3. Social customs.
Cutchis and Memans retain some non-Muhammadan usages. The principal of these is that they do not allow their daughters and widows to inherit according to the rule of Muhammadan law.[4] They conduct their weddings by the Nikāh form and the mehar or dowry is always the same sum of a hundred and twenty-five rupees, whatever may be the position of the parties and in the case of widows also. They say that either party may be divorced by the other for conjugal infidelity, but the mehar or dowry must always be paid to the wife in the case of a divorce. The caste eat flesh and fowls and abstain from liquor. Most of them also decline to eat beef as a consequence of their Hindu ancestry and they will not take food from Hindus of low caste.
[1] Vol. ix. part. ii. Muhammadans of Gujarāt, p. 57.
[2] Rājasthān, ii. p. 292.
[3] Bombay Gazetteer, l.c.
[4] In recording this point Mr. Farīdi gives the following note: “In 1847 a case occurred which shows how firmly the Memans cling to their original tribal customs. The widow of Hāji Nūr Muhammad of the Lakariya family demanded a share of her deceased husband’s property according to Muhammadan law. The jamā-at or community decided that a widow had no claim to share her husband’s estates under the Hindu law. Before the High Court, in spite of the ridicule of other Sunnis, the elders of the Cutchi Memans declared that their caste rules denied the widow’s claim. The matter caused and is still (1896) causing agitation, as the doctors of the Sunni law at Mecca have decided that as the law of inheritance is laid down by the holy Korān, a wilful departure from it is little short of apostasy. The Memans are contemplating a change, but so far they have not found themselves able to depart from their tribal practices.”