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