Shi'a Islam in Pakistan

Shia Islam was brought to the Indian subcontinent during the final years of the Rashidun Caliphate. The Indian subcontinent also served as a refuge for some Shias escaping persecution from Umayyads, Abbasids, Ayyubids, and Ottomans. The immigration continued throughout the second millennium until the formation of modern nation states. Shi'ism also won converts among the local population.

Shia Islam has a long history and deep roots in the subcontinent. However, the earliest major political influence was that of the Shia dynasties in Deccan. It was here that the indigenous and distinct Shia culture took shape. After the conquest of Golconda by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century and subsequent establishment of hereditary governorship in Awadh after his death, Lucknow became the nerve center of Indian Shi'ism.

In the 18th century, intellectual movements of Islamic puritanism were launched by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in Najd and Shah Waliullah and his sons, with Shah Abdul Aziz being the main flag-bearer of modern anti-Shi'ism in Delhi. These movements coincided with the beginning of the British conquest of India and the downfall of Shia dynasties in Bengal and Awadh. These factors caused the onset of continuous persecution of the Shia community and laid the foundations of organised violence against them that has become a part of Shia life in the Indian subcontinent, especially Pakistan.

Demography

Shias in the Indian subcontinent are a minority that is geographically scattered in the majority population. It is because the medieval subcontinent was tolerant and multicultural society and the Shias were not forced to live in ghettos. It is in total contrast to the Shias of the Middle East, who enjoy a local majority in their homelands because they were compelled to ghettoize in the medieval period because of persecution, and because of this demographic resource, they have become important political players in modern times.

Pakistan is said to have a Shia population of at least 16 million, like India. Vali Nasr claims the Shia population to be as high as 30 million. Pew Research Center estimated the number of Shias in Pakistan and India to be 10 – 15 percent of the total Muslim population, while for Bangladesh it was estimated to be less than 1% Estimated percentage range of Shias by country can be downloaded from: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2009/10/Shiarange.pdf to 2% of the total population. Andreas Rieck in his detailed study of the Shias of Pakistan, estimates their numbers between 20 million, and around 10% of the total population of Pakistan.

Pre-Partition Census

In British India, Shias and Sunnis were counted separately in the 1881, 1911 and 1921 census. The results were not reflective of reality as most Shias hide their religious beliefs from the state, because Shias feared the data might leak to the anti-Shia bigots and used to target them. For example, in 1881 Census of Jhang District, only 11, 835 people among the 326, 919 Muslims identified themselves as Shias. In 1921, in the census for Bihar and Orissa, 3711 Shias were counted separately, but the outcome was clearly absurd because an estimate made at the time placed the numbers at 17,000, i.e. five times the census enumeration.J. N. Hollister, "''The Shi'a of India"'', page 181, Luzac and Co. London (1953). In the report of the Superintendent of Census Operations in the Province we read that:

"''It is certain that these figures are not nearly complete, and the reason is that many Shias refused to record themselves as such''".

For Patna, the outcome was ten times less than the estimate. It was for this reason that in the 1931 and 1941, it was decided not to count Muslims as Shias and Sunnis separately.

History

Rashidun Caliphate (632–661)

The connection between the Indus Valley and Shia Islam was established by the initial Muslim missions. According to Derryl N. Maclean, a link between Sindh and Shias or proto-Shias can be traced to Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, a companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who traveled across Sind to Makran in the year 649 and presented a report on the area to the Caliph. He supported Ali, and died in the Battle of the Camel alongside Sindhi Jats. He was also a poet and few couplets of his poem in praise of Ali ibn Abu Talib have survived, as reported in Chachnama:Derryl N. Maclean," Religion and Society in Arab Sind", p. 126, BRILL, (1989) .

"Oh Ali, owing to your alliance (with the prophet) you are truly of high birth, and your example is great, and you are wise and excellent, and your advent has made your age an age of generosity and kindness and brotherly love". , sign=, source=, title=

During the reign of Ali, many Jats came under the influence of Shi'ism. Harith ibn Murrah Al-abdi and Sayfi ibn Fil' al-Shaybani, both officers of Ali's army, attacked bandits and chased them to Al-Qiqan (present-day Quetta) in the year 658.

