View source for Nawayath

{{Short description|Indian community and a subgroup of Konkani Muslims}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2013}}

The '''Nawayath''' (also spelled as '''Navayath''' and '''Nawayat''' and also called '''Nait''', '''Naiti''', '''Naithee''' and '''Naita''') are an Indian community and a subgroup of [[Konkani Muslims]]. They speak the [[Nawayathi dialect]] of [[Konkani language|Konkani]].

The term, as described by [[Qanoon-e-Islam]], [[Mark Wilks]] and [[The Imperial Gazetteer of India]], means "new comers" in Persian, referring to [[Arabs in India|Arab emigrants in India]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kola |first=Aftab Husain |date=1 July 2002 |title=Navayaths of India-an Arabian lake in an Indian ocean |url=https://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01072002/0107200296.htm |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=[[The Milli Gazette]]}}</ref>

Indian historian [[Omar Khalidi]] says they are one of three groups of Indian Muslims who have used the Nawayath name. These groups have common origins in [[Oman]] and [[Yemen]] and [[Persian Gulf]] and [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]] regions, where they were mariners and merchants. One group is based mainly in [[Bhatkal]], [[Manki, Honnavar|manki]], [[Tonse]], [[Malpe]], [[Shiroor]], [[Gangolli]], [[Sagara, Karnataka|Sagar]], [[Kumta]], [[Kandlur]] and [[Murdeshwar]] villages in [[Karnataka]], while another is found in [[Chennai]] in [[Tamil Nadu]]. The third group are generally known today as [[Konkani Muslims]], after the region in which they live.<ref>{{cite book |title=Muslims in the Deccan: A Historical Survey |location=New Delhi |publisher=Global Media Publications |year=2006 |pages=17–18 |first=Omar |last=Khalidi}}</ref>

==History==
Nawayats are migrants predominantly from Yemen and Persia, who married into another trading community of India, the [[Jain]]s who had been converted to [[Islam]] more than 1,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/don-t-hold-a-few-bad-apples-against-us-says-bhatkal-113083100704_1.html |title=Don't hold a few bad apples against us, says Bhatkal |work=Business Standard|location=India |accessdate=2017-12-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/How-prosperous-Bhatkal-town-earned-terror-tag/articleshow/22154403.cms |title=How prosperous Bhatkal town earned terror tag |work=The Times of India |date=2013-08-30 |access-date=2017-12-27}}</ref> With this a new caste system emerged, as the Nawayats marry [[endogamy|within the community]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Indians-rarely-married-outside-after-caste-system-came-into-being/2013/08/19/article1741431.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819065713/http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Indians-rarely-married-outside-after-caste-system-came-into-being/2013/08/19/article1741431.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 August 2013 |title=Indians rarely married outside after caste system came into being |work=The New Indian Express |date=2013-08-19 |accessdate=2017-12-27}}</ref>

[[Saadatullah Khan I]], a Nawayat Konkani Muslim was the [[Carnatic Sultanate|Nawab of the Carnatic]] under the Mughal Empire.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SPUHAQAAIAAJ&q=Saadatullah+khan+konkan |page=12 |author= Muhammad Yusuf Kukan |title=Arabic and Persian in Carnatic, 1710-1960 |year=1974 |quote=Nawab Saadatullah Khan, son of Muhammad Ali, son of Ahmad, was born in Bijapur on Wednesday the 17th Jamadi I in the year 1061 A.H. = 1651 A.D. in a respectable family of Nawayits }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Ethnic and social groups of Goa and the Konkan}}
{{Indian Muslim}}

[[Category:Muslim communities of India]]
[[Category:Social groups of Goa]]
[[Category:Social groups of Karnataka]]
[[Category:Muslim communities of Karnataka]]
[[Category:Konkani Muslims]]
[[Category:Arab diaspora in India]]