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Revision as of 22:20, 25 March 2008
Qanungoh Shaikhs (Persian: قانون گوہ شيخ ) are a clan of Muslim Shaikhs in Punjab, and other parts of 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) who have the title of Sahibzada. Qanungoh Shaikhs 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 were later admixed with indigenous converts to Islam. Many Qanungoh Shaikhs are considered to be originally belonging to punjabi khatri tribes which converted to Islam. Qanungoh Shaikhs belonged to all the districts of the Punjab as well as some districts in the Sarhad and Balochistan provinces, although can be found in small numbers in Seistan, Paktika and Khost provices in Iran and Afghanistan. A minority of Qanungoh Shaikhs adhere to the Shia Islam whilst others hailing from lower Punjab and Baluchistan are Sunni belonging to Naqshbandi and other Sufi orders.
Origins
Qanungo , lit . 'an expounder of law '. The title of a family in Karnal who were originall modis or store keepers and who also engaged in commerce at Joli . One member of the family was appointed Qanungo of Karnal and the family then settled there .Originally Mahajan by caste , its founder Maidi Mal had a son Rai Mal , ancestor of the present Qanungo family , but he subsequently embraced Islam and his son Shaikh Tayab by a Muhammadan wife is said to have risen to the rank of wazir at the Mughal court and to have obtained his brothers appointment as Qanungo . Qanungo families are also found in Hoshiarpur where a family of Jirath Khatris who were one Qanungos of Bajwara in Mughal times :in Gujarat :in Jullundur at which town there was an old Sahgal Khatri family which held the office and is now partly Mohummadan
See also
- A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North -West provinces , compiled by H A Rose , vol II Page 258