A comprehensive introduction to Abul Farah Wasti - 1

The ancestry, migrations, and descendants of Abul Farah Wasti, the prominent ancestor of the Sadaat e Barha

Introduction

In the 21st century, if one enters a South Asian oriented Shi’a Islamic Centre, one is ought to find a man, or many, carrying the surname Zaidi. The surname Zaidi, often coupled with the forename Syed¹, represents someone who has a direct paternal lineage leading to a man named Zaid “al-Shaheed” ibn Ali, the great-great-grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and the great-grandson of his successor, Ali ibn Abi Talib (as). Although there were multiple migrations of Zaidi sadaat² from Arabia towards the South Asian subcontinent, one specific lineage of Zaidis stands out from the rest, that being the lineage of Abul Farah Wasti, the forefather of Sadaat e Barha.

Abul Farah Wasti was said to have migrated from Wasit, Iraq, towards Ghazni, Afghanistan, and later to Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, during the reign of the Ghaznavid Empire, led by Mahmood Ghaznavi (approx. early 11th century). Although it is said that he had a total of twelve sons, only four remained in Muzaffarnagar, India, namely, Abul Faras, Daud, Abul Fazl (Fazail)³, and Najm al-Din. Today, the direct paternal descendants of these four men certainly exceeds the thousands, and perhaps, the majority of South Asian Shi’a Syeds have an ancestral connection to these sons, in some way or another.

Ancestry

Abul Farah Wasti, although his true name most likely being Sayyid Abdullah al-Hussein al-Ma’roof, has a genealogy which has near a complete consensus within scholars of genealogy. Nearly all sources state 13 generations between Abul Farah Wasti and Zaid al-Shaheed; however, some inaccurate sources have attached his lineage to alternative, more far-fetched lineages, such as the lineages of the 11th and 12th Shi’a Imams.

Migrations between Zaid al-Shaheed and Abul Farah Wasti

After Zaid ibn Ali al-Shaheed, who was martyred in Kufa, Iraq, his son Isa also most likely residing in Kufa, however, some sources mention him as a companion of his cousin, Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as), which would have him reside in Madina al-Munawwarah for a period of time; he, however, most likely died in Kufa. The specifics between Muhammad ibn Isa and Daud ibn Hussein are not known, however at some point, the ancestors of Abul Farah Wasti migrated halfway between Kufa and Basra, to a place named Wasit, hence the name Wasti. During the reign of Mahmood Ghaznavi, from 998 to 1030CE, it is known that Abul Farah Wasti was called from Wasit to Ghazni, and he later migrated with his four sons to Punjab. Abul Farah Wasti left his four sons there, who each settled in different villages of what is now Muzaffarnagar. The final resting place of Abul Farah Wasti is unknown, but it is most likely not in India.

Descendants of Abul Farah Wasti

As well-known and stated in any other chapter about Sadaat e Barha, Abul Farah Wasti had four sons who settled in four different villages, each becoming the “murith a’la” of their own sadaat. Sayyid Daud settled in Kundliwali, Sayyid Abul Fazl (Fazail) settled in Chhatroad, or Chhatbanur, Sayyid Abul Faras settled in Jajner, and Sayyid Najm al-Din settled in Tihanpur. Each one of these sons has prominent families descending from it.

Two major families which descend from Abul Faras Wasti outside of Muzaffarnagar include the Zaidi’s of Khairthal, Rajasthan, who’s murith a’la⁴, Sayyid Pyaara Kalan, comes from the lineage of Daud ibn Abul Faras. The Jajneri sadaat of Bihar, who descend from two brothers, Muhammad and Ahmad Jajneri, also descend from Abul Faras, the lineage of the two brothers being from Abul Farah Thani ibn Abul Faras. Sadaat e Bilgram, who’s murith a’la is Sayyid Muhammad Sughra, also descend from Abul Farah Thani ibn Abul Faras.

Among the descendants of Ahmad Jajneri, I would like to highlight are the Sher family, due to their involvement in genetic testing, which will be mentioned later. The Sher family, whose Murith A’la is Sayyid Azam Sher from Biharsharif have previously claimed descent from Hassan ibn Imam Ridha (as), suggesting they are Rizvi sadaat, rather than Zaidi. Among a closer look, however, the book Sadaat e Jajneri links the ancestor of Sayyid Azam Sher, Sayyid Mubarak Shaheed, to Ali Sher Jajneri, the son of Ahmad Jajneri (as per the research and efforts of Syed M. Jaun Rizvi). This highlights one example of oral histories being distorted, forged, or created over time. Claiming from a later Imam seemed to gain more prestige within a family, especially during the Persian influence, and a similar example can be seen later with the Kararvi Rizvi sadaat. Therefore, it is extremely possible for other non-Zaidi claiming families, who claim from later Imams instead, to truly descend from Abul Farah Wasti, due to altering their Sayyid claims and oral histories to gain prestige.

From Najm al-Din, comes the murith a’la of the famous “King-Maker” family, Sayyid Jalal Khan Mir, who resided in Jansath, Muzaffarnagar. The two Sayyid brothers, Hassan and Hussein Khan Barha, who were prominent during the Mughal reign, descend from Khan Mir’s son Umar al-Shaheed, and other branches of these sadaat come from his four brothers.

Most scholars of genealogy have mentioned twelve sons in total belonging to Abul Farah Wasti, though eight have been left unnamed. Some unreliable oral histories have mentioned sons such as Murad, and Zaid al-Rabi’ (the fourth), however there is not substantial evidence for their existence.

In the next part of the blog, I will discuss the genetic research which has been completed by the Y-DNA testing of some of Abul Farah Wasti’s descendants.

1. a descendant of the prophet’s family - alternative spellings include: sayyid, saiyid, sayed, sayyed

2. sadaat - the plural of sayyid

3. alternative phonetic spelling: fadhl (fadhail)

4. highest ancestor