1805

1805

In 1805, one of the more intriguing Muslim personalities ascended to power. His name is a familiar name to anyone who lived in the latter part of the twentieth century, even though most people have no clue as to who first made the name a famous one.

The person who ascended to power in 1805 was known other than Muhammad ‘Ali.  However, he was not a renowned athlete but rather one of the more progressive Muslim leaders of the nineteenth century.

The first famous Muhammad ‘Ali came to Egypt in 1801 as a young officer with the Albanian detachment in the Turkish expeditionary force against the French.  He participated in the battles involving Ottoman, British and French troops.  Allegedly illiterate, but with some experience in tobacco trading in his Macedonian home town of Kavalla, Muhammad ‘Ali was shrewd enough to recognize that the Turkish force represented a backward army raised and equipped by a declining power, the Ottoman State.  On the other hand, he observed that both the British and French armies were technically superior to the Turkish forces, and represented two advanced, but rival, powers competing for the control of Egypt at the crossroads of East and West.  This kind of perception, backed by several years’ experience of the reform programme introduced into the Empire by Sultan Selim III in 1792-93, influenced Muhammad ‘Ali’s understanding of politics and guided his diplomacy throughout his long reign in Egypt, from 1805 to 1848. 

The reign of Muhammad ‘Ali began in Egypt when he was installed as Viceroy of Egypt (May 12, 1805).  Muhammad ‘Ali would rule Egypt until 1848.  While he ruled in the name of the Ottoman Sultan, Muhammad ‘Ali practically detached Egypt From Turkey, especially after he had destroyed the Mameluke Beys and their power between 1805 and 1812.  Like the French who were only briefly in Egypt, he was, throughout his reign, faced with the same adversaries, namely, Turkey and England.  Economic reasons apart, Muhammad ‘Ali recognized, as much as those who had governed Egypt before him – Ibn Tulun, the Fatimids, Saladin, and Bonaparte – the strategic importance of Syria and invaded it to protect his eastern flank.  More significant though were his continuous efforts to reform the administration and develop agriculture, irrigation, public works and industry – in general, his insistence upon the massive introduction of European technology in all the activities and functions of the Egyptian state.

With the nizam jadid (new order) which Sultan Selim III introduced to the Ottoman State in the 1790s as a model, Muhammad ‘Ali proceeded to impose a New Order in Egypt in the first three decades of the nineteenth century of the Christian calendar.  The New Order became the basic framework for Egypt’s drive towards modernity for the next hundred years.  It aimed first at the organization of a modern army, and required reform and innovation in several areas of state activity: agriculture, administration, education and industry.  Muhammad ‘Ali inaugurated policies that changed the patterns of landownership and agriculture in order to increase productivity and yield greater wealth to the State.  He introduced a system of state education in order to provide the trained and skilled manpower required by the services of his state, and especially his armed forces.  He reformed the administration in order to secure efficient, strict and economical control over the functions of state and government.  He embarked upon an ambitious program of industrialization which produced the first state factories in Egypt in order to make his armed forces self-sufficient in materials and supplies.

Indeed, for many historians, the reforms instituted by Muhammad ‘Ali qualifies him to be considered the “Father of Modern Egypt.”  It also qualifies him to be considered as one of the greatest – if not the greatest – Muslims of the nineteenth century.

{1219/1220 A.H. - APR 1}

1805 C.C.

MUSLIM HISTORY

ASIA

Western Asia

Sharif Ghalib’s forces faced the Wahhabi in Hijaz without assistance from the Ottomans.  The sharif’s army of 10,000 was beaten by the Najdi invaders.  With Mecca’s security breached, the Wahhabis occupied the area, disrupting the pilgrimage, and during the winter of 1805-1806 they blockaded Mecca. 

Ghalib tried to retain authority, but by the following year he formally surrendered.  He was allowed to retain his position though his income was diminished by, among other factors, his inability to continue taxing Wahhabis living under his rule. 

The autocratic and corrupt ruler of Medina surrendered the city to the Wahhabi forces with the stipulation that he remain governor.  His capitulation was forced by the threat of famine after the Wahhabis gained control over Medina’s caravan routes. 

Ottoman qadis and officials were exiled from Hijaz. 

Wahhabi ‘ulama’ arrived in Mecca to begin teaching Wahhabi theology and precepts.

Sultan bin Saqr al-Qasimi of Sharjah was forced to recognize British supremacy on the sea in 1805.

