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| This is the turn that leads to Behka |
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| The first sight upon entering the village |
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| Some more journey ahead |
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| The old remnants of Taluqdari Era |
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| Remnants of Taluqdari era |
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| Forlorn , alone , sleeping ! |
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| Here starts the population |
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| This goes inside the village |
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| Under construction house of Khalid Sb |
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| Jb Khalid Husain with Farrukh |
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| Stairs lead to an old mosque |
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| The Gateway |
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| In the Courtyard |
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| Designs have been white-washed |
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| The inscription above |
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| Dr.Abdullah |
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| The IbadatGahh built 200 years ago by the father of Maulvi Siddiq |
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| The front view |
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| This is the inscription of 1217 Hijri |
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| lying waste |
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| The Mazar of Shah Habeeb-Ullaah Siddiqi |
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| Enclosure of Shah Habeebullah Sahib |
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| Is mod se aaage ........... |
Behka Urf Pura Mufti
Bihka Urf Pura’Mufti is a village located just close to the Grand Trunk Road in Kaurihar Block of District of Allahabad. It had always been a part of Pargana & Tehsil Chail in District Allahabad before the formation of Distt Kaushambi.The distance from Allahabad to Behka is 17.6 kms. The Calcutta Delhi railway line passes about a mile to the south of the village in Manauri with a railway station thereon.
Pura Mufti is a hamlet of its main village Bihka beside the GT Road where a police station and post office is located and that gives it an edge over its prinicipal Bihka so much that today Bihka itself is known by the name of Pura Mufti. There used to be a Tahsil , Treasury,a small Jail Barrack for some time at Behka when the Tahsil was transferred here from Chail in 1857.
Near-by villages of Bihka are Manauri (1km), Madpur (1km), Akbarpur Sallahpur (1.9 km) Mardanpur (2.2 km), Kuswan (2.3 km)
The District Gazetteer of Allahabad (1911) mentions about Pura Mufti as follows:-
Name
The original spelling and pronunciation of the village is Bihka but it is commonly called Behka. We learn from some old documents that it was known as Pura-e-Mufti and Mufti ka pura till about 150 years ago. It also denotes that someone who was a scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence (Mufti) from the Bihka family must have been granted the village some time in the past. Our apathy towards our own history Tareekh can be guaged from the fact that today nobody remembers or knows about that grand Mufti.
That it was an place of some importance and was called Mufti ka Pura is confirmed from an old missionary journal published in USA in 1845 when the Presbyterian Missionaries came to India for their mission and had a discourse at Bihka on 8 Oct 1845. That excerpt is produced below:-
Book - Journal of Rev AE Freeman- Foreign missionary chronicle
Authors - Western Foreign Missionary Society, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Published-1844
History
Going by the geneaology ,the Zamindars of Bihka claim to be Shaikh Siddiqi descended from one Shah Habeeb-ullah Siddiqi who is reported to be a direct lineal descendent of Khalifa-i-Awwal Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddeeq Radi Allahu Anhu. Further enquiry reveals that Shah Habeeb Sahib settled at Bihka during the period of Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (1627-1658 AD). As per the family legend he was called to Hindustan by the Mughal Emperor himself who bestowed upon him the land-grants after a request to settle in Allahabad.
The word Pura Mufti also connotes that it was a granted piece of land by an higher authority to some Scholar or Saint. Such villages that are gifted or granted often use epithets like muafi (rent free), mufti, inayat (charity) etc. Deh Mafi, Puramufti, Sarai Inayat etc. present such example.
Shaikhs
of Behka
The
family lore suggests that Shah Habeeb’ullah (Rahima’humullahu)
came during the Mughal Era at the instance of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan or Jahangir . If we compare the period passed with the number of bygone generations this lore proves correct.I was made to see an incomplete document similar to a shajra of Behka
wherein the scribe mentioned that Shah Habeeb'ullah came here from Suraini Surnam in Arab
after gaining victories in Punjab and met Shah Karak at Kara. This statement is
wrong on account of several historical discrepancies ,(i) since Shah Karak was a 13th century figure and not of Mughal period (ii) there is no place in Arab with the name Surani Surnam (iii) the generations-count confirms that Shaikhs of Behka are here
not more than 400 years at the most. Therefore anyone relying on this type of document will be mistaken in all his calculations leading him far from truth.
