Iraqi Biradri is a Sunni Muslim caste found chiefly in Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Ballia, Deoria and Gorakhpur districts of the eastern Uttar Pradesh in India. Iraqi Biradri is also referred to as Iraqi Shaikh.

History and origin

Iraqi biradri is a descendant population of immigrants from the country of Iraq. Recent facts argue that their ancestors were the immediate descendants of Sayyid Masud Al Hussaini and his poorly defined retinue, all recent immigrants from Iraq. Sayyid Masud Al Hussaini successfully extended the Ghazipur area under the Delhi Sultanate, settling with his family in the newly conquered city during the Mamluk Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq circa 1330. As a result, Iraqi Biradri are known have to settled in Ghazipur in the 14th century, with an origin roughly 700 years ago. The ancestors as old as 300 years or more are now very well-identified in many towns/villages of the districts as mentioned above including Ghazipur in the form of distinct family trees. The above-mentioned Iraqi Biradri and a separate Muslim caste, the converted Hindu Kalals as Araquis, Rakis, or simply 'Kalal Iraqi' were characterized to be in one group in United Provinces (or U.P.) based on the work of British colonial civil administrators and others. These mistaken reports attributed a fallacy toward the Iraqi Biradri for more than a century in the past.

Ethnic Iraqis

Genetics

A variety of Y-DNA haplogroups are found among certain random samples that represent distinct Iraqi families as outlined above. The Y-DNA haplogroups included: M198(R1a1a), branches R-Y6, R-Y7 and Y39 or M560; Y-DNA haplogroup J2-M172, branches J2a and J2b; Y-DNA Haplogroup J-M267 or J1a; and Y-DNA haplogroup L, L-M27 or L-M76 (23andme, DNA Ancestry results).

Notable people