Yasir Qadhi – The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Sultan of the Ottomans
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Today is going to be one of those interesting tidbit historical, hotter as as you're aware, I give a variety of sometimes a talkative C or sometimes C or or sometimes Islamic stuff. And sometimes Muslim ask stuff. This is one of those tidbits of Muslim history in Charlotte some benefit. Few days ago, somebody passed away, who wasn't given much attention in global circles. Yet, when I read the news, I must confess that I felt an immense sense of sadness of Islamic history, a nostalgia for a past that once was, I didn't know the person, frankly, there's not much to know about him or to genuinely respect in him per se. But the concept and the life story of this person represents
something that I think is relevant to all of us. I refer here to the last Nawab of Hyderabad, me and mukarram Jah, who died in Istanbul a few days ago, and was flown to Hyderabad to be buried close to the graves of his ancestors that evolves of Hyderabad. Now, the irony of today's talk is that it's not about that individual himself, frankly, there's not much to say, truth be told, he didn't have that many contributions to the OMA and for the courses of Islam. And, frankly, when you read up about his life, you know, the marriages and the settlements and the court cases, let's leave all of that because we shouldn't go down this route of speaking about individuals who passed away, we're
not really talking about him. We're talking about his story. We're talking about what he represents, we're talking about a legacy and how short lived that legacy was, and how shortly removed we are from this amazing amazing story, that the entire globe once upon a time was following. So let me take a step back. Then his arms of Hyderabad then evolves of Hyderabad, all of you should Indians are aware of the Nawab of Hyderabad, the Nevadas of Hyderabad, they go back to the time of orang xiP. Orang Zayed was the one who instituted the first governorship of that region. And as is the case, that person became very powerful. And he started a mini dynasty under the Mughals. He didn't
break away. He was under the Mughals, but essentially, he's a king in his own way, he doesn't call himself king. So the Navarre was of Hyderabad, they go back to 1700s. And they had an area of land that was larger than all of England, all of Italy. They had a massive province in India, and this province eventually became the richest province of India, and one of the richest regions of the entire world. Our story begins with the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, the grandfather of the one who passed away the seven Azzam was the most famous one and the richest one and his name is Mira with Smart Money Mira smart Le he came to power in 1911 100, roughly 100 years ago, Hyderabad was already
wealthy, middle Swan Valley made Hyderabad one of the wealthiest regions of the world. And in the process, he became the wealthiest person alive at the time, and one of the wealthiest people in all of human history. It is said that he is in the top five people in all of human history in terms of wealth. And when he was alive, he was number one in the entire world. This is mudras mana the the grandfather of the one who passed away and one of the reasons for this wealth was because he
he he increased the production of diamonds from a particular region. I can't remember right now Golconda something that I forgot where it is, you guys know? Is that right? Golconda Yep, so he banked on pun intended this region, he increased the production of diamonds and for a period of time it became the number one diamond manufacturing plant in the world. And in fact, he had a paperweight that was composed of a diamond that was itself worth like $50 million. Who would have it as a paperweight. That's how wealthy this person was. When Queen Elizabeth the one that passed away when Queen Elizabeth got married. This Navab gifted her a custom made necklace. This was the necklace you
would always see her wearing in any public occasion. If you see any picture of Queen Elizabeth there's this beautiful diamond necklace that necklace was made by this Navab of Hyderabad and gifted to the Queen and the Queen loved it so much. It was the most expensive it is the most expensive she wore it on every official occasion you will find it that's gifted by that that Nawab in 1937 Time Magazine, which used to be far more prestigious than it is now all young people understand Time Magazine once upon a time was extremely prestigious and these days, it's nobody cares. It was frank here but Time Magazine, put Musement on the on the cover of the magazine. This is 1937 and it had
the title the rich
This man alive the richest man in the world. This was mute Usman Ali, we estimate we will never know for sure we estimate he was worth more than a quarter of a trillion dollars wealthier than Bill Gates and, you know, Steve to anybody that, you know, for the time he had the equivalent in our times of a quarter of a trillion dollars and he had multiple palaces, multiple Rolls Royces, you know, even though ironically, he himself dressed very frugally, and he would eat very simple on one plate. So in his very personal life, he was very frugal, but he had a show of wealth, and he did help his people. And his people loved him. He introduced electricity. He made for himself a number
of universities. That was money a college, he built it in Hyderabad, he was a lover of overdue, share shoddy, he introduced free education in the 1920s and 30s, mandatory free education upon all of the children. And he even produced an English Journal of Islamic Studies, the first of its type, an English International Journal of Islamic Studies. And he called what he thought was the premier intellectual alive today who spoke English. You all know his name, Marvin do pitfall and he called him to Hyderabad. And he financed him once upon a time they respected Obama under him anyway. So his joke here, and he financed him and said, Hey, let's do what you want. And so for 15 years, Marmaduke
pick all the British guy lived in India.
