The Cutchi Memon community is more than six hundred years old. There are various theories about its origin. The generally accepted story runs as follows: In the year 512 AH, (Around 1404 AD) some 700 persons belonging to the Lohana community of Thatta in the Sindh region accepted Islam from Pir Yusufuddin Qadri, a disciple of Pir Abdul Qadir Gilani of Baghdad. (According to another theory the conversion took place in 1422.) They were invited by the ruler of Cutch to stay in his kingdom. The newly made Muslims were called “Mumins”. This word got corrupted into a title “Memons”. Another version claims that the sub community or caste they belonged to was engaged in retail trade as street vendors who used a kind of weighing scales called “meimon” and came to be known as “Memons”, the users of weighing scale. Yet another story is that the youngest son of the ruler of a principality under the Makli kingdom in Sindh, Sunderji, accepted Islam and was banished from his abode in Thatta along with his family members and followers numbering around 700. He was given the name Adam by Pir Yusufuddin, his guru. Makli kingdom extended upto the edge of the desert, Rann of Cutch, in the south. His brother-in-law Jarejho Raa Khangar (1548-1584), the Rau (King or Ruler) of Cutch was a generous person who revered and tolerated all beliefs. He invited Adam to come and live in Cutch with his followers. Memons made a Hijra into the territory of Cutch under the guidance of their Imam Ruknuddin, deputed by Peer Yusufuddin. They crossed the Rann, the wild marshy desert, with great difficulty. They were received by the Rau at the border. This story has been handed down generation by generation of the migrant Memons. It is still a part of the folklore among the present day Muslim population in Thatta, now called Jahangir Thatta, and the last generation in Trivandrum and Alappuzha. Some of the recent historians have, however, other thoughts in the matter. According to the theory of Karim Baksh Khalid, a Sindhi Memon Scholar, Arabs of Qatif near Taif who were weavers came to Sindh along with Muhammed Bin Qasim . They belonged to a tribe of Banu Tasmim and constituted the right wing of his army – which in Arabic is known as “Mymenah” – the right wingers. They settled in Sindh and later on came to be known as Memons. If this theory is accepted, then the Memons were originally Arabs. This view is apparently suppor-ted by the history of Jusbanis, who later became known as Venjaras, and whose maternal ancestors are claimed to be Arab disciples of Abdul Qadir Gilaani. However, a more reliable version, which alludes to historical evidences is available on the website of Cutchi Memon Jamat of North America at http://cutchimemon.org/history_of_cutchi_memons. 

Memons enjoyed a prestigious position in the court of the Rau. There was at least one minister in his council belonging to the community until 1950 when it became part of the Bombay State and later, of the State of Gujarat. Members of the community flourished under the patronage of the Rau. They became a prosperous community. Groups of Memons migrated further down to the Saurashtra part of Gujarat and settled down in various parts of the princely states such as Surat, Kathiavar, Halar etc. Though they had originally talked Sindhi, they soon acquired the slightly varied dialect of Cutch. The migrants to Surat became known as Surati Memons. Those who settled in Halar became Halari or Halai Memons. They called themseves simply as Memons as were the other migrants to Saurashtra.