Al-Lawatia (English: The Lawatis; Arabic: اللواتية;, sing. Lawati) also occasionally known as Hyderabadis are a prominent merchant tribe originally from the Sindh region and now mainly based in the province of Muscat, Oman. They are known globally as Khojas but in the Gulf are more commonly referred to as Lawatis due to them being speakers of Lawati, a Sindhi based language. There are around 30,000 Luwatis (or 1% of Omanis) in Oman.[1] [2]
Many Lawati families of successful merchants of the past are now involved in large multi-faceted corporations participating in the development of the region.
The Lawatia (or Lawatiyya) community in Muttrah in Muscat has its origins in the Sindh province of Pakistan.[3] They immigrated to Oman between 1780 and 1850. Luwatis converted to Twelver Shia Islam in the 19th century from Ismaili Shia Islam.[4]
However, Laurence Louër, in his book Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf, mentions a different theory of the religious origins of Al-Lawati. According to this theory, the Lawatis were Ismailis who migrated to Oman from Sindh in the 19th century, before converting to Twelver Shi'ism following a dispute with the leadership of the community.[5]
The majority of Lawatis reside in Muscat, the capital of Oman, but some live on the coast of Al-Batina. Some Lawati families reside elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Traditionally, Al-Lawatia have been known as prominent merchants on the coasts of Muttrah[6] which lies 2 kilometers west of Muscat. They have worked in the incense (Arabic: بخور), jewelry and clothes business as well as in general trade. The community occupies a gated quarter of Muttrah known as Sur al-Lawatia. In the predominantly Ibadi arena of Oman, they make up the majority of the local Shia population. The quarter still boasts attractive houses with a unique Islamic architectural view and a large mosque known as Al-Rasul Al-Aadam Mosque or The Greatest Prophets Mosque in reference to Muhammad. The Sur has seen a major exodus in recent decades as Lawatis have moved to more modern neighborhoods as a result of increasing development, the availability of facilities and growing wealth and business of the community. Another great historic monument built by the tribe is Al-Zahra Mosque in the UAE, which was built nearly 300 years ago.[7]
The first historical mention of the Lawatis is said to have been by the Omani historian Ibn Ruzayq, who said that notables of the community greeted the first ruler of the currently ruling Al Said dynasty on his arrival to Muscat in the 1740.[8] At least one Lawati family can be documented through British records as existing in Oman at least since the 1700s; they were the first group come to serve the British crown.
One of the most notable political families from the Al-Lawati tribe is the Al-Abdulateef family. Al Hajj Baqer, one of the pioneer merchants in Muttrah and well-respected public figure, lead the tribe as the Lawati sheikh. He enjoyed a strong relationship with the ruling Al Said house, particularly Sultan Said bin Taimur. It is widely known that he privately aided the Omani government's efforts in expelling the Saudi contingents from Al Buraimi in 1952.[9]
It is also notable that the first woman ambassador from Oman was Khadijah bint Hassan al-Lawati, a Lawati woman appointed to the Netherlands in 1999.[10]
On the business front in the UAE, the tribe is represented by families such as the Sajwanis who have become part and parcel of the Emirati institution and rarely known by their Omani and Lawati origins.
Verbal history indicates that at one point they were Muslim Shia in various branches. They now follow the Twelver Shia Islam. Consequently, the new adopted doctrine of Twelver/Ja'fari grew within the Lawati tribe and the different branches were not accepted. Hence, some retracted while others detached from the community. However, most present-day Lawatis are known to be Twelver Shia Muslims and form the sect's stronghold within Oman.[11] Through the uncommon occurrence of inter-tribal mingling, there are a small minority of Lawatis who have been brought up in mixed marriages either through mixed Shia/Sunni or Shia/Ibadhi traditions.
Compared to the neighbouring UAE, Oman is known for the lack of marginalisation of the various sects and does not have the same anti-Shia problem systemic to the rest of the Gulf states. Ironically, Oman provides for them a more comfortable environment than even Shia-majority Bahrain due to the latter's monarchy-led discrimination and oppression schemes.[12]
See main article: Luwati language. The native mother language of Al-Lawaties is Lawati language which is called in their own tongue as (Khojki). This idiom is genetically and morphologically related to the Sindhi language; a branch of the Indo-European tree. As it also shares common similarities with other spoken languages of the other ethnic groups in Oman e.g. Jadgali, Maimani and Al Saigh. Elderlies were fluent in both the written and the spoken Khojki.[13]
Arabic as a first language of Oman and all Arabia, is also held tightly by Al-Lawaties in parallel with their mother tongue language Khojki. However, the trend now within this community is to abandon their own native language and more people of the young generation are found not to know how to write nor speak it, most Lawatis today are not as fluent in Kojki as their ancestors as they consider Arabic their mothertongue with Kojki and English relegated to secondary languages.