Ayatollah Pasandideh, Imam’s elder brother in writing about the origins of his family says: our great grandfather, Din ‘Ali Shah, resided in Kashmir. It is said his ancestors were from India. Here, in this phrasal name ‘Shah’ means ‘Sayyid.’ (Memoirs of Ayatollah Pasandideh, Oral and Written History, The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works, p. 41)
He also adds: Sayyid Ahmad, our grandfather, known as Sayyid Ahmad Hendi, is the son of Din ‘Ali Shah based on the available documents. In the years between 1861 and 1871 Din ‘Ali Shah migrated from Kashmir and went on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. Colonization and occupation of Indian sub-continent by Britain was perhaps a cause of his migration. (Ibid, p. 42)
In another account, narrated by Heshmatullah Riyazi Yazdi, which has been mentioned at the last part of the same source, it is said Sayyid Heydar Mousavi Safavi Ardebili, one of the Imam’s forefathers—thirteen generations back according to the family tree—was sent to Kashmir by Mir Sayyid ‘Ali Hamedani, a great mystic of the time, to promote the message of Islam in that region. History is the witness of many sacrifices made by Imam’s ancestors some of whom were even martyred in their struggles against cruelty and oppression of dictatorial rulers. Sayyid Ahmad Hendi, however, returns and resides in Khomein after years of living in different sites and cities away from the home.