 Hussaini Dalan, the largestImambara and Shi'ite mosque in Bangladesh | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| approx. 2,972,000 (2011 estimate)[needs update] | |
| Religions | |
| Shia Islam (mainlyTwelver,Dawoodi Bohra &Nizari Ismaili) | |
| Languages | |
| Bengali andUrdu (by theBihari Muslim community) |
| Part ofa series on Shia Islam |
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 Shia Islam portal |
Shia Muslims are a minority inBangladesh, with roughly 2% of the population being Shia.[1][needs update]
Among the Shias, theDawoodi Bohra community is concentrated in Chittagong as well as theNizariIsmaili community also found inDhaka.[2] TheHussaini Dalan in Bakhshibazar, Dhaka is the largest Shiamasjid and the mainHussainiya of the country. There are numerousImambaras and Shia mosques across Dhaka in places such asAdabar,Paltan,Mohammadpur,Farashganj andAzimpur.[3]Twelver communities reside in the northeasternSylhet Division in places such asKulaura andRajtila, and have ties with thePrithimpassa family. InBhandaria, Pirojpur, there is the Twin Mosque of Bhelai Chokdar which is a relic of Shia interactions in southern Bangladesh.[4] In contrast, the Shalbari Mosque inThakurgaon, northern Bangladesh, dates as late as 1888.[5] There are also imambaras inManikganj,Kishoreganj,Austagram andSaidpur.
Most of the Twelvers migrated to South Asia to prosper and obtain high positions in various Sultanates and laterMughal Empire. Many were also rebels and nobles who lost royal favour inPersia. The Mughals also preferred to employ foreign Muslim officials that had no local interests and thus were loyal tothe emperor. All fiveNawabs of Bengal happened to beShia Muslims.[citation needed]
During theSultanate era, a Shia nobleman named Sakhi Salamat settled in the village ofPrithimpassa in Kulaura in 1499. His son, Ismail Khan Lodi, was granted numerousjagirs and the Prithimpassa family thereon became one of the principal families of Greater Sylhet belonging to the erstwhile feudal nobility of eastern Bengal.[citation needed]
The oldest Shia imambara in the country was the Bibi Ka Rauza in Farashganj, Dhaka, constructed in 1608 by Amir Khan. The building is not fully extant though.[6] During the reign of emperorJahangir, a Shi'ite by the name ofIbrahim Khan Fath-i-Jang was given theSubahdari (governorship) ofBengal in 1617 and so he set off for Dhaka, bringing many fellow Shi'ites alongside him.
The Sunni governor of Mughal BengalShah Shuja's mother, two wives and teacher were all Shi'ites. So many of Shuja's courtiers were Shia such that a saying became prevalent in Dhaka that Shuja had brought with him 300 Shi'ites whom he got settled in different parts of Bengal. Although a staunch Sunni, his rivals in Delhi even started to spread rumours that Shuja had converted to Shi'ism. It was during his term in 1642, that the naval chief Sayyid Murad constructed the Hussaini Dalan in Dhaka.
The next governor of Mughal Bengal,Mir Jumla II also belonged to Shia faith
Mir Sayyid Shakrullah al-Husayni ofNajaf was one of the Shia noblemen brought by Shuja, and he was the ancestor of Nawab Sayyid Chottan Saheb, who had a large estate in Abul Hasnat Road in Dhaka. The estate contains the Mohammadi Begum Imambara, which was built in 1707.[7]
From 1717 until 1880, three successive Nawab dynasties – the Nasiri, Afshar and Najafi – ruled overBengal, and all belonged to the Shia faith.[8]
Murshid Quli Khan was originally born into a poorDeccaniHindu family, before being sold into slavery and bought by Haji Shafi, aPersian merchant from Isfahan who had converted him to Shia Islam. He later worked his way up, eventually becoming the first of the Nawabs of Bengal and founding the Nasiri dynasty. He transferred Bengal's capital fromJahangirnagar (Dhaka) toMurshidabad in present-day India.[citation needed]
Mir Ashraf Ali (d. 1829), a devout Shi'ite fromShiraz, migrated to Dhaka in the 18th century, where, he gained prominence as a landlord and courtier to theNaib Nazims of Dhaka. With properties spreading across Dhaka,Comilla,Barisal,Mymensingh andChittagong; Ali became the wealthiest person in eastern Bengal in his time, with hundreds of employed farmers and numerous charitable donations towards the city of Dhaka. In response toShah Abdul Aziz's famous criticism on the Twelver ideology, Ali sent a large sum of money toIraq in return for a response to the criticism by the senior Shi'ite clerics there. It is unknown whether a response was given.[9]
In 1799,Agha Muhammad Reza, a Mughal Shia nobleman in Sylhet of Iranian origin rebelled against theEast India Company. Gaining support from thousands of peasants after claiming to be aSufi saint, Reza successfully invaded the nearbyKachari Kingdom. Later proclaiming himself as theMahdi (promised messiah) andtwelfth imam, he was captured and imprisoned inCalcutta.[10][11]
In 1861, the Bibi Ka Rauza Imambara in Farashganj, Dhaka was renovated by RM Doshanji. In the 19th century, descendants of the Shiazamindar family of Sitalpur inPurnia, Bihar migrated to the village of Sindurna in Thakurgaon in modern-day Bangladesh. Shaykh Muhammad Raj of this family built the Shalbari Mosque for the Shia community in the village in 1888, and the site remains a popular tourist attraction.[5] In 1891, the Mir Yaqub Imambara was constructed in 1 Hussaini Dalan Road, Dhaka. It was refurbished in 2004 by the Shia Anjuman-e-Husayni.[citation needed]
Despite a long and rich history in the country, presently Shi'ite groups are the target of sectarian violence. For instance, in 2015, a Shi'iteAshura gathering was bombed.[12]
