Ismaili rule ended in Sind in 1005, but Ismailism survived in Sind and received the protection of the ruling Sumra dynasty. The Sulayhids of Yemen, who acknowledged the suzerainty of the Ismaili Fatimid caliph-imams, played a crucial role in the renewed efforts of the Fatimids to spread the Ismaili cause in South Asia. In 1067 missionaries sent from Yemen founded a new Ismaili community in Gujarat in western India. The mission maintained close ties with Yemen, and this new Ismaili community evolved into the present Bohra community.
In 1094 the Ismaili community became divided over who would become the nineteenth imam; the two branches resulted from this division, each of which developed its own religious and literary traditions.
Mustaʾli Ismailis (Bohras)
The Mustaʾli Ismailis founded their stronghold in Yemen, where in the absence of the imams the daʾis acted as executive heads of the daʿwa organization and as community spiritual leaders. They were designated as daʾi mutlaq (daʾi with absolute authority).
The Mustaʾli daʿwa in South Asia remained under the strict supervision of the daʾi and the daʿwa headquarters in Yemen until the second half of the sixteenth century. In South Asia the Mustaʾli Ismaili daʿwa originally spread among the urban artisans and traders of Gujarat; the Hindu converts became known as Bohras.
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