Abbas Mirza was given command of the Persian army.

Abbas Mirza (1789-1833) was the eldest son of Fath Ali Shah.  He was appointed governor of the province of Azerbaijan where he ruled as crown prince and heir apparent to the Qajar throne.  In 1805, at the age of 16, the Crown Prince was given command of the Persian Army.  He led a disastrous campaign against the Russians from 1805 to 1813, pitting his woefully inadequate army against the Russian veterans of the Napoleonic Wars.  The result was a bitter loss for Iran, confirmed in the Treaty of Gulistan (in 1813).  The humiliation of this overwhelming defeat gave rise to Abbas Mirza’s passion and obsession for modernization in Iran.

As part of his campaign for progress, Abbas Mirza sent students abroad for study and training.  In 1811, he sent two young men to England with the returning British envoy, Sir Harford Jones.  In 1815, Abbas Mirza sent five more students to London for technical and professional training in such areas as gunsmithing, artillery, and engineering.  Among this group was Mirza Saleh Shirazi who would bring back a printing press and later publish Iran’s first newspaper.  Abbas Mirza’s internal efforts to bring the country up to par with Europe and Russia were met with indifference from the Shah and contempt from court ministers.  His reforms were opposed by his political rivals and failed to take root. Though Abbas Mirza continued to fight for the modernization of his army, he went into battle against the Russians in 1826 as ill-equipped as he had been in the earlier battles.  His army was thoroughly routed and the defeat led to the Treaty of Turkmanchai (1828) in which Iran was forced to yield numerous costly concessions to the Russians. He accepted responsibility for the outcome and retired to Mashhad where he died in 1833, predeceasing his father, and thereby never succeeding to the throne.  His pleas for modernization were later taken up by like-minded Iranians, such as Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, and some of the progressive changes Abbas Mirza initiated began to occur more successfully during the middle of the nineteenth century. 

Southern Asia

A permanent provision was made for the Delhi Mughal Emperor by an order issued on May 23 by the Governor General of India, Lord Wellesley.

Mughals comprised an Indian empire founded by Babur (in 1526), which, with a short interregnum under the Surs (1540-1555), continued until the invasion of Nadir Shah (1739).  The dynasty formally survived until 1857, when the last emperor, Bahadur Shah, was deposed by the British.  Agra was the capital of the empire during most of its earlier period, but during the later years of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), Delhi acquired this status.  (Earlier on Fateh-pur Sikri and Lahore served as capitals for short periods.)

Under Babur and Humayun (r. 1530-1556), the empire essentially functioned as a successor to the Lodi kingdom (1451-1526) and ruled an area largely confined within modern Afghanistan, the British North-West Frontier Province and Punjab, and the present Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.  Extensive conquests by Akbar (r. 1556-1605) brought under subjugation the remaining parts of North India and a significant portion of the Deccan.  The process of expansion in the Deccan continued under Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan, but it was under Aurangzeb (r. 1659-1707) that the maximum limits in the south were reached, the entire peninsula being annexed except for Kerala.

Nonetheless during the same reign, the rise of Maratha power under Shivaji (1627-1680) and his successors began to undermine Mughal authority.  Nadir Shah’s invasion (1739) exposed the empire’s full weakness, and thereafter the Mughal emperor ceased to exercise actual control over much of the larger part of the empire.  Many potentates in India (including the Marathas and the British East India Company) still thought it politic to bolster their authority by grants of offices from the emperor, but Shah Alam II (r. 1761-1806) became a mere pensioner of the English (1765-1771), of the Marathas (1771-1803), and finally, of the English again, holding sway merely over the Red Fort.  The 1857 rebellion gave the empire its last flicker.  With the massacre of the princes by the English and exile to Burma of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor, its nominal existence too came to an end.

Central Asia

There was a Persian attempt to take Heart.  The attempt failed.

AFRICA

North Africa, Egypt and Sudan

Chaos and disturbances continued in Cairo. 

Muhammad Ali was approached by a delegation of Cairenes and asked to restore order to the city. 

Muhammad Ali returned to Cairo and besieged Khurshid Pasha in the Citadel. 

An Ottoman envoy arrived in Egypt to resolve the situation there. 

Khurshid surrendered and departed from Egypt in the summer. 

