Bihara), Morhum Haji Sayeed Ali of Srikoan(Cachar), and few others, formed an organization called Nikhil Cachar Muslim Fishermen Federation, with an area of operation of the then Cachar District i.e., present Barak Valley districts of State of Assam (India). This organization led the society to give a socio - political identity and was successful to obtain the Other Backward Classes status for the maimals. Since the leadership of this organization rolled through the elderly leaders only, a few educated youths of this community, in the mid-1980s, moved to form a youth wing which was later recognized under this organization. The young leader, Like Nazmul Hassan, Maharam Ali( Of Hailakandi distt.), Fakhar Uddin Ahmed,Abdul Noor Ahmed (Cachar Distt.) followed by many of their friends and juniors, travelled from the east to west and north to south of Barak valley districts of Assam, organized meetings and thus created a wave of self-identity among the youths of this community.
Mr. Anwarul Hoque was the one and only member of Assam Legislative Assembly. (para 2-4 added by Fakhar Uddin Ahmed).He is also a great social worker and takingthe community foreword. The Maimal have set up a statewide community association, the Maimal Federation, which deals with issues of community welfare. They are Sunni Muslims, and have customs similar to other Assamese Muslims.