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, 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 fighting on his behalf alongside Sindhi
Jats. 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. 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 led 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: in Karachi "
I know an influential Hindu king in a district of Sindh who has a strong army. Despite his polytheism, he greatly honors [the family of] the 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 the 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).
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. 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), others claim that it was
Khokhars who killed him.
Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) (image c. 1615) The predecessors of the Delhi Sultanate were the Ghurids. Sunni Islam 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. 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 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 led 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. 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". 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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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 poet to have compiled and published a divan and also the first to write a
Marsiya in Urdu. A Shia scholar and scientist,
Mir Muhammad Momin, came to Golconda in 1581, and was assigned the task of designing the new capital
Hyderabad, which was built in 1591. The first
Imambara in India, by the name of "
Badshahi Ashurkhana" was built along with other monuments and buildings like
Charminar, gardens of Ilahi Mahal, Jama Masjid, Colleges and Hospitals. In 1592, the oldest surviving flag
Alam was erected at the Ashurkhana. The kingdom was at the center of diamond production and trade, not
Asia alone but worldwide. rich in agriculture as it was, it was also famous for its weapons industry, cloth, carpet, agriculture, diamond and gold mines. Its riches lured Mughal Empire into attack and Shia religious and intellectual culture lost state patronage after it was annexed by
Aurangzeb in 1687. File:Deccan sultanates 1490 - 1687 ad.png|The Deccan sultanates (1490–1687) File:Madarasa of Mahmud Gawan.JPG|Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was built by Mahmud Gawan, the Shia scholar and Vizier, in 1460. File:Charminar sumeet photography 3.JPG|The Charminar designed in 1591 by the Shia scholar Mir Muhammad Momin, is located in Hyderabad, India. File:Golconda Fort Hyderabad, Golconda Fort Hyderabad India.jpg|Golconda Fort File:Hyderabad,_Badshahi_Ashurkhana,_interno_01.jpg|Badshahi Ashurkhana, the first Imambargah in the subcontinent, built in 1591 File:Co-education in Qutb Shahi Dynasty.jpeg| Co-education in Golconda: this painting represents a scene in a school with an old teacher seated in the middle in the mid-17th century, Sir Ratan Tata Art Collection 22.3427
The Nizam Shahi dynasty (1490–1633) Another dynasty in the Deccan, the
Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar, was founded in 1490 by
Ahmad Nizam Shah, the son of a Hindu convert to Islam. His son,
Burhan Shah, became a staunch
Isma'ili Shi'a under the influence of
Shah Tahir, the
imam of the Muhammad-Shahi (Mu'mini) line of
Nizaris. Their independence was lost when the Mughal Emperor
Akbar forced them to pay tribute. In 1633 AD their kingdom was finally annexed by the Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan.
Mughal Empire Phase-I (1526–1707 AD) In March 1526 AD,
Babur defeated the last monarch of the Delhi Sultanate,
Ibrahim Lodhi, at Panipat and one year later defeated the Rajput hero
Rana Sanga near Sikri. He became the first Mughal Emperor of India but died shortly after, in 1530 AD at Agra. Majority of his army commanders were Turani Begs, however, some of them were Iranians. His son Humayun succeeded him, who inherited his military and Sufi-hanafi orientation. However, he met a crushing defeat at the hands of
Sher Shah Suri in 1540, due to disputes among his brothers, and fled to Iran where
Shah Tahmasp welcomed him warmly. In 1545 AD, Hamayun with the help of Iranian military genius
Bayram Khan, launched attack on Qandhar and then seized Kabul. He conquered Delhi in 1555 AD and died the next year, leaving the throne to his young son
Akbar, who was to rule India for almost half a century and become one of the greatest Emperors, Plato's
philosopher king, of India. Him and his contemporary in Deccan,
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, are perhaps the most enlightened and progressive Kings in Indian history. In his childhood, two influential Sunni clerics persuaded him to turn a blind eye to their atrocities against Shias. In 1564 AD, a Shia philosopher and mathematician, Mir Murtaza Shirazi, moved to Akbar's court. When he died in 1567 AD, he was buried near the great poet Amir Khusrow. Shaykh Abd un Nabi and Mulla Makhdum-ul Mulk insisted that his dead body be taken out and buried somewhere else, the young Emperor ordered and his grave was dug up. Around 1570 AD, a Shia jurist, Mir Habsh Turbati was killed, and in Kashmir, Akbar's envoy Mirza Muqim. The two clerics would not tolerate difference of opinion, and using their influence in the court of the young king, they forced Fayzi and Abu-ul Fazl into going underground. However, soon the king had enough of their bigotry and he started questioning what he had been taught. In 1575 AD, he built a debating hall by the name of
Ibadatkhana, where he would hold discussions between men of knowledge from all backgrounds. The Mughal state was secular, perhaps the pioneer of secularism, and did not facilitate hate crimes, but a cold war between Shia and Sunni elite continued. Mughal Emperors except Aurangzeb, were indifferent to sectarian disputes and did not encourage sectarian violence.