Khurshid Pasha was last Ottoman governor of Egypt, Khurshid was called from his post as governor of Alexandria after his predecessor, Khusrau Pasha, had been driven from Cairo by Muhammad Ali and the new Ottoman governor, Ali Pasha Jazarli, murdered by the Mamelukes.  He displaced al-Bardisi and Ibrahim Bey, who had seized power, but Khurshid proved no more successful than his predecessors at bringing the Mamelukes and beys under control and had to rely on the support of Muhammad Ali to maintain himself in office. But he lacked the military strength to control Muhammad Ali, who headed a strong, loyal Albanian regiment.

When Khurshid arrived in Cairo, the city had already been cleared of many Mamelukes, whom Muhammad Ali was busy subjugating in Upper Egypt.  Yet they remained a dangerous and destabilizing force.  Khurshid’s poor treatment of the Cairenes and his inability to suppress the civil chaos led the people to send a delegation of ‘ulama to Muhammad ‘Ali asking him to depose Khurshid and assume the governorship.  Khurshid was beseiged in the Citadel by Muhammad Ali and his troops and was finally forced to surrender.  He left Egypt in the summer of 1805.

The reign of Muhammad ‘Ali began in Egypt when he was installed as Viceroy of Egypt (May 12).  Muhammad ‘Ali would rule Egypt until 1848.

The arrival of the French expeditionary force in Egypt under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 began a period of transformation in Egypt and in Egypt’s role within the Middle East and in relation to Europe.  Although the French were forced to retreat from Egypt in 1801 following their defeat by a combination of British, Ottoman, and Mameluke attacks, their brief period of control thoroughly upset Egypt’s political balance.  After a period of anarchy, Muhammad Ali, commander of an Albanian regiment of the Ottoman army in Egypt, was invited in 1805 by a delegation of Cairenes to establish himself in power and restore order.  Muhammad Ali moved against the Mamelukes, exterminating most of them in a massacre in the Citadel of Cairo in 1811.  Over the next three decades his European trained army, under the command of his son Ibrahim Pasha, extended Egyptian control to Arabia, parts of the Sudan and Syria, and into Ottoman territory in Anatolia.  In 1839, his armies inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ottomans at the Battle of Nizib, and with the surrender of the Ottoman fleet to the Egyptians shortly thereafter Muhammad Ali seemed set to replace the Ottomans as the dominant power in the Islamic world.  At this point the European powers intervened, alarmed at the rise of a strong and vital state in the region.  An expansionist Egypt was far more threatening to European interests than an enfeebled Ottoman Empire, and pressure was brought to bear by the European states.  Muhammad Ali was left, in 1841, with control of the Sudan and with hereditary rights in Egypt, but his other territorial conquests were removed to Ottoman control.

Aside from Muhammad Ali’s remarkable military progress, he began a program of modernization of all areas of Egyptian life.  Educational contacts with Europe, the expansion of technical education in Egypt, European training for Egypt’s army, reforms in the civil service and local administration, development of Egypt’s agriculture, and the foundation of some (generally unsuccessful) public industries were all introduced during his reign.  There were few aspects of education, the economy, or the military that were not subject to

reform.  His promotion of agriculture, particularly cash cultivation, led to the development in 1820 of the first long staple cotton plant, which became the basis of Egypt’s growth as a cotton-exporter later in the nineteenth century.  

The Tripolitan War began to turn in the United States’ favor when a force led by the United States naval commander William Eaton seized the port of Derna (Darnah, in modern Libya), North Africa (April).

William Eaton, the former American consul at Tunis and the self-appointed general, had been the driving force behind an overland expedition.  After enlisting the support of Hamet Karamanli, the brother of Yusuf Karamanli, in Cairo last fall, “General” Eaton went to Alexandria where he recruited a motley army of 400 men, mostly Arabs and Greeks, but also including Midshipman Peck and Lieutenant O’Bannon with seven marines.  With this force, Eaton marched 600 miles across the desert and reached Derna late in April.  Joined there by the Argus and the Hornet, his men stormed the town, and seized it.

***

In 1805, the most extraordinary exploit of the Tripolitan War occurred.  Hamet Bey, the brother of Yusuf Qaramanli, and the rightful ruler of Tripoli, was in exile in Egypt.  United States Marine Lieutenant Presley N. O’Bannon and William Eaton, American diplomatic agent and a former army general went to Egypt and persuaded Hamet to join in a land assault with the purpose of restoring Hamet to the throne.  To do this, Eaton and O’Bannon recruited a mercenary force in Alexandria and led them on a daring seven-week trek across 600 miles of the Libyan desert. 

