|
The Khawaja originally from the western districts of the Punjab. They converted from Hinduism to Islam and belong to the Khatri and Arora classes. Khawaja is a term derived from the Arabic and Persian meaning "a wealthy, respectable person".
It is hoped that it will enlighten many who are interested in the history of the Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheris who lived in Africa.
This work is dedicated to ?
a. All the Arab and Irani Missionaries who set foot on the soil of India, and converted many Indians to ISLAM.
b. All the Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheris who suffered banishment, deprivation, injuries and death, in India and East Africa, for the sake of their Faith. They became a part of ISLAM and its history , "but most of the people do not comprehend",
"Using a combination of ethnographic data based on the description of shrines and rituals and of popular literature, this book seeks to investigate Hindu ?folk? traditions in Rajasthan (especially cults associated with Ramdev, Jambha, Jasnath, Ai Mata), where the presence of Muslim elements is conspicuous. The author reaches the conclusion that the followers of these cults had originally been converted to Ismailism during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by missionaries acting under the direction of the central Ismaili dawa in the Multan region.
"With the decline of that central authority from the fifteenth century onwards, such communities apparently broke away from the parent body and came under the control of various Pirs and Gurus, whilst at the same time interacting with other religious groups such as the Nath Jogis and the Sants. Although they retain traces of their former Ismaili affiliation, these communities have in modern times come under increasing pressure to either adopt a more conventional Hindu identity or assimilate to Sunni or Twelver Shia Islam.
Dhondy's revelation of this conversion business reminds me of what Mahatma Gandhi wrote about a secret tablighi (proselytising) booklet circulated by Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1878-1957) a renowned Islamist writer and Sufi leader of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah of Delhi in 1920, in which all Muslims were advised to concentrate on collective conversion of ?untouchables? for which the fabulously rich Ismaeli Khoja leader, Agha Khan was offering generous monetary help to enable Muslims achieve parity of population with Hindus.
The Khwajahs or officially Khojas (Urdu: ????) are a (mostly Muslim) community that are mainly concentrated in South Asia, but due to migrations over the centuries have spread to many parts of the globe. The word Khoja is a phonetic corruption of the word Khawaja, an Arabic/Persian title(Arabic: ????). The people are sometimes referred to as Persian Lords because of this lordship.
In Pakistan, Khojas are concentrated in the province of Sindh and especially in the city of Karachi. In India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the city of Hyderabad. Many Khojas have migrated and settled over the centuries in East Africa, Europe and North America.
Sorry pal could not find any reference to conversion to Jains.
|
Was there a mass conversion where Khojas converted to Jainism?
