HM Chiraghuddin Marhum-1

 حدیث دل کسی درویش بے کلیم سے پوچھ                          ھ                         
                    خدا کرے تجھے تیرے  مقام سے آ گا ہ  
      برہنہ سر ہے تو عزم بلند پیدا کر 
یہاں فقط سرشاہیں کے واسطے ھے کلاہ
 علّامہ اقبال رح
  I am not translating this but it has its message

 The ancestors of H (Hakim) M (Maulavi) Chiragh-uddin 
(Short name will be "Mianji" as we, his children called him)
          In the population of northern Punjab there are a lot of Kashmiri families ('people from Kashmir'). They may have such family or 'surnames as Bhatt or Butt or Khwaja or Mir or Dars etc. but not all of them maintained such family names as we know about Mianji's elders had not chosen any, so they were called just "Kashmiris". Some did take up such names as Butt or Mir or Dar through matrimonial or other connections into such "kashmiri" families.
   Background historical synopsis.   Although there were Muslim converts present, at least from the 12th century onward, but majority of non-Muslim residents in Kashmir (about 85%) accepted Islam around late fifteenth century under Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin who was a pious Muslim and promulgated Islam by peaceful means and worked for uplift of the subjects. When the Mughals took over in the 17th century only some improvement (Like Gardens or water enclosures and water fountains) was added to the beautiful landscape of Kashmir but the cultural and economic life of Muslims or minorities (mostly Hindus) remained poor and undeveloped. Ahmad Shah Durrani, the brute Afghan ruler was invited to Kashmir (1752) because the Mughal power had started declining resulting in too much hardship for the poor Kashmiris. Afghan rule, however, turned out to be no better. In fact it caused much more misery with increased taxes and no educational institutions or other support for cultural uplift.
    Why leave home? Considering above along with other factors such as economic constraints, must have been the reasons for Khair Din and Fazal Din, the two brothers to leave the beautiful valley in 1760 or thereabout. Their first priority was Islamic education (They were still very young my guess-"preteen") so they enrolled themselves in the teaching institution in Sialkote ,a well-known city in those days for Islamic and other teachings. After graduation they decided not to go back to Kashmir for reasons best known to them and settled in the Panjab. Khair Din went to Amritsar and Fazal Din got married and settled in a small village called Sahontra -- (Punjabi-wise-سھونترہ  and Urduwise- سہونترہ  in pronunciation), hardly 3-4 miles from the southern border of Kashmir
  We have no further information about Khair Din what happened to him and no information how and why Fazal Din found this small unknown village attractive enough to call his home. He was young and educated good looking promising fellow so it is not difficult to see that some father gave the hand of his daughter (named "Rasoolan") to him. Life here was pretty static and unchallenging.  He started educating the local people and must have brought books from Sialkote on leaving. There were no teaching institutions of any kind in the village or anywhere nearby. So the education of children was at home from generation to generation.
    His grandson  Saheb Din continued the same family tradition and here a hobby was added to these "persons of wisdom" (Siany- سیانے)-  Living was very simple as they had acquired small pieces of land for cultivation of whatever they fancied. Non-Muslims in these small villages made up 10 to 15 % only. Saheb Din therefore was a man regarded with respect and a local leader who everybody would consult for everything. Some change started now. He had three sons, the oldest was Nizam Din who was the first one to perform Hifz of complete Qur'an and became a regular Imam and teacher of Qur'an in the nearby village of Sidwal (Sidwal Kalan) just about a hundred or so yards from Sahontra. Next was Mahmud-ul-Hassan (Not "Din")though he was commonly known as "Allah Loke" and the youngest was Yaseen (again not "Din") who stayed in Sahontra making his earnings from the land and is reported to be Hafiz also. Allah Loke, the father of Mianji, however was of a more adventurous disposition.
    Most Kashmiris are said to indulge in cloth weaving or selling etc. Mahmudul Hassan would sell cloth but not from his home. Instead he would travel from place to place and he traveled far off places in this undertaking. So when Mianji was born in the village he did not see his father often. Other elders were unable to provide enough intellectual challenge for this bright kid. They instead tolerated lot of his mischiefs spoiling him, as he was the only boy in the family and there were no other children. Children of his Uncle were in Sidwal, though not very far but not in Sahontra either.
  So if you see these conditions of childhood of this kid, there being no school, no teacher nothing nearby to occupy his mind or provide a modicum of satisfaction to his urge for learning, it is not difficult to understand that he took the same step as that of his great grandfather--he left his home while very young probably no more than 6 or 8 years of age. this brings us to the first phase of his life to an end. We shall continue second phase next. Please click here to continue.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoreebsc.blogspot.com/