SOME EAST AFRICAN ITHNA-ASHERI

JAMAA TS (1840-1967)
BY

SEYYID SAEED AKHTAR RIZVI

(Dar-es-Salaam)
AND

NOEL Q. KING
(University of California, Santa Cruz, U.S.A.)

In Persia and other parts of the Islamic World the Shi"a Ithnd-
cashariya are the predominant Muslim group. 1) In East Africa they
are few in number and largely consist of descendants of the Khoja
Muslims from India who had travelled down and settled upon this coast
for many centuries. The Khoja were originally Hindus mainly of the
Lohanna caste who had been converted by Ismaili Pirs to a form of
Islam which "accommodated" certain features of the Hinduism in
which they stood. When the Ismaili Imams moved to India from Persia
in the last century they exercised much greater control over their
Khoja followers and a number of schisms resulted. The strong central-
izing policy of His Highness Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III,
who visited East Africa in 1897 and 1905, especially focused the
doctrinal and organizational issues at stake. A number of Khojas
shook off the Ismaili connection and aligned themselves with the
Ithna-asheri group who had been represented on the coast, again for

I) For the Indian background see John N. Hollister, The Shica of India
(London: Luzac 1953) and Satish C. Misra, Muslim Communities in Gujerat
(New York: Asia Publishing House, 1964). Many articles in H. A. R. Gibb and
J. H. Kramers, Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden (Brill, London: Luzac,
1961) are also relevant, for instance Ithna 'Cashariya Ismacilia, khodja. For the
East African background see Dharam P. Ghai, Portrait of a Minority, Asians in
East Africa (Nairobi: Oxford University Press, revised edition, 1970). The
system of transliteration employed for Arabic and Urdu words will be the one
which was in common use in East Africa during the historical period we are
dealing with. The limits of chronology given runs from the year in which the
Sultans of Muscat and Oman moved their capital to Zanzibar and runs through
the colonial period to take in the first years of Independence. So much has
happened since then that separate treatment will have to be given to the most
recent years.

Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. V. fasc. I

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 Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (1840-1967) 13

centuries, by people travelling and trading from the Persian Gulf and
Baluchistan.
Two celebrated court cases gave the decision that the Aga Khans
owned the offerings given to them in their own right, not on behalf
of the community nor on behalf of their extended family. 2) Aga
Khan III in a series of firmans, that is, commands, to his followers,
and through a consistent and a carefully worked-out policy, reorganized
his Khoja Ismaili adherents. 3) The seceders found themselves "out-
casted," excluded from the Ismaili jamaat-khana and its social,
economic, matrimonial, and burial facilities. As best they could, they
organized themselves as Shia Ithna-asheri, receiving help from mem-
bers of that faith from Persia and Baluchistan and Bombay as well as
from Ithna-asheri centers in the United Provinces of British India,
especially Lucknow.
It was natural that the local congregation, the jamaat, should be the
centre and heart of their organization. Primarily it denotes the people
gathered together. This congregation seeks as soon as it can to build a
mosque for daily prayer and the observance of the great festivals, an
imambara for the commemorating of the Imams, a musafirkhana or
hostel for travellers and visitors, and a madrasa or school for the
children. Sometimes a sports union and places for social activities came
to be added. The individual's life is in every way involved in the jamaat;
besides religious and social life, amongst other things, it provides
welfare and assistance of a wide-ranging kind as well as business
contacts and information. Because of their essentially congregational
structure, it was some time before a Federation of jamaats was set up-
not in fact till 1945. Even then the Ithna-asheri Federation never had
the strict hierarchical structure and central control which the Ismailis
had. This paper seeks to give an outline of the history of some of the
most important jamaats. It is not possible to write the history of each
and every congregation because there is little written record of the old
days. Most of the descriptions given are based on the recollections of
old persons who had an interest in community affairs. For instance, in
Zanzibar, the late Haji Karim Alarakhiya helped greatly. Such people

2) Advocate General ex relatione Daya Muhammadversus MuhammadHusen

Huseni, Bombay High Court Reports, 1866, 322-362 which give Mr. Justice
Arnould's judgment; and Haji Bibi versus Sir Sultan MuhammadShah the Aga
Khan, ib. 19o8, 409-451 which give a summary of the case which took place in 19o5.
3) See Abdul Adatia and Noel King, Some East African firmans of H. H. Aga
Khan III, Journal of Religion in Africa, 2 (3) 1969, 179-191.

