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New Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Amid Israel-Iran war, this nondescript Uttar Pradesh village linked to Khomeini is back in the public eye
LUCKNOW: Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh is drawing attention for its links to the biggest figure in Iran's recent political history. Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, the fiery cleric who ignited Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and became its first supreme leader, had his roots in Kintoor in Barabanki district, around 50 km from state capital Lucknow. Now, the village, once dominated by Shias, has a population of 13000 with just five Shia families remaining here. From Kintoor, Ayatollah Khomeini's grandfather Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi had migrated to Iran in the 19th century. Among the five Shia families now residing in the village, the Kazmis claim a distant kinship with Musavi. A portrait of Khomeini adorns a wall in the room of Syed Nihal Kazmi who claims that his great great great grandfather Mufti Mohammad Quli Musavi and Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi were cousins. As per the Kazmis, Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi was born in an illustrious family of Shia scholars in Kintoor in 1790. In 1830, at the age of 40, he embarked on a pilgrimage along with the Nawab of Awadh. After visiting the revered Islamic cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, they ultimately reached Khomein in Iran, where Musavi chose to settle permanently. The Kazmis claim that Musavi added the word Hindi with his name to reflect his Indian roots in which he used to take pride. 'He added 'Hindi' to his name to keep Hindustan alive in his identity," said Syed Adil Kazmi. In 1839, Musavi married Sakineh Ahmad, his friend's sister. She was his third wife who gave birth to Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini's father Syed Mostafa. Musavi died in 1869 and was buried in Karbala. However, the Kazmis also claim that the Musavis originally belonged to Nishapur in Iran and migrated to India in the early 1700s, settling in Kintoor.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
In UP village, forgotten Indian roots of Ayatollah Khomeini
KINTOOR (BARABANKI): A village by the Ghaghara, 70km from Lucknow, claims a legacy that altered the fate of Iran. Only five Shia families remain in Kintoor, once a thriving centre of Shia scholarship under Oudh. Among them, the Kazmis speak of a bloodline that runs from the lanes of eastern UP's Barabanki to the heart of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. "My great-great-great-grandfather Mufti Mohammad Quli Musavi and Syed Ahmad Musavi were cousins," said septuagenarian Syed Nihal Kazmi, seated beneath a fading portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini - Iran's first supreme leader until his death in 1989. Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi - grandfather of Ayatollah Khomeini - was born in Kintoor in the early 1800s. In 1830, he left British India on a pilgrimage to Najaf in Iraq, where he befriended Yusef Khan Kamarchi, a landowner from Farahan in Iran. By 1839, Ahmad had settled in Khomeyn, purchased a big house with a garden, and married Yusef's sister Sakineh.
