This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Zaidi" surname – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The surname Al-Zaidi (Az-Zaidi) can denote one or both of the following:
People with the surname Zaidi are descendants of Zaid ibn Ali who was the son of Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-'Abidin who was the great-grandson of Muhammad. The descendants of Muhammad carry the honorific title of Sayyid. Zaidis can be found in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Zaidis of the Indian subcontinent use the proper noun "Wasiti" as a form of self-identification. Zayd ibn Ali is believed to have succumbed to injuries he sustain during a battle in Kufa, Iraq; many of his descendants either returned to al-Hijaz or remained in Iraq. Some of those who stayed in Iraq settled in Wasit. Some descendants from Wasit then moved to the Indian subcontinent. Most of the Zaidis migrated after the Mongol Siege of Baghdad in 1258. Most of them are settled in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1]
The largest group among those identifying themselves as Zaidi is Saadat-e-Bara. Saadat means descendant of Muhammad and Bara means twelve in Urdu. There are many interpretations of word bara and many spellings are current: Bara, Bahera, Barha (as spelled in Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri, Akbarnama and other Moghul sources) and Bahira meaning "bright" in Arabic language. One explanation of the word is as mentioned above; another is that there are twelve villages in Muzaffarnagar district and their residents were called Sadat Barha. Zaidi sadats are found in Kandipur and Sikandarpur villages of Uttar Pradest East and are descendants of Abul Farah Wasti.
Aurangzeb wrote about the Syeds of Barha:[2]
"You should be extremely cautious in dealing with the Syeds of Barha...because a strong partner in government would soon seize the kingship for himself."
The Barha Sayyids in Muzaffarnagar rose as the de facto rulers of the Mughal empire, under their leaders Qutb-ul-Mulk and Ihtimam-ul-Mulk who deposed the Emperors Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi ud-Darajat and Shah Jahan II.[3]
These Sayyeds are descendants of Sayyid Abu'l Farah Al Hussaini Al Wasti who came to India from Wasit (Iraq) in the 11th century along with his four sons who settled in four villages of Punjab, Kundliwaal, Chhatbanur, Tihanpur and Jajner giving names to all four clans of Sadat Barha. Their numbers are highest in Karachi (Pakistan) and Muzaffarnagar (India). The Kundliwal clan mainly live in Mujhera, Hashimpur, and Sikrehra Khola. The Chhatraudi clan mainly live in Sambalhera. Many of them migrated to Pakistan during the partition of India.
