Discussing Punjabi Muslim history, culture, politics
“Let the Turanis, Rajputs, Iranis & Afghans do the ruling & fighting; we will stay alive” [1] Concludes the book Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten, but every conclusion has a premise & if the premise isn’t even true then the argument falls flat. The book also claims: “Whether or not they were Muslim,… Continue reading “Let the Turanis, Rajputs, Iranis & Afghans do the ruling & fighting; we (Punjabis) will stay alive”
Adina Beg Arain Recently I came across a thread later converted in to a blogpost by the one and only Barmazid who is one of the pioneers of history twitter accounts with a following of over 18,000 and has a presence nearing a decade on twitter alone meaning he is clearly a very knowledgeable person… Continue reading Adina Beg, Sikhs, Durranis, Mughals & Punjab: Response to Barmazid
Karl Marx, Credit: Wikipedia Disclaimer: the post is not meant to endorse Marxism nor am I a Marxist myself if that even matters to the reader. There is also an untoward symptom in Punjab, the communication between Multan and Lahore having been cut off for eight days."Karl Marx, October 30th, 1857. Published New-York Daily Tribune.… Continue reading Karl Marx on the 1857 War of Independence
Map of Kashmir (not Sultanate)Source: Wikipedia Born in 1395 Shahi Khan (later Zain-ul-Abidin) was the 8th Sultan of the Shah Mir Sultanate which reigned for over two centuries in Kashmir. Shahi Khan is left to take care of the Sultanate by his brother Sultan Ali Shah, who is on a trip to see his father… Continue reading Jasrath Khokhar brings Zain-ul-Abidin to the Kashmir throne
Flag of Bahawalpur state Many of us have seen this on social media, phrased in a celebratory tone and the story goes something like this: the Nawab of Bahawalpur while in London tried to purchase a Rolls Royce, but was turned down because the salesman perceived him as a poor Indian. This caused the Nawab… Continue reading Romanticizing Bahawalpur Nawabs
Source: [1] A project I work on from time to time is compiling a list of Punjabi Muslims in Mughal Nobility. I also previously wrote about Shahbaz Khan Kamboh. Recently I had the fortune of coming across another Punjabi Muslim standout who was in fact the Grand Vizier or Prime Minister of Mughal Empire for… Continue reading The Grand Vizier: Sadullah Khan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_in_Islam#/media/File:Calligraphic_representation_of_Muhammad's_name.jpg Introduction: How Punjabis became Muslims is an often ignored topic, in fact the entire genre of Punjabi Muslim history is neglected by Punjabi Muslims themselves. Without an in-depth analysis because it deserves a post of its own, this is due to the watering down of Punjabi identity with roots in colonialism and facilitated by… Continue reading Conversions to Islam in Punjab
Recently I have had the fortune to work on a project to compile a list of Punjabi Muslims in Mughal nobility. Aiming to add more as I research the latter era of the Empire. Hope these become future Wikipedia entries. In no particular order: Sadullah Khan: Prime Minister of Shah Jahan for ten years. Credit:… Continue reading Punjabi Muslims in Mughal Nobility
Note: I wrote this piece back in 2020, but decided to revisit & refurbish it to make improvements such as intext-citations. The Khokhar are one of the recurring tribes in the military history of Punjab playing a key role in the politics of the Indian sub-continent on numerous occasions. The tribe is credited with the… Continue reading Jasrath Khokhar, rebel forever.
Previously, I discussed how the narrative of Punjab especially the Muslims being indifferent to the 1857 War of Independence is based off of propaganda created by the colonial administration of Punjab at the time headed by Sir John Lawrence due to the severity of the situation. The idea here was to discourage further uprisings and… Continue reading Punjab Revolts Part 2: All not quiet in Eastern Punjab
Punjabi Waseb 
