The Muslim Karim family are introduced as the owners of the soap's grocery store, the First til Last, following the departure of the character Naima Jeffery (Shreela Ghosh) in 1987, who runs the business since EastEnders' inception in February 1985.
[1] The family includes father Ashraf Karim (Aftab Sachak), his wife Sufia (Rani Singh) and their two teenage children, eldest daughter Shireen (Nisha Kapur) and son Sohail (Ronnie Jhutti).
The head of the family, Ashraf, is scripted as the second cousin of original character Saeed Jeffery (Andrew Johnson), who departs the serial in December 1985.
[1] Various serial-accompanying, BBC books have since ignored the original description of Ashraf as Saeed's brother when retelling the character's history, assimilating his as a Karim from his first appearance.
For instance, in an extract from the 1991 EastEnders Handbook, author Hilary Kingsley writes, "Sue and Ali learn they may be evicted by Saeed's cousin, Ashraf Karim, because the flat is to be sold.
[2] Storylines concentrate on racial difficulties and Ashraf's struggles to maintain Muslim ideologies in his children's lives, while they are identifying with Western culture.
A love triange storyline is integrated into the Karims' marriage in 1989, when Ashraf is revealed to be having a long-running affair with a white woman named Stella (Cindy O'Callaghan), causing many family problems.
Prior to Ferguson's introduction, Gibbon had recruited writer David Yallop to devise ways to kill various members of the cast based, he claims, on their portrayer's acting ability.
Later on, relatives in Walford East London offered him a job in one of their corner shops and he, Sufia and their two small children, Shireen (Nisha Kapur) and Sohail (Ronnie Jhutti), came south to live.
Ashraf first appears in July 1987, when he comes to inform the tenants, Sue and Ali Osman (Sandy Ratcliff and Nejdet Salih), that he is selling the flat.
The Karims then move into a house in Victoria Road, which was previously owned by the hairdresser, Julie Cooper (Louise Plowright) and Ashraf sends his two children to private school.
He becomes extremely concerned when she starts spending a lot of time with Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) and he tries to nip their blossoming relationship in the bud.
Sometime later, though, Jabbar's uncle Parvez (Mohammed Ashiq) spots Ashraf with Stella, in a restaurant, and realises the Karim family are not as honourable as they seem.
The Ahmed's cancel the engagement and Shireen is left mystified and upset, while Sufia feels angry and betrayed at Ashraf's renewed adultery.
Shireen Karim, played by Nisha Kapur, moves to Walford as a teenager in 1988, and grows friendly with the Butcher children, Diane (Sophie Lawrence) and Ricky (Sid Owen).
She falls in love with her suitor and is devastated when the marriage is called off due to the Ahmed family finding out about Ashraf's extra-marital affair with a white mistress.
He tries to blackmail her into dating him, by threatening to expose his sister Shireen's (Nisha Kapur) secret relationship with Diane's brother Ricky (Sid Owen).