Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

Nagriya- Family #287

The earliest known forebearers of the Nagriya family in Ceylon was one Fakeer Mohammed, who had four sons, Abdul Latif, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Karim, and Haji Kassim.

Abdul Rahman is sad to have been an itinerant trader in the up country who would resort to the vast tea plantations established by European Planters and sell textiles to the estate workers of South Indian origin who had been brought by the Colonial British Raj to provide cheap labor for the booming tea plantation industry. Ceylon Tea had by then become a household name in Europe and the demand for it kept increasing over the years. This meant more indentured labor and of course more business for those like Abdul Rahman who met the Indian Communities demand for the basic necessities of life, like cloth. he eventually settled in the picturesque upcountry town of Matale, prompted perhaps by the convenience of having a Railway Station close to him which greatly facilitated his trading activities. He established a textile business here in the name of Regal Drapery Stores, in 1943, and was helped in the business by his sons, one of whom Iqbal, was born in Matale in 1948.

In the late 1960's word spread that considerable quantities of Sapphires had been discovered in Elahara in the Matale District and Iqbal was not slow in joining te great Sapphire rush of that time. He soon formed his own gem trading company called Regal Gems, which traded in rough uncut stones and was on his way to making it big, particularly, when he decided to venture into Tanzania, where he would purchase precious and semi precious stones before bringing them to Sri Lanka, processing them and exporting them to overseas markets. He was also the first local gem trader to resort to Ilakaka in Madagascar, where considerable hordes of precious stones had been found. That was in 1998. He was helped by his son Althaf in this lucrative operation, which involved the mining of gem stones in rather difficult terrain, before sending these to Sri Lanka for cutting and polishing, after which they would be exported.

Althaf, who involved himself in his fathers business in 1990 is today a promising gem merchant in his office at Macan Markar Arcade near Galle Face Green. The company regularly takes part in the FACETS Gem show as well as in Exhibitions in HingKong and USA, promoting gem stones in a big way.

Althaf's younger brother, Asmath, obtained his MA Degree in Economics from the University of Aberdeen in 2004 and is presently an investment advisor at John Keells & Company Ltd., one of the largest business conglomerates in the island.

Iqbal's younger brother established his family textile business in Colombo 1983 and was joined by his sons to assist him. His oldest son Shakir joined the business at the young age of 17.

The Nagriya family is renowned for its devotion to various religious causes. Iqbal Abdul Rahman Nagriya built the Fathima Mosque in Matale Town naming it after his beloved mother, Fathima. Ghaffar Abdul Rahman was responsible for building the Chatham Street Mosque in Colombo Fort.

Haji Omar Nagriya, son of Abdul Latiff, like most Memons of his time was a textile merchant and the proprietor of Diplomat Textiles in Third Cross Street in The Pettah. A religious man, he helped build the Rahumaniya Mosque and Madarasa in Grandpass. His son, Abdul Latiff, also ministers to the religious needs of the Community and is the present Mutawalli of the Memon Hanafi Mosque. His tenure as Mutawalli has seen substantial improvement to the Mosque, particularly in its interior which was subjected to some splendid renovation work lately. Among his other contributions are the setting up and maintenance of a Madarasa at Princess Gate Panchikawatte known as Madarasathul Madinah where over a 100 students benefit from daily Quranic classes. He also built Faizan-e-Madinah, a Madarasah for girls in Kattankudy, where over a 100 girls are taking Hifz and Alima courses.

Abdul Latiff Haji Omar Nagriya, is also an industrialist involved in the manufacture of garments for exports. His first venture was Red Heart Garment Industries, located in Mabole, which was set up in 1985. In 1993 he started Red Heart Apparels (pvt) Ltd. in Bibile under the 200 garment factory program launched by President Premadasa. In 1998 he embarked on Red Heart Fashions (pvt) Ltd, in Weeraketiya, under President Chandrika Kumaratunge's 50 garment factory program and his latest venture is another factory of Red Heart Fashions under President Mahinda Rajapakse's 300 factory program. He was also one time Snooker Champion who beat Pakistan 3-0 in the Sri Lanka-Pakistan test series held in 1989.

1 Nagriya

    2  Fakir Mohammed Nagriya

        3 Abdul Latif Fakir Nagriya

            4 Haji Omar Abdul Latiff Nagriya

                5 Abdul Latiff Haji Omar Nagriya

        3 Haji Abdul Rahman Fakir Nagriya, b:1910 in Kutiyana + Fathima

            4 Ghaffar Abdul Rahman Nagriya

            4 Iqbal Abdul Rahman Nagriya, b:1948

                5 Althaf Iqbal Nagriya

                5 Asmath Iqbal Nagriya

            4 Hafeez Abdul Rahman Nagriya, b:1951 + Zaiboon Nissa Sayani, d/o Abdul Karim Yusuf Sayani (280)

                5 Shakir Hafeez Nagriya + Anisa Azeez Ali Mohammed, Bio & Chemistry Teacher

                5 Shiraz Hafeez Nagriya, graduated in law from the University of London

                5 Shazan Hafeez Nagriya

4 Haji Abdul Rahman Hassim Nagriya + Hajiyani Roshan (d/o Haji Abdul Rahman Bhoja)

                5 Haji Shabir Hassim Nagriya + Hajiyani Samreen (d/o Haji Muneer Patel)

        3 Abdul Karim Fakir Nagriya

        3 Haji Kassim Fakir Nagriya

Compiled by the Webmaster of the Sri Lanka Genealogy Website from available data in Sri Lankan archives together with data extracted from "Memons of Sri Lanka" - Men Memoirs Milestones, by Asiff Hussein & Hameed Karim Bhoja, May 2006, iSBN 955-1408-00-4, Published by The Memon Association of Sri Lanka.