History of Nawab in Bangladesh

The Dhaka Nawab family reigned in Dhaka from mid 19th century to mid 20th century, after the fall of the Naib Nazims. The hereditary title of Nawab, similar to the British peerage, was conferred upon the head of the Family by the British Raj as recognition of their loyalty in the time of the Sepoy Mutiny. The Family is a legal entity, created by a Waqfnama back in 1854. The self-definition is a Family instead of an Estate due to certain legal considerations imposed by the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950.

They were not sovereigns, but played an important role in the politics of South Asia. The families were owner of Dhaka Nawab Estate, and were seated at Ahsan Manzil. Nawab of Dhaka was the title of the head of family and estate. Khwaja Alimullah was the first Nawab of Dhaka instated by the British Raj. Khwaja Abdul Ghani was the first person in the family to wield that title as a statesman.

Considerable infighting within the Nawab family lead to the decline of the estate. In 1952 the East Pakistan Estates Acquisition Act formally abolished the estate. Khwaja Habibullah Khan Bahadur was the last reigning Nawab of Dhaka. Successive land reform in Pakistan and Bangladesh brought an end to the remaining landholdings of the Nawab family.

The ancestors of the Khwajas were Muslim merchants in Kashmir and North India. The history of Dhaka Nawab Family begins with Khwaja Abdul Kader Kashmiri, who migrated from Kashmir to Sylhet sometimes in the 18th century. He married Asuri Khanam, the daughter of Khwaja Abdul Hakim Kasmiri, an Administrator of Kashmir. Abdul Hakim also migrated to Sylhet and died there. His son Moulvi Khwaja Abdullah, an alem, arrived in Dhaka and settled in Begumbazar. After his death in 1796 he was buried there with Shah Nuri.

1.     Khwaja Abdul Hakim Governor of Kashmir under the Moghul Emperor Mohammad Shah : (? – ?) First to migrate to Bengal from Khashmir, left Kashmir due to the Invasion of India by Nadir Shah .

Father of the following -

1.     Khwaja Abdul Wahab and Khwaja Abdullah.

The history of this family goes back to about the year 1730 when the two brothers – Khwaja Abdul Wahab and Khwaja Abdullah – arrived in Dhaka directly from Kashmir, and settled in a part of old Dhaka known as Begum Bazaar. It is quite obvious that they traveled this long distance in search of their fortune. The elder brother, Khwaja Abdul Wahab, went into business, straightaway, while the younger brother, Khwaja Abdullah, who was a very pious and a learned man, started preaching to the local people the rules and various disciplines of the teachings of Islam. It must have been for this reason that he was addressed as "Moulvi Abdullah"

The transition from Khwaja family to the Dhaka Nawab family was largely founded by Khwaja Hafizullah Kashmiri, a merchant prince of Dhaka, who acquired considerable wealth from trading in leather, salt and spices together with Marwari trading partners. He also purchased some floundering zamindari estates, on sale everywhere in Bengal under Permanent Settlement, and indigo factories in Barisal District and Mymensingh District.