Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Siddi" in English language version.
One of the Pakistan's smallest ethnic communities is made up of people of African origin, known as Sidi. The African-Pakistanis live in Karachi and other parts of the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces in abject poverty, but they rarely complain of discrimination. Although this small Muslim community is not on the verge of extinction, their growing concern is how to maintain their distinct African identity in the midst of the dominating South Asian cultures.
...since the captains of the African and Arab vessels bore the title Sidi (from Sayyid, or the lineage of Muhammad), the African settlers on the Indian mainland came to be called Siddis...
...continue to exist in three main communities. These Afro-Indians, known as 'Siddis' ...
In fact, it is frequently said that Afro-Indians in western Gujarat are descendants of escaped slaves....
The first Muslims in Gujarat to have arrived are the Siddis via the Bharuch port in 628 CE ... The major group, though, arrived in 712 CE via Sindh and the north.... With the founding of Ahmedabad in 1411 CE it became the concentrated base of the community....
The word goma is derived from the Swahili word for dance, ngoma, which in the East African ... Siddi servants used to perform goma dances with drums....
At the climax, when large numbers of people are simultaneously possessed, the presence of Sidi saints among the living is experienced through the bodies chosen by the saints as vehicle. This happens during dancing sessions called damal or goma ...
Among the Siddi families in Karnataka there are Catholics, Hindus and Muslims... It was a normal procedure for the Portuguese to baptise African slaves ... After living for generations among Hindus they considered themselves to be Hindus.... The Siddi Hindus owe allegiance to Saudmath ...
Sindhi Sheedis call themselves Qambrani, out of reverence for Hazrat Qambar, a servant of Hazrat Ali (AS).