Umayyad Period (661–750)

Under the Umayyads, partisans of Ali were persecuted. Sayfi, a commander of Ali's army which had fought against bandits in present-day Balouchistan, was one of the seven Shias who were beheaded alongside Hujr ibn Adi al-Kindi in 660AD, near Damascus. Many Shias sought asylum in the region of Sindh, perhaps to live in relative peace among the Shia Jats. Ziyad Hindi is one of those refugees. The second wife of the fourth Shia Imam, Ali ibn Hussain, Jayda al-Sindi, was from Sindh. She is the mother of Zayd ibn Ali. Sindh was conquered and added to the Umayyad dynasty by Muhammad ibn Qasim in 711 AD. Persecution of Shias in the Umayyad dynasty reached its peak in the times of Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, especially at the hands of Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. While Muhammad ibn Qasim was governor of Shiraz, a disciple of the companion of Prophet Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari and famous narrator of Hadith, a supporter of revolt of Ibn al-Ashʿath and a Shia notable of the time, Atiyah ibn Sa'd was arrested by him on the orders of Al-Hajjaj and commanded to curse Ali or be punished. Atiyah refused and was flogged by 400 lashes and his head and beard shaved for humiliation. He fled to Khurasan.Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, "Tahdhib al-Tahdhib", Volume 7, pp. 226, narrator no. 413. Muhammad ibn Qasim had moved on to invade Sindh after this incident, and history is silent about how he treated the Shias of Sindh.

Abbasid Period (750–1258)

After the brief Umayyad rule in Sind had come to an end, history counts ten among the seventy notable Muslims of the eighth and ninth centuries bearing a Sindhi family name (14.3% of all individuals) to be Shi'ites. In the initial excavation of the urban complex of Brahmanabad-Mansurah-Mahfuzah, A. P. Bellasis uncovered a seal bearing the Arabic inscription "Imam al-Baqir" which appear to belong to the fifth Shi'ite Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (677–733). Some students of Imam Jafar Al Sadiq had Indian family names, e.g. Aban Sindi, Khalid Sindi and Faraj Sindi.

Abdullah Shah Ghazi

The first major Shi'ite missionary wave that touched the shores of Sindh was the movement lead by Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyah ibn Abdullah ibn Hasan ibn Hasan ibn Ali, his son Abdullah al-Ashtar and his brother Ibrahim. Around the year 761, they came by sea from Aden to Sind to visit a partisan, Umar ibn Hafs Hazarmard. The next year, Ibrahim went to Kufah and Nafs al-Zakiyah to Medina and started planning the revolt. Abdullah al-Ashtar, also known as Abdullah Shah Ghazi, stayed in Sindh, married a local Muslim woman and had children by her. Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Athir say that the governor had Shi'ite inclinations. Abdullah al-Ashtar had around 400 troops of the Shi'ite Zaydiyah branch, who at the time were active supporters of Ahlulbayt, ready for armed struggle. However, the governor received word from his wife in Basrah that Nafs Al-Zakiyah had been killed in Medina (14 Ramadan 145/6 December 762). Confused and undecided, he told Abdullah Ashtar that:

"''I know an influential Hindu king in a district of Sindh who has a strong army. Despite his polytheism, he greatly honors he family ofthe Prophet. He is a trustworthy person. I will write to him and try to arrange an agreement between you and him. You will know that this is the best place for you and your followers. ''"

The Hindu king agreed to offer asylum. Abdullah al-Ashtar spent some years there, probably from 763 to 770. Eventually, the news of his safe escape reached the caliph al-Mansur who deposed Umar ibn Hafs and appointed Hisham ibn Amr al-Taghlibi on the understanding that he will arrest Abdullah al-Ashtar, kill or disperse the Zaydiyah troops, and annexe the Hindu dynasty. When Hisham also hesitated to carry out the massacre, his brother Sufayh did it in his place, killing Abdullah along with many of his companions.

