Re: Memons
sighz
Boras, Memons, and Khojas were all Brahmins who converted long ago - all from Sindh.
Story goes something like this from what I've researched:
Leader class (Brahmins) in Sindh (Thatta, I believe) converted to Islam and then had to leave the area for reasons still unclear to me --> migrated all over the place eventually settling into Gujrat --> broke apart into Boras, Memons, and Khoja classifications due to differences in religious beliefs
Memons - Sunni mainstream muslim thought
Boras - another sect in Islam - have their own Imam and religious customs
Khojas - another sect in Islam - also have their own Imam and religious customs
So Boras and Memons and Khojas are cousin groups basically. The split happened centuries ago, so the groups have evolved to have their own significant cultural and religious differences enough that they tend not to cross-marry.
Some memons eventually moved out of Gujrat - some stayed there. Example: Burmese Memons moved out to Burma.
All 3 Groups were mainly based out of Gujrat.