One of the most distinguished personality of the kokni community is Late Sir  Nakhuda Mohammad Ali Roghay, a prosperous business man  & great philanthropist  who is known for his generous contribution to various educational religious institution.. The word Nakhuda is equivalent to  English language word “Navigator/captain” of the ship. This title probably came from his ownership of  a fleet of ships engaged in sea trade. The Juma masjid of Bombay (Mumbai) , the largest mosque of Mumbai city which is, an architectural marvel in its design & construction in its present shape,  is reportedly  the result of renovation & enlargement carried out  & financed by Late Sir  Nakhuda Mohammad Ali Roghay in & around 1837.The large burial ground at Queen’s Road, opposite Marine Lines Railway Station on western Railway is his endowment for the entire muslim community under the administration of  Juma Masjid Trust.

One of his descendants carrying same name of  Nakhuda Muhammad Ali s/o Mohammad Amin Roghay also proved equally generous & philantrophist . He financed repair , expansion , renovation of Juma Masji in 1874. Many other mosqus namely Nakhuda Mohalla mosque, Jamli Mohalla mosque are constructed from his contribution. He is associated with establishment of institution of Anjuman-e-Islam ( in 1897) with Tayyabjis & also contributed for construction of its first building at Victoria Terminus (commonly  known as Bori Bunder Station &  now  named Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.)

He was a businessman of reputation.  It is said that in 1797,he made a donation of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand)for restarting the work of construction of Juma Masjid in initial stages  which was held up on account of  financial and technical difficulties.  As a result of this the work of construction was completed in 1802 with contribution from other donors. More information on him is solicited .

Janab Bashir Tungekar, President of KoMWA,  is one of the few seniors member of  the Kokni community of Mumbai  who is  still socially active  and has been  a willing participant in the matters of the Community.  His family has long relationship with other prominent families of the Jamat. He would usually narrate to us stories about  some of  well known , distinguished  personalities of their period. We urged him to pen down whatever he could recollect from his memory and his personal knowledge, so that some information on  these towering personalities could be hosted on the web site of Kokni  Muslim Welfare Association, Mumbai. It will be appreciated that the generation following us may not even have this brief information which is compiled by Mr. Basher Tungekar.

We are thankful to Mr.Bashir Tungekar  for accepting our request and for giving us a brief but informative write up on seven such personalities. As admitted by him, the write ups are not exhaustive and need updates. It is therefore requested that any relative, friend or acquaintance of these persons should help us in improving the write up by providing us with  whatever information they possess. The specific details which will throw more light on these person such as date / year of Birth & death, name of school /college attended, details of profession, achievements in the academic/social/ professional/Art/literary field,   some memorable photographs, details of any literary work, certificates of appreciation etc. You will appreciate that this information hosted on the websites will be of great knowledge & inspiration for the present generation & also for generations to follow. I also appeal to other members of the Association to come forth with such write up about their ancestors, relatives, friends & acquaintances & help make this web site a storehouse of valuable treasure of information on our community

I am presenting the following write up about some of kokni community’s well known distinguished  personalities  from the past. It is based on my personal knowledge & memory & of what I heard from my ancestors. The write up by me needs further input such as place & date of birth, schooling / college  details etc  I therefore appeal to member of community & the  relative having additional information to come forward & furnish the information to Association for updating web site information . I hope my small effort will go a long way for keeping the memories of these persons alive among the generations to follow.

He  was born in 1876 in Mumbai & lived in Curtay Manzil, Null bazaar. He was Municipal Councillor for a long period of 22 long years on account of his popularity among the citizens comprising many communities.  For his illustrious services , he was given the title of “Khan Bahadur”, & was also made a “Justice of Peace” .He took active part in the famous Khilafat Movement against British Rule in India.

He was the first Chairman of Ismail Yusuf College, belonging to Ismail Yusuf Trust, now under State Government of Maharashtra.

He was  a scholar in Arabic , Persian and Urdu languages. He  authored  a four volume book named ”Khanka-e- Azal’ in the Persian language. He was also a poet with JALIL as title (takhallus). Even today  beautiful couplets in persian language written by him decorate many  Shafi mosques of Mumbai city which poetically describe  date and year of construction of these mosques. The Shafi mosques  of Kazi Street ( Mohalla), Islampura, and Jamli Mohalla bear these couplets engraved on marble slabs.

