The Qazi family of Lakhnauti ( bn, লখনৌতির কাজী খান্দান) was a medieval
Bengali Muslim
Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
family who lived in the royal city of
Lakhnauti in the
Bengal Sultanate
The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...
. The family was founded by Taj ad-Din an-Nahwi in the 15th century, and has produced numerous influential judges and scholars. The descendants of Shah Manjhan later moved to Gujarat and neighbouring states.
Members
The Qazi family are descended from Taj ad-Din an-Nahwi, who had
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
lineage from his ancestor, Shaykh Mahmud
al-Qurashi al-Ishqi Randposh. Prior to settling in Lakhnauti, the family was based in
Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
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in present-day
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. In Bengal, it is said that they became the spiritual successors of the family of
Nur Qutb Alam
Nūr Quṭb ʿĀlam ( ar, , bn, নূর কুতুব আলম) was a 14th-century Bengali Islamic scholar, author and poet. Based in the erstwhile Bengali capital Hazrat Pandua, he was the son and successor of Alaul Haq, a senior scholar ...
of the
Chishti Order
The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, a ...
.
Taj ad-Din an-Nahwi
Tāj ad-Dīn al-Naḥwī al-Balkhī al-Lakhnawtawī was a 15th-century
Islamic scholar
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of reli ...
, ''
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' and
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
ian of the
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
. According to
Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi
Abdul Hayy Lucknawi Firangi Mahali (1264 - 1304 A.H./1848 - 1886 C.E) was an Indian people, Indian Islamic scholar of Hanafi school of Islamic thought.
Lineage
Abdul Hayy was born in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, Banda, India, in 1847. He was a descend ...
, he was one of the leading scholars in the fields of grammar and Arabic language during his time. He was born into a
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
family in
Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
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, pushpin_label_position=bottom
, pushpin_mapsize=300
, pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, then part of the
Timurid Empire
The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empire ...
, where he was raised. He was famed by the
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
al-naḥwī ('the grammarian') and khulāṣah al-ʿulamāʾ ('epitome of the
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'), and had a famous
khanqah
A khanqah ( fa, خانقاه) or khangah ( fa, خانگاه; also transliterated as ''khankah'', ''khaneqa'', ''khanegah'' or ''khaneqah''; also Arabized ''hanegah'', ''hanikah'', ''hanekah'', ''khankan''), also known as a ribat (), is a buildin ...
in Balkh. It is said that he left Balkh, after hearing of the scholarly patronage of Sultan
Ibrahim Shah Sharqi (r. 1402–1440). However, Taj ad-Din ended up settling in the neighbouring
Sultanate of Bengal
The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...
instead. He benefitted many students in
Lakhnauti and the family established themselves there.
Shah Manjhan
Shah Manjhan al-Lakhnawtawī (d.
Rabi' al-Awwal 1001
AH / 1592 CE) was a prominent 16th-century
Sufi saint and leading figure of the
Shattari Order. He was the son of Abdullah, son of Khayr ad-Dīn al-Lakhnawtawī, who was a direct descendant of Taj ad-Din an-Nahwi. From his mother's side, Shah Manjhan was a descendant of Qadi Samāʾ ad-Din of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. Manjhan was born and raised in Lakhnauti, and initially studied under Shaykh Ahmadi. He then became a ''
murid
In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A '' sālik'' or Su ...
'' of Shaykh Taj ad-Din al-Husayni al-Bukhari for a long time. He dedicated much of his time in Lakhnauti towards teaching the
Islamic sciences
The Islamic sciences ( ar, علوم الدين, ʿulūm al-dīn, lit=the sciences of religion) are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars ( ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic relig ...
. Taj ad-Din al-Bukhari eventually instructed Manjhan to become a disciple of
Muhammad Ghawth
Muhammad Ghawth (Ghouse, Ghaus or Gwath) Gwaliyari (1500–1562) was a 16th-century Sufi master of the Shattari order and Sufi saint, a musician, Segoogle book search and the author of ''Jawahir-i Khams'' (Arabic: ''al-Jawahir al-Khams'', The F ...
, the Sufi master of the
Shattari Order in
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
. After the Conquest of
Malwa
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...
by
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری)
(1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان)
, was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...
, Manjhan moved to the where he was appointed as the religious administrator of the newly conquered fort-town of
Raisen. Due to political instability, he later relocated to
Sarangpur, settling in the village of Ashnah, where he wrote several works on the Islamic sciences and was received by Emperor
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
.
His son, Uthman, was a leading scholar in
Islamic jurisprudence
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
and Arabic language.
References
Bibliography
*{{cite book, language=ar, title=Nuzhat al-khawatir, last=al-Lucknawi, first=Abd al-Hayy, author-link=Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi, publisher=Dar Ibn Hazm, location=
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, year=1999
Bengali families
Muslim families
People from Chapai Nawabganj district
People from Balkh Province
Quraysh