Gardezi
Gardezi (Persian: گردیزی ) is a Persian family name.
The name denotes people from Gardez, one of the 34 provincial capitals in Afghanistan. As such, the surname is widespread among the people in Afghanistan. One of the most famous Gardezis is Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī (died c. 1061) who was a Persian geographer and historian of the early 11th century from Gardēz and the author of the general history book, Zayn al-Akhbār. Gardēzī's work is of great importance to the history of medieval Khorasan, eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Gardēzī took a dispassionate view of history which is fairly remarkable for its time. For example he does not either praise the Ghaznavids nor the coming of the Saljuqs. His style of Persian is simple but mature and provides one of the classical examples of Persian prose-writing.
The Great Spiritual Family of Multan (South Punjab, Pakistan) are also known as Gardezis, that they are known to be descendants from the Persian Twelver Shia saint HRH Sayyid Muhammad Shah Yousef Gardezi. He immigrated to the country, from Khorasan,later from Gardez; the capital of Paktia province in Afghanistan where his grandfather Syed Shah Ali Qaswar lived, almost a thousand years ago. For hundreds of years, their collective land holding was known to be the largest in what is now Punjab province in Pakistan. It was said that one could drive for over four hours through Gardezi's Land. Having held well against numerous invaders including the infamous Sikhs, however they lost almost one quarter of their collective land holding to the British. Although this does not come as a surprise as over time strong traditional dynasties do weaken or fade away, but given the ability of the Gardezis to hold on to their traditional values, knowledge base and massive intellectual and civic service contribution, their prestige remains unparalleled. The influence of modern times did not spare the Gardezis as most of them sold their agricultural land over time, hence further reducing their assets.
In spite of their previously held vast land holdings and currently held supreme heritage, it is a common knowledge that, in over one thousand years of their history in Multan, they have not killed a single human. Such is the peaceful nature of this particular family of South Punjab what is now Pakistan. One of the descendants of Syed Shah Yousuf Gardezi moved towards Pothowar for preaching and the tomb of Syed Shah Munawar (Shah Sachiar) Gardezi is situated in Bharakahu near Islamabad. Before death he directed his sons to move towards Murree, whose descendants later moved to Kashmir now Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A large number of Gardezi Sadaat presently live in Districts Bagh, Poonch and Sudhnuti. This family has preserved their family lineage through years and are widely respected by other tribes due to their nobility. REf.( Tarikh Saadat Gardezi in Kashmir)