Quick Facts
Biography
Syed Faizullah Khan (c.1730 - July 17, 1794)was the first Nawab of Rampur. The princely state of Rampur was set up in 1774, after the First Rohilla War, by the dismemberment of the Rohilla state of Rohilkhand. Faizullah Khan, the surviving heir of Ali Mohammed Khan and opponent of the forces of Awadh and the British East India Company in the war, was installed as ruler of what was a state. It bordered the Maratha Empire to the south, making it a strategic point.
Biography
He was the second son of Ali Muhammad Khan. He assumed rule of the Rohillas after his father's death. In 1774, during the invasion of Rohilkhand by the united armies of the Vizier Shuja-ud-Daula and the British East India Company, Faizullah Khan led a resistance in which many of the Rohilla's principal chiefs were killed. Escaping from the slaughter, Faizullah Khan made his retreat good towards the mountains, with all his treasure. He collected the scattered remains of his countrymen; and as he was the eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khan, he seems at length to have been generally acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's authority.
Faizullah Khan was a syed among the pashtuns and his family settled South Asia during the Mughal Empire. The pashtuns consisted of high-ranking soldiers and administrative elites of the Mughal Empire. Rampur State was one of the important Shia princely states with Awadh. Faizullah Khan was Sunni and wanted his son Muhammad Ali Khan to accept the same tradition. However, due to the influence and teaching of Nawab Asaf-ud-Dauala, his eldest son accepted Shia creed.
He was buried in a tomb near Eidgah Darawaza Rampur.
Under tutelage of the East India Company, Faizullah Khan ruled peacefully for 20 years. The capital Rampur was founded, and the Raza Library collection gathered.
Descendants
He had 18 children.
From wife Gulzadi Begum Kulan, sister of his brother-in-law Bahadur Khan Kamalzai:
- Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan, eldest son
- Nawab Ghulam Muhammad Khan, son,
- Ajeeb Begum, daughter
- Badshah Begum
From wife Taj Begum of Kamalzai ancestry:
- Syed Hasan Ali Khan, son
- Syed Hussain Ali Khan, son
- Umdah Begum, daughter
- Alahi Khan, daughter
From wife Gulzadi Begum Khird of Kamalzai tribe:
- Syed Nizam Ali Khan, son
- Syed Fatah Ali Khan, son
- Syed Nizam Ali Khan, son
- Syed Qasim Ali Khan, son
- Meena Begum, daughter
- Amani Begum, daughter
From wife Nihayat Begum of Bunerwal ancestry:
- Syed Yaqub Ali Khan, son
- Syed Kareem-ullah Khan, son
- Jani Begum, daughter
- Ajooba khan (aka Bobo), daughter