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14 Seyyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi and Noel Q. King

cannot be found everywhere; therefore we propose to give some des-

cription of a few of the bigger jamaats. Our main sources of information
have been the archives of the Federation at Arusha and Dar-es-Salaam,
oral material collected at the places mentioned and the Trade Directory,
published in Gujerati by the Shia Ithna-asheri Supreme Council at
Arusha and Dar-es-Salaam in 196o.
Zanzibar. Till well on into the I96os this jamaat still exercised a
great religious and social influence on the community throughout East
Africa. Ithna-asheri history in East Africa began here. Some Irani
members came to the island in the fifth and sixth decades of the last
century. Some from Bahrain also made Zanzibar their home.
A prominent Ithna-asheri servant of the Sultans was General Kalb-
e-Ali Khan. He had been in the Persian artillery but was recruited by
Sultan/ Majid in 1870 to the Zanzibari army. At the command of
Seyyid Majid he had worked against Seyyid Barghash. He happened
to be in Iraq visiting the holy places when Barghash eventually became
Sultan. Prudently he hesitated to return to Zanzibar but Barghash
invited him back and he served on till his death in 188o. He established
the Qabristan-e-Khan (Khan's cemetery) where he and other soldiers
and scholars of Irani and Iraqi origin are buried. In the village nearby
called Kwakhani, after him, the Persian well he dug is still in use. His
tombstone states that he was of the tribe of Afshar in Azarbaijan in
Iran. His seal reportedly bore the Arabic inscription: "The dog of
the companions of the cave will go to paradise; will not I who am the
dog of All?"
According to the oral evidence of Agha Seyyid Mohammed Mehdi
of Zanzibar it was Kalb-e-Ali Khan who put up the first Ithna-asheri
community building. This was followed by Al Matam, built by Ahmad
ibn Numan, who was of Irani ancestry, in 1861. The marble inscription
on the building says he was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1204 A.H. (about
1789 A.D.) and died in Zanzibar in 1284 (1867-1868). He was a katib
(secretary) in the Sultan's government.
Also from this early period is a marble inscription in the Zanzibar
museum dated 16th Shabaan 1276 A.H. (19 March i86o A.D.) which
has the following engraved on it in Arabic:

I have five by whom I extinguish the heat of the life-breaking

plague: al-Mustafi [the Prophet], al-Murtazdi [cAli] and their
two sons [Hlasan and Husain] and Fatima [the Prophet's daugh-
ter].

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 Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (1840-1967) 15

Some years after the death of Kalb-e-Ali Khan, an Indian physician,

Hakim Dad Ali Khan of Hyderabad, Deccan, came to Zanzibar and was
honoured by Sultan Hamed (1893-1896). His son returned to India and
became Director of Medical Services to the Nizam.
Two of the members of the Khoja jamaat at Bombay who were
excommunicated in 1877 removed themselves to Zanzibar. For Haji
Dewji Jamal it was a return, for Allarakhiya Walli it was a new
beginning. With help from Bombay in i88o they erected the Quwwat
ul-Islam mosque and then its imambara. The major contributions to the
latter came from Haji Ali Nathu and Muhammad Walli Dharsi.
Haji Dewji Jamal requested the muftahid (Chief Scholar) Sheikh
Zain ul-Abedeen Mazindarani of Karbala in Iraq, who had sent Mulla
Qadir Husain to Bombay, to send a highly qualified priest for Zan-
zibar. 4). Thus Seyyid Abdul Husain Marashi Shustari came to the
island some time before 1885. Many stories are told of his saintly
spirituality, including how his prayer for rain (salat ul-istisqda) was
successful when other groups had prayed in vain. In the mosque the
Seyyid used to lead the prayers and then preach through an interpreter
for he did not know Gujerati or Urdu, and his congregation knew neither
Arabic nor Persian. Seyyid Ghulam Husain, a priest from Hyderabad,
was therefore also invited to come to Zanzibar to help minister to the
two hundred and fifty Ithna-asheri Khoja at Zanzibar. Unfortunately
a dispute centering round the two priests broke out and it led to a
schism which was not healed for some time.
Seyyid Abdul Husain's son-in-law, Seyyid Husain, was also called
as priest to Zanzibar and settled there. The four victims of the "forced
marriages of Zanzibar" are from his family. On 6 September 1970 the
girls were forcibly taken from their homes and they were given "in
marriage" by the members of the Revolutionary Council to some soldiers
and others in a public ceremony, though the girls and their parents
shouted "No, no."
It is necessary to say something of the Ithna-asheri, Ismaili separation
at Zanzibar. In 1899 His Highness the late Aga Khan III visited
Zanzibar and issued a firman (command) to his followers defining
their position as Ismailis and his as Imam. Up till this time there had
been little definition in the situation. Khojas had been members of the
same Jamatkhana (house of congregation). Most people recited the dua

