I began my research into the history of the Khorasanee family in the early 2000s. The impetus for this was the loss of my father in 1999. With his passing I felt that a link to the past, particularly to the generations like him who had been born and brought up in Burma, was in danger of being lost. He had given me a couple of old family photographs without knowing the people who were portrayed in them. We were left with many gaps in our knowledge of our ancestors and their lives. My father, being one of the younger sons of his parents, had limited knowledge about his family history.

Mohamad Ali, the eldest of my father’s brothers, along with his wife Shireen Ispahany, left behind invaluable family trees and photographs. In fact, one of the reasons why I went ahead with collating all this information, was due to a sad handwritten message on one of the family trees saying that knowledge about many of Mulla Ashraf’s descendants is lost to us, and if someone doesn’t take an interest the other descendants will also be forgotten. These family trees and photographs were very kindly presented to me by my cousin Sharukh, with whom I had many discussions about family history. In addition to the wonderful book that he wrote, Under Five Flags, he had also commissioned a professional print out of the family tree that I had created.

Added to this, I spoke several times to my great uncle Dawood, the half brother of my grandfather Hasan Ali. Despite the difference in time zones and never having met me, he gave generously of his time in discussions of family history probably long since forgotten.

My uncle Mohamad Ameen wrote an interesting and informative account of his family’s history in Burma.

Lastly, my mother Ruhie Khorasanee, and family friend of my father, Ebrahim Shirazi, shared stories that provided invaluable information.