Shi'a Islam in India - Shia Muslim Dynasties in India

Shia Muslim Dynasties in India

Shiite Islam has deep rooted influence in present and history of India from North to South with various Shia Muslim dynasties ruling Indian provinces from time to time.

Few prominent ones of the Indian Shia Muslim dynasties are as follows:

• Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1527 AD)

The Bahmani Sultanate also called the Bahmanid Empire or Bahmani Kingdom was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms. Bahmanid Sultanate was the first independent Islamic and Shi'ite Kingdom in South India.

• Sharqi Dynasty (1394 CE to 1479 CE)

The Sharqi sultanate was an independent medieval Shia Muslim dynasty of North India, one of the many kingdoms that came up following the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate. Between 1394 CE to 1479 CE, Sharqi dynasty ruled from Jaunpur in the present day state of Uttar Pradesh.

• Berar Sultanate (1490–1572 AD)

On the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan (1348), Berar Sultanate was constituted one of the five provinces into which their kingdom was divided, being governed by great nobles, with a separate army. The perils of this system becoming apparent, the province was divided (1478 or 1479) into two separate provinces, named after their capitals Gawil and Mahur.

• Bidar Sultanate (1489–1619 AD)

Bidar Sultanate was one of the Deccan sultanates of late medieval India. Its founder, Qasim Barid was a Turk, domiciled in Georgia. He joined the service of the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah III. He started his career as a Sar-Naubat but later became the Mir-Jumla (prime minister) of the Bahmani sultanate.

• Qutb Shahi dynasty (1518–1687 AD)

The Qutb Shahi dynasty was a Turkic dynasty (whose members were also called the Qutub Shahis). They were the ruling family of the kingdom of Golconda in southern India. They were Shia Muslims and belonged to Kara Koyunlu.

• Adil Shahi dynasty (1527–1686 AD)

The Adil Shahi dynasty ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur in the Western area of the Deccan region of Southern India from 1490 to 1686. Bijapur had been a province of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1518), before its political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century and eventual break-up in 1518. The Bijapur Sultanate was absorbed into the Mughal Empire on 12 September 1686, after its conquest by the Emperor Aurangzeb.

• Nawab of Awadh (1722–1858 AD)

Of all the Muslim states and dependencies of the Mughal empire, Awadh had the newest royal family, the Nawabs of Awadh. They were descended from a Persian adventurer called Sa'adat Khan, originally from Khurasan in Persia.

• Najafi Nawabs of Bengal (1757–1880)

The Najafi Dynasty of Nawabs of Bengal were Sayyids and were descendants of Prophet Muhammad through Al Imam Hasan ibn Ali, ruling from 1757 until 1880.

• Nawab of Rampur

Rampur, former princely state of British India. Previously ruled by Shiite Muslim Nawabs of Rampur, it was incorporated into the state of Uttar Pradesh in 1949.