And guess what project he did? Finance by the Navab. More we do crypto translation of the Quran for the first time in the English language sponsored by and that's why he thanks the navabi. If you read the introduction, if you go back to that book that you used to read back in the 80s, and 90s, nobody reads that translation anymore. He actually thanks the the Bob for his sponsorship for helping him out here. And then Bob was so powerful that he actually had his own currency. He did not use the British Raj currency. The British Raj gave him semi autonomous powers like he had. He wasn't under the Raj. He was semi independent. He had his own independent army, the only state under the Raj that
has its own army. So definitely this person was a very, very interesting person now, we stopped the story here quickly moved to another place in the world because the story is going to come together, as you're already figuring out I hope, and in other parts of the world. Other developments are taking place in the 1920s, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, yes, the two stories will emerge. That's the whole point. The last little pawn of the Ottoman Empire Sultan Abdul Majeed, the second is seeing the rise of a new force called the Young Turks. This is 100 years ago from right now literally, literally 100 years ago from now, the last Earth Mani Khalifa is seeing a rising secular
forced, that hates the religion that has no interest in helping Islam. Eventually, they become powerful. Eventually, they took over the parliament. And then in 1924, they abolished the caliphate 198 years ago, basically, they abolished the caliphate, and they expel the lost soul bond. They come they cause the Ottoman Khilafah to come to an end, they officially declare there is no more Khilafah this all took place literally 100 years ago as we're speaking, and they sent Abdul Majeed out of the country with his family with nothing in his person pocket only the clothes on his back. In fact, he didn't even have a passport. And this gave him problems. This is so sad. He couldn't even find a
country to go to because the king doesn't have a passport. The Khalifa doesn't have a passport. It actually gave him problems to enter into countries. Finally, he settled in nice France, you know the borders of France. And the Red Cross, the Christian organization gave him food stamps. For many months, he was struggling for food, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his new spread the Red Cross, the Christian organization published an advertisement to the Muslim world can you help your Khalifa is so sad? Can you help your Khalifa because we're running out of funds? Well, they didn't say Khalifa, but you know, we he needs help and whatnot. And this advertisement reached
India. Now the store is about to merge. Now, in India at this timeframe, all of you who have studied in India, Buxton should know of the Khilafat movement, right? Have you remember this back in your high school days, the Khilafat movement? Can anybody mentioned some of the key figures of the Khilafat movement?
Shortcuts are the more Muhammad Ali Johar, all of these people, right? They were a part of the Salafi movement. Okay.
Abdul Majeed, Delia body as well.
So there were a number of people part of the Philadelphia movement, right? They wanted to revive the Khilafah and protect it. They come across this advertisement, and they go to our guy Navab sub, okay, they go to the Navab of Hyderabad. And they say, do something. So then Alaba Hyderabad then
decreed that for the rest of the salons life, he's gonna get a massive sum of 300 pounds a month. By the way, that was a decent sum back then. Okay, but 300 pounds $300 That's literally worth $250 Right now, the dollar is more powerful than the pound right now. I think right? 270 $290 He said $300 a month would be given back then it was a little bit more maybe I don't know. 3000 It wasn't a massive but it was enough to live off of and this sold on last Earth money sold on he had only one daughter, Princess daughter church door Russia her avadh door Russia var door Russia via the Turkish pronunciation I'm not mistaken, and it will do the door Shahar Khadija, right? So she he she he only
had one daughter, the Navab suggested to marry this daughter to his son.
Okay, now you see where the story is heading. The goal being that if Islam has a royalty, this is it here the most powerful and rich dynasty of the Muslims that of mankind is marrying into the Ottoman Khilafah. This is now the bringing together the only time bringing together of these two extremely historic, powerful, and the one side very wealthy, and the other side, the most powerful once upon a time dynasties in marriage and in union. And he only had one daughter, the Shah of Iran, not the one you know, his father, the Shah of Iran, not the one in seven days his father wanted her for these shots of 1979. He wanted her for his son, the king of Egypt wanted her for his son. And the Nawab
wanted her for his son. What a place to be in three Shahin shots and kings and DevOps, all asking for your daughter's hand in marriage. Of course, who's going to win? Guys who are studying in college, take note. Who wins?
