A village in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur is drawing attention from far and near over a trend that could surprise many. Almost every Muslims family in Jaunpur’s Dehri village have started using Hindu surnames, such as Dubey and Pandey.
These Muslim families claim that they have Hindu ancestry. According to a report published in The Times of India (ToI), some among them say that they have been using Hindu surnames to “bridge” the communal divide.
Naushad Ahmed, who is now Naushad Ahmed Dubey, said that senior members of his family were referred to as “Pandit ji” in their village.
The report quoted Naushad as saying that his great-grandfather told him that their ancestor Lal Bahadur Dubey arrived in Dehri and purchased a zamindari (feudal estate) from one Hazari Singh. “He converted to Islam,” he said.
Naushad further said that he still wonders what prompted his ancestor to convert.
Naushad went on to say that there are many Muslims who had been using Hindu surnames such as Chaudhary, Solanki, Tyagi, Patel, Rana, Sikarwar for decades and “no eyebrows were raised”.
“But the use of titles like Dubey and Thakur have drawn attention. I never used ‘Sheikh’ with my name, like my relatives, as it’s an Arabic title and not Indian,” Naushad was quoted as saying by ToI.
Naushad, as per the report, practises Islamic rituals and offers namaz five times a day. He also owns seven cows and loves tending them.
Though he is not averse to applying tilak on his forehead, Naushad says he has “no desire to reconvert”.
The report further mentioned Naushad recalling meeting historian and president of Vishal Bharat Sansthan Rajiv Srivastava a couple of years ago and sought help to trace his ancestry.
Srivastava cited records to conclude that Naushad’s ancestors were Brahmins and their gotra was “Vatsa”.
As per the report, Sheikh Abdullah took up “Dubey” claiming he had “found that his forefathers were Hindus” who used the same surname.
Another villager, Ehtesham Ahmed, said he found his forefathers were “Brahmins”. However, Ehtesham has not adopted a Hindu surname till now as he is yet to find out which surname his forefathers used. “Many families in the village have started adopting Hindu titles,” he was quoted as saying by ToI.
Meanwhile, Gufran, a villager, is Thakur Gufran, Irshad Ahmed is Irshad Ahmed Pandey and Abdullah is Adbullah Dubey.
Link to article –
Naushad Dubey, Irshad Pandey… what’s in the surname? This Indian village has a story to tell