Shia revival in Punjab In the sixteenth century, an influential Shia saint Syed Raju Shah Bukhari of
Layyah launched a campaign against unnecessary
taqiyya amongst the Shia and invited them to express their beliefs more openly. Another saint, Syed Mahbub-i Alam Shah Jiwana (1490 – 1564 AD) settled in a village near Jhang. During this time, many saints and syeds professed their faith and identified as Shia openly. They and their disciples proselytized across the agricultural heartlands of Punjab.
Shia intelligentsia in Akbar's court During the reign of the curious and just Akbar the Great (1556–1605 AD), men of knowledge from all over India gathered at his
Ibadat khana in the then Maughal capital,
Fatehpur Sikri. Among them were three Shia scholars:
Shah Fathullah Shirazi,
Qazi Nurullah Shustari and
Mullah Ahmad Thattavi. The foundations of Shi'i theology in present-day Pakistan were laid by
Qazi Nurullah Shustari who stayed in Lahore from 1586 AD to 1599 AD. He was born in a scholarly family of Iran in 1549 AD. In 1584 AD, he moved from Mash'had to India and arrived in Akbar's court the next year. In 1586 AD, Akbar shifted his capital to Lahore and appointed him as the Qazi (chief jurist) of the city. He accepted the position on the condition that he will follow his own judgement (Ijtihad) and not adhere to a particular school of jurisprudence. He reformed the judiciary system and made sure that justice was served to the masses.
Mulla Badauni says:
"He has reduced the insolent jurists and subtle and crafty judges to order and has eradicated their corruption and has put constraints on their conduct. He is well-known for his neutrality, modesty, piety, justice, virtue, and qualities of a noble man. He is well known for his scholarship, decision power, insight, and clarity of thought. He has authored many tracts and also possesses poetic faculty After completing his basic education in Thatta, he went to
Mashhad at the age of 22 and attended a course of Ibn Sina's book on medical science,
The Canon. He then went to
Qazvin,
Iraq and finally
Makkah, visiting places and attending different courses. Upon his return to India, he first went to the Qutb Shahi court in Golkonda and then in 1583, he joined Akbar's court. In the debates about the history of Islam, he used to advocate Shia point of view with missionary zeal. In 1589 AD, He was assassinated in Lahore, his grave was exhumed and his body mutilated and then put to fire by his opponents.
Shah Fathullah Shirazi was one of the leading intellectuals of India, expert on the books of
Ibn Sina and
Shaikh-i-Ishraq as well as mathematics and astronomy of the time. He lived in Bijapur city of Adil Shahi Sultanate of Deccan. Akbar invited him to his court in Fathpur Sikri. He arrived in 1583 AD. The jagirdars on his way were ordered to welcome him and escort his caravan. He was appointed the Amin-ul Mulk (trustee of the empire), Azud-ud Daula (arm of the empire) and a joint finance minister with
Raja Todar Mal. He was tasked with financial reforms. In May 1589, Shah Fathullah fell ill and died, while accompanying the Emperor on his visit to Kashmir. His death was a great loss for Akbar. Although his strict observance of religious discipline and rituals in his daily life was distasteful to the Emperor, he was given full freedom by the secular king. He actively took part in the discussions at the
Ibadat khana. He designed and improved weapons, made new astronomical tables and researched on pedagogical approaches for children with special needs. His students kept his tradition alive and as a result, rational sciences became a part of the
madrassa curriculum until the 19th century AD, when
Shah Waliullah's puritanism replaced them with orthodoxy.
Anti-Shi'ism of the Orthodoxy Shaikh
Ahmad Sirhindi wrote a treatise under the title "
Radd-e-Rawafiz" to justify the execution of Shia nobles by
Abdullah Khan Uzbek in
Mashhad. According to him, the worst distorters of faith "are those who bear malice against the companions of Prophet Muhammad. God has called them Kafirs in the Quran". In a letter to
Shaikh Farid Bukhari, he said that showing respect to the distortors of faith (
ahl-e-Bidʻah) amounted to destruction of Islam.
Jahangir and Shah Jahan in
Dhaka, built by Mir Murad under patronage of
Shah Shuja, who was governor of Bengal in Shah Jahan's era.
Jahangir and
Shah Jahan both continued Akbar's policy of coexistence and secularism. Although Jahangir executed Qazi Nurullah Shushtari, it was not for religious reasons; rather, he disliked many of his father's associates and acted against them.
