Sadaat-e-Bilgram

Saadat-e-Bilgrami

Regions with significant populations
•  India •  Pakistan
Languages
• Urdu • Hindi • Awadhi
Religion
• Islam 100% •
Related ethnic groups
• Sayyid • Siddiqui • Farooqi • Saadat-e-Dakoha • Osmani • Gardezi Sadaat • Saadat-e-Bara

The Saadat-e-Bilgram are a Muslim community found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Despite this, many have migrated to Pakistan. They also known as the Bilgrami Sayyid (or Syed), and Bilgrami is often used as a surname.^[1]

Origin

The Sadaat Bilgram are a group of Sayyid families who inhabit the historic town of Bilgram in Hardoi District. Saadat-e-Bilgram literally means the Sayyid of the town of Bilgram. These Hussaini Sayyids first migrated from Wasit, Iraq in the thirteenth century.^[2] Their ancestor, Syed Mohammad Sughra, a Zaidi Sayyid of Iraq arrived in India during the rule of Sultan Iltutmish. In 1217-18 the family conquered and settled in Bilgram.^[3] The Sayyid commanded a Muslim army that overcame the Bhars, who were the traditional rulers of the Hardoi region, and was granted an estate centred on the town of Bilgram, where the Sayyid settled down. died in 1247, his tomb was constructed by Syed Mohammad Muhsin son of Syed Mohammad Said in 1738-39.^[4] Syed Mohammad Sughra Sixth in descent from Syed Mohammad Sughra was Syed Abdul Farah of Wasit (from him are descendants of most renowned Sayyid families in Northern India, the Barhah and Bilgram Sayyids; and in Khairabad, Fatehpur Haswa and at many other places brancehs of same stem are found.^[5]), who was the ancestor of the Saadat-e-Bara, another community of Sayyids.^[6] The Bilgrami Sayyid were important power brokers in southern part of Awadh, and remained an important and influential clan, throughout the Middle Ages. They provided several taluqdar families, and were substantial landowners.^[7]

Present Circumstances

The abolishment of the zamindar system by the newly independent India in 1949 had a major impact on the Bilgrami Sayyid community. The larger estates were broken, and land given to the tillers. This led to some emigration of the Bilgrami to Pakistan, as well to major urban centres in India, such as Mumbai and Delhi.^[8] Many members of the community now cultivate their own land, and grow wheat, paddy, maize, pulses and vegetables. They are largely Shia, although a few families are Sunni. The Bilgrami remain associated with the town of Bilgram, while others are found in twenty one villages near the town.^[9]

References

1. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A Hasan & J C Das
2. Essays in Arabic Literary Biography: 1350 - 1850, Roger M. A. Allen, Joseph Edmund Lowry, Terri DeYoung, Devin J. Stewart, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 30-Dec-2009
3. Islam in South Asia in Practice, Barbara D. Metcalf, Princeton University Press, 08-Sep-2009
4. Indian Archaeology, a Review, Archaeological Survey of India., 1979
5. The imperial gazetteer of India, Volume 13, Sir William Wilson Hunter, Trübner & co., 1887
6. Rulers, townsmen and bazaars : North Indian society in the Age of British Expansion 1770-1870 by Christopher Alan Bayly Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1983
7. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A Hasan & J C Das
8. Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims edited by Imtiaz Ahmed page 209 to 215 Manohar 1978
9. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 1301