Ali Mohammed Khan

Regnal name
	Ali Muhammad Khan

Nawab Ali Mohammed Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Nawab Ali Mohammed Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Nawab of Katehir ; Nawab of Badaun ; Nawab of Rampur ; Nawab of Bareilly ; Nawab of Moradabad ; Nawab of Aonla ; Maharaja of Kumaon ; Suzerain of Garhwal; Sardar of the Barech tribe ; Chief of the Rohilla
Rohilkhand
Reign	1721–1748
Predecessor	Sardar Daud Khan Rohilla
Successor	Nawab Abdullah Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Badaun
Reign	1721–1748
Predecessor	Sardar Daud Khan Rohilla
Successor	Nawab Abdullah Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Rampur
Reign	1741–1748
Predecessor	Raja Ram Singh of Katehr
Successor	Nawab Faizullah Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Bareilly
Reign	1741–1748
Predecessor	Nawab Abd Un Nabi Khan
Successor	Nawab Muhammad Yar Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Moradabad
Reign	1741–1748
Predecessor	Raja Harnand
Successor	Nawab Saadullah Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Aonla
Reign	1721–1748
Successor	Nawab Abdullah Khan Bahadur Rohilla
Born	Muhammad Ali; 1707; Jansath
Died	15 September 1748; Aonla
Burial	Aonla
Regnal name
Regnal name
	Ali Muhammad Khan
House	Rohilla (by adoption from Nain Jats)[citation needed]
Religion	Sunni Islam
Occupation	Subahdar of Sirhind and Rohilkhand

Ali Muhammad Khan (c. 1707 – 15 September 1748) was the founder of the Kingdom of Rohilkhand, and progenitor of the Rohilla dynasty. He succeeded his foster father, Daud Khan Barech, as chief of the Rohillas at the age of fourteen, and was generally regarded as a non-oppressive ruler to the masses.^[2] He was well regarded for his political ability, and was granted the right to use India's highest insignia, the Mahseer, by Emperor Muhammad Shah.^{[citation needed]}

His early death led to the regency of Hafiz Rahmat Khan Barech, despite Rehmat Khan's solemn oath on the Quran to fulfill the dying Ali Muhammad's will.^{[citation needed]}

Early life

Ali Muhammad Khan, originally named Prem Singh,^[3] was born around 1707 into a Jat family.^[4]^{[note 1]} As a child, he was captured by Daud Khan, the Barech chief, during a conflict with rival Zamindars. Impressed by the boy, Daud chose to adopt him, convert him to Islam, and give him a new name.^[8]

According to the Inradus Sa'adat, Ali was a Hanafi Muslim belonging to the Qadiri Sufi Order, which was considered by them to be more closer to pure Islam than any other mystic order prevailing in India.^[9]

Reign

He succeeded Daud Khan and develop Rohilkhand into a powerful nation, which became independent in 1721. Ali Muhammad Khan distinguished himself by helping in suppressing the rebellion of the Barah Sayyids under the chief Saifudddin Barha who had put the Mughal governor Marhamat Khan and all of his followers to death.^[10] As a reward Ali Muhammad Khan was given the title of Nawab by Muhammad Shah in 1737. In 1746, due to an altercation over the collection of wood between the construction workers of Safdar Jang with the forest guards of Ali Muhammad Khan, Safdar Jang decided to eliminate him.^[11] Safdar Jang of Oudh informed the Mughal emperor of India Muhammad Shah^[12] (ruled 1719–1748), through Qamar-ud-Din Khan^[11] about Ali Mohammed Khan's supposed intentions to create his own Sultanate. Mohammed Shah sent an expedition against him, as a result of which he was imprisoned. Later he was pardoned and made governor of Sirhind.^[11] After Nadir Shah, the conqueror of Iran, took control of Kabul and sacked Delhi in 1739, Ali Mohammed Khan returned to his homeland and ruled the independent state of Rohilkhand until his death in 1748.^{[citation needed]}

Faizullah Khan was the second son of Ali Muhammad Khan. He assumed rule of the Rohillas after Nawab Saidullah Khan.^{[citation needed]}