Francisco Pelsaert, a Dutch merchant who lived in Agra between 1620 and 1627 AD, gives an account of people openly commemorating Muharram: "
In commemoration of this tragedy, they wail all night for a period of ten days. The women recite lamentations and display grief. The men carry two decorated coffins on the main roads of the city with many lamps. Large crowds attend these ceremonies, with great cries of mourning and noise. The chief event is on the last night, when it seems as if a Pharoah had killed all the infants in one night. The outcry lasts till the first quarter of the day". A similar liberty was noticed when Mahmud Balkhi visited Lahore in Muharram 1625 AD, he wrote: "
The whole city was commemorating Muharram with passion and enthusiasm. Tazias were taken out on the 10th and the shops were closed. However, a stampede due to failure of crowd control resulted in deaths of around 75 people". Qazi Nurullah's son, Ala-ul Mulk, was appointed tutor of
Shah Shuja, the second son of Shahjahan. Ala-ul Mulk and one of his brothers lived in
Dhaka and introduced the Shi'i creed there. During Shah Jahan's rule over North India, Shi'ism was introduced in Bengal under patronage of his son Shah Shuja, and the second Imambargah of the subcontinent,
Hussaini Dalan, was built in the capital city of
Dhaka. In Shah Jahan's court, sometimes religious debates took place and the Emperor does not seems to be taking sides. The most influential Shia of Shahjahan's era was Ali Mardan Khan. He was appointed governor of Kashmir and Punjab. In Lahore, he built the famous
Shalimar Garden and the Shahi Canal. He also rebuilt the road from Sirinagar to Lahore. In Kashmir too, he built gardens and a caravanserai in the name of twelve Shia Imams. Another important Shia noble of the time was Mir Jumla Said Khan, also known as Muazzam Khan Khan-i Khanan. He was an influential general in the Qutb Shahi dynasty and after alienation in
Abdullah Qutb Shah's court, he shifted his loyalty to the Mughal court. His role in bringing
Aurangzeb to power and
annexation of Deccan was instrumental.
Aurangzeb's religiosity Aurangzeb (1658 – 1707 AD) was an able ruler, often compared to his great-grandfather Akbar, but he differed from him in his worldview. When he saw the
khudadad mahal of
Hyderabad, an important Shia building, he ordered its destruction. Aurangzeb gathered a board of Sunni jurists and tasked them with a compilation of
Hanafi rulings later known as
Fatawa Alamgiri. This was a detailed document, consisting of some 30 volumes. It changed the statecraft of the Mughal Empire and elevated the status of
Hanafi Maturidi Sunni Islam, sometimes to the detriment of other faiths and sects. Some Shias opted to practice taqiyya to preserve court positions, such as
Ruhullah Khan, whose Shi'ism only came to light when he was buried as a Shia according to his will. As a ruler, Aurangzeb spent most of his reign campaigning in
the Deccan, where some of the rulers were Shias. He wrote: "
[Qutb-ul-Mulk] popularized
rifz and criticism of the companions of Prophet, both being a sign of infidelity and heresy, to the extent that the entire kingdom had abandoned the Sunni faith". However, while some of Aurangzeb's policies targeted these communities, he did appoint learned and skillful individuals from those communities as officers. In 1646 AD, Aurangzeb ordered the assassination the leader of the
Dawoodi Bohra Isma'ili Shia sect,
Qutub Khan Qutbuddin. In the aftermath, the Bohra community, who were sea-faring merchants, resorted to taqiya. In some instances, they were heavily fined and their books were confiscated. Between 1701 and 1706 AD, the Shi'i governor of
Kashmir, Ibrahim Khan, appointed a board of Shia theologians to compile the "
Bayaz-e-Ibrahimi", in which rare manuscripts were collected from different sources.
Shi'ism in Kurram Valley The
turi Shia tribe of Turkish origin were living in the tribal areas of the Indus valley from medieval times as nomadic tribes, but by the end of Aurangzeb's rule, they had established themselves in Kurram valley and introduced Shi'ism in the valley.