4) The word "priest"is the one actually used by English-speaking Ithna-asheri

not only as the equivalent of mulla or alim but almost in the sense of "clergyman"
in Church of England parlance.

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16 Seyyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi and Noel Q. King

(the prayers) in Gujerati. Those who also wanted to pray the salat
(the set Shia liturgy in Arabic) had facilities for that. There had been
much social intercourse and inter-marrying, but from 1905 onwards
the separation between Ismaili and Ithna-asheri became strict. The
effects of all this were most apparent at Zanzibar but there were reper-
cussions in other places, as we shall see.
Other Ithna-asheri institutions at Zanzibar included the Nasser
Nurmuhammad Dispensary, various schools and Mehfils, that is, places
for local and sectional gatherings, in different localities. The schools
and dispensaries have now been taken over by the government.
Pemba. This sister island of Zanzibar had two jamaats, at Chake
Chake and Wete. Ithna-asheris settled at the former in the i89os. By
19o04there were twenty families there and a mosque and imambara had
been built. In 190o there were eight families at Wete. Another mosque
was built in 1939.
Lamu is one of the oldest jamaats in Kenya. Dewji Jamal and other
Ithna-asheris were trading there by 1877, so no doubt by then a con-
gregation was gathering for worship. By 1897 there were three hundred
in the Lamu congregation compared with the hundred and fifty at
Mombasa. Nasir Dewji (Jamal's youngest son) was in charge of the
Lamu office and he built the mosque, imambara and musafirkhana
which still stand there. He died while returning from the pilgrimage.
A school was started by Jiwan Visram. As trade has dwindled, the
Lamu congregation has shrunk to around thirty people.
Mombasa. A mosque and imambara were built on the bustani
(garden) of the Dewji Jamal family in 1899. In 1903, though there
were only around one hundred and fifty Ithna-asheris there, a split
occurred and the Quwwatul-Islam mosque and imambara were built.
The newer group outgrew the older, but both needed enlargement at
various times. Finally the schism was healed, a general jamaat was
instituted which looked after both buildings and the prayers were held
in each by rotation. In 1966 the former organizations were dissolved
and a unitary body set up.
Mombasa has a number of social and educational institutions under
the patronage of the jamaat. There is the Jaffery Primary School, the
Night School, the Huseini Society and the Jaffery Sports Club which
has its own buildings and grounds. In 1927 the Huseini Fauj (Husain's
Army) was founded with a Volunteer Corps of about a hundred young
men. The Faize Panjatani is an institution dedicated to welfare work.
Nairobi. When the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway

