Ismailis In Afghanistan

d Afghanistan means the land of the Afghans and				greatly touched with the esoteric practice and
the word afghan (awghan or aoghan) means the				embraced Ismailism. He is said to have travelled in
mountaineers. The oldest Indian literature refers it as				Iran to behold the Imam. The tradition has it that he
Balhekdes. The Persians called it as Zablistan and				launched his mission in Central Afghanistan and
Kabalistan. To the Greeks, it was Bakhtar or Bactria.				brought a concourse of the people of Siasang and
The Afghan territories also is included in the Central				other parts of Hazarajat to the Ismaili fold. He died
Asia.				and buried in Behsud. Pir Murad was succeeded by his
How and when the Ismaili mission penetrated				son, Akhund Kalb-i Ali, who mostly propagated in
Afghanistan is under the shadow of much ambiguity.				Behsud. His younger brother, Akhund Asghar is
There were immense difficulties on the field of				reported to have launched the mission widely for 12
communication with the Imams, also the scattered				years. Akhund Zargan Ali, the son of Akhund Kalb-i Ali
dispersion and above all their absolute minority in the				spread the mission in Quli Khish, Shikali, etc. He was
territory. Most of them had to settle in the				followed by his son, Akhund Sarwar Ali, who in turn,
mountainous villages of central parts and remote				succeeded by Akhund Shafi (d. 1947).
places of northern areas. The hovering fear of				It suggests that the Ismaili faith and its influence
persecution forced them to maintain complete				were widely spread out in Afghanistan during 16th
secrecy of their faith and assumed taqiya during last				century. There is no any indication of the Ismaili
five centuries.				mission for a century after the period of Khayr
During the pre-Fatimid period, the Samanids of				Khwah Herati due to the vortex of politics and
Samarkand and Bukhara had penetrated their power				persecutions. In upper Oxus, Mir Shah Amir Beg of
in the territories of Afghanistan. The Ismaili mission				Shagnan was a powerful ruler in Central Asia. He had
was brisk in Khorasan between 903 and 913. Nasr bin				left behind an inscription at Khorog, dating 1779 or
Ahmad (d. 914) was an ardent Ismaili ruler in the				1780. His son, Shah Wanji Khan had exiled the
Samanid dynasty, but there is no any sound indication				fire-worshippers from Shagnan, and extended his
whether the Ismailis entered in Afghanistan in his				influence in Badakhshan and Chitral. His son Kubad
period. It is however possible that the da'is working				Khan is said to have violently harassed the local
under Hatim ar-Razi (874-934), An-Nasafi (d. 942) or				Ismailis. He was however overthrown by his brother,
Abu Yaqub as-Sijistani (883-996), etc. had visited the				Yusuf Ali Shah in 1814. In his time, the Ismaili da'is
villages of Afghanistan. During the period of Imam				operated actively in Afghanistan and its surrounding
al-Mustansir billah, Nasir Khusaro was designated as a				lands.
hujjat of Khorasan and Badakhshan. He came from				Syed Karamali Shah hailed from Mahallat. He was
Khorasan and launched mass conversion in Central				deputed in Badakhshan and Chitral, where he
Asia.				launched pervasive mission and died in Yasin. Syed
The reduction of Alamut rule has had a tremendous				Shah Ardabil was also a famous missionary in
impact upon the Iranian Ismailis, impairing their morale				Badakhshan. He is reputed to have converted Mir
to great extent. It demolished and annihilated the				Saleem Khan II, the ruler of Trakhan dynasty in Gilgit,
progressive civilization and culture of the Ismailis.				who died in 1823.
They were absolutely disorganized and disoriented.				The ancestors of Syed Yakut Shah, the son of Syed
Those who had escaped the main brunt of the				Shah Abbas Abdur Rahim had propagated Ismailism in
Mongol onslaughts had taken harbour in Khorasan and				Central Asia including Badakhshan. He also visited Iran
Afghanistan. The Ismailis who were origins of				to see Imam Hasan Ali Shah, and then launched his
Badakhshan were relatively not accessible to the				proselytizing mission in Badakhshan.
Mongol sword and continued to develop a distinctive				Imam Hasan Ali Shah left Iran in 1841 and arrived
tradition of their own.				India via Afghanistan. He trekked inside Afghanistan
In Gilgit, the Trakhan was a leading dynasty of local				from Girishk to Kandahar in August 1841. He had a
rulers. In the period of Torra Khan (1310-1335), his				meeting with Muhammad Taymur, the appointed
cousin Raja Rais Khan took refuge in Badakhshan in				governor of British India in Kandahar and Major Henry
the house of an Ismaili called, Taj Mughal (d. 1325).				Rawlinson (1810-1895). The political arena in
Raja Rais Khan was received with great pomp, who				Afghanistan had become so hodgepotch that no
embraced Ismailism. He also married to the daughter				Ismailis could freely visit Kabul or Kandahar to see the
of Taj Mughal. Raja Rais Khan persuaded Taj Mughal				Imam. Syed Shah Hussain, the then Mukhi of central
to invade Gilgit with his followers. Taj Mughal				and northern parts of Afghanistan however managed
conquered Chitral and subdued Yasin, Koh Khizr and				to see the Imam in Kandahar.