He was  a leading legal luminary of his time and one of the  FEW LEADING LEGAL ADVISORS/Consultant   ON MUSLIM PERSONAL LAW DURING PRE-PARTITION DAYS. Late Moahmmad Ali Jinnah and  other prominent  judges, advocates, muftis, clerics would seek his opinion on Islamic matters.

He was also a Unani Medicine practitioner called Hakim. Many political leaders have taken treatment from him notably Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. He was offered post of Governor of Sindh after partition in index entries found in 1947, which he declined.

He was born in Mumbai and lived in Haindade House in Ali Umer Street (Tukri Mohalla) Mumbai. He lived a simple austere life. He used to travel from his home to to the H’ble High Court, using   the popular public transport i.e.Tram Car running in Mumbai that time.His  attire was  a black Sherwani ( long coat), Turkish cap, with an umbrella in his hand.

He was born in Mumbai  and lived in  Khatkhatay House in Chakla Street ( Crawford Market) Mumbai.He was an elite and scholar with MA degree from University of Mumbai. He earned the title of Moulvi on account his knowlegde of HADITH. He was academically  associated with famous scholar Moulana Shibli Nomani , Khawaja Hasan Nizami. He had academic exchanges with famous urdu scholar Moulvi Abdul Haque. His scholarly work included,

Majmooa-e- Halaat-e- Shah Alvi
Makhdoom Ali Mahimi
Kokni  Mas- ale Aur Maslehat
Tarikh-al-Kokniya
He was the Nazir of Juma Masjid of Mumbai Trust and also in charge of Madrass-e- Muhammadiya, a school cum Boarding House being run  in the premises of Juma Masjid. During his time he made valuable contribution to the Kutub  Khana-e- Muhammadiya,  a library consisting of rare, precious books and original manuscript.

He left for heavenly abode in 1930.

He did his schooling from Ismail  Beg Muhammad  High School , Mohammad Ali Road, & his graduation from St. Xaviers  College ( Dhobi Talao). He obtained a degree in law (LLB)  from Government Law College , Churchgate, Mumbai. He was on the  Editorial Board of the magazine “Karwane  Adam” edited by the well known professor of Urdu  Janab Dadarkar, St. Xaviers College. He was first among few citizens of Mumbai  who took a bold decision of shifting his residence to  newly promoted twin city of  Vashi ( New Mumbai) across Thane Creek  which initially had multiple civic problem of transport & connectivity to Mumbai.
In 1960, he took the responsibility of Nazir Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust , & rendered valuable service. He was also an elected trustee of Juma Masjid multiple time.He was a practicing advocate in High Court & was authority on  matters related to Charitable organization & Trust .
In he was elected as Joint Secretary on the  Board of Anjuman-e-Islam, the prestigious Muslim Educational Institution running educational establishment which  includes Saboo Siddik College of Engineering.  He was elected as  General Secretary post he held till his demise in the year November 2001

He was born in Mumbai and lived in Kambekar Street

Late Moulvi Abdul Kadir Chorghay was  a teacher of Arabic, Persian and Dinayt 1926-1956. He was an eloquent orator on Islam.  He was a poet of Urdu language with “LUTUF” as his title (takhallus). The couplet written by him are visible  at the entrance of Dargah of Shaikh Makhdoom Saheb Mahimi and at the Dargah of Peerwadi Saint  in Uran. He was given the title of “ Guardian”  of Muslim High School  by the late  Ziauddin the then  principle of Anjuman-e-Islam High School, Mumbai VT  and also  by  Late Syed Shabuddin  Dasnavi, of Saboo Siddik Polytechnic, Byculla.

He was an scholar of repute in Urdu, Persian, & Arabic language.  He was selected as a teacher to teach the British military personnel these languages at the Military Cadet School, Mumbai around 1803. He was known as Munshi  in the School. He also rendered service as official Translator in Mumbai High Court.

His literary contribution is three volumes of “ Taleemnama” . He also wrote simple books for the benefits of children on religious topics known as “ Wuzu Namaz” & Noorul Imaan”.He established  a madrassa in Qazi Street, Mumbai -400003 known as “Dada Maqba Ka Madrasa”. He financed two schools one in Kalwa and one in Rabodi, town of Thane District of Maharshtra.