Descendants

In the 19th century, the descendants of Ali, specifically the Nawabs of Rampur, claimed he was a Barha Sayyid and began using the title of Sayyid. However, they could not present any pedigree or valid historical proof to support this claim.^[6] The Nawabs even hired a prominent maulvi of Rampur, Najmul Ghani, for establishing ancestry from Ali ibn Abi Talib, which was generally rejected.^[13]

The following is a list of his children:

Nawab Abdullah Khan, first son from his wife Marghalari Begum (from Matni tribe)
Nawab Faizullah Khan, second son from his wife Marghalari Begum, would later found the Rampur State
Nawab Saadullah Khan, from his wife Sarah Begum (of Bunerwal)
Nawab Muhammad Yar Khan, son from his wife Lado Begum
Nawab Alah-Yar Khan, son from his wife Raj Begum - He died of consumption around the same time that his younger brother Murtaza died.
Murtaza Khan, son - disgusted by Hafiz Rehmat Khan's unfair treatment, he left for Secunderabad where he died.
Shah Begum, daughter, from wife Marghalari Begum (wife of Inayat Khan son of Hafiz Rehmat Khan)
Niyaz Begum, daughter [and wife of Shah Muhammad Khan brother of Hafiz Rehmat Khan],
Masoom Begum, daughter, [and wife of Zabita Khan]
Inayat Begum, daughter, [wife of Bahadur Khan Kamal Zai]
a daughter, name unknown, who died in childhood and was engaged to a son of Qamar-ud-din Khan^[14]