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 Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (1840-1967) 17

began in 1899, many Indians moved inland together with the line.
Walji Bhanji was the first Ithna-asheri to reach Nairobi. He got there
on a donkey before the railway actually reached the site of the future
city. He was followed by some Punjabi Shia who had worked on the
railway. By 1903 seventy-five people had gathered and they gathered
for worship is each other's homes. Seyyid Mohammad Husain Shamsi
conducted the services, taught religion, and preached sermons. He did
this work for thirty years without any material gain.
Jafer Dewji gave a plot for a cemetery. In 1938 the imambara and
musafir khana were completed and, in 1945, the mosque. Seven apart-
ments whose rents help to pay general expenses, a madrasa and a
lodging for the priest have also been built. There are about five hundred
Ithna-asheris in Nairobi and the congregation includes Seyyids and
Sheikhs from the Punjab and Khojas whose ancestors came from
Kutch, Katiawar and Gujerat.
Pangani. The Ithna-asheri community here probably formed in the
early days when the Lamu and Zanzibar jamaats were being developed.
By 1899 there were a hundred Ithna-asheris in Pangani and itwas from
here that some members moved on up-country to Arusha, Singida and
Kondoa-Irangi. Though the town consisted mainly of mud and timber
huts, a well-built Mosque and imambara were erected in the 189os.
A madrasa was functioning efficiently and a primary school established.
The Germans decided to develop Tanga rather than Pangani;
business and population moved out accordingly. (It is said that the
Germans did this because Tanga was easier to defend against possible
British attack from Kenya. The failure of the British and Indians to
take Tanga early in World War I justified the decision, but newer
Indian Ocean powers may yet reverse it.)
Tanga. The Germans built the Tanga-Moshi railway in 1906-io and
developed Tanga as a harbor; till then it was a fishing village. In I909
there were three Ithna-asheri families there, those of Sher Mohammad
Ladha, Fazal Alarakhiya and Sivji Alarakhiya. Then Nazar Ali Rat-
tansi came and his house was used for meetings. The first imambara
was built of tinsheet and timber in 1910. A more permanent building
was put up in 1945. In 1925 a mosque was built. Land, a madrasa, a
musafirkhana, and other facilities were provided by generations of
generous donors.
Arusha. The year was 1898; a young Ithna-asheri, Sher Muhammad
Sajan, set out from Pangani on foot and reached Arusha in a month.
He had come to Africa from Nagalpur in India only five years before

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18 Seyyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi and Noel Q. King

and had done well in business. Within ten years twenty-one Indian
families had reached the town; of these, nine were Ithna-asheri. They
held their meetings in the house of their pioneer, Sajan.
Gradually Arusha grew in importance. Head-loading was originally
the chief form of transport. In I909 a group of South African "Dutch-
men" initiated an ox-wagon service. Eventually the railroad from Moshi
reached Arusha, then in the 192os motor transport became important.
The climate of Arusha was recognized for its healthy qualities.
The Ithna-asheris prospered with the town. They built an imambara
in 1931 and a hostel for visitors. In 1957 on the I4ooth birthday of
Hazrat Ali (on whom be peace) they built the present beautiful and
spacious mosque, imambara, school, hostel, and priest's house. From
1959 to 1964 Arusha was the seat of the Federation of Shia Ithna-
asheri jamaats. By 1961 there were 335 of the community in the town.
Now Arusha is the seat of the East African community and its growing
importance is attracting people from outlying small places. At present
there are around five hundred Ithna-asheri there.
Moshi. The first Ithna-asheri to come to Moshi were Hasham
Ebrahim and his brother Esmail. They settled at Old Moshi which
consisted of a few Government buildings and Chagga huts. The new
town was simply non-existent. The year was 191o.
In 1921 there were five or six families there. Maflis was held in
the house of Sher Mohammad Sajan. In 1926, Mulla Ghulamhusein
Kanji's house was being used for meetings. In 1932 a tin-roofed
imambara was built. It also served as a place of prayer till in 1936 a
separate prayer hall was put up.
In 1942 on the thirteen hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of
Imam Husein (on whom be peace), a new mosque, imambara and
musafirkhana were erected. By the early I96os these were already
inadequate for there were more than three hundred of our people there.
So the present mosque, imambara, madrasa, musafirkhana and priest's
apartment were built. These are the best Ithna-asheri religious build-
ings in Tanzania, with every modern amenity as well as a certain
beauty as the minarets soar into the sky against the background of
Kilimanjaro.
Bagamoyo. This is an old Ithna-asheri center, though today there are
no members there; they first came in its prosperous days in the I88os,
but all had left by 1914. From the middle of the nineteenth century
the Sultan of Zanzibar's followers, who depended on dhows, had found
Bagamoyo a useful anchorage and a good place for caravans to start