Another
remarkable yet unfortunate reality about Behka is that despite their claims , they do not have a complete Shajra-i-Nasab of Shaikh Habeeb-ullah up till Hadhrat Siddiq-i-Akbar
Razi Allahu anhu. There are few papers with names of the the descendants of Shaikh Habibullah but no complete, well chained and documented Shajra could be found as far as I could
go about. If there is one, I would love to have it but so far there is none. Perhaps the original Shajra and other records have been lost or destroyed during the upheaval in the post 1857 era . However there is least doubt that they have always been well respected and regarded as Shaikhs of noble origin by the elders of the Pargana for centuries.
To summarise I can say that Shah Habeeb-ullaah settled in Behka during Shah
Jahan’s reign and was given few villages for his sustenance. He had four sons.
1. Shah Mardan Ali – settled in Chail Khas (Village Mardanpur is named after him)
2. Shah Sultan Ali – Stayed in Behka
3. Shah Ismail Urf Mamhud Miyan – settled in Umarpur Neewan
4. Shah Naseeruddin Urf Badle Miyan -who founded and died in village TIKRI – No Issue
Shah
Mardan Ali migrated
to Chail Khas and settled there.He founded a village named Mardanpur.
Shah
Mohammad Ismail Urf
Mahmood Peer– migrated to Neewan and we shall discuss this when I write
about Neewan .
Shah Naseer-ud-din settled at TIKRI , a village close to Behka, but he had no issue and thus that line dried.
Shah Naseer-ud-din settled at TIKRI , a village close to Behka, but he had no issue and thus that line dried.
Shah
Sultan Ali stayed back in Behka and his descendants used to live and
flourish in Behka. After a gap of six generations came Badar-i-Alam and Khan-i-Alam and
these two are supposed to be in main progenitors of modern Behka.
In
the line of Khan Alam – came Ziaullah Urf Bhika Miyan and from him are Faizan
Ullah, Ehsan Ullah,Saadat Ali Barkat Ullah, Rahmatullah , Nemat Ullah,
Ahmadullah, Hikmatullah, Ateequllah etc. and from this line came the famous
Wali of his time Muhammad Siddeeq Sahib Rahmatullahi Alaihi.
In
the line of Badar-i-Alam came Raham Ali and then Haidar Ali, Safdar Ali, Afzal
Ali, Muhammad Naeem. A lot of their descendents went without an issue from
this line yet we find the names of Muhammad Husain, Faizullah, Mohammad Hadi ,
Ataullah, Fazal Azeem.
After these men came Inayatullah, Maseehullah, Aneesullah & Moizullah (Sons of Fazal Azeem), Habeeb-Ullah Urf Mashooq'ullah Mohammad Fakhir, Muhammad Nasir, Iqbal Husain, Akhtar Husain, Saeed Ahmad, Hamid Husain, Khalid Husain etc Sahiban.
From Inayatullah came Mushtaqullah and then Naseerullah who had Imtiyaz & Niyaz Ullah who had, Mumtaz & Sarfarzullah Sahiban.
From Maseehullah are Mahmoodullah who has Masroorullah, Masood & Maqsoodullah woh had Mashhood, Manzoor & Mujeebullah
From Moizullah came Habeebullah Urf Mashooqullah who had Dr.Abdullah, Hamdullah and M. Javaid(in Pak) & Asadullah.
From Aneesullah came Iftikharullah, Wasiullah, Wajihullah and Ishratullah.
Mohammad Mohsin had Iqbal Husain, Mohammad Ahsan, Maqbool Hasan, Rafeeq Ahmad, Raees Ahmad, Laeeq Ahmad.
From Akhtar Husain s/o Mohammad Ahsan came Hamid Husain, Khalid Husain, Rashid Husain and Zahid Husain.
Rafeeq Ahmad had Mahboob, Parvez Mahfooz etc while Raees Ahmad have Anees, Raees & Shafeeq Ahmad. Laeeq Ahmad had Mohammad Aslam.
After these men came Inayatullah, Maseehullah, Aneesullah & Moizullah (Sons of Fazal Azeem), Habeeb-Ullah Urf Mashooq'ullah Mohammad Fakhir, Muhammad Nasir, Iqbal Husain, Akhtar Husain, Saeed Ahmad, Hamid Husain, Khalid Husain etc Sahiban.