1. Brief History provided by Mohammad Zubair  Abdul Aziz  Murghay  in Urdu language.
2. English Translation  of this history helped by Mohammad Javed Murshedkar.Copy of Order issued in 1837, by Robert Grant, Governor of
3. Mumbai, appointing Mohammad Yusuf bin Mohammad Husain Moorghay as the Cazee  (Qazi) & head of all Muslims in Mumbai,

Photographs of Qazi Mohammad Hasan Murghay solemnizing Nikah in a Kokni marriage. In this photograph Janab Mohammad Husain Effendi is

sitting opposite to Qazi Murghay & hugging the bridegroom.

Fathers Name:  HAJI MALANG KHAN

Born:  1902

Qualification: P.S.C.,   P.T.C.

Professionally a Teacher and Journalist. Founder of Urdu Literary Magazine from Bombay called as “ SUBH-E-UMMID”.

He was brought up in Mohammadia Orphanage, Mumbai and received his primary school certificate from there. Later on he did his PTC from Raichand Premchand Training College, Ahmedabad  and started teaching in a Bombay Municipal Corporation school. To make the both ends meet he had to take tuitions but soon became the librarian of Khatri Library and was relieved of his financial constraints. His association with the Education Department of Bombay Municipal Corporation was spread over a span of 25 years.

He was keenly interested in reading and writing and started translating articles and stories from Marathi, Gujarati and Persian and getting them published in the journals like Taleem and Rahnuma-i-Taleem and news papers like Khilafat and Ajmal which were widely read and respected in the Urdu world. Soon he started his own monthly magazine ‘Subh-e-Ummid’ in 1936. Along with this journal he also started a weekly named ‘Naee Roshni’ that later on became a daily but could not survive beyond 1965. However ‘Subh-e-Ummid’ continued to come out with special issues on Jigar, Iqbal, Ghalib, as well as Africa, Maharashtra , Gujarat and National Integration .These special issues or “Numbers” as they are called in Urdu, created milestones in the history of Urdu literary journalism.

He has written the following booklets on social and cultural aspects as well as a biography of Mahatma Gandhi.

1.Tazkira-i-Qaum-e-Kokani  2. Islam Aur Gadagari  3. Tark-e-Sharab  4. Mahatma Gandhi etc. 5. Safar Nama-i- Hijaz

He expired on 16th October 1982.

He was a business man of reputation . It is said that in 1797  ,he made a donation of Rs 10,000/- ( ten thousand)for restarting the work of construction of Juma Masjid in initial stages  which was held up on account of  financial & technical difficulties.  As a result of this the work of construction was completed in 1802 with contribution from other donors. More information on him is solicited

Late Mohammad Ibrahim Fitrat Tungekar was born in Tungekar family of Kokni Jamat affiliated to Juma Masjid  of Mumbai. He lost his father Mohammad Ali while very young..He was brought up by mother & uncles with great hardship. When grown up he took up the job of Librarian in the library of Juma Masjid (Kutub Khane Mohammadiya), where he worked for 18 long years. In 1965 he resigned from this post & entered into the field of journalism. Meanwhile he established a  welfare organization  “ Markaze Arbabe Talim” In Qazi Street in 1950 which was helping poor students with text books & notebooks. This organization was active till 1985. He started his carrier with famous urdu newspaper “ Inquilaab” daily & also with evening newspaper “Hindustaan”. After twenty years of his experience in journalism, he started his own monthly magazine  “Safeer-e-Kokan” from Panvel city with the support from the distinguished personality of Panvel Mr. Ahamad Khatib. However its publication lasted only for few years.

Thereafter he started a weekly newspaper “Nav-jawan“ from Mumbai. He also took active part in political activities. Before partition he was an active member of Muslim League. After partition he alongwith late Abdul Qadir Hafizka established “Fourth Party”, which later on merged into Indian National Congress. He contested in  an election of Mumbai Municipal Corporation for the first time  as  Municipal Councillor but lost. He later resigned from Congress party & joined Indian Union Muslim League formed by Haji Noor Mohammad Ahmad, with Gulam Mehmood Banatwala as Secretary. In 1972  he contested again from Panjrapol constituency of Central Mumbai & was elected. He served as member of Education Committee of Municipal Corporation for five long years. He was  deputy leader of Muslim League party in the Municipal Corportion. In 1980, he started weekly newpaper “ Aawaze Vatan “ & then daily newspaper “ Qayadat” . He left for Heavenly abode in 1994.Click edit button to change this text.