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 Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (i840-1967) 19

off for the interior, but the Germans with their steamships and railroads
moved trade off to Dar-es-Salaam.
Nasir Virji came to Bagamoyo in 1886 and other prosperous mer-
chants joined him. A spacious mosque and imambara were built in the
I890s, but by 19oo people were going away. Now the buildings are
empty or only occasionally used. Nasir Virji moved his headquarters
to Mombasa and was instrumental in establishing the community at
Tabora, Mwanza, and Ujiji.
Dar-es-Salaam. Dar-es-Salaam owes its existence to the sacrifice of
Bagamoyo. When Sachedina Pira Mawji, the Ithna-asheri pioneer
came there in 1875 the place was a fishing village. The other two
pioneers were Versi Adwani and Nasser Mawji.
Work was begun on the mosque and imambara in 19o0. The build-
ings were opened in 1908 by Aga Kuchak Shah, a cousin of the Aga
Khan, who was an Ithna-asheri. The community has prospered there,
and there are around five thousand people in it. In 1969 a new spacious
imambara and mosque were built.
The Dar-es-Salaam jamaat is very active and presides over a number
of educational, religious, and social institutions for its members. These
include: (I) the Haji Daya Walji madrasa built in 1937 as a center
of religious education for boys. It accommodates the offices of the
jamnaat.(2) The Ebrahim Haji Building which was erected to serve as
a free dispensary, and though free medicine is not yet being distributed
from there, the building is the center of many welfare activities. (3)
The Ithna-asheri Union which has a fine nursery school, a sports
section, and facilities for learning sewing and cooking. (4) The Hu-
seini Society which seeks to develop the habit of prayer and under-
standing of the religious law in children and to teach them manners
and etiquette. Other places, such as Tanga, Mombasa, Songea, and
Arusha have taken over the idea and set up Huseini Societies. (5)
Ithna-asheri Boy Scout troops working in cooperation with the inter-
national and national organizations. (6) The Haji Muhammad Jaffer
Shia Ithna-asheri Boarding House which was set up at Dar-es-Salaam
to accommodate and guide young people who were coming up to the
capital. It is situated by the sea on a lovely site.
Kilwa. Old Kilwa is the city on the island which has been excavated
to reveal the beauties of medieval Islam. Then on the mainland is the
Sultan of Zanzibar's Kilwa which the sailing ships found a convenient
anchorage and place where they could link up with the caravan routes

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20 Seyyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi and Noel Q. King

leading up the Rufiji to Lake Nyasa (Malawi). Lastly there is the

Kilwa of the colonial authorities.
Khoja merchants settled in the Sultan's Kilwa. They included people
who afterwards split into the Ismaili and Ithna-asheri jamaats. The
members of the one jamaat of those days said the dua in the Ismaili
way and gave respect to the Aga Khan without defining its manner;
at the same time some of them recited salawat (prayers) in the name
of the fourteen masumin (infallible ones: Muhammad, Fatima and the
twelve Imams) and held majlis (meeting) after the Ithna-asheri fashion.
A bhakt (devotee) of the Aga Khan accused these people of being
subhaniyya, the name used for people who prayed according to the Shia
sheriat. The jamaat was found to consist of forty Ismailis and twenty-
two subhaniyya.
In 1905 the Aga Khan visited Kilwa. He stayed on his ship to sleep
but came to visit the Jamaat daily. A violent altercation followed by a
schism took place. After the departure of His Highness only four
persons continued to attend the Ithna-asheri meeting, but later more
people started coming again. In spite of some difficulties, the Ithna-
asheris continued to prosper and increase numerically. A big mosque
was erected by equal contributions of Nur Muhammed Mulji, Alidina
Dhalla, and Ismail Bhalloo. Then, a good plot adjacent to the mosque
and imambara was obtained for a cemetery. There is also a guest house
and a beautiful garden in the compound of the mosque and imambara.
A madrasa was established long before 1914 for the religious instruction
of the young. When the port of Kilwa gave way to the port of Lindi,
the businessmen gradually migrated to Lindi. Kilwa nowadays is a
museum piece; at the present time there are no more than fifty Ithna-
asheris there.
Lindi. By 1900oo
some of our people had settled in Lindi. One of them,
Mulla Esmail Ghulamhusein, is still alive, living at Mikindani. The
mosque and imambara were built around 1910. At first the madrasa
was held in the imambara, but was given its own building in
I937.
A musafirkhana was built in 1933. In 1964 the old mosque gave way
to a new and spacious one.
It was around 1928 that motor transport came to the southern pro-
vinces and our families began to spread out. Formerly there were
jamaats in Kilwa, Songea, Lindi, Mingoyo, and Mikindani, and a lonely
family lived in Tunduru. In 1928 jamaats were established in Mtama
and Tunduru and in 1930 at Newala and Masasi.
Singida. This is a relatively new famaat. Hasham Dewji came in