Notes

^ Abdur Rashid notes that while the rest of the sources describe him as a Jat, one source states that he was an Ahir.^[5] Jos J. L. Gommans also notes that he is mostly described as a Jat or an Ahir in contemporary sources.^[6] Iqbal Husain states, "It is acknowledged on all hands that 'Ali Muḥammad Khan was not an Afghan. That he was a Saiyed is at best dubious; that he was a Jat, or of some other local peasant caste is more than probable."^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Hāṇḍā, Omacanda. History of Uttaranchal. pp. 91–92.
^ Strachley, Sir John. Hastings and the Rohilla. p. 14.
^ Khoja, Neelam. 2018. Sovereignty, Space, and Identity: The Politics of Power in Eighteenth Century Punjab. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
^
- Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; Srinivasachari, G. (1971). Advanced history of India. Allied Publishers. p. 572. OCLC 976740387. Ali Muhammad Khan, a converted Jat, built up a large principality with its seat at Aonla, 18 miles north-west of Bareilly city and gained recognition from the Delhi court.
- Prasad, Ishwari (1973). India in the Eighteenth Century. Chugh Publications. p. 152. OCLC 732111. Daud was an adventurer of considerable ability and warlike spirit and in a short time gathered around himself a large number of followers. Ali Muhammad who was born of Jat parents was brought up by him as a child and converted to Islam.
- Gupta, Hari Ram (1999) [1980]. History of the Sikhs. Vol. III: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire (1764–1803) (2nd rev. ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 11. ISBN 978-81-215-0213-9. OCLC 165428303. The real founder of the Rohilla power was Ali Muhammad, from whom sprang the present line of the Nawabs of Rampur. Originally a Hindu Jat, who was taken prisoner when a young boy by Daud in one of his plundering expeditions, at village Bankauli in the parganah of Chaumahla, and was converted to Islam and adopted by him.
- Prasad, Bisheshwar (1978). "Ruhelkhand and Farrukhabad". In Banerjee, A. C.; Ghosh, D.K. (eds.). A Comprehensive History of India. Vol. 9 (1712–1772). People's Publishing House. p. 140. OCLC 1405593320. There he is reported to have captured a Jat boy of about eight years whom he brought up as his son and named Ali Muhammad Khan, who lived to be his successor and the founder of the state of Ruhelkhand.
- Rashid, Abdur (1957). "The Rohillas". In Husain, Mahmud; et al. (eds.). A History of the Freedom Movement. Vol. I: 1707–1831. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 304. OCLC 1129482853. Amongst other prisoners he obtained a young Jat boy of eight years.¹ Daud took a fancy to him and adopted him as his son and named him 'Ali Muhammad Khan.
- Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954). The First Two Nawabs of Oudh (2nd rev. ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co. Ltd. p. 103. OCLC 678892685. While in the service of Mudar Shah of Madhkar, 13 miles east of Chandausi, Daud took part in an expedition against the ruler of Bankauli, 26 miles north of Bareilly, where fell into his hands among other things a handsome Jat boy of seven or eight years of age. He converted the boy into Islam, named him Ali Muhammad Khan and adopted him as his son.
- Khan, Iqbal Ghani (2002). "Technology and the Question of Elite Intervention in Eighteenth-Century North India". In Barnett, Richard B. (ed.). Rethinking Early Modern India. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 271. ISBN 978-81-7304-308-6. Thus we witness the Ruhelas accepting an exceptionally talented non-Afghan, an adopted Jat boy, as their nawab, purely on the basis of his military leadership; ...
^ Rashid, Abdur (1978). History of the Muslims of Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent, 1707-1806. Vol. 1. Pakistan Research Society. p. 297. According to the Siyar-ul-Mutakhkhirin⁸ Ali Muhammad Khan was an Ahir by birth. According to others he was of Jat parentage.
^ ^a ^b Gommans, Jos J. L. (1995). The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire: C. 1710-1780. BRILL. p. 120. ISBN 978-90-04-10109-8. Most of the contemporary sources, however, call him a Jat or an Ahir.
^ Husain, Iqbal (1994). The Ruhela Chieftaincies: The Rise and Fall of Ruhela Power in India in the Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-563068-8.
^ Irvine, W. (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 118. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Once Daud was sent against the village of Bankauli, in pargana Chaumahla, with which his employer was at feud. Along with the plunder taken on this occasion Daud obtained possession of a Jat boy seven or eight years of age, whom he caused to be circumcised and then adopted under the name of Ali Muhammad Khan.
^ Altaf Ali Brelvi (1966). Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan (Hayat-I-Hafiz Rahmat Khan). Academy of Educational Research, All Pakistan Education Conference.
^ Edwin Thomas Atkinson (1876). Statistical, Descriptive and Historical Account of the North-Western Provinces of India: 3.:Meerut division part 2 · Volume 3. National Central Library of Florence. p. 605.
^ ^a ^b ^c Khan, Muhammad Najm-ul-Ghani (1918). Akhbar-us-Sanadeed, vol. 1. Lucknow: Munshi Nawal Kishore. pp. 146–152.
^ Muhammad Shah (1702–1748) was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748
^ Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954). The First Two Nawabs of Oudh (2nd rev. ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co. Ltd. p. 103. OCLC 678892685. Contemporary Persian authorities say that Ali Muhammad Khan was of Jat parents. See Gulistan. 7; Abdulkarim, 88b, Ashob, 424; Siyar. II 480, A partisan attempt has, however, been made in modern times to prove that he was a Sayyid. Najmul Ghanl of Rampur has invented a false pedigree of the Khan, tracing it to Muhammad. The Maulvi's discussion is altogether unconvincing and ridiculous. His object seems to be to prove that the present ruler of Rampur is a Sayyid.
^ Khan, Mohammad Najm-ul-Ghani Khan (1918). Akhbar-us-Sanadeed, vol. 1. Lucknow: Munshi Nawal Kishore. pp. 195–196.

[8] Abdur Rashid notes that while the rest of the sources describe him as a Jat, one source states that he was an Ahir.^[5] Jos J. L. Gommans also notes that he is mostly described as a Jat or an Ahir in contemporary sources.^[6] Iqbal Husain states, "It is acknowledged on all hands that 'Ali Muḥammad Khan was not an Afghan. That he was a Saiyed is at best dubious; that he was a Jat, or of some other local peasant caste is more than probable."^[7]

[History_of_Uttaranchal-1] Hāṇḍā, Omacanda. History of Uttaranchal. pp. 91–92.

[2] Strachley, Sir John. Hastings and the Rohilla. p. 14.