From Inayatullah came Mushtaqullah and then Naseerullah who had Imtiyaz & Niyaz Ullah who had, Mumtaz & Sarfarzullah Sahiban.
From Maseehullah are Mahmoodullah who has Masroorullah, Masood & Maqsoodullah woh had Mashhood, Manzoor & Mujeebullah
From Moizullah came Habeebullah Urf Mashooqullah who had Dr.Abdullah, Hamdullah and M. Javaid(in Pak) & Asadullah.
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| With Dr.Abdullah |
Mohammad Mohsin had Iqbal Husain, Mohammad Ahsan, Maqbool Hasan, Rafeeq Ahmad, Raees Ahmad, Laeeq Ahmad.
From Iqbal husain came Mohammad Nooh, Subbooh, Nasooh.
From Akhtar Husain s/o Mohammad Ahsan came Hamid Husain, Khalid Husain, Rashid Husain and Zahid Husain.
Rafeeq Ahmad had Mahboob, Parvez Mahfooz etc while Raees Ahmad have Anees, Raees & Shafeeq Ahmad. Laeeq Ahmad had Mohammad Aslam.
Today
only a few families are living in Behka namely, Jb Khalid Husain & Rashid
Husain s/o Akhtar Husain, Ateeq Ahmad, Rizwan Ahmad s/o Saeed Ahmad. A family of Dr. Abdullah Sahib s/o Habeeb-ullah Urf Mashooq-ullah is also residing there.Dr. Abdullah is a qualified Unani Doctor.
In Allahabad live Wajeehullah advocate and his brothers Dr.Wasiullah etc to name a few.
In Allahabad live Wajeehullah advocate and his brothers Dr.Wasiullah etc to name a few.
Amongst
the luminaries is the foremost Shah Habeebullah Sahib but unfortunately we have
no authentic information left to us that could be passed on.
In
the last century Mukhtar Ahmad Alias Maulvi Muhammad Siddeeq was a famous saint [Wali} of
Pargana Chail who was a disciple of Maulvi Abdul Karim of Ganj
Muradabad. He left Behka in 1915 to settle amongst his maternals at Saiyid
Sarawan whereas he passed away at Peepal Gaon after having a severe sun-stroke. His grave is
located in Peepal-Gaon.Various stories about his pious and miraculous life is
still a part of our folk-lore.
Maulvi
Sabit Ali - As told earlier nitally
Behka had been a family of men of learning and a number to Ulama would have passed from the family but what to say about our apathy towards record-keeping and lack of interest in scripting history we don't have any information about those gentlemen but a short notice is recorded in
Tazkirah-i-Ulama-i-Hind about Maulvi Sabit Ali of Behka who lived
in the last century but so sorry to state that today nobody knows him in
Behka……..such a sorry state of downfall of our heart and mind.See the excerpt
from that book.
Marriages
We
do not have information about the initial marriages this family had but for the
last two hundred years they primarily married into the other Aali Nasab but
wealthy families of Chail. Primarily they married into the families of
Chaudharis of Bamhrauli, Bisauna, Taludars of Asrawe Kalan, Sheikhs of
Makhaupur & Chail Khas and Neewan as they were their own clan. Few
marriages were contracted in Kashia, Pawan, Saiyid Sarawan and Mahgaon. They
have maintained the standards of relation throughout the centuries.
Migration
As
mentioned earlier a number of Shaikhs of Behka migrated to other villages at
different periods of time and initiated a family that is now a large
family group in that particular village.
Shah
Mardan Ali’s branch is found in Chail Khas, the family of Ehsan Ahmad, Hakeem
Anees Ahmad, and Dr. Yasin etc represent that branch.
Shah
Mahmud Miyan’s branch is found in Neewan and his descendents are found in
abundance in the city of Allahabad e.g Manzar ul Islam , Khalid Neewani etc
represent that branch of family.
