The Faqir(Shah) are a Muslim community in South Asia. They are actually rajput sulehria from Kashmir. They are also known as Shah, Alvi and Miya but are not SYED. They are descendents of Qurysh tribe of Arabs. They migrated from Iran to subcontinent. Sheikh Sarvari, Madari, Qalandar are Part of Faqir Community [ citation needed ]
The word fakir or faqir (Arabic : فقیر (noun of faqr)) is derived from the word faqr (Arabic : فقر, "poverty").They are claim to the descendants of Sufi saints belonging to Syeds lineage, that traced to Ali. Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam in South Asia. [1]
There is a theory that this community was formed by Badi' Al-Din an Arab muslim Sufi saint and he came to India from Syria.
His followers start using title Shah
Faqir Peoples are from different ethnic groups like Turk Arabs Rajputs Pathans etc.
The Faqir of West Bengal are also known as Shahji. They are said[ by whom? ] to have acquired the name Shahji because they were followers of Sher Ali Shahji, a well known Bengali Sufi saint. Most Faqir consider the famous Sufi Abdul Qadir Jillani as their mentor, and most Faqir in Bengal thus belong to the Qadriyah Sufi order. A smaller number belong to the Chishti, Madariya, Mojadidi, and Naqshbandia orders. Like in other parts of India, the Faqir have evolved from what was originally a community of Sufi mendicants into an endogamous caste grouping. They live mainly in the districts of Nadia, Howrah, Murshidabad, Malda, Bankura, Birbhum and Purulia. The majority of the West Bengal Faqir are now cultivators, living in multi-caste villages, in their own quarters known as Faqir paras. They cultivate paddy, jute, mustard and tilli seeds. A small number are also landless agricultural labourers. The Faqir speak Bengali and follow the Sunni sect of Islam. But they practice a number of folk beliefs, collectively referred to as faqirmat. This involves paying special reverence to a number of Sufi saints. A significant number of Faqir are also involved in the production of cooking oil, an activity traditionally associated with the Teli caste in other parts of India. [2]
A tariqa is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking haqiqa, which translates as "ultimate truth".
Fakir, faqeer, or faqīr, derived from faqr, is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce all relationships, or take vows of poverty, but the adornments of the temporal worldly life are kept in perspective. The connotations of poverty associated with the term relate to their spiritual neediness, not necessarily their physical neediness.
Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (tariqah), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persian and Turkish (derviş) as well as in Tamazight (Aderwic), corresponding to the Arabic term faqīr. Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego (nafs) to reach God. In most Sufi orders, a dervish is known to practice dhikr through physical exertions or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God. Their most popular practice is Sama, which is associated with the 13th-century mystic Rumi. In folklore and with adherents of Sufism, dervishes are often credited with the ability to perform miracles and ascribed supernatural powers. Historically, the term Dervish has also been used more loosely, as the designation of various Islamic political movements or military entities.
Sayyid is an honorific title of Hasanids and Husaynids Muslims, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet's companion, Ali through his sons, Hasan and Husayn.
Islam is the largest and the state religion of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. According to the 2022 census, Bangladesh had a population of about 150 million Muslims, or 91.04% of its total population of 165 million. Muslims of Bangladesh are predominant native Bengali Muslims. The majority of Bangladeshis are Sunni, and follow the Hanafi school of fiqh. Bangladesh is a de facto secular country.
Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. Reportedly, they converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various dynasties and states while retaining Hindu surnames such as Chauhan. Today, Muslim Rajputs can be found mostly in present-day Northern India and Pakistan. They are further divided into different clans.
Shāh Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī, popularly known as Shah Jalal, was a celebrated conqueror and figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Muslim conquest of Sylhet and the Spread of Islam into the region, part of a long history of interactions between the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Various complexes and religious places have been named after him, including the largest airport in Bangladesh, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and numerous mosques around the United Kingdom.
Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag-Dehlavi was a 14th-century mystic-poet and a Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. He was a disciple of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, and later his successor. He was the last important Sufi of the Chishti Order from Delhi.
Satpanth is a Sanskrit term, given to a diverse group of individuals who follow Pir Sadardin. Pir Sadardin Imamshah Bawa, was a Shia Ismaili Da'i who founded the Satpanth Tariqa around 600 years ago, and taught tolerance, perennialism and syncretism of all religions, putting a particular emphasis on the syncretism of Islam and Hinduism.
Sufism has a history in India evolving for over 1,000 years. The presence of Sufism has been a leading entity increasing the reaches of Islam throughout South Asia. Following the entrance of Islam in the early 8th century, Sufi mystic traditions became more visible during the 10th and 11th centuries of the Delhi Sultanate and after it to the rest of India. A conglomeration of four chronologically separate dynasties, the early Delhi Sultanate consisted of rulers from Turkic and Afghan lands. This Persian influence flooded South Asia with Islam, Sufi thought, syncretic values, literature, education, and entertainment that has created an enduring impact on the presence of Islam in India today. Sufi preachers, merchants and missionaries also settled in coastal Gujarat through maritime voyages and trade.
Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy was a Bengali Islamic scholar, educationist and writer from Midnapore. He is often regarded as the Father of modern Islamic education in Bengal.
Muhammad Amjad, was a legal scholar of Qur'an, Hadith, and the Hanafi school of Islamic law.
Arabs in India are people with Arab origins who have over a long period of time, settled in the Indian subcontinent. There have been extensive trade and cultural links between India and the Arab world spanning several millennia. The west coast region of India, especially Malabar and Konkan coasts were active trading hubs, where Arab merchants frequently used to visit on their way to Sri Lanka and South East Asia. Over a span of several centuries, migrants from different Arabian nations immigrated to various regions and kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent as merchants, missionaries and through intermarriages.
Islam in Uttar Pradesh is the second largest religion in the state with 38,483,967 adherents in 2011, forming 19 .26% of the total population. Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have also been referred to as Hindustani Musalman. They do not form a unified ethnic community, but are differentiated by sectarian and Baradari divisions, as well as by language and geography. Nevertheless, the community shares some unifying cultural factors. Uttar Pradesh has more Muslims than any Muslim-majority country in the world except Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to the 2011 census, West Bengal has over 24.6 million Muslims, making up 27% of the state's population. The vast majority of Muslims in West Bengal are ethnic native Bengali Muslims, numbering around over 22 million and comprising 24.1% of the state population. There also exists an Immigrants Urdu-speaking Muslim community numbering 2.6 million, constituting 2.9% of the state population and mostly resides in Urban areas of the state.
Peerahi are a Muslim community found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.
Bengali Muslims are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Muslims after Arabs. Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.
Sufism in Bangladesh is more or less similar to that in the whole Indian subcontinent. India, it is claimed, is one of the five great centers of Sufism, the other four being Persia, Baghdad, Syria, and North Africa. Sufi saints flourished in Hindustan (India) preaching the mystic teachings of Sufism that easily reached the common people, especially the spiritual truth seekers in India. Sufism in Bangladesh is also called pirism, after the pirs or teachers in the Sufi tradition.
Syed Shah Nasiruddin was a Sufi saint and military leader associated with the spread of Islam in Bengal in the 14th century. As the commander of the armed forces of Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah, Syed Nasiruddin is primarily known for his role in the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303, alongside the celebrated Sufi dervish Shah Jalal.
Nūr Qut̤b ʿĀlam was a 14th-century Bengali Islamic scholar, author and poet. Based in the erstwhile Bengali capital Hazrat Pandua, he was the son and successor of Alaul Haq, a senior scholar of the Bengal Sultanate. He is noted for his efforts in preserving the Muslim rule of Bengal against Raja Ganesha and pioneering the Dobhashi tradition of Bengali literature.