The Shi‘ites
Among the non-Sunni religious groups the Shi'ites constitute a major sect with certain distinct beliefs and practices. They do not recognise the legitimacy of the succession of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman to the caliphate.
Instead they claim that Ali directly succeeded the Prophet.The Shi‘a sect split into two groups on the question of the number of imams. The Ithna-i Ashariya believed in twelve imams and the Ismailis recognised only seven. The majority of Shi'as belong to the Ithna-i Ashariya. In India it was the Ismaili sect which entered first and established its power in Multan. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (d. 1030) overthrew the Multan dynasty and adopted stern measures against them and the Carmathians. Shihabuddin Muhammad of Ghur (d. 1206) continued Mahmud’s policy of stern action against Ismaili strongholds and as a consequence Ismailis became fiercely opposed to Sunni governments. They were suspected of being involved in the assassination of Shihabuddin and even planned the overthrow of two Delhi Sultans, Iltutmish and Raziya. The Sultans of Delhi, particularly Alauddin Khalji and Firuz Shah Tughluq, adopted rigorous measures against all forms of Ismailism.
The Ithna-i Ashariya came into prominence with the establishment of the Shi*a states in the Deccan. The Adil Shahi rulers of Bijapur (1489-1686), the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar (1490-1633), and the Qutb Shahis of Golconda (1512-1687) adopted Shi'ism as state religion and actively propagated Shi‘a doctrines. In northern India Shi*a influence increased during the sixteenth century after the return of the Mogul Emperor Humayun from Persia. The Safavid ruler, Tahmasp, who was a devout Shi‘a, supported Humayun in regaining the throne of Delhi from the Afghans. Tahmasp even prevailed upon Humayun to adopt certain Shi'a practices. Large numbers of Shi‘a poets and scholars came to India during the reign of Akbar and their numbers in the Mogul nobility also increased.
The entry of Nur Jahan into the harem of Jahangir (d. 1627) further consolidated the Shi'a position. The most important Shi'a scholar of the Mogul period was Qazi Nurullah Shustari. From the time of Jahangir, polemics between the Sunnis and Shi'as started and during the succeeding centuries books were written by scholars on both sides to show why the other was wrong.The Shi'as have developed certain practices and institutions of their own. They have separate buildings, called imambaras, where they perform their religious ceremonies and offer prayers. During the month of Muharram (the month in which Imam Husein was martyred), they take out skeleton-effigies (known as tazias) representing the tombs of the martyred imams and bury them in graveyards. Elegies (marsiyas) are recited during the first ten days of Muharram. Muhammad Quli of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda was one of the first reciters of elegies in Urdu.
Among the Ismaili Shi'as, the Khojas and the Bohras are the best organised communities, and are mainly engaged in business. The Khojas are Nizari Ismailis and are the followers of the Agha Khan. Initially the Nizaris in India acknowledged the imams in Iran but subsequently when Agha Khan I moved to Bombay in 1845 the Immamat was transferred to India. The Bohras developed the concept of dai-i mutlaq when their imam, Mustali, disappeared in 1133. Originally established in Yemen, they later moved to India.