After
the uprising in 1857 Shaikh Mohammad Husain and his brothers were charged with
grave seditious activities ,and since his brothers were absconding , only Mohammad Husain was left in the village. He found no option but to leave Bihka to save his life &
honour, therefore he migrated to his in laws in Chail. He had one son named Mohammad
Yusuf and this Mohammad Yusuf had two sons namely Mohammad Fakhir & Mohammad
Nasir. Mohammad Fakhir continued to live in Chail. His
sons Mohammad Shakir and Naazir were well
known. From these two are descended Junaid Ahmad, Fazeel Ahmad, Mohammad Amin,
and Mohammad Faseeh Sahiban who are living in Chail today. His other son Mohammad Nasir left Chail and founded a new village named Muhammadpur which I have discussed in the following paragraphs.
One Faizan
Ullah s/o Ghulam Ali migrated to Pawan in Bakhri where he was married and they are known as tehsildar khandan.
Another Chamru
Miyan s/o Manu Miyan was married in Bakhri at Pawan and he settled there at
1850s. Mohammad Mateen was from this family. In today's context Ausaf Siddiqi (Usmani ) in Kuwait represents the same family.
In
the recent past Mohammad Faseeh Alias Mohammad Arab migrated to his maternals at Kashia and settled there.
Shah
Mohammad Siddeeq Rahmtaullahi settled in Saiyid Sarawan.
Mahmadpur
(Near Puraini)
The
latest but an important off-shoot of Behka family are the Siddiqis of
Mahmadpur adjacent to village Puraini. In 1901 the above-mentioned Mohammad
Nasir s/o Mohammad Yusuf left his brother at Chail and moved on to
inhabit and establish a new village named Nasir-Ganj after
himself. At a later date, he renamed it as Muhammadpur after his
grand-father, now commonly known as Mahmadpur.
He
constructed a big house, laid orchards and got some water bodies done. He
fathered four sons namely Anwar Ahmad, Haseen Ahmad
Advocate, Fazal Ahmad and Laeeq Ahmad. From
these four came Ansar and Absar Ahmad bros, Haseen Ahmad had Nafees Ahmad Siddiqui, Nisar Ahmad, Waqar Ahmad, Noor Ahmad Siddiqi and Irfan Ahmad siddiqi while Fazal Ahmad had Habeeb Ahmad & Mahboob Ahmad , Laeeq Ahmad had Sibtain Ahmad and Ibn-i-Ahmad who
represent the Mahmadpur family.
Habib
Ahmad M.L.A , an icon in the post partition era of Muslim politics in Allahabad ,was from
the same Mahmadpur family. Since no other zamindar family lived in Mahmadpur
and nothing worthy of a note, Mahmadpur’s only claim to fame is being a home to
this family.
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| Haseen Ahmad Advocate Marhoom |
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| Shaikh Muhammad Nasir , the patriarch of Mahmadpur Puraini family |
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| Few representatives of the Mahmadpur family |
Freedom Struggle and Behka in 1857
As
we all know that Maulvi Liyaqat Ali of Mahgaon planned
an organized uprising against the British hegemony and his closest and biggest
aides were the Bamhrauli and Behka family. Chaudhari Shahabuddin from
Bamhrauli and Shaikh Hadi and Shaikh Faizullah from
Behka supported him enormously to the extent that they ruined their worldly
fortunes for this participation.
Unsung Heroes of 1857 Struggle and our ignorance
Unsung Heroes of 1857 Struggle and our ignorance
It
is noticeable that when trouble started, the headquarters of Tehsil Chail was
shifted to Pura Mufti for some time in 1857. On 7th June 1857
Shaikh Hadi & Faizullah attacked and plundered the Tehsil along with the
Treasury. It was a big blow to the already crumbling British control. The
entire Pargana went out of the hands of local government. Naturally the British
were furious to even listen to their names and they came down upon them heavily
after they regained the control. See
the excerpts below:-
Title Freedom struggle in Uttar Pradesh: Issue
1 of Series,
Author Uttar Pradesh (India). Information Dept
Publisher The Dept., 1957
While we know the name of Maulvi Liyaqat Ali a lot , we are not aware of his ardent and closest supporters who ruined their material fortune only for the cause of the freedom. Shaikh Hadi, Faizullah and M.Husain and family are one of those families who went into hiding after ther debacle and their estates confiscated. They came down from being a Taluqdar to a mere peasent status but today we dont even their names. Same is the sacrifices of other familes of other villages in Chail for examples the Chaudharies of Bamhrauli who were the biggest land holders in the region were reduced to being a petty zamindars...