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 Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (1840-1967) 21

1930 and the first majlises were held at his house. The original imam-
bara was built in 1935 and the new one in 1950. Hasham Dewji's son,
Hasan, built the mosque in 1966. Since 1964 this jamaat has had its
own alim [priest] and madrasa. The congregation was around 2oo in
1967. Scattered members in Kondoa-Irangi are also served by Singida.
Bukoba. At the beginning of the century Bukoba was but a village.
Dharamsi Khatau whose head office was in Mombasa opened a branch
there in 1903. Other Ithna-asheris opened branch offices in turn--
Nasir Mawji (1903), Sheriff Jiwa (1907), Walji Bhanji (1907),
Abdullah Khimji (1908), Pir Bhai Ghulam Husain (19o8), and Amersi
Sunderji (I913). Before World War I the Ithna-asheri were domina-
ting trade there; the only Ismaili firm was that of Alidina Visram.
A few Hindus were engaged as artisans. In 1914 there were 150
Ithna-asheris there. They suffered much in the war but reached a
period of slowly but steadily increasing prosperity. These days there
are 350 Ithna-asheris there. The resident priest, Maulana Seyyid Khalil
Abbas, came from India in 1958 and remained till 1970. He brought
great liveliness and enthusiasm to the jamaat and there is a fine mosque,
imambara, musafirkhana, madrasa, nursery school, and priest's house
in Bukoba.
Mwanza. The Ithna-asheri came to Mwanza in 19oo and Nasir Virji
was probably the pioneer. He did not settle here till 1921 but in 1914
he gave a plot of land for the imambara, and in 1924, thanks to his
initiative, a building belonging to Alidina Visram was bought and used
by the jamaat. A mosque, musafirkhana and madrasa were also erected.
The Ithna-asheri population in the late i960s was 650. There are two
smaller jamaats near Mwanza and scattered families live in a dozen
villages in the area.
Tabora. The Ithna-asheri came around the year 1900. By 1904 there
were ten families. Merchandise was still being head-loaded from Baga-
moyo to Tabora (it took six weeks) and thence to Kigoma. The Arabs
still dominated this trade and there were only seven Ismaili and two
Hindu families besides the Ithna-asheri there. In the late 960osthere
were eighty-five in the community at Tabora.
Kampala. In 1903 some Ithna-asheri came to Kampala from Mom-
basa and Nairobi by way of Kisumu. An Irani, Mirza Asadullah Khan,
started a transport business using ox-carts in partnership with an
African chief. He married a Muganda lady. He is still remembered
for his participation in welfare and social projects and his good
nature.

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22 Rizvi and King, Ithna-Ashcri Jamaats

At first majlis was held in individual houses. Then a plot of land

was obtained in William Street and a building of corrugated iron sheets
erected. Sunni and Bohora Muslims used to attend our majlis. In 1918
the first imambara was put up. Visiting preachers and teachers came
from time to time.
In 1927 Seyyid Ali from the madrasat-ul Waezeen at Lucknow
visited and in that year a building for the imambara was purchased. In
1929 the late Seyyid Sultan Ali was sent to Kampala; he established
a madrasa in the old imambara and built a new one. An elementary
school using Gujerati and English was established. The present spacious
and handsome religious buildings are of recent origin; the imambara
was put up in 1961 and the mosque in 1963.

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