[3] Khoja, Neelam. 2018. Sovereignty, Space, and Identity: The Politics of Power in Eighteenth Century Punjab. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

[4] 
Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; Srinivasachari, G. (1971). Advanced history of India. Allied Publishers. p. 572. OCLC 976740387. Ali Muhammad Khan, a converted Jat, built up a large principality with its seat at Aonla, 18 miles north-west of Bareilly city and gained recognition from the Delhi court.
Prasad, Ishwari (1973). India in the Eighteenth Century. Chugh Publications. p. 152. OCLC 732111. Daud was an adventurer of considerable ability and warlike spirit and in a short time gathered around himself a large number of followers. Ali Muhammad who was born of Jat parents was brought up by him as a child and converted to Islam.
Gupta, Hari Ram (1999) [1980]. History of the Sikhs. Vol. III: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire (1764–1803) (2nd rev. ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 11. ISBN 978-81-215-0213-9. OCLC 165428303. The real founder of the Rohilla power was Ali Muhammad, from whom sprang the present line of the Nawabs of Rampur. Originally a Hindu Jat, who was taken prisoner when a young boy by Daud in one of his plundering expeditions, at village Bankauli in the parganah of Chaumahla, and was converted to Islam and adopted by him.
Prasad, Bisheshwar (1978). "Ruhelkhand and Farrukhabad". In Banerjee, A. C.; Ghosh, D.K. (eds.). A Comprehensive History of India. Vol. 9 (1712–1772). People's Publishing House. p. 140. OCLC 1405593320. There he is reported to have captured a Jat boy of about eight years whom he brought up as his son and named Ali Muhammad Khan, who lived to be his successor and the founder of the state of Ruhelkhand.
Rashid, Abdur (1957). "The Rohillas". In Husain, Mahmud; et al. (eds.). A History of the Freedom Movement. Vol. I: 1707–1831. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 304. OCLC 1129482853. Amongst other prisoners he obtained a young Jat boy of eight years.¹ Daud took a fancy to him and adopted him as his son and named him 'Ali Muhammad Khan.
Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954). The First Two Nawabs of Oudh (2nd rev. ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co. Ltd. p. 103. OCLC 678892685. While in the service of Mudar Shah of Madhkar, 13 miles east of Chandausi, Daud took part in an expedition against the ruler of Bankauli, 26 miles north of Bareilly, where fell into his hands among other things a handsome Jat boy of seven or eight years of age. He converted the boy into Islam, named him Ali Muhammad Khan and adopted him as his son.
Khan, Iqbal Ghani (2002). "Technology and the Question of Elite Intervention in Eighteenth-Century North India". In Barnett, Richard B. (ed.). Rethinking Early Modern India. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 271. ISBN 978-81-7304-308-6. Thus we witness the Ruhelas accepting an exceptionally talented non-Afghan, an adopted Jat boy, as their nawab, purely on the basis of his military leadership; ...

[6] Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; Srinivasachari, G. (1971). Advanced history of India. Allied Publishers. p. 572. OCLC 976740387. Ali Muhammad Khan, a converted Jat, built up a large principality with its seat at Aonla, 18 miles north-west of Bareilly city and gained recognition from the Delhi court.

[7] Prasad, Ishwari (1973). India in the Eighteenth Century. Chugh Publications. p. 152. OCLC 732111. Daud was an adventurer of considerable ability and warlike spirit and in a short time gathered around himself a large number of followers. Ali Muhammad who was born of Jat parents was brought up by him as a child and converted to Islam.

[8] Gupta, Hari Ram (1999) [1980]. History of the Sikhs. Vol. III: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire (1764–1803) (2nd rev. ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 11. ISBN 978-81-215-0213-9. OCLC 165428303. The real founder of the Rohilla power was Ali Muhammad, from whom sprang the present line of the Nawabs of Rampur. Originally a Hindu Jat, who was taken prisoner when a young boy by Daud in one of his plundering expeditions, at village Bankauli in the parganah of Chaumahla, and was converted to Islam and adopted by him.

