| Caste Name: | Qidwai/ Kidwai |
| Populated States: | Uttar Pradesh India and Sindh Pakistan Middle East region |
| Languages: | Urdu and Hindi and Arabic and Persian |
| Religions: | Islam |
The Qidwai or Kidwai (ur|قدوائی, ar|قدوائی) are a community of Muslim Shaikhs in South Asia. They are mostly settled in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India and Karachi, Pakistan.
They are also settled in the city of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, and also in areas of the Middle East specifically, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Qatar.[1]
The Qidwai, together with the Milki, Malik and Chaudhary form a community of substantial landowners.
The Qidwa claim descent from Qazi Qidwa, a son of the Sultans of Rum. Qazi Qidwa fell out with his brother who was the then ruling Sultan, and migrated to India with his wife and son. There he became a close associate of the famous Sufi saint, Mu'in al-Din Chishti (1143-1236). The Sufi saint is said to have sent Qazi Qidwa to the Awadh region to spread Islam, where he is said to have won over fifty villages to Islam over some time. These fifty villages were later awarded to him, and the region became known as Qidwara.[1]
The Qidwai were recruited in the household cavalry of Shuja-ud-Daula, which was mainly composed of the Sheikhzadi.[2] [3]
These clans had not taken any profession other than a soldier or a civil officer.[4]
The abolishment of the zamindar system by the newly independent India in 1947 had a major impact on the Qidwai community. The larger estates were broken, and land given to the farmers who worked on their lands. This led to some emigration of the Qidwais to Pakistan.[5] The Qidwais are still found mainly in the districts of Lucknow.[4]
The Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award was created in 1956 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to recognize Indian researchers in the agricultural field. Awards are distributed every second year, and take the form of medals, citations, and cash prizes.[6]