Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

This dissertation explores how ideas about cultural and religious difference motivate members of the Shi‘a Ismaili Khojas community in Mumbai to erect social boundaries around their community and reach out to others through volunteer service. As a minority within India’s Muslim minority, difference has been a particularly fraught issue for Ismailis throughout their history. Consequently, they have maintained strict boundary lines around religious institutions in their community, such as sharply restricting attendance at religious functions to Ismailis only.

Evolution and re-evaluation of the Du’a (Prayer ) of the Nizari Ismailis in the subcontinent following the Declaration of the Great Resurrection in Alamut.

There is also a video of this presentation on: https://youtu.be/jjt392ZrXcw

This paper was first presented during the 3rd Ismaili Study Conference in 2021.

This article explores late nineteenth-century identity formation and caste boundaries among the Khōjā of colonial Zanzibar. The central concern regarding children born to a non-Khōjā parent was what status, particularly regarding rights of inheritance, the multiracial children born of these relationships had within the caste structure. The case of Nasur Jesa v. Hurbayee suggests that the attitude toward these children was inconsistent; sometimes they were embraced,and at other times they were shunned by the Khōjā community.

The Guptı¯s of Bhavnagar, India, represent an unexplored case of taqiyya, or precautionary dissimulation, and challenge traditional categories of religious identity in South Asia. Taqiyya is normally practiced by minority or otherwise
disadvantaged groups of Muslims who fear negative repercussions should their real faith become known. Historically, the Shı¯‘a, whether Ithna¯ -‘asharı¯ or Ismaili, have commonly dissimulated as Sunnı¯s, who form the dominant community.