Shi'a Islam in India

Shi'a Islam In India

Shia Muslims are a large minority among India's Muslims. However, there has been no particular census conducted in India with regards to sects, but Indian sources like Times of India and DNA reported Indian Shia population in mid 2005–2006 between 25% and 31% of entire Muslim population of India which accounts them in numbers between 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 of 157,000,000 Indian Muslim population. However, as per an estimation of one reputed Shia NGO Alimaan Trust, India's Shia population in early 2000 was around 30 million with Sayyids comprising just a tenth of the Shia population. According to some national and international sources Indian Shia population is the world's second-largest after Iran, Shia population was also acclaimed publicly as second largest by the 14th Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh quoted in the year 2005. One of the lingering problems in estimating the Shia population is that unless the Shia form a significant minority in a Muslim country, the entire population is often listed as Sunni. Shiites are estimated to be 21–35 percent of the Muslim population in South Asia, although the total number is difficult to estimate due to the intermingling between the Islamic schools and branches and practice of taqiyya by Shias.

However,some external sources such as the BBC claim that there are close to 20 million Shia's in India and the Pew Research Center figure them between 10 to 14 percent giving the numbers between 16,000,000 to 24,000,000. However, the Pew Research Center report is not considered authentic by many Shias and also national and International reports after taking into consideration the report released by Britannica Book of the year in 1997 which put the estimates of Shia population in India in 1996 over 26,000,000 out of entire Indian Muslim population of 103,000,000 at that time.

There are many big and small towns and villages with majority Shiite Muslim population in India. Many Sayyids between 11th to 16th century migrated to the Indian subcontinent to escape the persecution of Shias in mostly Sunni ruled Middle East, also there was peace time migration from Iran in large numbers and Sayyids from Nishapur, Sabzawar, Shiraz etc from Iran migrated mostly to northern Indian Ganges plains. Prominent places in India with majority or considerable Shia Muslim population are Kargil, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow,Jaunpur,Machilipatnam, Barabanki, Sirsi, Amroha, Karari (Kaushambi, UP), Zaidpur, Hallaur, Jais & Naseerabad, Naugawan, Manikpur, Safipur, Unnao, Akbarpur, Sultanpur and Muzafar Nagar . Shias in Sirsi, Amroha, Hallaur, Zaidpur, Safipur and Naugawan are majority Sayyids. One of the example traced back to 15-16th Century B.C. where Sayyid from Imam Reza (A.S.) Sayyid Hishammuddin migrated from Nishapur (Khorasan Razavi Provience, Iran) to Karari and settled and prospered there from Mughal India till date. Among the Shias of India an overwhelming majority belongs to the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) division, while the Shias among the Khoja and Bohra communities are Ismaili. Dawoodi Bohras are primarily based in India, even though the Dawoodi theology originated in Yemen. India is home to the majority Dawoodi Bohra population most of them concentrated in Gujarat out of over 1 million followers worldwide.