Muslim Dhobi

The Qassar are a South Asian Muslim caste whose traditional occupation is washing clothes. They are considered to be Muslim converts from Hinduism, where the Dhobi castes are launderers. Muslim Dhobis are found throughout the Indian subcontinent. The community is also known as Charhoa and Gazar in Pakistan, and Qassar in India. They also use "Hawari" as a surname. The Qassar caste is known as Muslim Dhobi. In India, they continue to depend on their traditional occupation of washing clothes. The more enterprising elements within the group have set up dry cleaning businesses. At present time Qassar caste does not involve in washing clothes. They started their own business. Many in rural areas are tenant farmers. The community are distributed throughout North India and South India, with concentrations in Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Also in south Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh they found. Although they live in multi-caste and multi-religious villages, they occupy distinct quarters in towns and villages. A Qassar settlement in often referred to as a Dhobighat. Each of their settlement contains a traditional caste council, which resolves disputes within the community, and deals with issues such as elopement, theft and adultery. Like other Muslim artisan castes, they have set caste associations old association is ''All India Jamiatul Qassar'' since 1980 and other one is ''All India Jamiatul Hawareen'' which acts as a pressure group for the community. They are largely Sunni Muslim, and are fairly orthodox, although a small minority in Haryana are Shia. In North India, the Qassar community are Urdu speaking, as well as speaking various local dialects such as Khari Boli and Awadhi. In Delhi, they have two sub-divisions, the Shehri and Agharia. The Sheri trace their origin to Old Delhi, while the Agharia are originally from villages near Meerut and Hapur. They live in the localities of Farash Khana, Jama Masjid, Chitli Qabar, Lal Darwaza and Sheesh Mahal, all in Old Delhi.