Zaidpur - History

History

Zaidpur was established in 462 Hijri / 1070 AD by Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ an immigrant from the city of Qom in medieval Persia. Saiyed Abdullah Zar-Baksh named the place (Zaidpur) after his only son Saiyed Zaid (born 462 Hijri/1070 AD). Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ was a direct descendant of Paighamber Mohammad Sahab through his daughter Bibi Fatima Zahra and Hazrat Ali-ibne-Abi-Talib. He was a Rizvi/Taqvi Saiyed and 14th in decent from Paighamber Mohammad Sahab. He was son of Saiyed Yaqoob and grandson of Abu Abdullah Saiyed Ahmad (924-969 AD), who held respectable post of ‘Naqeeb’ of the city of Qom, in the medieval Persia.

Genealogy: Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh' son of Saiyed Yaqoob son of Abu Abdullah Saiyed Ahmed 'Naqeeb' son of Saiyed Muhammad (Al-Aeraj) son of Abu Muqarem Saiyed Ahmed son of Imamzada Saiyed Moosa (alias Musa al Mubarraqa) son of Imam Mohammad al-Taqi al-Jawad son of Imam Abul Hassan al-Rizha son of Imam Musa al-Kazim son of Imam Jafar as-Sadiq son of Imam Muhammad Baqir al-Ulum son of Imam Ali al-Sajjad Zayn al-Abideen son of Imam Husain Sayyid ash-Shuhada son of Khalifat-ul muslimeen Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib Amir al Momineen and Bibi Fatima Zahra daughter of Paighamber Mohammad Sahab.

Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ was born and brought up at Qom but later shifted to city of Jajarm which is now in the state of North Khurasan, Iran. He was a scholarly and spiritual figure. Even miracles are attributed to his spiritual power. Among the miracle is ‘gold-fall’ from sky, believed to be under his spiritual power. After the said miracle he got popularly known as ‘Zar-baqsh’ (the gifter of gold).

At that time political conditions of Arab and Persia were not good and lives of Saiyeds (descendents of Mohammad) were in great danger. Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ dreamed of being directed to go to India. Taking it as a spiritual direction, form Qom he set out for India and reached Lahore in 452 Hijri/1060 AD, then a city of Hindustan. Reaching Lahore he wished to settle there, but dreamt once again to move further east. In his vision he then saw the landscape where he was to settle down. He therefore continued his journey and at last found the place he searched for. The place was a forest with a tank in the Middle. Thus he reached the place which is now a part of present day Zaidpur town, where he settled down finally.

At a distance of 9 miles from the Zaidpur was the military headquarter of Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi at Satrikh, who had already settled down before the arrival of Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ and was ruling over the region. Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ married Bibi Yadgaar Bano the daughter of Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi of Satrikh. Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi is also known as Saiyed Salaar Sahu Ghazi, history regards him as the first Muslim immigrant and earlier brother-in-law and an army commander of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi. Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi’s Mazaar (now known as Budhe Baba Ki Mazaar) is at town Satrikh, district Barabanki. Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi’s son from other wife titled Sitr-i-Mu’allla (the sister of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi) was Saiyed Salar Masood Ghazi (1015-1032 AD), his famous Tomb (Dargaah)is at Bahraich and frequented by people of all faiths.

In 462 Hijri/1070 AD Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ and Bibi Yadgaar Bano were blessed with a child, Zaid by name and this new village was named after the newly born child and came to be known as Zaidpur. After the birth, father-in-law of Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ got house for him constructed at Zaidpur along with the dwellings for the accompanying servants and a contingent of artisans (masons, carpenters and potters etc.) and people of different trades, reportedly sent by Saiyed Salar Dawood from Satrikh. There is a tank named as 'Dada Abdullah Ka Talaab' (locally Dada Dullan Ka Talab). It is the place where Saiyed Abdullah retired in Secularism to worship and devotion in a calm and peaceful environment. Subsequently just adjacent to Zaidpur another village Abdullahpur was populated after the name of Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’.

Saiyed Zaid was brought up and educated to become a scholar-saint. He was a brilliant student, memorized the Quran by heart at an age of nine. He was also a learned scholar and a spiritual person as well, many miracles are attributed to him also. He was married at the age of 18 years to Bibi Kaneez Bano the daughter of Saiyed Salaar Sulaiman of Satrikh (after his name Satrikh is also known as Sulaimanabad) a nephew of Saiyed Salaar Dawood Ghazi.

Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ went on holy pilgrimage to Mecca (in 1089) and made visitations to other holy places, only to return after 3 year to Zaidpur (in 1092). In 493 Hijri/1099-1100 AD he intended again to go on the holy pilgrimage to the city of Mecca and visitations to other holy places and his original native place, Jajarm now in North Khurasan, Iran. He therefore gave his only son Saiyed Zaid the hereditary and traditional knowledge. He also hinted that his daughter-in-law (Bibi Kaneez Bano) is pregnant and would give birth to a male child whose name he suggested as Saiyed Mahmood (born in 1100 AD). Thus bade adieu to Zaidpur finally. While returning from his second holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’ died due to illness in 493 Hijri / 1099-1100 A.D., at his ancestral place Jajarm now in the state of North Khurasan, Iran. His grave is at the city of Jajarm in the state of North Khurasan, Iran.

Subsequently a village near Zaidpur was populated named Mahmoodpur after the name of Saiyed Mahmood the only grandson of Saiyed Abdullah ‘Zar-baqsh’. Thus a primitive form of settlement emerged there that evolved into present day town of Zaidpur in the course of time.

After his father’s death, Saiyed Zaid retired himself to only worship and devotion at a peaceful place away from his residential house and inhabitations. Saiyed Zaid died at an age of 64 on the 16th Rabi-us-Sani, 526 Hijri / 6 March 1132 AD and was buried by the side of his mother Bibi Yadgaar Bano’s grave near the tank named as Dada Abdullah Ka Talaab at the outskirts of Zaidpur. Another place is also attributed to Saiyed Zaid which is situated at mohalla Gadhi-Qadeem, Zaidpur but it is the place where he retired in Secularism to worship and devotion.

The Gotia talluqa originally belonged to taluqdar Hakeem Saiyed Karam Ali. A prominent resident of town Zaidpur, he was a sanadi taluqdar under the British regime and a famous Hakeem of his time. The last talukdar of Talluqa Gotia was (Late) Brig. (Retd) Saiyed Haider Abbas Rizvi 1st Punjab Regiment, who inherited the taluka from his father Haji Syed Mohammad Askari who held the title of "taluqdar of Gotia estate". At the time of partition of the Indian Sub-Continent the ruling talukdar Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi who was also a regular officer in Her Majesty's Royal Indian Army opted to migrate to Pakistan. After retiring from the Pakistan Army as a Brigadier General he set up home in the city of Sialkot, in Punjab, Pakistan.

Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri is the writer of Riyaz-us-Salatin the first complete history of the Muslim rule in Bengal. But for this book, modern historians would have found it difficult to construct a correct framework of the history of Muslim rule in Bengal. 'Salim' was his Takh-al-lus (pseudonym/poetically summaned) and 'Zaidpur' in Oudh (Uttar Pradesh) his place of birth. He migrated to Malda and held the office of Dak Munshi (Post-Master) under Mr. George Udney, the English Commercial Resident of Malda, at whose request he started writing the book in 1786 AD. The Riyaz-us-Salatin is generally given credit as being the first indigenous work attempting a complete history of the Muslim rule in Bengal. The modern historians have accepted Riyaz-us-Salatin as a model and based their narratives on the same. Written in Persian language Riyaz-us-Salatin covers the whole Muslim rule from Bakhtiyaar’s conquest of Nadia in 1204-05 AD to the battle of Palasi in 1757 AD. The book is entitled Riyaz-us-Salatin, which is a chronogram giving the date 1788 AD suggesting that in this year the composition of the book was completed. Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri was a keen student of history; he was conversant with the methodology of history writing as known in his time. Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri was not only a historian of eminence but an antiquarian and archaeologist also. Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri also took considerable pains to decipher inscriptions attached to Mosques and other monuments that were nearer to him. He visited GAUR and PANDUA, the two Sultanate capitals of Bengal. Most of the monuments were located in these two cities and so the epigraphic evidence utilized by him added to the importance of his book. Noticing the Charitable Dispensary at Maldah, Ilahi Bakhsh in his history " Khurshid Jahan Numa" observes that here used to be the house of Ghulam Husain Salim. Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri died in 1233 Hijri/1817 AD and lies buried at Malda town in the quarter known as Chak Qurban Ali. The chronogram composed in honour of his memory by his pupil, Abdul Karim, yields 1233 AH.

Ancestors of Saiyed Ashraf Danishmand migrated from Zaidpur to Amroha and his descendants inhabited the Mohalla Danishmandan of Amroha. Saiyed Mehdi Raza Taqvi build an Azakhana.