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

Virji Premji Parpiya traced his lineage from his ancestor, called Khoja Bhalo (d. 1607), who lived around 1154 at Lohgadh in Punjab, belonging to the Lohana class in the Rajput stock. He embraced Ismailism by Pir Dadu (d. 1596) and with the request of Rao Bharmal (1585-1631), the ruler of Kutchh, Pir Dadu left Sind and arrived in Kutchh with Khoja Bhalo in 1587. Bhalo was employed to a high post in the state administration. He was followed by his son Lakho (d. 1629), Khetasi (d. 1687) and Banno, who died in Delhi in 1715. His son was Jivo (d. 1752), whose son was Ebhalo (d.

He was born and raised in Vaghnagar, Kathiawar in 1883. He was a persuasive religious since childhood. His father, Ghulam Hussain Padamsi was once a famous hostage of Imam Hasan Ali Shah, who died on September 15, 1927.

He was born in Bombay on April 5, 1847. His grandfather Sayani was a respectable merchant in Kutchh and came to Bombay. His father, Muhammad Sayani admitted his son, Rahimtullah in Elphinstone School, where he matriculated at the age of 16 years. He passed his B.A. examination in 1866 and M. A. in 1868. He was not only the first Muslim who had obtained this honorable degree, but also no Muslim obtained it during the next 25 years.

Master Hashim Bogha was born in Porebandar, India in 1863. He was intelligent and thus eager to get educated, but his poverty fated a hitch in his life. He however continued by hook and crook. He studied till late hours at night. Sometimes he stood several hours below a street-light to study when he had not a single penny to purchase kerosene for the lamp. Despite his down-trodden condition, he had his schooling upto matriculation.
In 1881, his fortune brought him in Bombay at the age of 18 years and joined Khan Muhammad Habib School as an assistant teacher in the English section.

He was born on February 9, 1908 in
India. He also made his footing in East Africa for better prospect. After
working for two years in the firm of Varas Alidina Visram, he proceeded to
Kilosa. In 1938, he joined his father in agriculture enterprise, procuring sisal,
sugar cane, maize and sorghum. Since then the whole family of Rajab Ali Megji
had been in agricultural activities. It can be said that the family’s
undertaking in planting sugar in Kilombero helped to open up the Kilombero area
where today the Kilombero Sugar scheme is yielding massive benefits. With

He was born in Badresar, Kutchh, in 1861. His father died when he was 3 years old. Dressed in rags, he arrived in Bombay in 1878 at the age of 17 years. He started to work in a shop, where the grams were baked in the oven, thus earning two rupees per month. He was honest and a hard worker, therefore, his monthly pay was raised to five rupees.

He was born in Jamnagar, India in 1887. In search of better prospect, he came in Zanzibar in 1900 and then went to live in Kisumu in 1903, and Nairobi in 1905.

Varas
Moledina Megji, also known as Varas Moloo or Moloo Kamadia, was born in Mundra,
Kutchh in 1854. His forefathers were the renowned merchants, conducting the
businesses of grains, ghee and wool in the name of Vali Parpiya, and extended
their mercantile influence as far as Karachi and Jamnagar. His father ran a
business with two brothers, then severed and started his own business in the
name of Megji Vali. When he died, his son Varas Moledina continued it. His
business involved collecting wool in Kutchh. For shearing the annual wool crop,

Kanji, a certain Ismaili was an origin of Limadi, Kathiawar. His son, Visram was a prominent person. Punja, the son of Visram was a famous merchant in Limadi, and his son Amarsi had three sons, Nur Muhammad, Pirbhai, Saboor and two daughters, Mannibai and Satbai. Among them, Saboor or Saboor Chatoor was most prominent in the Ismaili world.

He was born on August 12, 1916 and educated in the English High School, Bombay. His father, Alijah Ghulam Ali Fazalbhoy was a dealer of estates and properties. His son, Muhammad Ali also took up the estate business after his schooling.
He was an Honorary Secretary of the Religious Educational Department of the Ismailia Association for India in 1950. The Imam appointed him the President of the Ismailia Association between 1952 and 1958.