Zamindari
Zamindari
It is noticeable that when the pious and
learned were asked by the ruler to settle in a remote area ,they were granted rent-free villages
for their sustenance and similarly we learn that the family of Shaikh
Habibullah were given villages Meerpur, Tikri, Gopalpur, Fatehpur etc for
their sustenance at that time.
His family maintained their control over these villages till the Mughal Empire
only.
When
Aurangzeb died and the chaos erupted, The Nawab Wazir of Awadh became
autonomous, the old system was revamped and Fatehpur and Behka were given to
the family of Shah Abdul Latif of Daira at Yahyapur. This is confirmed form a
farman preserved in the National Archives of India, the text is as follows:-
Book : National Register of Private
Record-Issue 5
Publisher : National Archives of India, 1973
Page : 205
It was not long that the eminence of Bihka family caught the attention
of the Awadh Rulers and their luck smiled back .Around 1790 or 1800, a Taluqa was
created with the name of Ahmadpur Asrauli and it was given to
a Shaikh of Behka.Thus by the end of 18th Century , Behka
transformed from a leading learning family to a leading proprietary family
as Ahmadpur Asrauli ,the Taluka of 52 villages , was made over
to Raham Ali who became a Taluqdar. Their fortunes rose and they became rich
suddenly by a single stroke of luck.
Fifty years would have passed when Shaikh Hadi & Faizullah lead
the charge during the plunder of Tahsil and Treasury of Chail and that cost the
Taluqdar family heavily because when the British retook the district, they
declared Shaikh Hadi and Faizullah and his
brother Muhammad Husain as rebels and confiscated their part
of Taluqa which was calculated to 29 villages and left the rest with the sons of Safdar Ali
namely Khaleelullah and Shaikh Safi-ullah. Unfortunately these people could not
maintain the Taluqa properly and with each passing year they had to sell their
share owing to pressing needs and overpowering debts.
The
situation was such at the beginning of 20th Century that the
family of Lala Sanwal Das Khanna had purchased the entire
Taluqa of Ahmadpur Asrauli except a two and half annas of
share.Lala Sanwal Das Khanna was a
wealthy person of Allahabad in the last century.
In 1920 --14 Annas of share of the Taluqa was with Lala Sanwal Das while
only two annas was with Shaikh Safiullah and family. Safi
Ullah died child-less and that small part also passed on to his collateral
branch.
This
information gets confirmed from the Indian Journal of Economics as the details
follow:
Name Indian journal of economics,
Volume 4
Authors Indian Economic Association,
University of Allahabad.
Publisher Department of economics and
commerce, University of Allahabad, 1924
Page
209
There is no remarkable building worthy of a note in Behka yet there is a mosque which seems to have been a beautiful structure ,retaining a bit of the bygone style. It had a inscription on the front wall which could not be read due to the over-imposed painting & whitewashing but it vaguely reads that this house of Allaah was constructed in 1217 or 1211 AH by Shaikh Buniad Ali and that makes it almost 200 years old.
North of the village is the grave yard and here in an open enclosure lies Shah Habeeb-ullaah in eternal sleep. May Allaah swt shower his blessings upton him i
When I visited Behka,
I found it a sleeping village with snores. I am afraid that still we do have
that useless vanity that ruined us, that left us to nowhere. Our myopic view doesn’t allows us to come out of our shells. Indifference
towards our history leaves us with no vision for the future. Serious
neglect towards Deen and ilm-i-Deen have brought us at the deplorable stage where
the so called deprived classes are living a better life than us.
Running away from
Allah and running towards the deceitful material things leads us nowhere.
Our downfall is not due to Islam as some would have us believe but due to our own neglect of Islamic principles.
Our downfall is not due to Islam as some would have us believe but due to our own neglect of Islamic principles.
Behold ! In the
creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day
there are indeed Signs for men of understanding.
Men who celebrate the
praises of Allah standing sitting and lying down on their sides and contemplate
the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth
“Our Lord! Not for
nothing have You created (all) this! Glory to You!
Al-Qur’aan 3: 190-191
Khalid Bin Umar
New Delhi