Mughal Empire Phase-II (1707–1857 AD) Aurangzeb's successor
Bahadur Shah was a tafzili Sunni. He had made peace with Rajputs and invited Sikh guru
Gobind Singh to his court. The Maratha leader Shahu was busy with crushing rebels at home. Sikhs resumed their revolt under Banda, and Bahadur Shah had to move to Lahore to contain it. He is also said to have visited the famous Shia saint,
Barri Shah Latif, then living in a village at the feet of Margala Hills (present day
Islamabad) and paid tributes. Aurangzeb's bigotry had fueled a cold war between Shia and Sunni elite in North India. Bahadur Shah tried to sort out the Shia-Sunni problem but his death in 1712 AD left the question undecided. From there on to
Nadir Shah's invasion of 1739 AD, the business of Empire was taken over by conspiracies of king-makers. Religious and racial sensitivities were manipulated to meet selfish ends. This state of affairs was perfect for sectarian conflicts to grow. It seemed that the
kharjis of the pre-Akbar era had re-surfaced. During
Farukhsiyar's reign (1713–1719 AD), the most prominent Sufi saint was Khawaja Muhammad Jafar. A cleric from Multan by the name of Shaykh Abdullah visited Delhi and could not stand the reverence of the twelve Imams on his
dargah. He went to Delhi's Friday mosque and started to campaign against the Khawaja, which resulted in violence. When he went back to Multan, he continued the hate speech. He was arrested and sent back to Delhi to be put behind the bars. On his way, his followers attacked the police to free him, but the attempt failed to leave many dead. The Shaykh was put in prison. In 1714 AD, the Maratha civil war had ended. The weakened Mughals now recognized them as part of Mughal Empire. Shahu was given tax collecting power over the large piece of land he already controlled. But the boundaries between the provinces were always disputed, thus Marathas continued their expansion. Mughal Empire started to become decentralized and a number of successor states emerged. Their rulers had considerable autonomy and sought legitimacy by being ceremonially appointed by the Emperor. In 1723 AD,
Nizam-ul Mulk, the strongest Sunni noble at Delhi's court and Mughal Viceroy of the Deccan, declared himself as a shadow king of the area, founding
Hyderabad State. When the Emperor sent an army to crush his soft coup, it was defeated. However, because of constant Maratha threat, he did not claim independent and chose to stay quasi-independent. Following this the Shia
Nawabs of Bengal and
Nawabs of Awadh were also awarded hereditary governorship and local autonomy in their respective areas. Like Nizam, they too appointed their own administration in their state, while paying tributes to the Emperor. Meanwhile, the European trading companies had started to recruit armies from local population in Bombay, Madras and Bengal. The Empire entered into an era of perpetual war, mistrust and treachery. However, it was also an era of emergence of new cultural capitals, like
Lucknow,
Murshidabad,
Hyderabad and
Poone.
Shia rule in Bengal of Murshidabad is the biggest imambargah in the Subcontinent. Shi'ism was introduced to Bengal during the governorship of
Shah Shuja (1641–1661 AD), son of Shah Jahan. However, from 1707 AD to 1880 AD, the Nawabs of Bengal were Shias. They built huge Imambargahs, including the biggest of the Subcontinent built by Nawab
Siraj-ud Daula, the
Nizammat Imambara. The nawabs of Bengal and Iranian merchants in Bengal patronised
azadari and the political capital
Murshidabad and the trading hub
Hoogly attracted Shia scholars from within and outside India. The first Nawab,
Murshid Quli Khan, was adopted by a Shia merchant Haji Shafi Isfahani and was brought up as a Shia. The fifth nawab,
Ali Vardi Khan (1740 – 1756 AD) is among the best rulers India has produced. He was a hard working and far-sighted man. Bengal at that time was richest state of India, as the center of trade it attracted investments from Asian and European companies, and that was why it was attacked by the
Marathas, the Afghan
Rohillas and finally the
East India Company (EIC) managed to conquer it after his demise. During the Anglo-French and Anglo-Indian
wars in Madras region and beyond, and their gradually increasing invisible control over these regions, Ali Vardi Khan studied the developments with the help of his spies. While he encouraged trade with Europeans, he did not let them build military-purpose fortress in Bengal. If they tried doing it, he would demolish it and say to them: "
You are merchants, what need have you of a fortress? Being under my protection, you have no enemies to fear". He was a practising Shia, he offered prayers and recited
Quran everyday and held meetings with learned men for discussions. At the times of war and crisis, he used to pray whole night on a
piece of earth from the grave of Imam Hussain at Karbala. During his reign, many Shia scholars came to Bengal and started teaching in 'maktabs', mosques and imambaras. He did not discriminate against Hindus or others on the basis of religion, and this was one of his points of strength. However, the EIC managed to exploit tensions based on religion and when his naive and young grandson
Nawab Siraj-ud Daula came to power, many members of Hindu elite, especially
Jagat Seth and
Amir Chand, supported the great conspiracy of 1757 AD, and the EIC
annexed Bengal.
