Early life

H.G.Samdani was born in Baramulla

Baramulla

Baramulla , known as Varahamula in antiquity, is a city in the Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir state in northern India...

 Kashmir

Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...

 in the middle of the 19th century. It was around the 16th century that his forefathers migrated to Kashmir from Turbat-e-Jam in Iran. They were holy men, who came to the sub-continent to spread Islam through preaching. During the harsh rule of the Dogra Maharajas of Kashmir, economic activity was stifled and the local kashmiri people were repressed. This caused an exodus of refugees from Kashmir in around the 1870s/1880's. During this period, H.G. Samdani migrated with some of his brothers to Peshawar.

In Peshawar he eventually developed a reputation for honesty and integrity in his business dealings. In time he became a contractor for the British Raj, a very lucrative and coveted livelihood at the time. He went on to make his fortune supplying the British army for its numerous punative military expeditions in the N.W.F.P. and surrounding tribal areas.

Family

Being a very wealthy businessman he married several times, at the time a normal practice. He fathered a total of 47 children. Some of his sons are listed below.

• Abdul Aziz
• Mohammed Amin
• Abdur Rehman Peshawri
  Abdur Rehman Peshawri
  Abdur Rehman Peshawari was a diplomat who served as Turkey's ambassador to Afghanistan during Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's reign.- Early life :Abdur Rehman was born in Peshawar, India in the 1880/90’s. He belonged to a prominent family from Peshawar and was the son of Haji Ghulam Samdani.- Dr...
  
  
• Mohammed Hassan (Lord Hassan)
• Mohammed Naeem
• Mohammed Yahya
  Mohammed Yahya
  -Early life and education:Mohammed Yahya was born in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province in 1901. Mohammed Yahya was the second son of the sixth wife of Haji Ghulam Samdani, who belonged to Barra Mulla in Kashmir....
  
  
• Mohammed Umer
• Mohammad Yunus
  Mohammad Yunus (diplomat)
  Mohammad Yunus was a close associate and advisor to Indira Gandhi. As a member of the foreign service he served as India’s ambassador to Turkey, Indonesia, Iraq and Spain.He promoted Trade between India and the rest of the world through regular Trade Fairs and the establishment of the Pragati...
  
  

Wealth

H.G. Samdani at one time owned the following

• Almost all of the Kissa Khwani Bazaar
• Cherat Hill Station, which after development he gifted to the British army. Currently the Pakistan Army is using the station.
• A large land holding in the Khyber Agency
• Over 3000 acres (12.1 km²) of agricultural land around the Charsadda road, the Warsak canal and the Bugney River.

The marriage ceremonies of some of his sons lasted over 40 days with small fortunes being spent on the festivities and entertainment.

In the Kissakhwani Bazaar, he re-built and expanded the Qasim Ali Khan Mosque which still stands today. It is still the main centre for the sighting of the moon and announcement of Eid in Peshawar and the N.W.F.P.

Death

H. G. Samdani led an active life till his death in the mid 1920s (he was in his early 80s). He died after returning from a survey of his lands on horseback.

He is buried in Qasim Ali Khan mosque along with three of his sons.http://wikimapia.org/8433207/masjid-qasam-ali-khan