Khawaja ( ur, ) are prominent branch of

Khawaja Khawaja (Persian: خواجه ''khvâjəh'') is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims and the Mizrahi Jews—particula ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

Name

Khawaja is an honorific title used across the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by

Kashmiri Muslims Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has b ...

and the

Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...

—particularly

Persian Jews Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...

and

Baghdadi Jews The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian ...

. The word comes from the Iranian word ''khwāja'' (

Classical Persian Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and u ...

: ''khwāja'';

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

''khājah''; Tajik ''khoja''). The spellings ''hodja'' or ''hoca'' ( Turkish), ''খাজা (Khaaja)'' (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

), ''hodža'' ( Bosnian), ''hoxha'' ( Albanian), ''хоџа'' ( Serbian), ''χότζας'' (''chótzas'') (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

), ''hogea'' (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

), ''koja'' ( Javanese).S. Robson and S. Wibisono, 2002, ''Javanese English dictionary'' , sv ''koja'' The name is also used in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage.

Marriage customs

Khawaja people usually marry within their own social affiliation that is "Khawaja". They marry regardless of status wealth or class discrimination. Depending on circumstances a group (clan) may be as small as few hundred families and as large as few thousand families. For example, in the

Bhat Bhat (also spelled as Bhatt or Butt) is a surname in the Indian subcontinent. Bhat and Bhatt are shortened rendition of Bhatta. Etymology The word "Bhat" ( sa, भट, ) means "teacher" in Sanskrit. While the original shortened rendition of "Bh ...

clan's definition, their clan system is to be an entire group having very few sub-groups, whereas Khawajas are branched into a dozen or two sub-groups. For the Bhat clan (a Kashmiri clan) a group, by and large, usually shares an ancestral village in Kashmir as a reference point. Marriage into a family other than Khawaja family and between first cousins was discouraged in the past. Marriages to men outside the social group, i.e. the Khawaja clan (e.g. marrying outside such as Muslim Punjabi families), is now welcomed and accepted by a few Khawaja families, although some community elders may still discourage it. Although most of the departed Group of families who are out of the Family clan system ( Baradari) are not following the antique family traditions.

People using the name Khawaja

Significant figures with the name, or using the title Khawaja in South Asia include: * Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty, also known as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz was a Sunni Muslim and is the most famous Sufi saint of the

Chishti Order The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufism, Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Ch ...

of South Asia. He was born in 536 A.H./1141 CE, in Sajistan, a famous city in

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

province (other accounts say Isfahan) in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

. He is also known as "Sultan-e-Hind." *

Fariduddin Ganjshakar Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar ( ; – 7 May 1266) was a 13th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic, who was one of the most revered and distinguished Muslim mystics of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as Bā ...

Khawaja Farid (Punjabi/Saraiki: خواجہ فرید)he was a great Sufi his shrine is located in the city of Pakpattan, otherwise Pākpattan Sharīf. * Khwaja Nizamuddin *

Khwaja Khawaja ( Persian: خواجه ''khvâjəh'') is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims and the Mizrahi Jews—particu ...

Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki ''Quṭb al-Aqṭāb'' Khwājā Sayyid Muḥammad Bakhtiyār al-Ḥusaynī, Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī ( ur, ) (born 1173 – died 1235) was a Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the ...

(born 1173-died 1235) was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. *

Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari Jalaluddin "Surkh-Posh" Bukhari ( fa, , c. 595-690 AH, 1190 – 1295 CE) was a Sufi saint and missionary belonging to the Sufi order of Hussaini Jalali. Names Bukhari, a family name, is derived from the location of his birth city of B ...

was a prominent "Suhrawardiyya" Sufi saint and missionary. Bukhari was called Surkh-posh ("Red-clad") on account of the red mantle he often wore. *

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi Khawaja Shamsuddin Azeemi ( ur, خواجه شمس الدين عظيمي; born 17 October 1927) is a Pakistani scholar in the field of spiritualism and a Sufi master. He is the current head of the Azeemia Sufi order. He has written books on the sub ...

Abu Yusuf Bin Saamaan Sayyed Nasir-ud-deen Abu Yusuf Chishti ibn Abu Nasr Muhammad Saman was an early day Sufi Saint.Maudood Chishti Maudood Chishti ( ur, ) (also known as Qutubuddin, Shams Sufiyaan and Chiraag Chishtiyaan) was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to his father and master Abu Yusuf Bin Saamaan, twelfth link in the Sufi silsilah of Chishti Order, and the M ...

, *

Khwaja Wali Kirani Wali Kirani ( fa, خواجه ولی مودودی چشتی کرانی, fl c.1470) was a Muslim saint. His date of birth and date of death are not known, but is believed to have lived around the time of Sultan Hussain Mirza's rule in Herat ar ...

Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari Baha' al-Din Naqshband ( fa, بهاءالدین محمد نقشبند; 1318–1389) was the eponymous founder of what would become one of the largest Sufi Sunni orders, the Naqshbandi. Background Baha al-Din was born in March 1318 in the vi ...

شیخ دانیار

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

, *

References

{{Ethnic groups, tribes and clans of the Punjab Social groups of Pakistan Surnames Shaikh clans Social groups of India