"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٩‎٨] (١٧٨٢/١٧٥٣)

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Movements
of Ayiib
Khin, 1888,
M ajtahid-
Distributors
and the in
fluence of the
Iqbal'ud-
Daulab,
1876-1887.
1698
In 1879 it was alleged, in a newspaper, that some jewellery belong
ing to Nawab Taj MahalPs estate had been misappropriated by Ahmad
'Ali Khgn, Native Agent in the Baghdad Kesidency, whom the Politi
cal Agent, Colonel Nixon, seems to have sent to Karbala to take charge
of the personal effects of the deceased. The Nawab Iqbal-ud-Daulah
was nlso charged with complicity in the alleged fraud. Ahmad J Ali
Khan was tried, but must have been acquitted.*
Ayub Khan, a member of the ruling Barakzai family of Afghanistan
whose removal to India, after his last unsuccessful tattempt to assert his
pretensions in Afghanistan, had been ordered by the British Government
arrived at Baghdad from Tehran on the 28th March 1 888 and left for
India on the 2Sth April.
The Oudh Bequest, 1876-1905.
In the period now under review the affairs of the Oudh Bequest
attained a prominence and importance which necessitate its considera
tion apart from all other British official concerns in Turkish 'Iraq.
The influence of the Nawab Iqbal-ud-Daulah in its management re
mained very powerful until his death in 1887 ; and the system of a
distribution of the bulk of the proceeds of the Bequest through one
selected Mujtahid at Karbala and one at Najaf, adopted in the begin
ning, as also the plan of treating one-third of the proceeds as a separate
fund for the relief of Indians, which came into vogue as alreadv
explained about 1860, remained in force until 1902.
The Mujtahid-Distributor at Karbala was, until his death on the
13th December 1891, Mirza Saiyid Abul Qasim, Tabatabayi, known
as the Hujjat-u 1-Islam, a Persian subject, whose appointment dated
from 1872. The corresponding authority at Najaf was, until 1881 when
he died, a certain Saiyid 'All, Bahr-ul-'Ulum on whom the post had
* Ahmad 'All Khan, better known as Ahmad Agha was brought into the
Residency as Native Agent on the retirement of Mr. Michael Minas (see page 1473 ante)
m 1875. There was great opposition to his introduction on the part of certain
Armenian members of the Residency office establishment, and it culminated in his
being accused, in ]87ti, of having purloined some property which had been official!v
handed over to an Indian in a case of inheritance. A formal enquiry, held by Colonel
Nixon, Surgeon-Major Bowman, Mr. Raitt (First Officer of the "Comet") and the
Nawab Iqbal-tid-Daulah, sitting as a Committee, resulted in the exoneration of
Ahmad Ali Khan, and the dismissal of the head clerk (Mr. Johannes Th»ddeus) bv
order of the Government of India.
Ahmad 'Ali Khan who was an Indian and belonged to a distinguished Oudh
auiily, diod at Baghdad, at an advanced age, in August 1910. He was at his death
the doyen ot the Indian community at Baghdad, conspicuous for his loyalty to His
Majesty the King-Emperor, and a general favourite in European society. His son
feajjad Ali Khan was made a Nawab on the occasion of the Imperial Darbar at Delhi
in 1911, at which he was present.
t Vide page 2012 post.
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