Khawaja

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Khawaja or Khwaja (Arabic: خواجة‎ khawājah, Persian: خواجه pronounced khâje) is a title used in Middle East and South Asia. It is also used as family name in South Asia.

Those who have had the surname within their family for generations are mostly of a higher class Kashmiri descent. This surname has served within the most popular and powerful political activities in South Asia. This term refers to an elite group within Islam not only in South Asia

The Origin

In the first half of the first millennium, Kashmir became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose in the region.[1] In 1349, Shah Mirza became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir and inaugurated the line Salatin-i-Kashmir.[2] For the next five centuries Kashmir had Muslim monarchs, including the Mughals, who ruled until 1751, and thereafter, the Afghan Durranis, who ruled until 1820.[2] That year, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir.[2] In 1846, upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Dogras—under Gulab Singh—became the new rulers, where the power shared by the Gulab's was in equal existence of the Khawaja decent. Dograh Rule, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.

Marriage customs

Khawajas (Kashmiris) usually marry within their own social affiliation (Class), and depending on circumstances a group (Class) may be as small as few hundred families and as large as few thousand families. For example, The Bhat class define their clan system to be an entire group having very few sub-groups, whereas Khawajas are branched into a few dozen sub-groups. For the Bhat clan (a Kashmiri clan) a group, by and large, usually shares an ancestral village in Kashmir as a reference point. Marriage between close relatives especially first cousins is discouraged but such a reunion is possible in cases where a group is too small. Marriage outside the social group (e.g. marrying outside such as Punjabi families) is now quite common and accepted by most Khawaja families, although some community elders may still discourage it.

[1] Tribes and Castes of Kashmir By Muhammad Din Folk

People using the name Khawaja

Significant figures with the name or using the title Khawaja:

• Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani Mian KCSI (1813–1896) was the first Nawab of Dhaka recognized by the British Raj.

He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, water works, newspaper, and the zoological garden to Dhaka. He established Ahsan Manzil, the residence and seat of power for Dhaka Nawab Family, Victoria Park, the gardens at Dilkhusha and Shahbag, where he initiated many annual events like Boli Khela and agricultural and industrial fair to celebrate the Christian New Year. He was also responsible for the Buckland Bund and the first female ward in the first hospital in Dhaka, and was a founding commissioner of Dhaka Municipalty.

• Khawaja Muhammad Asif (born August 9, 1949 in Sialkot) is the current Pakistani Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, with additional portfolio of Sports Ministry in the PM Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet. He is politically affiliated the center-right party PML-N. He is renowned for his oratory skills and denunciation of military intervention in the political domain.

• Pakistan’s second Governor General was Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin. Sir Khawaja resigned as Governor General to become the second Prime Minister of Pakistan, after Liaquat Ali Khan being assassinated .

• Khwaja Alimullah was the first Nawab of Dhaka. He was the founder of the Dhaka Nawab Family.

• Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty, also known as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz was a Sunni Muslim and is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of South Asia. He was born in 536 A.H./1141 CE, in Sajistan, a famous city in Khorasan province (other accounts say Isfahan) in Persia. He is also known as "Sultan-e-Hind." Descendants of Sufi saints also use this as a prenomial, although some now use it as a surname.

• Khawaja Saad Rafique was born on November 4, 1962 at Lahore. He has been elected as MNA for his first term. He is politically affiliated with PML(N) and holds the office of General Secretary of the party for the Punjab province. He is the Current Federal Minister for Pakistan.

• Momin Khawaja (born April 14, 1979, Ottawa) a software engineer; while working under contract to the Foreign Affairs department in 2004 became the first person charged and found guilty under the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act following the proof that he communicated with British Islamists plotting a bomb attack.[1]

People with the name Khawaja

• Khawaja Bilal Sohaib, Business Analyst, Pakistan Petroleum Limited.

See also

• • Kashmiri Shaikh
  • Khoja
  • In South Asia:
  • Moinuddin Chishti
  • Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
  • Dhaka Nawab Family
  • In Central Asia:
  • Khoja (Turkestan)
  • Abdullah Khawaja
  • Khawaja Wali Kirani
  • khowaja nadeem from (tando muhammad khan) sindh (pakitan)

References