Ismaili Sects—South Asia

Ismaili Sects—South Asia

An important Shiʿite Muslim community, the Ismailis arose in 765 from a disagreement over the successor to the sixth imam, Jaʿfar al. The Ismailis chose Ismaʿil and then traced the imamate through Ismaʿil's son Muhammad and the latter's progeny. The bulk of other Shiʿites, however, eventually recognized twelve imams, descendants of Ismaʿil's brother Musa al-Kazim. The two main Ismaili branches are the Mustaʾlis (Bohras) and the Nizaris (Khojas), both in India. The Nizaris, led by the Aga Khan, also have populations in Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, East Africa, Europe, and North America.

By the middle of the ninth century the religiopolitical message of the Ismaili daʿwa (mission) aiming to win recognition for the Ismaili imam as the rightful interpreter of the Islamic revelation was disseminated in many regions by a network of daʾis (missionaries). The earliest Ismaili missionaries arrived in Sind (in today's Pakistan) in 883, initiating Ismaili activities in South Asia.

By 909 the Ismailis had succeeded in installing their imam in the new Fatimid caliphate, in rivalry with the Abbasid caliphate (750–1258) established by Sunni Muslims. Around 958 an Ismaili principality was established in Sind, with its seat at Multan, where large numbers of Hindus converted to Ismailism.

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