How did Shiism spread to the Indian Suncontinent?

[MuhammadXII 26]

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering, how did Shiism spread to the Indian subcontinent? By Shiism, I am referring to Twelver Shiism. I know that Ismailis were spread throughout the subcontinent before Twelver Shias, most notably in Multan (until they were exterminated by Mahmud of Ghazna). I believe that Twelver Shiism only became popular in the subcontinent after the rise of the Safavids in Iran. Is it possible that the rise of Twelver Shiism in the subcontinent was due to Shia missionary activity and migrations from Iran to Mughal India? I believe this to be the case as there were many Persians in the Mughal Empire and almost all were Shias. Another interesting thing to note is that Bangladesh has a very low Shia population, what is the reason for this? I'm curious as there were Bengali Nawabs who were Shia, but I guess they didn't enforce their religion on their people. 

Muhammad XII

Edited August 24, 2016 by MuhammadXII

[DigitalUmmah 5,202]

shiaism was well known in india before the safavids. 

Sheikh mufeed (one of the foremost shia scholars of all time) writes that on the eve of the battle of karbala, Imam Hussain (as) gave umar ibn saad (allahs curse upon him) a few choices, of of which was that Imam Hussain (as) caravan travel to india (Hind) where Imam Hussain (as) had many supporters, both muslim and non muslim. 

many shia also fled to hind to escape the abbasid and umayyad persecution, so shia are reported here too. the bakri propaganda that shiaism was spread to south asia by the safavid persians is therefore (as usual) completely untrue and (as usual) completely devoid of any evidence. 

 

[MuhammadXII 26]

6 hours ago, DigitalUmmah said:

shiaism was well known in india before the safavids. 

Sheikh mufeed (one of the foremost shia scholars of all time) writes that on the eve of the battle of karbala, Imam Hussain (as) gave umar ibn saad (allahs curse upon him) a few choices, of of which was that Imam Hussain (as) caravan travel to india (Hind) where Imam Hussain (as) had many supporters, both muslim and non muslim. 

many shia also fled to hind to escape the abbasid and umayyad persecution, so shia are reported here too. the bakri propaganda that shiaism was spread to south asia by the safavid persians is therefore (as usual) completely untrue and (as usual) completely devoid of any evidence. 

 

Okay thanks for the reply. 

[haideriam 790]

I think the very first migrations of shias in Pakistan was by the sea route of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, a Hasani Syed, along with his brothers to the port city of Karachi and where their shrines are visited even till today. They are landmarks.

The other route was via Iran when, the son of the Mughal emperor Babur, Humayun was defeated and he fled to Iran and along with the Zaidi shias recaptured his lands and kingdom.  Some of them even call themselves Baqiri Syeds.

The rest from Persian cities of Bukhara and Bulk escaping persecution and some from Iraq to educate the people. Many saints as we refer to them fall in the last category.

[MuhammadXII 26]

1 minute ago, haideriam said:

I think the very first migrations of shias in Pakistan was by the sea route of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, a Hasani Syed, along with his brothers to the port city of Karachi and where their shrines are visited even till today. They are landmarks.

The other route was via Iran when, the son of the Mughal emperor Babur, Humayun was defeated and he fled to Iran and along with the Zaidi shias recaptured his lands and kingdom.  Some of them even call themselves Baqiri Syeds.

The rest from Persian cities of Bukhara and Bulk escaping persecution and some from Iraq to educate the people. Many saints as we refer to them fall in the last category.

Thanks for your reply, I found it very educational.