Muslim Classes: Musalmans [This account is based on the original Nasik Gazetteer contribution by Mr. Fazd Lutfullah.] are found all over the district, though in some places like Malegaon more thickly than in others. There is much doubt as to the earliest Musalman settlement in Nasik. The first Muslim invasions of the Deccan under Alla-ud-din (1296) and Malik Kafur (1318) do not seem to have left any lasting mark on the Nasik people. It was not until the establishment of the Muslim kingdoms of Khandesh (1377) and Ahmadnagar (1490) and the arrival of Muslim missionaries that the Musalmans began to form a separate community. The two leading Nasik missionaries were Khunmir Hussaini (1520) and Syed Muhammad Sadiq Sarmast Hussaini (1568). Sometimes the missionary was a healer as well as a preacher trust in his power to cure doing much to faster a belief in his creed. At the same time, much of their success was due to their influence with the neighbouring Musalman rulers. Of conversions by force under the early Deccan dynasties, there is no record. The Lakarharas and other classes are evidence of the Emperor Aurangzeb's zeal for the faith.

Syeds and Pirzadas are the only examples of strictly foreign descent. The classes who style themselves as Shaikhs and Pathans show no signs of foreign origin either in their features or in their character. Nor is their name enough to prove foreign as in the Deccan, Hindu converts commonly took the class name of their patrons or converters. The Naikvadis, the leading local body who style themselves Pathans and who are said to have been called after Haider Ali Naik of Mysore, are presumably the descendants of Hindu converts. No Pathans of pure Kabul or Peshavar descent are settled in the district. Any that occur are visitors. The Syeds are mostly found in Nasik only, the other classes are distributed all over the district.

Syeds: The Syeds claim descent from Husain, younger son of Ali, through their forefather Saint Khvaja Khunmir Hussaini who came from Persia about the end of the 9th Century of the Hijra (A. D. 1520) and settled at Gulbarga, then one of the chief centres of Muslim power. Under Muslim rule, on account of their knowledge of Muslim law and because of the piety of their lives, his descendants were chosen Qazis of several towns and cities. Their home speech is Hindustani. Short and spare in habit, with palish brown or wheat-coloured skins, they have large dark eyes and hair, and mild gentle expression. Men usually let the beard grow, the younger cutting the moustaches short above the lips and allowing them to grow near the corners of the mouth and the old entirely shaving the upper lip. Residence in India and subjection to Maratha rule have changed their hold and generous character to weak-minded timidity. They have no distinct community but unless under special circumstances, they do not marry with others than Syeds or Pirzadas of Nasik. Now-a-days their children have taken to English education, but some years ago they taught them a little Arabic, Persian, Hindustani and Marathi. Some are now in Government service.

Pirzadas: Pirzadas are a class of Syeds found in Nasik only. They are said to be descended from Syed Shah Muhammad Sadiq Sarmast Hussaini who about the close of the tenth century of the Hijra (A. D. 1568) came from Medina and having travelled over the greater part of western India settled in Nasik. He is said to have been one of the most successful of Muslim missionaries. Some of the converted classes show a special belief in his power as a saint and a warm and respectful descendant. After settling at Nasik, he married the daughter of Hussaini Syed who was in charge of the province of Bidar. Tall, strong and muscular, with black or brown eyes and hair, the Pirzadas are mostly fair; the eyes are rather large with long full eye­lashes. The nose is often rather flat and puggish, marring faces whose other features are usually handsome. The expression is firm and intelligent. Most old men and some of the young shave their heads, others wear the hair long enough to reach the ear lobes and have their beards the moustaches worn in large tufts at the corners of the mouth cut short on the lip. Jovial and fond of amusement, they are sober, steady, thrifty and generally well-to-do. Many among them are land­holders, holding lands in gift from the Moghal emperors and the Maratha rulers in consideration of the sanctity of their forefathers or of their services as soldiers. Some deal in grain, hay, fuel and some are contractors. Some used to be money-lenders also. Very few enter into money dealings with their own people as among Musalmans money-lending is against the injunctions of the Koran. They are Sunnis in faith and careful to say their daily five prayers. They do not form a separate community but in matters of marriage and social civilities, they are closely connected with Nasik Syeds. Though they generally enter into marital alliances with these Syeds, they have no objection to marry daughters of Shaikhs or Pathans of good family. Except that the oldest and most honoured among them manage the lands of shrines in whose revenues most of them have some share, there is no acknowledged head of the community. Most of their children learn some Arabic, Persian, Hindustani and Marathi and of late they take English education also.

Of Muslim traders, there are five chief classes Bohoras, Konkanis, Multanis, Lakarharas and Malbaris.

Bohoras: Bohoras have flourished in the district during the last 200 years, after the railways came into vogue. All are Shias of the Ismaili followers of the Mulla Saheb of Surat who is their high priest. With a strain of Arab or Persian blood, they are probably converts from among Hindu traders of Gujarat. Most of their families were settled in Bombay before they came to Nasik. All are shopkeepers selling stationery, European hardware, kerosene and some of them making and selling iron vessels, holding water and oil. They are a well-to-do class, have a mosque of their own, which has been munifi­cently endowed and enlarged. They are religious-minded, their worship and family ceremonies being conducted by a deputy of the Mulla Saheb of Surat.

