Pirzada

The Pirzada (Peerzada) family
Current region Turkey
 Iran
 Afghanistan
 Pakistan
 India
 Bangladesh
EtymologyPersian for "Son of a saint"

Pirzada is historically described as official owners of Sufi mausoleums and shrines in Muslim lands, with their earliest mentions being in Baghdad, Iraq, during the period of the Ilkhanate, Timurids and Mamluks. Often a Pirzada was a descendant of those buried within the tomb they were assigned to, hence most of the Pirzadas are Syeds.

The word Pirzada comes from a Persian word, Pir (Persian: پیر) which means elder[1] and the suffix zada means; son of. It also serves as surname for their ascendants in many Indo-Aryan cultures and their accompanying languages, with Pirzada translating into "the son of a saint" in Persian. Today, predominantly-Muslim families bearing the name can be found in various regions around the world, including Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Much of their lineage can be traced to the central Asian plateaus, consisting of the Soviet Union's former republics, such as Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Chechnya, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Much of the modern-day Pirzada diaspora derives from the mass migration of the community from Central Asia towards several different areas immediately at a date that is estimated to be sometime during the 15th century.

  1. ^ Newby, Gordon (2002). A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (1st ed.). Oxford: One World. p. 173. ISBN 1-85168-295-3.