The Buyids and the Fatimids

In the Abbasid Caliphate, various Shiite groups organised secret opposition to their rule. In the tenth and eleventh centuries,The Twelver Shias of the Buyid Dynasty (934–1055) managed to establish their rule over much of Iran and Iraq without removing the Abbasid Caliph from his throne. Parallel to it was the Ismaili Shia Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171) in Egypt and North Africa. This was the golden age of Islam as scientists like Ibn Sina (980–1037), ibn al -Haytham (965–1040), Al-Biruni (973–1050) and hundreds of others enjoyed the intellectual freedom and contributed to philosophy, medicine, physics and other disciplines of science.
When the historian and geographer al-Masudi arrived in Sindh in 915, he met a number of Shias there. They were descendants of Umar ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-Hanafiyah. The poet Abu Dulaf Misar ibn Muhalhil al-Yanbui, who came to India around 942, noted that the 'ruler of Multan was a descendant of Umar ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (عمر الاطراف). Perhaps the Shi'ites were quasi-independent in a sector of the province of Multan.
During the mid-11th century, the Buyids gradually fell to the Ghaznavid and Seljuq invasions, and with it started the decline of the Islamic Golden Age. In 1091, the famous Sunni theologian, Imam Al-Ghazali, declared that Philosophers like Ibn Sina were heretics. His book Tahāfut al-Falāsifa proved to be the final blow to science education in Islamic world.

Around 958, a Fatimid missionary converted a local Hindu ruler, and an Ismaili state was established in Sind, with its capital in Multan. They converted locals to Ismailism ''en masse'', while the khutba was read in the name of the Fatimid Caliph. It was during this period that the earliest public mourning of Muharram and the Shia call to prayer (''Azan'') was introduced to the Indus valley (present-day Pakistan).S. A. N. Rezavi, "The Shia Muslims", in ''History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization'', Vol. 2, Part. 2: "Religious Movements and Institutions in Medieval India", Chapter 13, Oxford University Press (2006).

The Ghaznavids and the Ghurids

In 1005, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna invaded Multan. The Shi'a mosque was destroyed and reduced to a barn-floor. Five years later, he attacked again and annexed the territory completely. Ismailism managed to survive in Sind and enjoyed the protection of the Soomras, a dynasty based in Thatta for almost three centuries starting in 1051. Small pockets of Ismaili community also thrived in Uchh, Aror, Mansura and Bhakkar.

The Ghaznavid Empire was overthrown in 1186 when Sultan Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad of Ghor conquered the last Ghaznavid capital of Lahore. He was a great military leader and unlike Ghaznavids, he founded an empire in India, the Delhi Sultanate. Sultan Muhammad Ghuri lead many military campaigns in north India. On his way to Ghazni from India in 1206, he was killed. Some sources claim that he was assassinated at the hands of a devotee of the so-called "malahida" (a derogatory term used for Ismailis in medieval history),S. A. N. Rezavi, "The State, Shia's and Shi'ism in Medieval India ",Studies in People's History, 4, 1, p. 32–45, SAGE (2017). others claim that it was Khokhars who killed him.

Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)

The predecessors of the Delhi Sultanate were the Ghurids. To understand the Shia-State relations in Medieval India, it is necessary to look at the nature of Sunni Islam that was brought to this region following the conquest of the Ghurids. Pashtun tribes crossed the Hindu kush mountains to present-day Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province) between the 13th and 16th centuries, and mixed with the locals. The Ghurid tribe had embraced Islam in the times of Ali ibn Abu Talib. The Arab conquest of Persia, that began in 643, reached Khurasan region in 653 where local Pushtun tribes offered fierce resistance.Yahia Baiza, "The Hazaras of Afghanistan and their Shi'a Orientation: An Analytical Historical Survey", Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 151 - 171, (2014). The leader of the tribes, Mahawi Suri from the Shansabanian family along with a group of Ghurid chieftains visited the Caliph in Kufa. Upon meeting Ali in 657, they converted to Islam and Mahawi Suri was appointed governor of the region. The most of today's Afghanistan became part of the Muslim world in the reign of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. Ghur in Khurasan was the only part of Muslim world that had defied the Umayyad tradition of cursing Ali. The family of the first Rashidun Caliph Abu Bakr had resisted the Umayyad rule. His daughter Aisha, his sons Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr and Abdur Rahman ibn Abu Bakr, his grandson Abdullah ibn Zubayr and the son of his nephew, Abdur Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Ash'ath are the prominent Sunni opponents of the Umayyad rule. The Sunnis of Khurasan were as opposed to the Umayyad rule as the Shias were. They had been instrumental in overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty and in Abbasid rule under the Shia commander Abu Muslim al-Khurasani. The influential Muslim theologian, Imam Abu Hanifa (699 – 767) was born to an Afghan family living in Kufa, he had great regard for the Ahlulbayt and supported the Shi'ite revolt lead by Zayd ibn Ali. The Delhi empire carried this legacy of attachment with Ahlulbayt and the family of Caliph Abu Bakr. It was during the early years of the Delhi Sultanate that the great Sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti (1142–1236) set his foot in India and converted many locals to Islam.

