Ali Mohammed Khan


Ali Muhammad Khan was a Rohilla chief who succeeded his foster father Sardar Daud Khan Rohilla at the age of fourteen. He eventually went on to found the Kingdom of Rohilkhand in the northwestern region of the Uttar Pradesh state of India and was generally regarded as non-oppressive ruler to the masses. He was well regarded for his political ability, and was granted the right to use India's highest insignia of the Mahseer by the Emperor Muhammad Shah. His young death along with the tender age of his children led to Hafiz Rehmat Khan's regency which was in large part governed against his wishes, despite Rehmat Khan's solemn oath on the Quran to fulfil dying Ali Mohammad's will. On his death the disenfranchisement and neglect of his sons by Rehmat Khan caused one son, Allah Yar Khan to die of consumption, and another son Murtaza Khan to leave for Secunderabad where he too would eventually die.

Ancestry

As a boy Ali Muhammad Khan was adopted by the chief of the Barech Tribe, Sardar Daud Khan Rohilla. The term Rohilla refers to a Pashtun settlers of India.
However he was by birth a member of the Barha Dynasty. The meaning of the name Barha is uncertain. While some contend that it comes from the word, "bahir", meaning "outsider" referring to the preference of members of the Barha dynasty to live outside Delhi. Others like the Emperor Jahangir, believed that it came from the Hindi word, "barha", meaning "twelve". In reference to the twelve townships that members of the dynasty had received as fiefs from Sultan Shibabdudin of Ghor when they first arrived in India.
The dynasty descends in the male line from the fourth Rashidun Caliph, Ali, through his younger son Hussain who married Shahrbanu, herself a daughter of the Sassanian Emperor of Persia, Yazdegard III. Due to Ali's status as an Adnanite, the dynasty can trace its ancestry to Abraham through his eldest son Ishmael.
The subsequent generations from which the dynasty descends took part in many rebellions against the authority of both the Umayyad Caliphate and the Abbasid Caliphate. Particularly Zayd Ibn Ali, the great grandson of the Caliph Ali lead the failed revolt of 740 AD against the Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al Malik and the next generation from which the dynasty descends also revolted in the form of Isa ibn Zayd, who revolted against the Caliph Al Mansur in 762 AD, commanding the forces of Muhammad Nafs az Zakiya and was consequently poisoned by the Caliph Al Mahdi at the age of 45.
Subsequently, the dynasty were heavily persecuted by the Abbasid government, and eventually the founder of the Barha dynasty, Abul Farah Al Wasiti, fled from Madina to Wasit and from there he fled to the Ghaznavid Empire. His four sons entered into the military service of Sultan Muhammad of Ghor and received twelve fiefdoms in Punjab, then a part of the Ghor Empire, as reward for their service. Thus the dynasty became quickly established as Nobles of the Sword in ancient India, a status they held under several different empires. They held a particularly high status under the Sultanate of Delhi. When the Chief of the Barha, who was also the Diwan of the empire, was granted the fiefdom of Saharanpur due to his relation with the imperial family. They also enjoyed particularly prominent positions under the reign of the Sur, eventually defecting during the last days in the reign of Sikander Sur of the Sur Empire, to the Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire in the course of the siege of Mankot.
The Barha dynasty maintains the unique status of having been the only dynasty to participate in all three Battles of Panipat, seminal battles which shaped Indian History. Under the Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat. In the Second Battle of Panipat they gained victory under Bairam Khan, and finally in the Third Battle Of Panipat, the sons of Nawab Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla fought with Ahmed Shah Abidali against the Maratha.
By the time of the Emperor Aurangzeb, the dynasty was firmly regarded as "Old Nobility" and enjoyed the unique status of holding the premier realms of Ajmer and Dakhin. Realms usually reserved for the rule of members of the Imperial Family.

Biography

He succeeded rohilla Sardar Daud Khan and helped develop Rohilkhand into a powerful nation, which became independent in 1721. 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. Safdar Jang of Oudh informed the Mughal emperor of India Muhammad Shah, through Qamar-ud-din Khan 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. 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.
Faizullah Khan was the second son of Ali Muhammad Khan. He assumed rule of the Rohillas after Nawab Saidullah Khan's.

Descendants