Afghan invasions After the end of
Safavid rule over Iran, a general of the Safavids,
Nadir Shah, had crowned himself as the Emperor of Persia in 1736 AD and wrote to the Mughal Emperor to expel the Afghan rebels of Iran who had hidden themselves in areas under Mughal control. When
Muhammad Shah, who was busy with revolts at home, failed to respond, he used this as a pretext to attack Delhi and plunder it. The Shia nawab of Awadh,
Sa'adat Ali Khan tried to defend Delhi but was stabbed in the back by
Nizam-ul Mulk, who prevented the Emperor from sending reinforcements and the nawab ended up arrested. Nader Shah's campaigns to unify Iran had cost him much and he desperately needed wealth to overcome financial crisis at home, which he took from Delhi. After his assassination in 1747 AD, the commander of his Afghan troops
Ahmed Shah Abdali Durrani proclaimed independence and founded
Afghanistan in parts of Iran and India. To fill his treasury he attacked and looted the Indus Valley seven times. His
invasions were supported by the Afghan
Rohillas in Delhi who had rebellious tendencies since last days of Aurangzeb. Ahmed Shah Abdali attacked Punjab in 1747 AD and advanced towards Delhi, but the Shia nawab of Awadh and commander of the Mughal army
Safdar Jang defeated him at Manpur near
Sirhind. After this event, the Rohillas attacked Awadh but were pushed back. Safdar Jang made alliance with Marathas against Abdali and his Rohilla agents. Abdali invaded Punjab again by the end of 1748 AD and created havoc. In 1751 AD, he invaded Punjab the third time and this time the Mughal governor Mir Mannu ceded Lahore and Multan to him and regained governorship under Abdali. With increasing sectarian strife at the Mughal court, the Sunni faction managed to enthrone
Alamgir-II as the Emperor, and persuaded him to ban the commemoration of Muharram in Delhi. The old Emperor tried to marry a princess
Hazrat Begum, who was famous for her beauty, but she prevented the marriage by threatening to commit suicide. In 1757 AD Abdali reached Delhi and ordered his forces to unleash carnage. For more than a month, Afghans went from home to home, taking whatever wealth people had, even if it was buried in the ground, and raping women. Sikh militias attacked Abdali's forces on their way back to Afghanistan, and free some of the Hindu or Sikh women that were taken as sex-slaves. Abdali invaded Delhi in 1759 AD again, looted the city, expelled its Shia population, forcibly married the 16-year-old beauty
Princess Hazrat Begum. Alamgir-II was murdered and his son
Shah Alam-II exiled to Awadh and the Rohilla Najib-ud Dawla and Imad-ul Mulk were appointed as chief executives. Marathas tried to liberate Delhi and the Emperor, but were defeated by the united Shia-Sunni force in 1761 AD in the historic
third battle of Panipat. Unlike his father, the young Shia nawab of Awadh
Shuja-ud Daula supported Abdali and Rohillas against the patriotic Marathas for religious reasons, but Abdali proved to be a sectarian bigot when he expelled the Shia population of Delhi and appointed the ruthless Rohillas on the demands of
Shah Waliullah. 's tomb, the commander-in-chief of the
Mughal Army during 1772–1782 AD. In 1788 AD, the Rohillas under
Ghulam Qadir sacked Delhi again, blinded the Emperor and tortured the imperial family. The Marathas again came to his rescue and the Rohilla chief was ousted and put to death. The Marathas tried to form a united Maratha-Sikh-Afghan front against the British but failed. Marathas had lost 75,000 troops in Panipat, this crushing defeat exposed them to attacks from Nizam of Hyderabad in the south and a civil war from within. This offered British a chance to expand in Bombay, the
Treaty of Salbai signed in 1782 AD neutralized Maratha threat for 20 years. Meanwhile, Sikh militias controlled Punjab and the era of political anarchy and economic misery ended only after
Maharaja Ranjit Singh united Sikh forces and founded the
Sikh Empire (1799–1849 AD). He was a secular leader under whom Punjab blossomed again. With Afghans out, Shias of Punjab started to take out processions. A famous Shia saint, Syed La'al Shah from
Syed Kasran traveled across Punjab and established many Imambargahs. The influential faqirs of Lahore and the descendants of Shah Jiwana of Jhang also ensured religious freedom for Shias and promoted azadari.
Shia rule in Awadh Nawab Sa'adat Ali Khan was awarded hereditary governorship over
Awadh in 1717 AD after he led Mughal army against the
Zamindars who had recruited their own militias and stopped paying taxes. He was son of a
Safavid noble, who had left Iran after Safavid Empire started to lose political authority. He made
Fayzabad his capital. Because of turmoil in Iran, many Shia scholars and Syeds immigrated to this city. He died in 1739 AD and his nephew
Safdar Jang was appointed the new Nawab by the Mughal Emperor. He was also appointed the prime minister by the Emperor. In 1745, he led a campaign against the
Rohilla rebels near Delhi. In 1748 AD, he defeated Ahmad Shah Abdali near Sirhind. As his influence increased in the Mughal court so did the cold war between the Shia and Sunni elites. In 1753 AD, Safdar Jang was forced to leave Delhi for Awadh by the Sunni elites of Delhi. In 1756 AD, he died. reviewing the British East India Company's troops in 1781 Now the Nawab of Awadh focused on cultural and economic enrichment of his state. In 1775 AD
Asaf-ud-Daula, the fourth Nawab, shifted his court to the city of Lucknow from Faizabad. The judicial, financial and governmental capital of Awadh became the cultural capital of India. Urdu/Hindi language started to evolve in North India as the main mode of communication. The poet
Sauda (1713 – 1781 AD), who had moved from Delhi to Lucknow, revived Urdu elegies (
marsiya). The seminary of
Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal, established by Mulla
Nizam ud Din Sehalvi in Aurangzeb's era now became the most important
madrassa of Sunni theology in India. Lucknow attracted scholars, artists and poets from all over India as well as Europe. In 1784 AD, famine struck Awadh and the semi-independent nawab worked hard to relieve people of misery. One of his projects was to create jobs by building the magnificent Asafi Imambara and mosque complex.