During the early years of the establishment of Delhi Sultanate, a number of Ismaili Shias had settled around Delhi. Ismaili faith was also introduced to Gujrat during these years. Ismaili missionaries spread across Gujrat and managed to establish the Nizari Ismaili Khoja community and the Mustali Bohras. Till the reign of Iltutmish, they remained politically inactive, preaching their ideology secretly. In contrast to Ismailis, history does not record the presence of mainstream Twelver Shi'ism in the first phase of Delhi sultanate. One reason could be Taqiya, because the Shias fleeing persecution in the Middle East settled in the subcontinent as local minorities cautious of threats to their survival. The other reason for this is that the love of Ahlulbayt and the commemoration of Muharram by the Sufi's helped the twelver Shias integrate well into the Sunni Muslim minority of India and not claim a separate political identity. For example, during the Gwalior campaign of Iltutmish, special sermons by the name of "''tazkirs''" were delivered in the military camps during the first ten days of Muharram. Ibn Battuta came across Syed families in Delhi that had originally migrated from Hijaz and Iraq in the reign of Mumamad Tughluq (1324 – 1351). They might have fled persecution carried out by Ibn Taymiyyah and the Mamluks. Twelver Shias seem to be enjoying freedom and equal-before-the-law status during this period. However, when Sultan Feroz Shah (1351–1388) assumed power, he persecuted them. His order inscribed on the Firozshah Kotla Mosque, reads that ‘Shias had published tracts and books on their creed, and engaged in the preaching the faith’. He claimed that he had seized all such Shia missionaries, paraded them for humiliation, executed the prominent ones, while burning their books.Sirat-i Firozshahi, facsimile ed. of Patna MS, 1999, pp. 117–22.

As cited in: S. A. N. Rezavi, "The Shia Muslims", in History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. 2, Part. 2: "Religious Movements and Institutions in Medieval India", Chapter 13, Oxford University Press (2006). This was a rare incident of its kind in the medieval India. In 1380, the Sufi saint, Syed Muhammad Ashraf Jahangir Simnani introduced the ''alam-i Abbas'' to the subcontinent, the black signature flag of the Muharram commemorations.

By the end of fourteenth century, the southern and eastern parts of Delhi sultanate proclaimed independence and two separate kingdoms emerged: Jaunpur Sultanate in the east and the Bahmani Sultanate in the southern part of India.

Shia rule in Makran

Contemporary to Delhi Sultanate, a small Shia kingdom had emerged in Makran, the Malik dynasty. At the end of the thirteenth century, Marco Polo seems to have noticed them, when he mentioned the country as follows:

"''Kesmacoran (i. e. Kech Makran) is a kingdom having a king of its own and a peculiar language. Some of the people are idolaters, but the most part are Saracens''".Gazetteer of Makran and Kharan District, p. 47, (1907).

In the time of one Malik Kuchko, the country is said to have numerous population, and high degree of civilisation. The decline of this dynasty was caused by an attack by the ruler of Kirman in 1613. Malik Mirza, the last ruler, was killed and this marks the end of the Malik dynasty.

