Observations on the Mussulmauns of India

Observations on the
Mussulmauns of India

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Observations on the Mussulmauns of
India, by
Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, et al, Edited by W. Crooke
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Observations on the Mussulmauns of India
Author: Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali
Release Date: August 7, 2004 [eBook #13127]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
OBSERVATIONS ON THE MUSSULMAUNS OF INDIA***
E-text prepared by Allen Siddle and Project Gutenberg Distributed
Proofreaders from images provided by the Million Book Project

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MUSSULMAUNS OF INDIA
Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions
Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate Society
by
MRS. MEER HASSAN ALI
Second Edition, Edited with Notes and an Introduction by W. Crooke
1917

WITH SENTIMENTS OF GRATITUDE AND PROFOUND

RESPECT THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE HUMBLY
DEDICATED, WITH PERMISSION,
TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA;
BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS'S MOST OBEDIENT, FAITHFULLY
ATTACHED, AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT,
B. MEER HASSAN ALI.
[1832.]

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
In the present reprint the text of the original edition of this work has
been reproduced without change, even the curious transliterations of
the vernacular words and phrases having been preserved. The correct
forms of these, so far as they have been ascertained, have been given in
the Notes and in the Index-Glossary. I have added an Introduction
containing an account of the authoress based on the scanty information
available, and I have compiled some notes illustrating questions
connected with Islam and Musalman usages. I have not thought it
necessary to give detailed references in the notes, but a list of the works
which have been used will be found at the end of the text. As in other
volumes of this series, the diacritical marks indicating the varieties of
the sound of certain letters in the Arabic and Devanagari alphabets have
not been given: they are unnecessary for the scholar and serve only to
embarrass the general reader.
I have to acknowledge help from several friends in the preparation of
this edition. Mr. W. Foster, C.I.E., has supplied valuable notes from the
India Office records on Mir Hasan 'Ali and his family; Dr. W. Hoey,
late I.C.S., and Mr. L.N. Jopling, I.C.S., Deputy-Commissioner,
Lucknow, have made inquiries on the same subject. Mr. H.C. Irwin,
late I.C.S., has furnished much information on Oudh affairs in the time
of the Nawabi. Sir C.J. Lyall, K.C.S.I, C.I.E., and Professor E.G.
Browne, M.A., have permitted me to consult them on certain obscure
words in the text.
W. CROOKE.

INTRODUCTION
Very little is known about the authoress of this interesting book. She is

reticent about the affairs of her husband and of herself, and inquiries
recently made at Lucknow, at the India Office, and in other likely
quarters in England, have added little to the scanty information we
possess about her.
The family of her husband claimed to be of Sayyid origin, that is to say,
to be descended from the martyrs, Hasan and Husain, the sons of
Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet, by her marriage with her
cousin-german, 'Ali. The father-in-law of the authoress, Mir Haji Shah,
of whom she speaks with affection and respect, was the son of the Qazi,
or Muhammadan law-officer, of Ludhiana, in the Panjab. During his
boyhood the Panjab was exposed to raids by the Mahrattas and
incursions of the Sikhs. He therefore abandoned his studies, wandered
about for a time, and finally took service with a certain Raja--where she
does not tell us--who was then raising a force in expectation of an
attack by the Sikhs. He served in at least one campaign, and then, while
still a young man, made a pilgrimage thrice to Mecca and Kerbela,
which gained him the title of Haji, or pilgrim. While he was in Arabia
he fell short of funds, but he succeeded in curing the wife of a rich
merchant who had long suffered from a serious disease. She provided
him with money to continue his journey. He married under romantic
circumstances an Arab girl named Fatimah as his second wife, and then
went to Lucknow, which, under the rule of the Nawabs, was the centre
in Northern India of the Shi'ah sect, to which he belonged. Here he had
an exciting adventure with a tiger during a hunting party, at which the
Nawab, Shuja-ud-daula, was present. He is believed to have held the
post of Peshnamaz, or 'leader in prayer', in the household of the eunuch,
Almas 'Ali Khan, who is referred