Allama Tafazzul Husain Khan Eminent Shia scholar and scientist of the time,
Allama Tafazzul Husain Kashmiri (1727 – 1801), was patronized by the Nawabs of Awadh. He learned and taught philosophy, mathematics and Newtonian physics. He authored the following: •
Commentary on Conica of Appollonus. •
Two treatise on Algebra. •
Commentary on Conica of Diophantus. • ''Translation of Sir Isaac Newton's
Principia''. •
A book on Physics. •
A book on Western Astronomy. Some of these books were taught in Shia scholarly circles in the nineteenth century Lucknow.
Shi'ism in Mysore , 1793/4) Shi'ism was introduced in
Karnataka in 1565 AD when it became part of the
Adil Shahi Dynasty. Concurrent to the
American War of Independence, a major threat to the rule of the
British East India Company emerged under the banner of
Hyder Ali (1766–1782 AD), who was the army commander of the
Wadiyar Dynasty of
Mysore and then founded the
Khudadad Sultanate. He and his son
Tipu Sultan appeared as the most formidable resistance to the colonial occupation. He was the most farsighted Indian of his time, like
Akbar the Great, he realized the importance of secularism, unity and modern science for the multi-cultural subcontinent. He and his son Tipu Sultan were Sufi Sunnis who used to commemorate Muharram. They modernized the army, invented the iron-cased
Mysorean rockets and significantly developed
Mysore's economy. Tipu had deep love for
Ali, he inscribed
Asadullah-ul Ghalib(اسد الله الغالب) on weapons. He sent ambassadors to pay homage to
Ali and
Hussain in Iraq and ordered them to seek permission from Ottoman Emperor to build a canal from
Euphrates to
Najaf to meet the needs of clean water in the holy city. At that point in time, Iran was in turmoil and many Syeds and scholars migrated to different parts of India, some ended up in Mysore, which was building its military muscle. Looking for careers in military, many Syeds joined the army and some 2000 Iranian horse traders settled in
Srirangapatna Fort. Tipu tried to form a
Mysore- Hyderabad- Pune alliance against the British East India Company, though this effort ultimately failed. He also contacted the French counterpart,
Napoleon, the Iranian
Fath Ali Shah and the Afghan
Zaman Shah for help, but the British managed to encircle and defeat him. In the last
Anglo-Mysore war in 1799 AD,
Mir Sadiq,
Purnaiah and Qamar-ud Din Khan sided with the British East India Company. Syed Ghaffar, Syed Hamid and Muhammad Raza remained loyal to him till the end. The Syeds fought hard under Syed Ghaffar and after his death, Tipu himself lead the few soldiers defending the fort, but was unsuccessful and died. Although Marathas had joined the British 1792 AD against Tipu, they had stayed neutral this time. However, when the news of Tipu's death reached Pune,
Baji Rao said that he had lost his right arm. Marathas and Sikhs were going to be the next victims. After the death of the tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, Shias left Srirangapatna Fort and settled in the Mysore city, and some migrated to Bangalore. A Shia scholar Mir Zain-ul Abideen Abid was appointed Mir Munshi by the Wadiyar king and he constructed an imambargah "Rashk-e Bahisht" in Mysore around 1812 AD. The Talpur army defeated the
Kalhora Dynasty in the
Battle of Halani in 1783 to become rulers of
Sindh. Later it split into three smaller states of Mirpur, Hyderabad and Khairpur. The Talpur dynasty was defeated by the British in 1843 at the
Battle of Miani. Azadari was greatly patronized by the Mirs. The descendants of Mirza Faridun Beg, who was an influential elite at the court of Mir Karam Ali Talpur, contributed a lot to popularization of Muharram rituals. However, Gilgit was retaken by a Dogra army under General Hushiara in 1858 AD, who in 1860 ordered a total massacre of the people of Yasin valley as a revenge of the earlier military defeats. In 1863, he collectively punished the population of Darel for not supporting his army against an invasion from Chitral. Several attempts were made in the following years by the tribal chiefs to liberate Gilgit but all failed due to a lack of modern military equipment and strategy. However these attacks did not let the British establish their rule firmly till 1888 AD. In 1889, the Gilgit agency was established and its powers extended over Gurais, Astor, Bunji, Sai and Gilgit. However Chitral, Punial, Hunza, Nagar, Darel, Gor and Chilas were made tributary to the Dogra court of Kashmir. In Gilgit, Shias co-existed with Sunnis, Buddhists and Hindus. Northern part was reported to be predominantly Shia, while Sunni tenets were found in the Southern part of the region. The Gazetteer of Gilgit agency reads: "
Wherever Sunnis and Shias are found living together, they seem to practice a mutual tolerance rare in other Muhammadan communities. Except in Chilas and the Indus valley below or, there is, generally speaking, a complete absence of fanaticism".