The
predecessors of Pir Sabzali hailed from Mundra, Kutchh. In his ancestry we find
a certain Sabzali Hansraj, the grandfather of Pir Sabzali, a small trader in
Kutchh. He was a dedicated social worker. His son Ramzan Ali (d. 1886) had
three sons, Mahomed Jaffer (1874-1918), Rahim (1880-1929), Pir Sabzali
(1884-1938) and three daughters, Fatimabai, Jainabai and Sonbai. Ramzan Ali had
come to Bombay, where he started his own business and was also a social worker
in the community.

Different
dates of the birth of Pir Sabzali sound in written and oral traditions, such as

The Shamsi Ismailis in Punjab, the followers of Pir Shams (d. 1356), mostly practiced the Ismaili faith in solitude in the garb of the Hindus, and became known as the gupti (secretive). These gupti Ismailis mostly resided in 73 different villages in Punjab. Most of them revealed themselves from the Hindu culture, and emerged in public and assumed the Islamic names soon after the orders of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah in 1910. The Imam is reported to have issued his next orders in 1912, 1914 and 1916 to cut down the old customs of Hindu customs and become practicing Muslims.

He belonged to well-known Fazalbhoy family, whose all members have been closely connected with the community services. He graduated in 1924 and passed LL.B. in 1926 from Bombay University. He passed the Solicitor's examination in 1928, and became the Partner of Perera Fazalbhoy & Co., the famous Solicitors and Notary Public since 1929. He practiced in Bombay and earned a highest respect in all quarters in the legal circles, in public life and within the community. He was well respected by the Bench and the Bar. In youth, he was the Joint Secretary of Historical Society with K.T. Desai.

Bhagat Hira was a devoted Ismaili goldsmith in Punjab. His son, Ghulam Sadruddin had a strong proclivity towards Ismailism and conducted the religious school at his own residence in Multan. He translated 'Si-Harafi' of Sayed Ahmad Shah into Urdu. He and his forefathers were the gupti Ismailis, who subscribed to the Ismaili faith openly in 1912 in accordance with the instructions of the Imam. Ghulam Sadruddin served as a Mukhi of Multan Jamatkhana and a member of the district Council for Multan. He had four sons and three daughters. Hyder Ali who died young.

Karim Ibrahim's father Ibrahim Pabani came from Mandavi, Kutchh. He was an eminent owner of the ships, sailing in Arabian and Zanzibar coasts. He had three sons - Ladha, Datoo and Karim. Ibrahim Pabani died in 1857.

Muhammad Rawjee, the grandfather of Muhammad Ibrahim Muhammad Rawjee was born in Bombay on 1830. He got married at the age of 16 years in 1846. It is said that he was the first amongst the Indian Ismailis to have visited China at an early age in 1853, where he opened his branch. Initially, his business ran on partnership, but he alone conducted it after some time. He was noted for initiating many welfare institutions in 1883 and donated free houses to over fifty Ismaili families without charging rent, which was named after his father-in-law, Dhanji Karmali.

Varas Karim Ismail Mansawala, the first title holder of Varas among the gupti Ismailis of North Gujrat, was born in 1867 in Mansa, Gujrat and came with his family to Bombay at the age of 6 years in 1873.
He witnessed last 14 years of the Imamate of Imam Hasan Ali Shah, and blessed with the dastboshi. When Imam Hasan Ali Shah passed away, in 1881 and was buried in Hasanabad, he joined with the labourers in the construction of the mausoleum. Varas Karim Ismail Mansawala also present during the ascension of Imam Aga Ali Shah and took oath of allegiance.

Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan (d. 1864), the ruler of Hunza State in the northern area of Pakistan, was succeeded by his son, Mir Muhammad Ghazan Khan I, whose successor Mir Safdar Ali Khan had taken refuge in Shagnan during the British invasion in 1891. The British commissioned his half-brother, Mir Muhammad Nazim Khan as the ruler of Hunza. Mir Muhammad Ghazan Khan II and then Mir Muhammad Jamal Khan followed him.

Karim Kassim was the younger brother of Varas Bandali Kassim (1875-1956). He was born in 1878 in Karachi, where he acquired his formal education from Sind Madresa-tul-Islam School upto fourth class. He held a strong command in English, Gujrati and Sindhi languages. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan was his classmate.

Missionary Muhammad Murad Ali Juma, known as Bapu, a term of respect for an elderly man; was born in Bombay in 1878. His mother expired when he was hardly a year old. His father did not marry a second time for the sake of his son.