Indian Muslim Archives

I mostly share history, art, culture, food, attire, traditions, and heritage of the Indian Muslim community. Sometimes I delve into politics & current affairs.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

The wait is over…
Our first video is coming soon… 🎬

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

Suppose someone wanted to start a YouTube channel dedicated to history, what would be a good name for it?

Something that immediately conveys history, while still sounding elegant, distinctive, and catchy.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@marxistalt17577 I am not claiming anything of the sort. My point is simply that medieval Muslim grandees of Rajput ancestry did not quite identify with the broader Rajput identity.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

In India, most Muslim elites of Rajput descent did not identify as Rajputs. Like other Indo-Aryan converts, they assimilated into pre-existing Muslim kinships. For eg:

Qiyamkhanis (Sheikhzadeh)
Mewati (Khanzadeh)
Ibadaullahis (Sayyidzadeh)

The British Raj's ethnographic surveys were crucial in spreading the Rajput identity among Muslims. They registered "Ranghar", a common slang term for Rajputs (Ranghdey, Rangad), as the canonical identity of Muslim descendants of Rajputs.

Ranghad ≠ Rajput Muslim.

Most Muslim grandees of Rajput descent stood alone and isolated. Unlike other Muslim groups, they lacked popular community backing to retain their pre-Islamic kinship.

For instance, the Sayyids of Pihani, one of the leading Muslim noble families, adopted Badar Singh (Rajah Ibadullah Khan) and married one of their daughters to him. This isolated Ibadullah Khan could not pass on his identity, and his children adopted their mother's Sayyid identity.

During the 1947 Partition, the greatest Muslim lord from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh to UP was Rajah Sayyid Saadat Ali Khan of Nanpara, a descendant of the same Badar Singh, or Ibadullah Khan.

We are very lucky to know the paternal backgrounds of "some" (very few out of all that passed) Muslim elites of Rajput descent, otherwise, most were known only by their Muslim names, and their descendants gradually assimilated into other identities.

Take the persons of Sher Khan (Mughal Viceroy of Gujarat), Sarang Khan (Muzaffarid governor of Ahmadabad), or Isa Khan (Bengali lord of Bhati), how would we know they were Rajputs if some chronicles had not mentioned it? Could we guess from their names? Never.

Similarly, we had older accounts of the Rajput origins of the Rajahs of Kharagpur and Birbhum, who ruled over a combined landmass of 70,000 km². Otherwise, Bengali clerks introduced them to the British officials as the Pathans, which is why they are identified as such in certain accounts.

————

When a substantial number of Rajputs from a region embraced Islam, they retained the Rajput title because they had the necessary manpower to back it.

In Pakistan, we find a firmly rooted Rajput identity because the processes of Rajputisation and Islamisation often occurred in parallel.

We also find examples of this in Uttar Pradesh. For instance, there is a Rajput clan named Bhale Sultan ("lords of the spear"). The clan's formation dates to the Delhi Sultanate, and it is shared by Muslims and Hindus, with 42% Muslim and 58% Hindu members.

————

At the end, does it matter? No!
Rajput (as we know today) is a Kinship (biradari) forged at some of point of time. Such kinships get created and destroyed then and now, it's the natural course of history.

All that matters is their being a part of the broader Indo-Muslim kinship, which is an amalgam of people from various backgrounds (from African, Eurorpean, Aryan, Dravidian to Iranic, Turanic, Semetic, Sino and else)..

[Sri Klp @sriklp77]

@Naved_chouhann 'Rajput' is a Hindu identity, not a Mughal one. Although they embraced Islam, they also retained their Hindu identity—partly due to an identity crisis. Even today, a large number of Rajputs follow the Hindu religion.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@marxistalt17577 The term Rangad predates British Raj (as I already mentioned), but Ranghar as an identity for Rajput Muslims does not.

It was a general slang (like Ponga/Punda) for the Rajputs. One can find it in abundance in the Maratha correspondences as well.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@marxistalt17577 Rural-level landownership is not, in itself, a marker of a grandee status, if that is what you are trying to say. Even lower castes amongst Hindus (eg: Kurmis) had regions where they were significant landowners.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@laymanyapper Here:

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

The Rajahs of Kharakpur and Birbhum were both referred to as “Pathans” by the Bengalis (probable misconception due to their ‘Khan’ titles).

