1 MINOR LAND-OWNING AND AGRICULTURAL CASTES. 209
2 Qiireshi have any I'eal title to the name. Among tho?e who so style themselves
3 many claim to belong' to the Faruqis or descendants of Umar the second Caliph,
4 or to the Sadiqis or descendants of Abul Bakarthe first Caliph, both of whom were
5 Qm-eslii by tribe. But the term Sacliqi is often confused with Sidqi, a title
6 derived from the same root and meaning " the true ;" but which, in the east of
7 the Panjab at any rate, is commonly used as an equivalent to Naumuslim to
8 distinguish converts of Indian descent from original I\fahomedan immigrants.
9 Naumuslim — means nothing more than a new Musalman ; and only 3,491
10 of om- Shekhs have, by returning themselves as Shekh Naumuslim, admitted
11 their tnie origin. These men are scattered in small numbers about the Pro-
12 ^^■nce, but 1,4.37 of them are in Bahawalpur.
13 Ansari. — Ansari or " auxiliaries " was the title given to the believers of
14 Medina who welcomed Mahomet after his flight from Mecca ; and those who
15 claim descent fi-om these men style themselves Ansari. As many as 7,215 of
16 our Shekhs have so returned themselves, of whom 1,501 are in Ambala, 1,539
17 in JMultan, and the rest scattered aboat the Province. One large section of
18 the Shekhs of Panij^at commonly style themselves Ansari ; but they would
19 appear to have now returned themselves as IMuhajarin.
20 Muhajarin. — The faithful who accompanied Slaliomet in his Hajirah or
21 flight from Mecca were called Muhajarin or " the fugitives or emigrants," and
22 their descendants still retain the title. In the KamAl district 8,560 persons have
23 so returned themselves, and are doubtless the men of Panipat just alluded to.
24 503. The Hans and Khagga.— The Hans is one of the tribes which I
25 regret having included among the Shekhs. The
26 numbers according to our returns are given in the
27 margin ; but it is very probable that many of the
28 Hans have returned themselves as Shekh or Qureshi
29 and not as Hans, since they claim Qureshi origin.
30 They say they emigrated from Ai'abia to Afghanistan
31 and thence to the Panjab, where they settled at Pakka
32 Sidhar in the Montgomery district. In the time of
33 Alamgir the Hans tribe, under their chief Shekh Qutb,
34 attained independent rule over a portion of that dis-
35 trict and retained their independence till the time of
36 the Sikhs, when about the middle of the 18th century
37 the streams Wjliich fertilized their covmtry dried up and they lost their home.
38 At present they do not own a single entire village, and have preserved none of
39 their former i|iLfluence.
40 Khaggasi — The Khaggas are another tribe which I have classed as Shekh,
41 1 I but had better have kept separate. The numbers
42 returned are shown in the margin. But here again
43 many of them have probably returned themselves as
44 Shekhs or Qiu'cshi. Mr. Purser thus describes them :
45 "The Khaggas came to the Montgomery district
46 "after the conquest of Multan by Ranjit Singh.
47 " They claim to be Qureshi, and name as the first
48 " Khagga, Jalal-ul-din, disciple of Muhammatl Irak.
49 " Khagga is said to mean a peculiar kind of fish ; and
50 " the name was given to Jalal-ud-din by his spiritual
51 " teacher on the occasion of his rescuing a boat over-
52 " taken by a storm."
53 The Hans.
54 District.
55 Numbers.
56 Multan
57 Jhsng
58 Montgomery ...
59 Total ...
60 622
61 7
62 268
63 897
64 The Khaogas,
65 a^
66 District^jei
67 ^x them, belo
68 as Gakkhars
69 ly groundless
70 noticed. Bu
71 Dehli and th
72 call themsel
73 Shekhs. Th
74 l,al2 Kaha