The Abaqati family (or Khandān-e-Abaqāat) is a sub-branch of the Jarwal-Kintoor branch of Nishapuri Kazmi-Musavi Sayeds who trace their lineage to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the eldest son of the great-grandson of Musa al-Kadhim, he was given a jagir in Jarwal-Kintoor by Sultan Muhammad Tughluq, his other two brothers were given jagirs in Budgam, Kashmir and Sylhet, Bengal.[1]

The most famous of Kintoori Sayyeds is Syed Mir Hamid Hussain Musavi Saheb-e-Abaqaat, author of a work titled Abaqat al Anwar; the first word in the title of this work provided his descendants with the nisba (title) they still bear, Abaqati.[2] Syed Ali Nasir Saeed Abaqati Agha Roohi, a Lucknow based cleric is from the family of Nishapuri Kintoori Sayyids and uses title Abaqati.[3]

Sayeds of Jarwal-Kintoor

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The Nishapuri Sada'at (Sayeds) of Barabanki (adjoining areas of Kintoor, Fatehpur, Jarwal and Lucknow) are Kazmi or Musavi Sayeds; that is they claim descent from the Prophet through his daughter's line and the line of the seventh Imam of the Shi'a Muslims, Musa al-Kazem. They came to India originally from Nishapur a town near Mashhad in northeastern Iran.[2] Two brothers Sayed Sharafu'd-Din Abu Talib (who was the ancestor of Waris 'Ali) and Sayed Muhammed in thirteenth century left Nishapur, Iran (via Khorasan and Mashhad) for Awadh, India in the time of Hulagu Khan (1256–1265), the Il-Khanid Mongol ruler.[4][5] After their arrival in Kintoor the Saiyids were given a large jagir by Sultan Muhammad Tughluq, where they continued to hold the land in different tenures until the twentieth century at the turn of which they held two-thirds of the village land of Kintoor.[6] Sayed Alauddin Kazmi was said to have accompanied these two brothers in their journey from Iran, he later moved to Tehsil Fatehpur. The grave of Sayed Alauddin Kazmi is situated in Kintoor. The Kazmis of Fatehpur are his descendants. These Nishapuri Sayeds of Kintoor spread to the adjoining localities of Barabanki e.g. Fatehpur, and even to neighbouring districts e.g. Jarwal in Bahraich district and in Lucknow. These Nishapuri Sayeds produced several outstanding Shia Muslim religious scholars in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.[7][8]

Many of the early Sufi saints who came to North India belonged to Sayyid families. Most of these Sayyid families came from Central Asia and Iran, but some also originated from Yemen, Oman, Iraq and Bahrain. Perhaps the most famous Sufi was Syed Salar Masud, from whom many of the Sayyid families of Awadh claim their descent.[9]

The Sayyids of Jarwal (Bahraich), Kintoor (Barabanki) and Zaidpur (Barabanki) were well-known Taluqadars (feudal lords) of Awadh province.[10]

Sayyids of Kintoor

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Zayn al-'Abidin al-Musavi who was progenitor of Sayeds of Kintoor was the great-great-grandfather of Sayed Ahmed.[11]

The Sayeds of Kintoor can be categorized into two prominent families, namely, the Abaqati (that of Sayed Hamid Hussain) and the Khomeini (that of Sayed Ahmed).

Abaqati family

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One branch of the Nishapuri Kintoori Sayeds took root in Lucknow. The most famous of Kintoori Sayeds is Ayatollah Syed Mir Hamid Hussain Musavi, author of the work titled Abaqat al Anwar; the first word in the title of this work provided his descendants with the nisba (title) they still bear, Abaqati.[2] Syed Ali Nasir Saeed Abaqati Agha Roohi, a Lucknow based cleric is from the family of Nishapuri Kintoori Sayeds and uses title Abaqati.

Khomeini family

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Towards the end of the 18th century the ancestors of the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini had migrated from their original home in Nishapur, Iran to the kingdom of Oudh in northern India whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin;[12][13] they settled in the town of Kintoor.[14][15][16][17] Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor, he was a contemporary and relative of the famous scholar Ayatollah Syed Mir Hamid Hussain Musavi.[15][17] He left Lucknow in the middle of the 19th century on pilgrimage to the tomb of Imam Ali in Najaf, Iraq and never returned.[14][17] According to Moin this movement was to escape the colonial rule of the British Raj in India.[18] He visited Iran in 1834 and settled down in Khomein in 1839.[15] Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, even Ruhollah Khomeini used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals.[14] Also, Ruhollah's brother was known by the name Nureddin Hindi.[17]

