Different Virsions of Kadiwals
The Sayeds in the line of Sayed Imam Shah (1430-1520)were known as Pirana Sayeds and the Sayeds of the mainstream of the communityin the descent of Sayed Rehmatullah Shah were called Kadiwal Sayeds. Thereare different versions for the appellation of the word Kadiwal. It is relatedthat Sayed Rehmatullah Shah, the son of Pir Hasan Kabir and his family membersshortly lived in the village, named Kadhi, between Uchh and Multan, and thenhe had gone to live in a village, Kadi in the northern Gujrat on the routeto Junagadh. Thus, his descendants became known as Kadhiwala, or Kadiwala.Another tradition suggests that the male members of the family of Sayed RehmatullahShah used to wear an iron band (kadi) round their arms, and therefore, theyearned the title of Kadiwal (the people of iron band). It is also said thathis descendants used to recited a couplet (kadi) of the ginan before thenew converts, who called them as Kadi'wala (reciters of couplet). One oraltradition however indicates without a mark of veracity that Sayed RehmatullahShah, or his descendants had lived in the village called, Kaliyanwala, about5 miles from Hafizabad in Punjab. This village was also pronounced as Kadiwala instead of Kaliyanwala, and thus, they were called Kadiwala Sayeds. It is also interesting to note that there is one village, about 15 miles from Gujranwala on the way to Dakhanmandi in Punjab, whose inhabitants were the followers of Pir Shams. It has been frequently described that Sayed Rehmatullah Shah had gone to live in a village, named Kadi in Kutchh, and became known as KadiwalSayeds. Culling up the accessible oral traditions, it seems however nearerto the possibility that Sayed Rehmatullah Shah and his descendants livedin a village, called Kadi in Gujrat. The Bohra community in Gujrat is knownunder the four regional terms, i.e., Patani Vohras, Charotar Vohras, SuratiVohras and Kadiwal Vohras. Likewise, the Ismaili Sayeds also became knownmost probably as Kadiwal Sayeds due to residing in Kadi, Gujrat.
The Kadiwal Sayeds carried on the mission in India forabout 250 years. Some of them had retained their contact with the Imams inIran, but some discontinued, and conducted the mission independently. SayedRehmatullah Shah mostly preached in Gujrat and Kutchh. Sayed Nurbaksh (1446-1504),the grandson of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin, also known as Sayed Mitha Shah in Punjab, is said to have preached in Jammu and Kashmir. He was assisted by his son Mir Shamsuddin II. Sayed Nurbaksh also visited Badakhshan, Kohistan, Tibet, Gilgit, Yarkand and Iskardu. His son was also active in Kashmir, and his followersbecame known as Shamsi, who migrated towards Punjab during 14th century. They preached Ismailism in the Sufic mantle and their Sufic tariqah becameknown as Nurbakhshia, also existed in Kohistan.