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SHIITE MUSLIMS IN PAKISTAN.
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Political & social history of Islamic sect. Schism with Sunnis, cultural & religious identity, fragmentation, impact in India, massacres, leadership, persecution.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Political & social history of Islamic sect. Schism with Sunnis, cultural & religious identity, fragmentation, impact in India, massacres, leadership, persecution.

Paper Introduction:
SHIISM IN PAKISTAN This research traces the political and social history of the Shiite Muslims in Pakistan. For many centuries, the Shiites, as a minority Muslim sect, have maintained a distinct cultural and religious identity in the parts of India which are now in Pakistan, despite opposition from the dominant Sunni elite and schisms within their ranks. With some notable exceptions, the Shiites have been a negligible political influence. In modern Pakistan, serious communal strife has erupted between extreme Sunni and Shiite elements, which reflect political instability and centrifugal forces which have polarized Pakistani politics. Origins of the Sunni-Shiite Schism in Islam According to Blood (124), Muslims account for 97 percent of Pakistan's population of 140 million people, of which 77 percent

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. For many centuries, the Shiites, as a minority Muslimsect, have maintained a distinct cultural and religious identity in theparts of India which are now in Pakistan, despite opposition from thedominant Sunni elite and schisms within their ranks. The city of Lahore, which later became a major centerof Shia learning and culture was described by Quadus in the early 13thcentury as "a city of eminent people from all walks of life . After Akbar's death, a period of religious repression of Hindus andpersecution of other non-Sunni Muslims set in and continued through the18th century. . The Shiites rejected theauthority of the Caliph and Islamic law, the sharia, preferring to believethat only their imams, who were descended from Ali, had the right tointerpret the Quaran. London: Michael Joseph, 1989."Guns and Greed." Economist 1 May 1997: 34.Hourani, Albert. The Concept of an Islamic State. Pakistan then suffered twodisasters, its loss of East Pakistan to India and the counterproductiveleftist-oriented economic policies of President Zulfiqar Bhutto (r. . These new groups mushroomed as Pakistan was flooded with weapons and drug money from Afghanistan and the Middle East (24). 1958-1969) paid lip service to all religious factionsbut had little tolerance for radicals. Lapidus says the Nizaris,another Shiite sect, whose imam in the 2 th century was to be thefabulously wealthy Aga Khan, and the Bohra (Yemeni) branch of the Ismailiscame to India in the early 13th century (46 ). Karachi: Royal Book, 1992.Rashid, Ahmed. Blood said that there were two problems with Zia's policy: Most Pakistanis are Sunni, but there is a substantial minority of Shia whose interpretation of Islamic law differs in some important respects from that of the Sunnis. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988.Quadrus, Syed A. Abbott says that, during the195 s, many attempts were made to bring Shias and Sunnis together, but"Sunni-Shia quarrels and riots continued" (192). Lapidus says that "in thesixteenth century the influence of Shi'ism was also very strong. The government may not be able to contain the forces of Islamicfundamentalism in Pakistan which could lead to a much greater blood bath.Unlike the situation in Lebanon, where an Iranian-backed terrorist group,the Hezbollah, wreaks havoc, most of the pressure for violence in Pakistancomes from the Sunni right. Zia's introduction of zakat [a state sponsored welfare system to be financed by all religious orders] was strongly protested by the Shia, and after they demonstrated in Islamabad, the rules were modified in 1981 for Shia adherents (65).Rashid says that Sunni-Shia violence grew to new heights in Punjab in themid-8 s when "Zia began funding extremist Sunni clerics in a bid to build apower base among the Islamic right" (24). The Shiites, while relatively small in numbers, exercisedconsiderable influence at the courts of the Moghul Emperors during the 16thand early 17th centuries. Shiites in the form of the Ismaili offshoot, the Fatimids (969-125 ),held power in Egypt for about 3 years. Hourani says thefollowers of Ali ibn Abu Talib (Ali), Muhammad's cousin and son in law,"believed that [Ali] had been the sole legitimate and appointed successorof the Prophet or imam" (61). TheProphet of Islam, Muhammad (57 -632 AD), died without a male heir andfailed to designate his successor after his death. removed the most ardent champion of a seculardemocratic state" (164). Abbott says that,because of these developments, the Shiites were "rendered a group apart"from the mainstream of Indian Muslim thought (6 ). After Zia was killed in a mysterious helicopter crash in 1988,Pakistani politics became even more envenomed and unstable.In the 199 s, communal conflicts became more frequent, culminating in aseries of murders in 1995 committed by the Sunni extremist group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan against Shiite worshippers in mosques in Punjab and Karachiand bloody retaliation by the Shiite extremist Tehrik-i-Fiqah (Guns 34; Why35; and Rashid 24). What Blood called a "Kalashnikov culture" developed in Pakistan'smajor cities, which Rashid describes as follows: a new and generally more violent generation of militants has entered the scene-radicals who have little faith in electoral politics and are cynical about the old-style Islamic leaders. Near the end of the 15thcentury, according to Titus, a Shia missionary from the Caspian Sea areawas said "to have . They came in successive wavesbeginning in 712 and completed their occupation of most of India by the endof the 12th century. Sindh The Land of Indus Civilization. Lahore: Vanguard, 1991.Blood, Peter R., ed. . SHIISM IN PAKISTAN This research traces the political and social history of the ShiiteMuslims in Pakistan. resulted ina steady stream of Shi'as from Persia to India and into court circles"(57). Nevertheless, Duncan says, after the 12th century, "Shia Islam seepedin from Iran" (2 4). The majoritywas called the Twelvers, because they followed a line of 11 imams directlydescended from Ali, until the 12th (the "Hidden Imam") went into seclusionin 874. A History of the Arab Peoples. