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Revision as of 12:01, 25 January 2008 by 82.71.17.110 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)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 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. A minority of Qanungoh Shaikhs adhere to the Shia Islam whilst others hailing from lower Punjab and Baluchistan belong to Naqshbandi and other Sufi orders.