Konkanis: Konkanis who, as their name shows, have come from the coastal districts of western India. Descendants of the Arab refugees and traders who from the 8th to the 16th century settled along the Thana district coast, they are not older than 2000 year residents of Nasik. They speak a mixture of Arabic, Hindustani and Marathi with some Konkani peculiarities. Tall and muscular though spare, with fair, ruddy or clear olive skins and black or brown eyes, the Konkanis have regular and clear-cut features with generally an expression of keenness and intelligence. The younger men wear the hair hanging to the lobe of the ear and the older shave the head. The hair on the upper lip is close cut by the young and shaved by the old. Both young and old wear full curly beards. The men have common Muslim dress but the women wear the Maratha robe and bodice, though their ornaments are the same as those worn by Deccani Muslim women. They are clean in their habits, hard-working, sober though fond of amusement, thrifty, charitable and hospitable. In their intercourse with other Musalmans, they maintain a distant but polite reserve. The Nasik Konkanis are mostly dealers in rice. They lend money to Kunbis and take rice in return. Some buy standing crops of rice. Those who enter into contracts for the sale of rice keep large numbers of cows and bullocks and during harvest time visit the fields of the peasantry to whom they have made advances. They are Sunnis of the Shafi School, devoted and religious. They have several mosques built for prayers as well as for the use of travellers and preachers. At these pla ces, Maulavis learned in the law of Islam are entertained for years at the expense of the Konkani community. They have also Madarsas or schools where a foreign Maulavi paid by the Community presides and where the boys are taught the ground-work of Arabic and fundamentals of Islam. On the nights of the Maulad and the Ramzan, these mosques are illuminated and sermons are preached by the Maulavis. The Konkani Muslims marry among themselves only and have a well-organised community under the management of some of the richest and most respected of their number. Civil and some­times criminal disputes are settled by the community which has the power of levying fines and crediting the amount to the common or mosque funds. From these funds the expenses of Maulavis and travellers are met and the deserving poor are sometimes given help. They teach their children Hindustani and Marathi and of late English. They are a flourishing set of people.

Multanis: Multanis are chiefly in western part of Nasik along the Sahyadri Hills. They are said to have come from Multan in Panjab as carriers and camp followers to Aurangzeb's armies. They speak a corrupt Hindustani full of Marathi with a Panjabi accent. They are tall and thin but muscular dark-skinned, with keen and rather sunken eyes, rather large and hooked noses and a crafty though jovial expression. Those in Nasik shave the head but keep the beard while those from Khandesh wear their hair long in wild curls and are not careful to shave the beard. The men wear common Muslim dress but their women have half Maratha, half Vanjari costume, the Vanjara bodice and the Maratha robe with a petticoat. They are honest and hard-working. They deal in dried fish which they bring from Kalyan and Bhivandi in Thana and sell in Nasik and other district towns. Sunnis in name they know nothing of their religion. Their daily life differs little from their Kunbi neighbours. It is even said that some of them, not knowing their own holidays, keep Hindu ones. They are becoming increasingly extinct in the district.

Lakarharas: Lakarharas or wood-sellers are a mixed population of Shaikhs and a few Syeds who during the reign of Aurangzeb were joined by a large number of Hindu converts, who were either woodsellers when they were Hindus or took to wood-selling when they became Musalmans. They dress like common Deccan Musalmans, except that some of the women wear the Maratha robe and bodice. They are quiet and orderly, clean, thrifty and well-to-do. They sell wood both for building and fuel, buying it from private sources as well as at forest sales. They store it in their yards or compounds and in open places which they hire for the purpose. Many of them are Government employees like policemen and forest guards. They are Sunnis but not very punctilious about their prayers. They form a separate community with one of them as their head who has power to settle disputes by small fines which go to meet the expenses of the nearest mosque. They teach their children a little Hindustani.

Malabaris: Malabaris are traders from Kerala and not permanent residents of the district. They are of an Arab-Indian stock whom the Portuguese found well-settled on the Malabar coast on arrival in India. They are generally traders in hides which they buy from butchers in large towns and from Mahars in surrounding village with whom they have regular dealings. Hides are sent by them to Bombay and Madras. Others trade in coconuts, dates, and coffee which they bring from Malabar or Bombay. Poorer sections retail glass and bangles. They are a short well-made people, with black or rich brown skins, large narrow eyes and abundance of hair which is attributed by them to their fondness for coconuts. Their women are gaunt and strong with regular but harsh features. Men shave the head and grow large bushy beards and moustaches. Their home tongue is Malyalam but they speak Hindustani with others. Men wear white skull-caps covered, out of doors by long tightly-wound coloured kerchiefs. The well-to-do wear loose long shirts with tight jackets fastened either in the middle by buttons or on the side by broad cloth strings. Instead of trousers both men and women wear coloured waist-cloths, lungis, reaching from the waist to the ankles. Women tie a skarf round their heads and as an upper garment have either a jacket or a loose shirt. Both men and women wear sandals or shoes. Their common food is rice, coconuts and fish. They are fond of drinking water in which rice has been cooked mixed with a little clarified butter. Touchy and hot-tempered, they are hard-working, religious and steady. All are Sunnis of the Shafi school and except that they do not keep many of the marriage and other ceremonies, their customs do not differ from those of the local Musalmans. They teach their children the Koran by rote and Malabari.