We feel and most of our readers will agree that we Surti Sunni Vohras need to make strenuous efforts to come together as an endogamous group to look at our endogamous group members' needs. We feel a combined and co-ordinated effort could help us come closer to gether to live as practising Muslims as well as citizens of our country. We feel we need to develop ways and means to identify our needs as Muslims and as citizens of our country. From our observations and experiences gained as a fellowVohra and by listening to our brothers and sisters we feel we have distanced ourselves from our fellow Vohras, from other Muslims and from those who are not Muslims. We feel we need to make very serious efforts as Vohras to come together. As Vohras we all know we belong to the same endogamous group but knowing this is not enough. Our belonging to the Vohra endogamous group is useful as it helps us keep our Vohra identity but, it does not help us have a single voice where and when this isneeded. As Muslims we feel there is need for us to know about other endogamous groups residing in predominantly Vohra villages, in our neighbouring towns and cities and across the Gujarat State and learn about their social, economic and educational achievements. Besides this it is equally important to learn about the social, economic and educational achieve-ments of those who are not Muslims who live in villages predomi-nantly inhabited by Vohras or in neighbouring villages, towns andcities. The divisions we suffer from as Vohras are of our own making.
                              These divisions are not dictated by our religious beliefs. Historically speaking we always had divisions and with the progress of time we came to have more divisions. Our old divisions were based on how much land some of our members had. Those with more land thought of themselves as being better off economi-cally which was easy to understand but they also thought of themselves as being socially better than the others. Those of our people who had lighter skin thought of themselves to be socially better than those with darker skins. We also had in our villages families with certain surnames who claimed superiority over those who had other surnames. Migration helped bring about more divisions but, it also helped those with lower reckoning in our villages to move up in recognition as in most cases they were the first ones to migrate and thereby improve their economic standing and with it their social standing in their villages. Though the impact of secular education among our Vohras was minimal it also brought about a division in our villages. Those who acquired some level of secular education in most cases set themselves apart from those who had no or very little education. Acquiring of religious education once again helped bring about another division. Whilst religious education was to help inculcate humbleness and friendly disposition towards all they served those who acquired it, intentionally or uninten-tionally started gravitating more towards others who also had religious education and by doing so distanced themselves from the ordinary Vohras who had no or very little education. Those who engaged in Tabligh work also knowingly or unknowingly started liaising more with those who were also engaged in Tabligh work and side lining those who either did not participate in Tabligh work or did not understand much about Tabligh work. We feel with the rapid increase in the numbers of our children attending English medium schools very soon we will have another segment among our Vohras whose members will identify more with others with similar sort of education than with all fellow Vohras.
                               Whilst what we say may not go down well with all our brothers and sisters we feel we all need to look around us and try to gain first hand information on our people and the boundaries we have created within our endogamousgroup.We feel we need to drop all the artificial divisions which only help keep us disunited and keep us away from the progress we could make as Muslims. These divisions create hurdles for our village-based brothers and sisters and stop our people from moving forward.
                               Our social relationship with members of other Muslim endogamous groups is absent or almost absent. We may offer our Namaaz together but besides this our contact is very negligible. We feel and many of our readers will agree this is not good for us as Muslims. The practice of endogamy should be confined for our marriage purposes only and should not be allowed to create divisions where divisions are not needed. We feel there is need for us Vohras to learn more of the other Muslim endogamous groups who live in predominantly Vohra villages or live in neighbouring villages or neighbouring towns and cities. There is a great need to know the other Muslim endogamous groups. This we feel will allow us Vohras to know about their social and religious practices, their educational attainments, and their economic activities.
                               We feel we Vohras will be able to learn a lot from such endogamous groups who have historically depended on providing their traditional services to others and have not been dependent on land for some of their incomes. Similarly, most of these groups have not had a migrating history like our Vohras and therefore have been less dependent for financial support from their migrants like our Vohra brothers and sisters. We feel there is a pressing as well as an urgent need for our Vohras to learn about the social, economic and educational involvements and progress of those who are not Muslims. We Vohras have been in touch with members of most of these as we depended on them for their services as well as their skills to help us with cultivating our land, for making ploughs and carts for us, for sharpening our cultivating implements, for making jewellery for our women folk, for building our houses and working for our people on the land and helping our women folk with their domestic chores.
                               Most members of these non-Muslim and Muslim endogamous groups on whom we depended for their skills and for their labour have moved away from their traditional occupations. Some of them moved away from their traditional occupations when the demand for their skills declined or disappeared and others moved away by acquiring school and college education and many others moved away when they saw better employment and earning opportunities in industrial concerns, in commercial undertakings and in Government departments.
                               We feel we Vohras can and should learn from the members of other Muslim and nonMuslim groups. Our Vohras can only learn and benefit if they try to get closer to the members of other groups and learn about their social and religious practices and their educational and economic progress. 12 JULY 2018

                                                                                                     Ismail Ahmed Lambat (Manchester)