[9] Prasad, Bisheshwar (1978). "Ruhelkhand and Farrukhabad". In Banerjee, A. C.; Ghosh, D.K. (eds.). A Comprehensive History of India. Vol. 9 (1712–1772). People's Publishing House. p. 140. OCLC 1405593320. There he is reported to have captured a Jat boy of about eight years whom he brought up as his son and named Ali Muhammad Khan, who lived to be his successor and the founder of the state of Ruhelkhand.

[10] Rashid, Abdur (1957). "The Rohillas". In Husain, Mahmud; et al. (eds.). A History of the Freedom Movement. Vol. I: 1707–1831. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 304. OCLC 1129482853. Amongst other prisoners he obtained a young Jat boy of eight years.¹ Daud took a fancy to him and adopted him as his son and named him 'Ali Muhammad Khan.

[11] Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954). The First Two Nawabs of Oudh (2nd rev. ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co. Ltd. p. 103. OCLC 678892685. While in the service of Mudar Shah of Madhkar, 13 miles east of Chandausi, Daud took part in an expedition against the ruler of Bankauli, 26 miles north of Bareilly, where fell into his hands among other things a handsome Jat boy of seven or eight years of age. He converted the boy into Islam, named him Ali Muhammad Khan and adopted him as his son.

[12] Khan, Iqbal Ghani (2002). "Technology and the Question of Elite Intervention in Eighteenth-Century North India". In Barnett, Richard B. (ed.). Rethinking Early Modern India. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 271. ISBN 978-81-7304-308-6. Thus we witness the Ruhelas accepting an exceptionally talented non-Afghan, an adopted Jat boy, as their nawab, purely on the basis of his military leadership; ...

[5] Rashid, Abdur (1978). History of the Muslims of Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent, 1707-1806. Vol. 1. Pakistan Research Society. p. 297. According to the Siyar-ul-Mutakhkhirin⁸ Ali Muhammad Khan was an Ahir by birth. According to others he was of Jat parentage.

[:2-6] Gommans, Jos J. L. (1995). The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire: C. 1710-1780. BRILL. p. 120. ISBN 978-90-04-10109-8. Most of the contemporary sources, however, call him a Jat or an Ahir.

[Husain-7] Husain, Iqbal (1994). The Ruhela Chieftaincies: The Rise and Fall of Ruhela Power in India in the Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-563068-8.

[Irvine_1971_p.118-9] Irvine, W. (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 118. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Once Daud was sent against the village of Bankauli, in pargana Chaumahla, with which his employer was at feud. Along with the plunder taken on this occasion Daud obtained possession of a Jat boy seven or eight years of age, whom he caused to be circumcised and then adopted under the name of Ali Muhammad Khan.

[10] Altaf Ali Brelvi (1966). Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan (Hayat-I-Hafiz Rahmat Khan). Academy of Educational Research, All Pakistan Education Conference.

[11] Edwin Thomas Atkinson (1876). Statistical, Descriptive and Historical Account of the North-Western Provinces of India: 3.:Meerut division part 2 · Volume 3. National Central Library of Florence. p. 605.

[:0-12] Khan, Muhammad Najm-ul-Ghani (1918). Akhbar-us-Sanadeed, vol. 1. Lucknow: Munshi Nawal Kishore. pp. 146–152.

[13] Muhammad Shah (1702–1748) was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748

[Srivastava-14] Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954). The First Two Nawabs of Oudh (2nd rev. ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co. Ltd. p. 103. OCLC 678892685. Contemporary Persian authorities say that Ali Muhammad Khan was of Jat parents. See Gulistan. 7; Abdulkarim, 88b, Ashob, 424; Siyar. II 480, A partisan attempt has, however, been made in modern times to prove that he was a Sayyid. Najmul Ghanl of Rampur has invented a false pedigree of the Khan, tracing it to Muhammad. The Maulvi's discussion is altogether unconvincing and ridiculous. His object seems to be to prove that the present ruler of Rampur is a Sayyid.

[15] Khan, Mohammad Najm-ul-Ghani Khan (1918). Akhbar-us-Sanadeed, vol. 1. Lucknow: Munshi Nawal Kishore. pp. 195–196.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[note 1]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[6]

[13]

[14]

[5]

[7]

Early life

Reign

Descendants

See also

Notes

References