Sayyids of Jarwal

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In Jarwal, Bahraich, the Sayyid line derived from Sayyid Zakariyya, who fled Iran during the Mongol invasion by Genghis Khan, obtaining a 15,000 bigha grant from the Delhi sovereign, Ghiyathu'd-Din. They settled in Jarwal after moving from Persia to Lahore to Delhi to Barabanki. In 1800 the Jarwal Sayyids, some of them Shi‘is, displaced the Ansari Shaykhs and came to hold 276 out of 365 villages in the parganah, although their holdings thereafter declined rapidly to (a still formidable) 76 villages in 1877.[19][20][21][22] Khateeb-ul-Iman Maulana Syed Muzaffar Husain Rizvi Tahir Jarwali (1932-Dec 1987) a Shia religious leader and social worker, was one of the prominent Jarwali Sayyids and celebrated preacher of late 20th century (1970s & 80s), he was also General Secretary of All India Shia Conference for some time.[23][24][25]

Personalities

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Gulistan e ilmo Adab with guest Maulana Agha Roohi and Host Naseer Azmi". YouTube. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Islam, politics, and social movements By Edmund Burke, Ervand Abrahamian, Ira M. Lapidus
  3. ^ Jones, Justin; Qasmi, Ali Usman (2016). The Shi'a in modern South Asia: religion, history and politics. Delhi: Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 9781107108905.
  4. ^ Muhammad ‘Ali Kashmiri, Nujumas-sama ' fi tarajimal-‘ulama ' (Lucknow: Matbac-i Jacfari, 1302/1884-85), p. 420.
  5. ^ A Socio-intellectual History of the Isnā ʾAsharī Shīʾīs in India: 16th to 19th century A.D, Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1986
  6. ^ Piety on its knees: three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times, Claudia Liebeskind, Oxford University Press, 18-Dec-1998
  7. ^ Sufi cults and the evolution of medieval Indian culture, Anup Taneja, Indian Council of Historical Research in association with Northern Book Centre, 2003
  8. ^ Shi'a Islam in Colonial India: Religion, Community and Sectarianism By Justin Jones
  9. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three, edited by A Hasan & J C Das
  10. ^ King Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh, Volume 1 by Mirza Ali Azhar, Royal Book Co., 1982
  11. ^ Islam, Politics, and Social Movements By Edmund Burke, III, Ervand Abrahamian
  12. ^ Sacred space and holy war: the politics, culture and history of Shi'ite Islam By Juan Ricardo Cole
  13. ^ Art and culture: endeavours in interpretation By Ahsan Jan Qaisar, Som Prakash Verma, Mohammad Habib
  14. ^ a b c Ruhollah Khomeini's brief biography by Hamid Algar
  15. ^ a b c From Khomein, A biography of the Ayatollah, 14 June 1999, The Iranian
  16. ^ The Columbia world dictionary of Islamism By Olivier Roy, Antoine Sfeir
  17. ^ a b c d Khomeini: life of the Ayatollah, Volume 1999 By Baqer Moin
  18. ^ Moin, Baqer (2000). Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah. St. Martin's Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-312-26490-9.
  19. ^ Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh 1:141; 2:83, 99-100.
  20. ^ The North-Western Provinces of India: Their History, Ethnology, and Administration, Asian Educational Services, 01-Jan-1998
  21. ^ Muslims in Avadh by Mirza Azhar Ali, page 71
  22. ^ The imperial gazetteer of India by W.W. Hunter, 1881
  23. ^ The Twelver Shîʻa as a Muslim Minority in India: Pulpit of Tears By Toby M. Howarth
  24. ^ The Light, Volumes 22-23. Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania. 1988. p. 3.
  25. ^ Nadeem Hasnain; Sheikh Abrar Husain (1988). Shias and Shia Islam in India: a study in society and culture. Harnam Publications. p. 6. ISBN 9788185247007.
  26. ^ a b Roots of North Indian Shi‘ism in Iran and Iraq Religion and State in Awadh, 1722–1859, by J. R. I. Cole, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · Oxford
  27. ^ Sacred Space and Holy War The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Juan Cole, I.B.Tauris Publishers, London · New York
  28. ^ Dar al-Kitab Jazayeri
  29. ^ Abaqat ul Anwar fi Imamat al Ai'imma al-Athar
  30. ^ Leader of Heaven Archived 3 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine #18
  31. ^ Mir Hamid Hussain and his famous piece Abaqat al-anwar
  32. ^ GHADEER-E-KHUM WHERE THE RELIGION WAS BROUGHT TO PERFECTION By I.H. Najafi, Published By A GROUP OF MUSLIM BROTHERS, NEW ADDRESS P. 0. Box No. 11365- 1545, Tehran – IRAN.

External

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