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The
Shanshabani Dynasty of Sindh
History of Early Islam in India
(An excerpt from S.A.A.Rizvi's book: A Socio-Intellectual History of the
Isna
Ashari Shi’is in India)
The early history of the penetration of Islam
into the Indian subcontinent is shrouded in myths and
legends. Be that as it may, the Arab merchants who had
embraced Islam introduced their new faith to the
Indian central regions and islands in the south in the
life time of Prophet Muhammad. The conquest of
Iraq and Iran in the reign of the second Caliph Umar
opened the flood gate of insusions into Baluchistan and
into the Sind ports. Makran in Baluchistan came to be
the base of further incursions.
During the Caliphate of Ali bin Abi Talib the Arab armies crossed the Sind
frontiers. Sistan was seized and its administration was
reorganized. A section of the Jats of Sind had developed
a deep devotion to Ali. Some members of the Jat
community embarrassed Ali by attributing Divinity to the
Imam. The concepts of the Divine incarnation from their
Hindu background made them members of the Shia Ghulaat.
From the caliphate of Ali, Shi’ism began to penetrate
into Sind.
According to Minhaj Siraj, the author of the
Tabaqat-e-Nasiri Shansab the ancestor of the Ghurid
conquerors of Northern India embraced Islam at the hands
of Imam Ali bin Abi TAlib. He is said to have made a
covenant of loyalty with Ali and obtained a standard
from him. At the coronation ceremony of the new ruler of
the dynasty, the covenant written by Ali bin Abi TAlib
was handed over to the new ruler and he pledged to
comply with its conditions. They were Ali’s devotees (muvali-e-Ali)
and
the love for the Imam and the Ahl-i-Bayt of the Prophet Muhammad was
firmly into their beliefs. Under the Umayyads the
Prophet’s family was cursed throughout the Islamic
empire but according to Farishta the subjects of the
Ghur kingdom did not follow that atrocious custom. The
inaccessible mountains of the Ghur region had made it
impossible for the Umayyads to discipline the
Shanshabani dynasty. The intellectuals from the region
visited the Imams and entered their discipleship. For
example Abu
Khalid Kabuli was a companion of Muhammad ibn Hanfiyya and
considered him as an Imam. Later on he became sceptic
and became Imam Zaynul Abideen’s disciple. He frequently
visited Kabul and called on Imams Muhammad Baqir and
Ja’far as-Sadiq.
The
Shanshabani dynasty supported Abu Muslim Khorasani in
his revolutionary campaigns against the Umayyads and
slaughtered the enemies of Ahl-i-Bayt. In the reign of
the early Abbasids the incarceration of the Imams cut
off the contact of the leaders of this region with the
Imams and the Turkic domination forced the Shanshabani
and other Shi’is to embrace Sunni Islam.
The Zaydiyyas in Sind
From
the time of Imam Zayn-ul-Abideen, the devotion of
Sindhis to Shi’ism assumed new dimensions. One of the
wives of Imam Zayn-ul-Abideen was a Sindi lady. Her son
by the Imam was Zayd Shahid. During the governorship of
Hajjaj bin Yusuf to the Eastern provinces, the
development of Shi’ism received a set back. It was
during his tenure as governor that his nephew and
son-in-law Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sind and Multan,
Not only did he conquer the region between 93/711 and
95/714, but he firmly consolidated the administration.
The Shi’is could get no opportunity to propagate their
faith. Muhammad bin Qasim himself, however, could not
rule over the region for long. In 96/715 the
Caliph Walid bin Abdul Malik (86-96/705-715), who had
made Hajjaj incredibly powerful, died. Hajjaj
himself had died eight months earlier. Walid’s successor
Sulayman (96-99/715-717) reversed the policy of his
predecessor and imprisoned Muhammad bin Qasim in the
Wasit jail where he died. The administration of Sind
broke down. Spme Shi’I leaders who were persecutedby the
Umayyad caliphs found asylum in the remote regions of
the caliphate.. Sind, Ghur, Khurasan and Transoxiana
became the centers of the Shi’I revolution. One Ziyad
Hindi or Sindi fought under Zayd bin Zayn-ul-Abideen and
was killed in 121/739. Zayd’s son Yahya fell
fighting against the Umayyad governor of Khurasan. Hasan,
the son of Zayd bin Hasan (not to be confused with Zayd
bin Zayn-ul-Abideen) e stablished a Zaydi kingdom in
Tabristan in Iran. They ruled from 250/864 to 520/1126.
Quoted from S.A.A.Rizvi, A Socio-Intellectual History of
the Isna Ashari Shi’is in India, Ma’rifat
Publications Canberra/Munshi Ram Manohar Lal, Delhi,
Vol. I, pages 138-140.
courtesy: Agha H. Jafri
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