As a result, nearly all British accounts also recorded them as Pathans. In reality, both were Rajputs.

Birbhum Lordship = 9,992 Km²

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@sriklp77 What justify? I am explicitly explaining how the Muslim Rajput identity is a dehati larp, and the mediaeval elites themselves did not identify with a Rajput identity.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

Vikram Rao, writes in the Times of India:

“It is a different matter that the UP police force is pre-dominantly Hindu.”

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

MP Jyotirmoy Basu addressed the Lok Sabha presenting the horrifying details of Moradabad Muslim massacre (1980) and the state bigotry.🧵

He revealed an economical factor involving Congress MLA Daudyal Khanna, apart from UP PAC's depravity.

In Moradabad, annual brassware exports were valued at ₹5 crore, of which Muslim artisans and exporters reportedly accounted for over ₹3 crore (60%).

MLA Daudayal Khanna, a prominent Hindu exporter, was accused by MP Jyotirmoy Basu of participating in the riots.

Around 650 Muslim-owned houses and shops were reportedly looted. The human toll was also severe: according to Basu, at least 300 Muslims were killed on the spot by police firing, excluding the ones killed later.

[Asim Ali @AsimAli6]

Passage on the Jalianwala Bagh style massacre of Muslim worshippers by UP PAC in Moradabad, Aug 1980. More killed here than say 1903 Kishinev pogrom of Jews, which most educated European know about. No memorialization, let alone accountability, here.

MJ Akbar, Riot after Riot.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@AbhinavRat46663 @salimmirzasnxb post statistics published in an academic publication

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@AbhinavRat46663 @salimmirzasnxb Published statistics - not according to me, but the only recognised standard.

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

@AbhinavRat46663 @salimmirzasnxb And you call that a proof?

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh wasn't even born when Sir Sayyid established AMU (MAO College) on 74 acres land belonging to former chhavni purchased from the British govt.

In 1929, Raja just LEASED (not DONATED) some 3.04 acres at ₹2 p.a.

UP/Bihar Ms were overrepresented in land ownership (14% Ms owned 25% agricultural land, and 20% of all commerical lands in UP)

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

Wrong figure regarding Lahore (dispute this only with proper source, not with your words).

Hindus and Sikhs united abandoned 6.7 million acres in West Punjab (Hindu share was max 4.7 million acres).

Muslims left the same amount of land in East Punjab and Haryana (not counting 5.377 million acres siezed from UP Muslims in land ceiling).

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

Urdu Printing Presses in India, 1852 CE

India: 30 prints
UP- 26, Delhi- 6, MP- 1, RJ- 1, PB- - 2

Pakistan: 3 prints

(Urdu prints in Punjab existed because the EIC bureaucracy 'munshigiri' and military were dominated by the Hindustanis)

[sindhu sapta(PAKSTAN) @BootaNeeka]

@hulkhogann97 @salimmirzasnxb Urdu was state language of Punjab and Kashmir in British India
Hindi was state language of UP/Behar in British India
The way Punjabi/sindhi/pashtoo are Pakistani lang
Same way boujpuri/mithali/kanndaa are also Indian languages

You muhajir ?

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

And we know it is historically inaccurate, as Mughal shipbuilders did not follow these blueprints.

Here are what Mughal ships would've looked like (Gunj-e Sawai being a mightier and much bigger version of them).

[Simurgh @Serdar_i_azam]

A 1933 interpretation of Ganj i-Sawai

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

A man went to a tailor, handed him some fabrics to be stitched, and asked which day should he come to collect.

The tailor replied, "come any day except monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, or sunday."

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

What does one even say to such foul-mouthed chieftains of brain-dead zombies? Since arguments are wasted on them, rhetoric is the only thing left.

Here is Yati Narsinghanand suggesting the partition of India, are you using those words for him?

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

The wait is over…
Our first video is coming soon… 🎬

[Indian Muslim Archives @Rustum_0]

"a dreadful terrorist like Sharjeel Imam"