Surviving mutiny, pilfery, religious clashes among the men and terrible thirst and hunger, the two Americans brought their motley force through the desert to the walls of Derna, Yusuf’s capital, on April 25, 1805.  They sent a messenger into the city with a note ordering the bey, or mayor, to surrender, to which he replied, “Your head or mine.”

O’Bannon and Eaton informed him that they had no objection to his terms.

The Americans launched an attack supported by a bombardment of the city delivered from three warships in the harbor.  O’Bannon’s force, made up of Marines and mercenaries, was at the center of the attack on the walls, and quickly came under the heaviest fire.  When the mercenaries began to panic, O’Bannon and Eaton led them in a charge against the enemy.  Eaton fell wounded, along with three Marines and several mercenaries, but the surprise tactic worked – the startled enemy were caught off balance and began a retreat.

Pressing their advantage, O’Bannon’s men soon drove the enemy from the walls.  Hamet Bey then led his Arab troops in a successful attack on the bey’s castle and, by 4:00 p.m., Lieutenant O’Bannon was able to raise the Stars and Stripes above the city, the first American flag to fly over a captured fortification in the Old World.  This victory contributed to the signing of a favorable peace treaty with the Pasha of Tripoli on June 4, 1805.

In appreciation for O’Bannon’s services, Hamet Bey presented him with his own sword, a handsome curved blade with ivory hilt topped by a golden eagle head.  The “Mameluk sword,” so called after the Egyptian sect that forged it, subsequently served as the pattern for swords carried to this day by the officers of the United States Marine Corps.

Tripoli granted free passage to United States ships in the Mediterranean, as a peace treaty ended the Tripolitan War (June 4).  However, the piracy of the Barbary States would persist until 1815.

The American naval officer John Rodgers secured a peace treaty with the Barbary state of Tripoli (modern Libya), North Africa, by which Tripoli pledged to quit its harassment of United States merchant ships and release the crew of the captured American warship Philadelphia in exchange for $60,000 (June).

Threatened by the guns of the American squadron patrolling outside his harbor, and with his rebel brother Hamet installed by American backed forces in the eastern city of Derna, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha of Tripoli signed a treaty with the United States, agreeing to terms that clearly reflected his reduced circumstances.  In return for a payment of $60,000, Captain Bainbridge and the 306 crew members of the captured Philadelphia would be released.  However, there was to be no payment for the treaty itself.  Nor would there be any future tribute.  The United States had agreed to remove its forces from Derna, and to try to persuade Hamet Karamanli to withdraw. 

Ultimately, Hamet Karamanli had no choice but to withdraw because his wife and his children remained at Tripoli at the mercy of his brother, Yusuf Karamanli.

The Ottoman Porte confirmed Muhammad ‘Ali as the Viceroy of Egypt (July).

Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1517 from the Mameluke sultanate and given the status of beylerbeyilik.   Unlike the provinces of Anatolia and in the Balkans, the timar system was not applied in Egypt, which remained administratively autonomous.  After meeting the military and administrative expenses, the governor sent to Istanbul annually fixed sums from the provincial revenues.  Cairo was the second largest city of the Ottoman Empire, after Istanbul.

Although the country was under Ottoman rule, the Mamelukes, acting as tax farmers, continued to play a major social role in Egypt.  With the weakening of Ottoman central authority after the late 16^th century, the Mameluke oligarchy became semi-independent of Istanbul.

Following the French invasion of Egypt between 1798 and 1801, Muhammad Ali seized power and became governor of Egypt.  He succeeded in introducing economic as well as military modernization into the region and made Egypt a formidable power.  When disagreements arose between Muhammad Ali and the Sublime Porte following the independence of Greece in 1830, Egyptian forces invaded Palestine and Syria, defeated Ottoman armies, and advanced as far as Kutahya (northwestern Anatolia) in 1833.  Only Russian intervention prevented the Egyptian army from reaching Istanbul.

Until 1840, Egypt continued to occupy Palestine and Syria.  As a result of the Ottoman-British military intervention in 1840, Muhammad Ali was forced to evacuate these regions, but he acquired the hereditary governorship of Egypt.  Formally attached to the Ottoman Empire, Egypt in fact continued to be a semi-independent tributary monarchy, ruled by the dynasty of Muhammad Ali.  The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 increased the strategic importance of Egypt, leading eventually to its occupation by Great Britain in 1882.  With the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) Egypt formally ceased to be a part of the Ottoman Empire.

