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Revision as of 15:38, 16 March 2007
Qanungoh Shaikhs (Persian: قانون گوہ شيخ ) is a clan of Muslim Shaikhs in Punjab, Pakistan. Shaikh meaning elder of a tribe, lord, revered old man, or Islamic scholar. In South Asia, it signifies Arab ancestry. From the beginning of Muslim rule in South Asia in 713 AD, the Arab technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and sufis flocked from the rest of the Muslim world to Islamic Sultanate in South Asia and settled permanently.
The Qanun-goh (Law givers) were the employees of court and judicial system in South Asia during the Muslim rule. The word Qanun means law in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. These included judges (Qadi or Qazi), lawyers (Wakil or Vakil) and court secretaries (Daftar). They are descendant of families who held the hereditary office of ‘’Qanungoh’’ (‘’Law givers’’) during the Muslim Period. The Qanungoh were mostly Muslim from Middle East and later were joined by native converts to Islam. Many Qanungoh Shaikhs are considered to be originally belonging to Khatris caste which converted to Islam. Qanungoh Shaikh belonged to all the districts of the Punjab.