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1968.Ahmed, Ishtiaq. With some notableexceptions, the Shiites have been a negligible political influence. Sultan Akbar (r. After an initial flush of enthusiasm for the1979 Khomeini revolution in Iran, the Muslim right has accused the Shiitesof being accomplices of the Iranians, and the country is in a distinctlyanti-Iranian mood. The Hindu-Muslim communal massacres of the Partition periodengendered further hatred and intolerance. . After the British tookover in the early 19th century, Shiites were largely excluded from themovement for Muslim renewal and ejection of foreigners, which grew into theindependence movement of the 2 th century. In 1978, Bhutto'ssuccessor, General Zia ul-Haq, announced his Islamicization Law. It has rarely achieved much in theway of political power and remains vulnerable to growing extremism in itsmidst and religious fanatics among the Sunni majority, with which thegovernment has been barely able to cope. . Shiites in Modern Pakistan Lapidus says that, during the waning days of Muslim rule in India,"Muslim religious life in the subcontinent was highly pluralistic and notunder state control," a policy which the British continued, and that manyshaykhs, scholars and saints were Shiite (72 ). However, Ahmed says that "his earlydeath in September 1948 . Chicago: Chicago UP, 1974.Lapidus, Ira M. Islam in India and Pakistan. converted a large number of people" in Kashmir(47). The conversion of the Hindus and other nativeIndian peoples was handled by wandering Sufis, a mystic Sunni sect, whowere somewhat influenced by Shiism. Inmodern Pakistan, serious communal strife has erupted between extreme Sunniand Shiite elements, which reflect political instability and centrifugalforces which have polarized Pakistani politics. "The Great Divide." Far Eastern Economic Review 9 Mar. After Ali was murdered, the Shiites went undergroundand opposed the established Umayyad Caliphate (66 -749) and, afterinitially supporting the Abbasid overthrow of the Omayyads, foundthemselves being persecuted by the Abbasid Caliphate (75 -1258). poets,princes, soldiers, saints or intellectuals" (5 ). Thus began the long schism and fratricidal conflict between Sunni andShiite Muslims which continues to the present day. The most numerous minority Shiite group, the Seveners or Ismailis,traced their descent from the 7th imam, whose name was Ismail. 1995: 24.Ruthven, Malise. According to Hodgson, the first Sultanate of Delhiestablished in 121 consisted of "chiefs of a tightly organized oligarchyof Turkic captains" (278). . Ali refused to acknowledge the dominance ofthe Quaraysh tribe, served briefly as Caliph (656-661) and then wasassassinated. Pakistan a country study. Origins of the Sunni-Shiite Schism in Islam According to Blood (124), Muslims account for 97 percent ofPakistan's population of 14 million people, of which 77 percent are Sunnisand 2 percent Shiites or Shia, literally "partisans of Ali" (124). Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1994.Duncan, Emma. Breaking the Curfew. The Mughals had Shi'i wives andmany Shi'a held high offices" (46 ). The Shiites themselves fragmented into various sects. The military dictatorGeneral Ayub Khan (r. Throughout its history, Hourani saysthat "Shi'ism in its radical version has had a natural attraction fortribal and other solidarity groups seeking to replace the political power"(2 4). . The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistanmust be laid squarely at the feet of its Sunni ideologues, such as MuhammadIqbal (1875-1938) and Maulana Maududi (19 3-1979), who called for strictobedience to the sharia and rejected Persian culture. Islam and Pakistan. The Twelver version of Shia becamethe official religion of Persia during the Safavid Empire (15 1-1722) andhas remained, in one form or another, the dominant religious force thereever since. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 193 ."Why Islam is Turning Violent in Pakistan." Economist 4 Mar. Conclusion The Shiite community in Pakistan has survived centuries ofpersecution and discrimination but has maintained its separate existenceand resisted successfully assimilation. 1995: 35.----------------------- 8 According toHourani, the more militant Shiite sects, including the Ismailis, were"elitist and conspiratorial" (2 5). Otherwise, except for brief intervals, the Shiites have beenexcluded from political power and, according to Ruthven, have "drawn uponthe historic experience of defeat and martyrdom" (187). However, in the 193 s and 194 s,the Sunni-dominated Muslim League, which spearheaded the nationalistmovement and favored the establishment of a separate Muslim state, washeaded by a Shiite, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first governor general. Islam and the World. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1991.Hodgson, Marshall G. Limited Role of the Shiites in Muslim Rule in India The conquest of India by Islam was largely accomplished by Turkic andAfghani warriors (ghazi) who acted at the direction of the Sunni Caliphs incentral Islam or later on their own. However, Jinnah never intended a theocracy anddeclared before the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in August, 1947 hisintention of creating a secular state. Golcondaand Kashmir were ruled by Shi'i princes. The Venture of Islam Volume II. The Muslim League insistedon a separate Muslim state because of Muslim fear of Hindu domination afterindependence was achieved. The Sunni-Shiite conflict is just one of a number ofinternal conflicts within Pakistan, including regional and ethnicseparatist movements, protests against economic stagnation and elitistrule, and fears that Pakistan, now a nuclear power, is surrounded on allsides by more powerful states--India, China and Iran. According to Abbott, Sultan Babur, who ruledIndia from 1526 to 153 , and Humayun in the mid-16th century "outwardlyadopted Shi'ism to gain Persian military support [which] . New York: Oxford UP, 1984.Titus, Murray T. 1973-1979), which fed the flames of Sunni fanaticism. Works CitedAbbott, Freeland. A History of Islamic Societies. 1556-16 5) adopted a policy of religious tolerancetoward Hindus and non-Sunni minorities (54). According to Ruthven, the Nayshbandi (Sunni) sufis gaveIndian Muslims a "rigid and conservative" stamp (281).

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