Punial Gilgit, ruled by Torra Khan, who also accepted				The British forces quitted Kandahar on August 9,
Ismailism. Taj Mughal launched pervasive mission and				1842 for Quetta, the Imam stayed for about six
said to have dominated on the north greater part of				weeks with Sardar Sherdil Khan. By the end of
Turkistan, on the west the whole area including the				November 1842, the Imam came in Sind. When the
city of Herat, and on the southeast right upto the				Imam Hasan Ali Shah settled himself in Bombay, he
border of Chitral.				deputed his Iranian men as his commissioners in
Pir Shams (d. 1356) had been in Badakhshan and				Afghanistan. In most cases, the Imam sent his sealed
brought many followers of Momin Shahi sect within				letters in Persian in Kabul.
Ismaili fold. After visiting Gilgit and Tibet, he returned				In 1923, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah (d. 1957) sent
to Ghazna, where he deputed a local prince towards				Pir Sabzali (d. 1938) on a visit of Central Asia, who
Badakhshan on a mission operation. Imam Mustansir				also visited the territory of Badakhshan dominated by
billah II is also related to have deputed a certain Baba				the Soviet Union and the Afghanistan. He visited
Shahidi in Herat, who came with Abdur Rahman Jami				Faizabad and returned to Chitral via Kabul. In other
and taught the religious education to the local people.				words, he could see the Tajik Ismailis in Badakhshan
Syed Suhrab Wali Badakhshani was hailed from Herat				and not the Ismailis of central and northern parts of
and passed his life in Badakhshan and Kabul as a local				Afghanistan.
missionary. In his writing, he mentions the date 1452,				Incessant tribal fighting couped with the instability of
which suggests that he lived in the period of Imam				the Kabul regime and the obstructionism tendency of
Muhammad bin Islam Shah (d. 1463), Imam Mustansir				the theologian class resulted mass migration in 1978
billah II (d. 1475) and Imam Abdus Salam (d. 1493). He				and 1992. The whole country was in the grips of a
was followed by his son Syed Umar Yamghani,				bloody factional tribal war ever since the downfall of
whose descendants and followers continued Ismaili				its communist President Najibullah in 1992, and the
mission around Badakhshan and in the central part of				influx of the immigrants continued. The greater part
Afghanistan.				of Afghanistan was under control of the Taliban; a
Khayr Khwah Herati was an origin of Herat at the				guerilla group emerged in 1994. As for the Ismailis of
end of 15th century. His father Sultan Hussain was a				Afghanistan, it must be admitted that it was a
native of Ghriyan in Afghanistan, where he served as				greatest migration throughout the Ismaili history. The
Imam's vakil. He was also a head of the Ismaili affairs				non-Afghan Jamat helped the Afghan Ismailis in
in the region of Herat and other cities in northern				accordance with the guidance of the Imam. The
Afghanistan, even the borders of China and India.				pitiable condition almost disappeared when they came
Once the Imam summoned him in Iran through a				into the new contacts and a ray of hope gleaned in
messenger, Nur Mahmud. He started his journey along				their future.
with Khwaja Kassim Kohistani, but was killed by				Warm and well-deserved tribute must be paid to the
brigands in Khorasan. His son Khayr Khwah, who was				leaders, institutions and workers, who, despite
then 19 years old, was taken in his father's place				language problems came forward in the field with all
despite the objection of few elders of the jamat. He				resources and helped their Afghan Ismaili brethren in
visited Anjudan and saw the Imam. Finally, he was				their daily foods, clothes, lodging, health, education,
appointed a chief da'i in place of his father in				jobs, etc. Every front came into action, recalling the
Afghanistan, and died most possibly after 1553.				tremendous role the Ansars (helpers) played in
Scanning the meagre chains of traditions, it ensues				Medina in the time of the Prophet. They have
that the credit to launch mass conversion in the				exhibited true spirit of fidais of the past, which shall
villages of Hazarajat goes to a certain Pir Murad and				be ever remembered. Hence, after the end of the
his two brothers, who were formerly aggressive to				Taliban regime and the pluralism in Afghanistan, the
the Ismailis. He was an origin of Behsud professing				Afghan Ismailis began to retuned to their homeland,
the faith of the Twelvers. It is said that he was				where they freely practice their faith.

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Ismailis In Afghanistan