***

Mahmud Ben Ayad, a close associate and financial adviser of Ahmad Bey of Tunisia, is believed to have been born in this year.

The flight of Mahmud Ben Ayad (c.1805-1880) to France with a sizeable portion of the Tunisian treasury in 1852 drove the country to the brink of bankruptcy and was often cited by later reformers as evidence of the need to curb the unrestrained power of the bey and his entourage.

Naphtali Busnach, a Jew who was the chief aide of the Bey of Algiers, was assassinated along with hundreds of Jews who were massacred by Janissaries who resented the favors the Jews received from the Dey.

EUROPE

The Battle of Austerlitz occurred (December 2).  Napoleon defeated a combined Austrian-Russian army.  Napoleon had enticed the much larger Russo-Austrian forces to overextend themselves before manufacturing a crushing defeat upon them in the Battle of Austerlitz in Moravia.  This French victory dissuaded Prussia from joining the Third Coalition. 

There were Mamelukes that served in the armies of Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, and they served well. 

After his Egyptian campaign, Napoleon formed his own Mameluke corps, the last known Mameluke force, in the early years of the 19th century of the Christian calendar, and used Mamelukes in a number of his campaigns. Even his Imperial Guard had Mameluke soldiers during the Belgian campaign, including one of his personal servants, Napoleon's famous bodyguard Roustan was a Mameluke from Egypt.

One of the pictures by Francisco de Goya shows a charge of Mamelukes against the Madrilene on May 2, 1808.  Throughout the Napoleonic era there was a special Mameluke corps in the French army.  In the instructions that Napoleon gave to Kleber at his departure from Egypt, Napoleon wrote that he had already bought from Syrian merchants about 2,000 Mamelukes with whom he intended to form a special detachment.  On September 14, 1799, General Kleber established a mounted company of Mameluke auxiliaries and Syrian Janissaries from Turks captured at the siege of Acre.

On July 7, 1800, General Menou reorganized the company, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la Republique".  In 1801, General Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamelukes under his command.  On January 7, 1802, the previous order was cancelled and the squadron reduced to 150 men.  The list of effectives on April 21, 1802, reveals three officers and 155 other ranks.  By decree of December 25, 1803, the Mamelukes were organized into a company attached to the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard.

Mamelukes fought well at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, and the regiment was granted a standard and its roster increased to accommodate a standard bearer and a trumpet.  A decree of April 15, 1806 defined the strength of the squadron as 13 officers and 147 privates.  Despite the decree of March 21, 1815, that stated that no foreigner could be admitted into the Imperial Guard, Napoleon's decree of April 24, 1815, prescribed amongst other things that the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard included a squadron of two companies of Mamelukes for the Belgian Campaign. 

With the First Restoration, the company of the Mamelukes of the Old Guard was incorporated into the Corps Royal des Chasseurs de France.  The Mamelukes of the Young Guard were incorporated into the 7th Chasseurs-a-Cheval.

Southeastern Europe

Tirsiniklioghlu Isma‘il Agha led a revolt in eastern Bulgaria. 

The Serbs defeated an Ottoman military expedition.

THE AMERICAS

In 1805, it was estimated that one-third of the blacks in Bahia were males.

In Brazil, males is a term that referred to Muslim black slaves. It was a term employed by the Berbers and Arabs for the Mandingo blacks.  These slaves worshipped Allah and were very fond of wearing a talisman engraved with fragments of verse from the Qur’an in Arabic script.  Many males were literate and were trained in different crafts.  The planters considered them their most valuable slaves, even though they were rebellious and were ever ready to flee to the wilderness.  In 1805, it was estimated that one-third of the blacks in Bahia were males.  The term males also refers to a vigorous and flourishing Muslim sect with temples, leaders, and well-organized congregations; still active at the turn of the nineteenth century all over northeastern Brazil.

Notable Births

Alexander Burnes (1805-1841), a British military officer, was born.

Alexander Burnes was a captain in the Indian Army who was sent by Lord Auckland, governor-general of the British East India Company, to the court of Amir Dost Muhammad in September 1837 for the purpose of concluding an alliance with Britain and establishing peace between the Afghan ruler and Ranjit Singh, who had captured Kashmir and occupied Peshawar.  Burnes was well received at Kabul, and it appeared that an agreement with the amir was possible, but in spite of Burnes’ recommendations Lord Auckland was not willing to make any promises.  He recommended that Dost Muhammad waive his claims on Peshawar and make peace with the Sikh ruler.  The Afghan amir’s correspondence with Russia and the presence of a purported Russian emissary at Kabul, named Vitkevich, was India’s reason for starting the First Anglo-Afghan War.  Burnes returned to Kabul with the invading forces to serve as deputy and presumed successor of William Macnaghten, the envoy and minister of the British government at Kabul.  A revolt in Kabul resulted in the assassination of Burnes on November 2, 1841, and the British debacle in the war.

Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894): French diplomat who built the Suez Canal, was born in Versailles, France (November 19).

     The driving force behind the excavation of the Suez Canal, de Lesseps began his career in Egypt as French Vice-Consul in Alexandria.  In the 1830s, he became convinced of the economic desirability of cutting a canal across the strip of land linking Sinai with the Egyptian mainland, even though the project had been judged technically unfeasible by the scientists who accompanied Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798.  The trade advantages of linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas attracted the support of the Viceroy, Muhammad Ali, as well as European financial backing, but the project was temporarily halted during the reign of Abbas I (1848-1854), who opposed it along with most of the innovation favored by his father.

Abbas’ successor, Sa‘id, was a boyhood friend of de Lesseps, and under Sa‘id, the project was revived.  An initial concession was granted in 1854 but was actively blocked by the British government and its representatives at the Ottoman Porte.  Despite this, de Lesseps was able to gather support for the project in Europe, largely through his personal lobbying for the canal.  In 1856, an international commission (set up largely on de Lesseps’ urging) discussed the engineering and technical aspects of the project.  De Lesseps’ funding came from many sources, but the Khedive of Egypt and several European banks provided the bulk of it.  When Sa‘id showed signs of wavering on the project (largely because of the hostility of the Ottoman Sultan) de Lesseps pressed on regardless, and work began in 1859.  The terms arrranged between de Lesseps and the Khedive were extremely favorable to the canal’s European investors, with a substantial part of the capitalization and labor costs borne by the Egyptian government.

De Lesseps’ connections with Egypt remained strong, and in 1878 the Khedive Ismail requested his appointment to the commission charged with investigating Egypt’s finances.  However, it was the Suez Canal that ultimately made de Lesseps’ name, fame, and fortune, and changed utterly Egypt’s strategic position in the Middle East.

Malek Jahan Khanom (Mahd-e Olia or Mahd-i-'Aliua) (1805-1873), a Persian princess of the Qajar dynasty, the consort of Sultan Mohammad Shah Qajar of Persia (reign 1834-1848), and the mother of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, was born.

Malek Jahan Khanom was the granddaughter of Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar of Persia and the cousin of her spouse, Mohammad Shah Qajar.  Her name means "Sublime Cradle". She was the regent of Persia from September 5 until October 5 in 1848, between the death of her husband and the accession to the throne of her son. She exerted political influence during the reign of her son from 1848 until her death in 1873. She is described as having a strong personality and as being politically gifted. She supported and strengthened the Qajar nobility against merited commoners.

Maulvi Shaikh Habib-ur-Rahman (1805–1875), the Taluqdar of Miyanganj –Unnao and a member of the powerful lobby of the Taluqdars of Oudh (Awadh), was born.

Habib-ur-Rahman was born in Asiwan in 1805 into a landlord and religious family. Habib-ur-Rahman started his career with the Revenue department of the King of Oudh. Gradually he consolidated his position and was appointed a Chakladar in 1853 by Wajid Ali Shah.

Until the uprising in 1857 he was the governing Chakladar of Mohan, Asiwan, and Fatehpur Chaurasi. He did not take part in the uprising at all and kept himself away from the disturbance. He was against the killings, arson, loot and that too without any defined goal and leader. He did not like Mansab Ali of Mohan and retired to his Garhi (fort) in Asiwan. At the time of annexation of Awadh, when the British took control of the Unnao, they found the maulvi in Asiwan and keeping in view his tenure as Chakladar of Oudh and most importantly his strong influence in the whole area in maintaining the law and order, they awarded Miyanganj, Asiwan and Fatehpur Chaurasi to him and enlisted him as the Taluqdar of Miyanganj.