Shi'ism in Kashmir

In 1381, after Timur invaded Iran, Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, an Iranian Sufi arrived in Kashmir with a large number of disciples and preached Islam. He instilled the love of Ahlul Bayt in the hearts of the new converts and wrote many books and tracts. Shi'ism was properly introduced by Mir Shams-ud Din Iraqi whose grandfather Syed Muhammad Noor Bakhsh belonged to the Sufi order of Mir Syed Ali Hamdani and had huge following base in Iran, Qandhar, Kabul and Kashmir. Mir Shams-ud Din arrived in Kashmir in 1481 and then returned to Iran. Twenty years later in 1501, he came to Kashmir again, along with 700 Shia Sufis, scholars and missionaries. In 1505, the King of the Shah Mir Dynasty converted to Shi'ism and so did the Chak clan of Kashmir. He traveled in the valleys of Himalayas and spread Shi'ism from Skardu to Tibet, converting thousands of Hindus and Buddhists to Shi'ism. In 1516, the Sunni Chak dynasty was established and forcible conversions of Hindus began. In 1532, Sultan Said Khan dispatched an army under the command of Mirza Haider Dughlat that attacked Kashmir from Kashgar.S. A. A. Rizvi, "A Socio-Intellectual History of Isna Ashari Shi'is in India", Vol. 1, pp. 171–176, Mar'ifat Publishing House, Canberra (1986). He hated Shias and therefore went on a killing spree. Soon he suffered a military defeat and fled to the Mughal King Humayun in Lahore. He returned in 1540, accompanied by Mughal troops, at the invitation of one of the two rival factions that continually fought for power in Kashmir. He put an end to the Chak rule. His reign was a reign of terror and Shias had no choice but to practice ''Taqiyya''. In 1550, he killed Mir Danial, the son of Mir Shams-ud Din Iraqi. This sparked an all-out revolt and he was killed by the end of the same year. Chak dynasty was re-established and in 1586, it merged with the Mughal Empire. Mughals appointed talented officers and contributed greatly to the cultural and economic life of Kashmir. In the following four centuries, Sunni Ulema and militia of the area and abroad, led ten campaigns of terror against Shias known as " Taraaj-e Shia" in the years: 1548, 1585, 1635, 1686, 1719, 1741, 1762, 1801, 1830 and 1872; during which the Shia villages were plundered, people slaughtered, women raped, libraries burnt, corpses mutilated and their sacred sites destroyed.Zaheen, "Shi'ism in Kashmir, 1477–1885", International Research Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 4(4), 74–80, April (2015).

Shi'ism in Gilgit Baltistan

In the 16th century, while Gilgit was ruled by a Buddhist King Sri Badat, it was invaded by Shamsher of Skardu where Shi'ism had already won converts. Sri Badat's treatment of people is said to be so harsh that when Shamsher invaded, the people rose to rebellion and he fled the country. Shamsher introduced Shi'ism to Gilgit.Military Report and Gazetteer of the Gilgit Agency, 2nd ed., page 44, (1927). His successors were Malik Khan, Tratra Khan and Trakhan, respectively. During the rule of Trakhan, Gilgit was invaded by Taj Mughal of Badakhshan. Trakhan was forced to accept Sunnism, and pay a yearly tribute. Taj Mughal then attacked Hunza, seized the ruler, Girkis, and forced them to change their faith. Nagar was not invaded and the people there have retained their original Shia creed. Around 1659, Sang-i Ali, the ruler of Chitral attacked Gilgit and expelled its ruler, Mirza Khan, who went to Skardu and there he converted to Shia faith. He returned with a stronger force and conquered Gilgit.

Shi'ism in south India (1490–1687)

Ibn Battuta reports a settlement of Shi‘as at Quilon in Kerala in the first decades of the fourteenth century, where they ‘proclaimed their affiliation openly’. The Bahmani kingdom (1347–1526) in the Deccan, had its capital in Gulbarga and then Bidar (in Karnataka) ruled by a dynasty of Persian origin. It patronized men of scholarship and hence Shia missionaries and scholars arrived in Deccan. In the phase of decline, it split up into five smaller kingdoms, three of them ruled by Shias.

The Adil Shahi dynasty (1489–1686)

Yusuf Adil Shah of Turkic origin, the adopted son of a Shia scholar Mahmud Gawan, declared autonomy in Bijapur in 1489 after his father was executed by the drunk king, and proclaimed Shi‘ism as the state religion in 1502. Bijapur became the first Twelver Shia state in India, with Ja'fari, Hanafi and Sha'fi schools of Islamic law, each applied to its followers. It was the first time in India that ''Shia Adhan'' was called on the state pulpits and names of the twelve Shia Imams be included in ''Khutba''. However, he strictly banned the practice of '' tabarra''. In 1579, the king Ibrahim II adopted Sunni sect, but the people were allowed to follow their own. The Adil Shahi dynasty stayed independent until 1686 when it was annexed to the Mughal Empire by Aurangzeb.

The Qutb Shahi dynasty (1512–1687)

The longest surviving Shia-ruled state in southern India was that of the Qutb Shahs. Its founder Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk was of Turkoman origins. He ordered the ''Khutba'' to be read in the names of the twelve Shia Imams. This kingdom was known for its wealth: it is the only one among the Deccan sultanates to have a currency of gold coins. It became the hub of Shia culture in India, later surpassed only by Lucknow. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1565–1612) is the first Urdu

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