Shi'ism in Kashmir A very small minority of Shias lived in the suburbs of Srinagar, mainly at Zadibal. However, they were very hard-working and industrious people; finest papier-mache workers, shawl-makers and wealthiest were Shias.
Shi'ism in NWFP and Tribal Agencies After the British annexed Kohat, the Turis repeatedly attacked their troops in Miranzai. In 1854 AD an agreement was reached but the raids increased, and in 1856 AD, a force under Neville Chamberlain attacked the valley and the Turis were made to pay Rs. 8,630. In 1877 AD the Turis revolted against the oppressive attitude of the Afghan governor of Kurram. In November, 1878 AD, a British force commanded by General Roberts attacked Kurram from Thal, and occupied Kurram Fort. The Afghans were defeated at the Peiwar Kotal, and Khost was occupied in January next year. At that time, Afghanistan as being ruled by a fanatic Sunni king,
Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. In 1880 AD, the Turis, with the Bangash, asked the British to take over the valley and protect them from Abdur Rahman Khan's fanaticism; but the British decided to keep them as a buffer between India and Afghanistan and the tribe was declared independent. The Shias of Kurram valley requested to join British India once more and the valley was finally annexed to British India in 1892. Besides Turi and Bangash people of Kurram valley, many Orakzai Pashtuns in Tirah, and some in Kohat, Peshawar and Shirani country also professed Shi'ism. Fanaticism was rampant throughout the area. In Kurram, 22% of the population were Turis, 11% were Bangash and the rest were Chamkannis, Ghilzais, Mangals, Orakzais and a small Hindu minority of Arora caste. Main source of income was agriculture, however Silk was also produced and exported. According to the British estimates, only 1% of the total population of the province professed to be Shia. Although the numbers may be under-estimated, as many Shias practice
Taqiyah on individual level, especially while giving out their personal details. Muharram in Peshawar was observed with utmost respect. The small Shia community of Peshawar was mainly made of traders and migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Kashmir and Punjab. In the late nineteenth century, some members of Qizilbash family provided financial support for arrangements of Muharram mourning.
Shi'ism in Punjab By the end of eighteenth century, Mulla Mehdi Khata'i, a disciple of Shaykh Hurr-al Amili's student Mullah Muhammad Muqim. His student, Syed Rajab Ali (1806–1866 AD) revived Shia scholarly tradition in Punjab in the nineteenth century. The emergence of Lucknow as an intellectual hub for Shi'ism in North India during the reign of the nawabs of Awadh played significant role in introduction of organised Shi'ism and Shia scholarship to Punjab. Clerics trained at the Asif-ud Daula seminary in Lucknow spread throughout North India to preach Usuli Shi'ism and connect people to the central religious authority at Lucknow. In the nineteenth century AD, Allama Abul Qasim Rizvi (1833 – 1906 AD) arrived in Lahore after having completed higher education in Iraq, and founded an Imamia seminary in 1879 patronized by Nawab Ali Raza Khan Qizilbash. Elites like the Qizilbashs in Lahore, Faqirs and Gardezis in Multan and Shah Jiwana and Rajoa Sa'dat in Jhang contributed heavily to the spread of Shi'ism in Punjab. In Attock district, there were few Shia neighbourhoods, majority of them being Syeds. In Rawalpindi, the district Gazetteer of 1893 – 94 reports only some Gakhars openly registering themselves as Shias. In Shahpur district, the only 1.8% of the population said that they followed the Shia creed. In Lahore, they were a minority spread across the city. The Gazetteer of Jhang District of 1883 – 1884 reads:- "''Shi'as are unusually numerous in Jhang, a fact due to the influence of the Shi'a Kuraishis of Shorkot and Hassu Balel, and the Sayads of Uch who are connected with the famous Sayad family of Belot in Dera Ismael Khan District and Shah Jiwana and Rajoa in the Jhang District. They are the most bigoted type. They observe the Muharram most strictly, abstaining from all luxuries for the first ten days of the month, and on the 10th they accompany the Taziahs bareheaded and bare-footed. They throw dust on their heads and beat their breasts with extreme violence, and allow neither Hindu nor Muhammadan to approach the Taziah without baring his head and removing his shoes''". The coexistence of Shias and Sunnis was noticed in other parts of Punjab as well. The following passage is taken from the 1923–24 Gazetteer of Multan: "
They are careful in the observance of the Muharram; and although Sunnis join freely in tazia procession, such observances are particularly unknown, except in the quarters where there are Shias to start and organize them. Generally speaking, there is very little bitterness between the Sunni and Shia sect, and in the ordinary intercourse of life, there is little to distinguish the two". In the beginning of the twentieth century AD, Shia-Sunni debates were on the rise following