Maulvi Habib ur Rahman did not have any children, therefore he had adopted a child as his successor, but shortly before his death in 1875 one after another his wife bore him two sons namely, Khalil ur Rahman and Jalil ul Rahman.  Unfortunately when both were toddlers, Maulvi Habib-ur-Rahman died on September 27, 1875 leaving them orphan.  Since they were both minors, the Taluka went into the court of wards and later on was given to Wasi uz Zaman for the management. Khalil ul Rahman was awarded a very large area near safipur, Maulvi Khera etc. and he settled at Chaudhrana as Ra’ees of Unnao while Jalil ul Rahman went on to become a Tehsildar.  Both of his sons were educated at M.A.O College, Aligarh which later on became Muslim University Aligarh.

 

Shirali Baba Muslimov (also Mislimov) (b. allegedly March 26, 1805 – September 2, 1973), a Talysh shepherd from the village of Barzavu in the Lerik region of Azerbaijan, a mountainous area near the Iranian border who claimed to be the oldest person who ever lived, was born.

When Shirali Muslimv died on September 2 (or 4), 1973, his alleged age was 168. This is 46 years older than French woman Jeanne Calment, who has had the longest confirmed lifespan in history at 122.

Muslimov's story was taken up in 1973 by National Geographic Magazine, which told that on the occasion he still rode horses and tended an orchard planted in the 1870's. National Geographic later recanted on the claim. The same story was told by the Guinness Book, stated as unconfirmed along other similar claims.

His marital status was also controversial. National Geographic reported that he had a wife 120 years old, whom he had married 102 years earlier. However, on his obituary, published by Time magazine, it is said he was survived by his 107-year-old third wife. According to another claim, at the purported age of 136 he married and had a daughter. The only evidence in favor of Muslimov's age claim is an official passport that listed his birthdate. Muslimov had no known birth certificate.

In the 1970s many Westerners were made aware of these extreme claims of longevity in Azerbaijan and elsewhere in the Caucasus region when a U.S. Dannon yogurt commercial invoked some of these people to suggest that the secret of their long lives lay in the frequent consumption of yogurt.

Muslimov lived in Barzavu, a small village in the region of Lerik, the mountainous area of Azerbaijan near the border of Iran. According to myth, he worked hard every day, up to 165 years, did not smoke or drink, but ate fruits, vegetables, wholemeal bread, chicken broth, low-fat cheese and yogurt. He had several wives through his lifetime. Muslimov became ill with pneumonia between 1972 and 1973, but survived only to die later in 1973.

The case of Muslimov became known in 1963, when a young photojournalist of TASS, Kalman Kaspiev, went to Barzavu to interview the centenarian. The story was picked up by the Soviet press, by the National Geographic, and by the Danone company, which for promotional reasons suggested that the longevity of Muslimov was linked to a diet of dairy, and yogurt in particular. This interest changed the life of the small Azeri village, which was connected to the electricity grid and started receiving radio and television broadcasts.

Justin Perkins (1805-1869), the first American missionary to Iran, was born.

Justin Perkins served in Persia for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions from 1835 to 1869.  He established the Nestorian Mission at Urmia and translated the Bible into Syriac.  He wrote a book about his experiences entitled A Residence of Eight Years in Persia.

Sayyid Sāhib Ḥasani (b. 1805 – d. January 9, 1880), a famous Sufi saint from Hyderabad State, India, who had a great influence over spiritual developments in the Deccan area, was born.

Sayyid Sahib Hasani belonged to Qadiri Order, and was a great proponent of the concept of Wahdat al-Shuhood.

Sahib Ḥasani was a murid (disciple) of the noted Sufi saint of Hyderabad, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Maroof Shahidullah Qadiri, who also belonged to the Qadiri Order.

As per the family tree preserved in the family records, Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani was a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The thirteenth in line from their descent was the famous Sufi Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, who founded the Qadiri Order and Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani is his direct descendent. Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani belongs to the forty-first generation after Fatimah.

Sayyid Sahib was born Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani in Tekmal in 1805. His father was Sayyid Abdur Razzaq who was also initiated into the Qadiri Order. This was during the period of the Nizam Mir Akbar Ali Khan Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III of Hyderabad State.

Sahib Ḥasani moved to Hyderabad city at the age of 14 to pursue his higher education and remained there for five years despite financial pressures. He was determined to acquire the knowledge of religious and worldly sciences. In 1824, he was forced to return to Tekmal due to illness and the death of his father. That is when he realized that he had not been able to acquire the knowledge of spiritual awareness from his father who was very advanced in these matters.

Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani lamented this for a long time. Eventually he claims to have had dreams in 1825 in which his father appeared and advised him to become the disciple of Hazrat Shah Muhammad Maroof Shahidullah Qadiri, who was a famous Sufi of his times in Hyderabad.  Subsequently, he sought out this great Sufi, and became his disciple the following year in 1826. The same year, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Maroof Shahidullah Qadiri appointed Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani as his "khalifa" (successor). Having acquired this status, Sahib Hussaini returned home to Tekmal.

During the upcoming years, Shah Muhammad Maroof Shahidullah Qadiri visited his khalifah Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani a number of times in Tekmal. During one such visit in 1831, he also granted the title of "sajjadah" to Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani

In 1833, Shah Muhammad Maroof Shahidullah Qadiri visited Tekmal again, and proclaimed that he would die in that town, and be buried there. A place for his grave was determined. He came again the following year in 1834 and expired.  He was buried in Tekmal according to his will. Twenty years later in 1854, Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani had a mausoleum constructed over the tomb of his master.

Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani died in Tekmal in the year 1880 and was buried there. He left behind 5 sons and one daughter as follows:

·       Sayyid Ahmad Badshah Qadiri (who became his successor), 1833–1907

·       Sayyid Maroof Badshah Qadiri, d.1910

·       Sayyid Yasin Badshah Qadiri, d. 1914

·       Sayyid Muhyi-uddin Badshah Qadiri

·       Sayyid Abdul Qadir Badshah Qadiri

·       Sahibni Bi (daughter) who was married to Khwaja Qiyamuddin

 

Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani Husayni is remembered for the number of development works he initiated in and around Tekmal. Among the projects he undertook, the following ones are of key importance:

·       Establishment of Madrasah-e-Husayniya in 1827. This complex was funded out of his own money, and has continued to be the most important institution to impart education in Tekmal. This institution was considered to be one of the prime educational institutions in the State of Hyderabad, and its graduates were in great demand.

·       Establishment of the Tekmal Mosque in 1827. It is one of the largest mosques in the district.

·       Digging of sweet water wells in different parts of Tekmal region for the benefit of the common people.

 

Sayyid Sahib Ḥasani wrote a number of books on aspects of Sufism.

His other famous works are the following books in Persian and Urdu languages:

·       Masnawi Shahid-ul-Askar - This book is a commentary on book Khatimah written by Khwaja Bande Nawaz

·       Shawahid-i Husayni - This book covers a number of subjects. It has chapters on the Islamic creed, Islamic jurisprudence, issues of Sufism, guidance on the Sufi path, worship, day to day affairs, and methods of entering into the remembrance of Allah.

·       Shahid-ul-Wujud - This book was originally written in Persian and translated into Urdu by Syed Ataullah Hussaini, Karachi, 1986. It covers aspects of Sufi thought.

·       Nukat-i Shahid - This book covers answers to questions raised by his disciples among other subjects.

·       Maktub-i Husayni - This is a compilation of his letters.

·       Farhang-i Husayni - This is a primer on Persian grammar and language, and it has been used for decades in many parts of Hyderabad State for the teaching of Persian language. This was the first book he wrote. It was written during the years 1827 and 1831.

Notable Deaths

Lord Cornwallis (1738-1805) died on October 5 at Ghazipur, India, of sickness, only eight weeks after his arrival from England on July 30 for his second term as Governor General.  A memorial was erected there in his honor. 

Cornwallis had a distinguished military career and a reputation for integrity when he was appointed Governor General of India in 1786.  He was instructed by the British Directors of the East India Company in London to cleanse the administration in Calcutta of corruption, reform the judicial system, and settle the collection of revenue.  Cornwallis removed private trade from the hands of Company officials and separated collection of revenue from their judicial functions.  He raised the salaries of British officials and excluded Indians from covenanted, or executive, positions.  He set up four provincial courts of appeal consisting of three English judges each assisted by Indian advisers on Hindu and Islamic Law.  He systematized the collection of land revenue according to a Permanent Settlement decreed in 1793, in the hopes of creating a responsible class of landowners in the English sense but with disastrous long term effects on the land and its cultivators.

Cornwallis’ tenure marked a change from the old free-booting style of the East India Company to a stable administrative system concerned with law and order as well as commerce.  He laid the foundation of an Indian Civil Service (ICS) known for its honesty and of a new landowning class known for its loyalty.  However, Cornwallis’ tenure was also a watershed between the rough equality among British and Indians in the eighteenth century and the cultural, economic, and racial divide between them of the nineteenth century.

Cornwallis was reappointed to a second term in 1805 but died within three months of his arrival in India.