Who were Tipu Sultan ancestors?

Who were Tipu Sultan ancestors?. According to Haider-nama (completed in 1784 and commissioned by Tipu Sultan himself), Haider Ali's ancestors were "Navayats". The term Navayat (نویات) referred to the descendants of Arab settlers in the coastal regions of South India. Thus Haider-nama alludes to the Arab origin of the family. The author of Haider-nama, a Hindu, was a courtier of Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan. [1]

Another courtier of Tipu Sultan, Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani, in his book 'Nishan i Haideri' (written in circa 1798-1802) also asserts that ancestors of Tipu Sultan and Haider Ali were Arabs from the Quresh tribe. He writes:

"In the reign of Muhammad Adil Shah, king of Bijapur....a certain Shaikh Wali Muhammad, of the tribe of Quresh, a man devoted to religion, compelled by accidental circumstances arrived from the neighborhood of Delhi at the noble city of Gulberga."

In an Arabic and Persian inscription on the north wall of the mosque that Tipu Sultan commissioned in the center of Shrirangapattana, the Mysore king’s eulogy includes the line that “[All] Muslims are dependent on the Muslims of the Quresh”, alluding to the Arab-Quresh origin of Tipu Sultan. [3]

References

1- "Devotional Sovereignty Kingship and Religion in India", by Caleb Simmons, p-35
2- The History of Hydur Naik (English translation of Nishan i Haideri), by Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani, p-
3- "Devotional Sovereignty Kingship and Religion in India", by Caleb Simmons, p-36

Tipu himself stood firing cooly at his advancing foes. By Arthur David McCormick.

Portrait of Tipu Sultan