sectarian riots in Lucknow. Allama Syed Muhammad Baqir Naqvi Chakralvi and other Shia scholars of Punjab held public debates with many Sunni scholars in the early years of the twentieth century. These debates during the British rule allowed Shias to present their case in the public without fear. The Multan District Gazetteer mentions this phenomenon: "''There is organized proselytizing, but every now and then a man is, by conversion or by loan of books, induced to change his sect, and there seems no doubt that the conversions from Sunnism to Shi'ism are more common than the vice versa''". Another factor was the wealth generated by the newly developed
Canal irrigation system made it possible for the Shia elites of the area to spend lavishly on Muharram and build Imambargahs. The Jhang District Gazetteer of 1929 reads:- ''"Shi'ism is on the increase in the district. The influx of wealth on account of canal irrigation has invested some Sayyid families with added importance, and has proved helpful in spreading Shi'ism"''
. The number of followers of Syed Ahmad Barelvi, known as Wahabis, had started to increase and thus the bitterness between Shias and Sunnis was also on the rise. The 1915 Gazetteer of Mianwali District recorded Shia phobia as follows: "
All the Pathan clans, excepting a small number of Shias Kazilbash Pathans in Bhakkar tahsil, are very strict Sunnis and very particular in the matter of prayers, fasts, etc. They have a great hatred of the Shias and Rafzis. An orthodox Pathan regards tazia with the greatest repugnance. The influence of Sunni governors too seems to have led to the very general profession of the Sunni faith by the bulk of the mixed Jat population, though the Biluches have as a rule adhered to the Shia faith".
Shi'ism in Sindh Most of the Talpurs, the Mughals, Khojas, Bohras, a considerable population of Kalhoras, Syeds and Baluchis professed Shia faith. The Muharram mourning was observed throughout Sindh. The British Gazetteer of 1907 notes: "
Among Shias, who regard Yazid as a usurper and Hasan and Husain as martyrs, it is a season for deep and solemn, or even frenzied, grief. The Sunnis also consider it proper to mourn on the occasion, but in moderation. The mourning commences ten days before the anniversary and Taziahs, or Tabuts, that is models of the tomb of Husain at Karbala, are prepared in many houses, sometimes in very imposing and expensive styles. The Mirs, who are Shias and the Sayads of Rohri, Sukkur and Shikarpur are lavish in their expenditure on these. During the ten days of mourning the religious do not work, but dress in black and devote themselves to lamentation and prayer and listening to recites of the moving story. On the tenth day the tabuts are taken in procession to the sea, or a river or lake, and thrown into the water".
Khairpur Princely State After the British conquest of Sindh in 1843, Khairpur remained as a self-governing
princely state. After the partition of India it became a
princely state of Pakistan and remained so till 1955, when it was merged into the
One Unit of West Pakistan. The Talpur Mirs patronized the Muharram mourning and built Shia mosques and Imambaras. One of the Shia intellectuals of that era, Mirza Qilich Beg, is known as the pioneer of Sindhi drama and novels. Many Hazaras fled to Quetta and started to live there. Some Shias from Punjab also settled there. In the district of Makran and Kharan, the Shias were known as Lotias, who were Khojas by ethnicity. They were found in Gwadar, Pasni, and Isai. They lived along the coastline and engaged in trade.
Shi'ism in Karachi Karachi's cultural and social soul has been profoundly shaped by its numerous historic imambargahs, which serve as vital pillars of faith, resilience, and cultural preservation, especially during Muharram. These include the venerable
Imambargah Siraj (circa 1775) in Lyari, the city's oldest;
Ghareebul Ghurba Imambargah (1830) and
Bishu Imambargah (1835) in Naya Abad;
Imambargah Barah Imam (from 1836) in Bhim Pura;
Barra Imambargah (1868) in Kharadar, renowned for its poetic rituals; and post-Partition establishments like
Imambargah Hussainia Iranian (1948) and
Mehfil-i-Shah-i-Khorasan (1948) in Soldier Bazaar,
Qaimia Imambargah (1948) and
Imambargah Darbar-i-Husaini (1954) in Malir; and later additions such as
Imambargah Shah Wilayat (1960) in Golimar,
Imambargah Jaffar-i-Tayyar (1960) in Malir, and
Shah-i-Karbala Trust (Rizvia) Imambargah (1960) in Rizvia Society. These imambargahs collectively serve as crucial spiritual hubs, safeguard cultural traditions, and foster strong social cohesion for the city's diverse communities. == Sectarian Violence ==