Sayyid brothers
The Sayyid brothers were Abdullah Khan II and Syed Hussain Ali Khan, two powerful Mughal nobles who were active during the decline of the Mughal Empire.
They were Indian Muslims belonging to the Sadaat-e-Bara clan of the Barha dynasty, who claimed to be Sayyids or the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The first ancestor of the Sayyid brothers to come to India (Punjab) was Abul Farah Wasti, a Zaidi Muslim and descendant of the 4th Shia Imam Zainul Abdeen, who arrived in 1206. Their ancestors remained in Punjab for around 400 years until they migrated to Jansath in western Uttar Pradesh in the early 17th century. The brothers became highly influential in the Mughal court after Aurangzeb's death in 1707 and became de facto sovereigns of the empire when they began to seat and unseat emperors. They restored Mughal authority to Ajmer in Rajasthan with the surrender of Maharaja Ajit Singh, and the Jat leader Churaman. During their rule, the Sikh rebel Banda Singh Bahadur was captured and executed. The Sayyids engaged in recruitment of soldiers, very few of whom were not Sayyids, or inhabitants of Barha, or non-Muslims.
Emperor Bahadur Shah I died in 1712, and his successor Jahandar Shah was assassinated on the orders of the Sayyid brothers. In 1713, Jahandar's nephew Farrukhsiyar (r. 1713–1719) became the emperor also with the help of the brothers. His reign marked the ascendancy of the brothers, who monopolised state power and reduced the emperor to a figurehead. The brothers conspired to send Nizam-ul-Mulk to the Deccan, away from the Mughal court to reduce his influence. In 1719, the brothers blinded, deposed and murdered Farrukhsiyar. They then arranged for his first cousin, Rafi ud-Darajat, to be the next ruler in February 1719. When Rafi ud-Darajat died of lung disease in June, they made his elder brother, Rafi ud-Daulah (Shah Jahan II), ruler. After the latter died of lung disease in September, Muhammad Shah (r. 1719–1748) ascended the throne at the age of 17 with the Sayyid brothers as regents until 1720.
To restore his de facto power, Muhammad Shah arranged for the brothers to be killed with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah and Sadaat Khan Burhan Ul Mulk. Syed Hussain Ali Khan was murdered at Fatehpur Sikri in 1720, and Syed Hassan Ali Khan was fatally poisoned in 1722.