You know why? Okay, it's common sense this you have to think of strategy and whatnot. So, the Nawab son obviously gets the NetAcad done, and the entire entourage from, from Hyderabad comes to France in 1931. And a very famous historic hotel, which is still standing to this day, in Nice. It is considered to be one of the ancient hotels of Europe, it becomes the shoddy grounds. And this became a media spectacle. Can you imagine 1930s You have the Nevada's family. No offense of did not come. The Nawabs family entourage, the wealthiest family in the world, dressed like maharajahs, hookah, literally head to toe walking in the streets in Europe, right? The photographer's had a field trip
1001 Nights, Arabian Prince, this and that the Muslim marriage. But here's the point. This marriage was celebrated around the globe, all Muslims became happy at a time when there's very little joy happening at a time when there's one misery after another. This marriage became a hope and a beacon and an optimism. Do you understand why? Literally it was believed that from this union, a man The like figure might emerge like literally somebody, I mean, not the math, you get my point. I mean, somebody would come that would bring a sense of Iza and glory into the OMA. So from this marriage, our Makara Misha was born. The point that I want to bring up here, this very person who passed away
a few days ago. This is the person how short was this era? How briefly in the recent past, literally one generation ago, this mukarram Shah mukarram Shah, who was born in the 1930s, I think 33 He was born 1930. So he passed away. He's almost 90, right? So at nine years old, he passed away, and the Navab was so overjoyed. And again, this is surreal. He was so optimistic that this grandson of mine is going to bring about the result of Islam, that he announced publicly that the Navab ship would pass over his son directly to his grandson. Skip the son the thought I'm not mentioning the Father's name because he
He's just a footnote in history, skip the son, and my grandson is going to become the Nawab after me. That was the hopes pinned on this individual, that something's going to happen because he has royal blood if we have a royalty, this is the closest we get to that royalty. The entire OMA is like, you know, you do, harking for joy, harping for joy, wondering what's going to happen of this. But her not even though I know, I could predict the future, because then of our belief to see his own decline, just like the last soap on the last Ottoman Khalifa saw his decline, then evolve began to see the talk of, you know, a partition, and the British are going to leave. And he was given the
choice to join either of the two sides, and the Navab refused. And he goes, I'm not going to join either of these two sides. And he demanded an independent kingdom, like the British were giving independent kingdoms in Africa, Namibia, all of these little kingdoms. He goes, I deserve my own kingdom. I'm not going to be subservient to anybody. It's the way I mean, again, people are like this. And I mean, if anybody has the right to say that after his legacy and his wealth and whatnot, he felt I'm not going to be subservient to anybody else. But Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, you know, King, the Queen, refused, or the king at the time refused that we're not going to
allow a mini state within India, he still refused to sign. And when the British left, he was planning to go to war with India. And he had the troops lined up to go to war. But the Indian army invaded in September of 1948. They marched into the streets of Hyderabad, and there was some skirmishes and fighting until finally he was forced to basically acquiesce and give up. And you don't have a senior friend of mine a very elderly person whom I love immensely. Friend of mine in England, I will mention his name because he is also swaddled at 990 years old, his name was blocked if and he told me that he was a child and Hyderabad. And he remembered seeing the troops march in,
and the DevOps troops having to surrender. He remembers this and I remember he told me this 2030 years ago, and I was just in shock, like there's a person alive, who remembers this right. But Subhanallah This is how quick this you know this, this, how recent all of this was. So in 1948, the British left, the Nawab had to surrender, and he continued to live his life even though India took the majority of his assets the majority of his savings, but they gave him enough to live a comfortable life. So he remained in Hyderabad till he died in 1967. The last Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majeed, the second died in Paris, and Turkey refused to allow him to be buried even his dead body
was denied entry. So eventually the King of Saudi Arabia kingsroad had mercy and they allowed his body to be buried in Medina. He's buried in buckler, he's buried in Medina and back there. So he also passed away this person never mocha Ramadan is that grandson that brought both of these sides together, he has royal blood of the Navab he has royal blood of the Ottomans, but haircut that Allah in the 60s He then left India went to of all places Australia, settled in Australia for like 30 years in the outback not even in a major city wasn't connected much to the OMA went through his own issues which no need to get into. And he then retired to Istanbul a few decades ago, like two and a
half decades ago, lived a quiet life and then passed away. So the hotter is not about him. May Allah have mercy, antipasto, brother and Islam. The point really was just a brief reminder of some events that happened one generation ago, just one generation. And again, to me, this is just mind boggling. As a person who loves history, the very person whom the entire globe was happy at the marriage and happy at the birth and brought these families together. This isn't 1000s of years ago, he lived in our times people met and interacted with him. There is video footage of him, and he just passed away a few days ago. And one other lesson that really is an eye opener, how quickly power and fortune
comes and goes how quickly from the richest man in the world to basically the grandson having almost nothing literally like you know, because of all the things that happen in his life. I mean, Subhan Allah and even he himself from the richest man to losing an empire, the Sultan Abdul Majeed, not even being able to afford food. It has said that days would go by there's no food in his house until the Red Cross gave him some food stamps in this regard. If this is not an illiberal for us, if this is not a lesson for us, where the most powerful and the wealthiest people, their entire, you know, privilege has changed overnight. If that's not
Gonna bring us a lesson of humility then what will in any case, that's our heart that offer today a brief lesson in recent Islamic history. May Allah subhanaw taala bless you all. Until next time, Sokoloff. Here's the mnemonic when I go to law what a casual
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