Ahmad Shah-The First Shia Ruler of India

 

Tomb of Ahmad Shah Wali

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi

Ahmed Shah I, the ninth king of the Bahmani dynasty, who was the first Shia to rule in India i.e., 1422-1436. His conversion was a matter of personal choice. He never made any attempt to force his subjects to follow the faith adopted by him. He is believed to have converted to Shiism due to growing influence of Persia in Deccan.He is popularly known as Ahmad Shah Wali and was a great devotee of Sufi Gesudaraz Bandanawaz.

It is stated that Ahmad Shah heard about a Shia saint Shah Nimatullah of Mahan near Karman in South Persia. He sent a mission to him, comprising Sheikh Habibullah Junaidi, Mir Shamsuddin of Qum and others to request admission of the king as one of his disciples. Shah accepted the request. Ahmad then sent a second mission with the prayer that Shah should send one of his sons to India to act as his spiritual guide. Instead of son, Shah sent his grandson, Mir Nurullah. After the death of  Saint in 1430 C.E. his son, Khalilullah with two other sons visited India. They took up  permanent residence in the Deccan.

After the break- up of the Bahmani Kingdom, the rulers of the rival dynasties took an active interest in laying foundations for the establishment of the Shia religion in south India. The first was Yousuf Adil Shah of Bijapur. He had lived in Persia where he turned a zealous Shia. On accession to the throne in 1490 C.E. he declared Shiism as sate religion. However, his move caused much heartburning. He found  a combination of other Muslim rulers pitted against him.

At Ahmednagar, the second ruler of Nizam Shah dynasty, Burhan by name, openly professed the Shia religion, when he became ruler in 1509 C.E.Three years later, when the Turk, Quli Qutub Shah  founded his dynasty at Golconda, he introduced the Shia faith into his dominions without much difficulty. Shia kingdoms of the Deccan and the Shia Sufwid dynasty of Persia were all founded within a comparatively short time of each other, towards the close of fifteenth and the beginning of sixteenth century. This much is clear, however, that Shah Ismail, who was the first ruler of the Sufwid dynasty took great interest in India. In the year 1511 A.D. when Musaffer 11 ascended the throne of the petty kingdom of Gujarat, he was greeted with a splendid embassy from Shah Ismail.The Shia rulers of Deccan had far more than casual relations with the Shah of Persia is abundantly evident from the fact that frequent embassies arrived at the court of Tahmasp of Iran from the princes of southern parts of Indian Peninsula. These were sent especially from Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar; Qutub Shah of Golconda; Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur. The latter even went to the extent of informing Shah that he had ordered the Khutabh of Shias to be read in all the mosques of his dominion in the illustrious name of His majesty, the King of Persia. The king was so delighted that he expressed his satisfaction by presenting all manner of royal gifts to the ambassadors. The change of religion by Qutub-ul-Mulk, of Golconda turned his brothers and nobles against him.Then, Qutub-ul-Mulk behaved with moderation. He publicly let his subjects know that whatever he might believe, he was not going to interfere with their beliefs. 'Mv faith far myself and your faith for yourselves' was his tolerant maximum, and the result was that, although a few of his officers, withdrew from his service, majority remained loyal. In 1543 Qutub-ul-Mulk was assassinated whilst offering prayers in the mosque at Golconda as a sequel to a plot hatched by his son, Jamshed Quli who succeeded him. The first Golconda Sultan had ruled for sixty years, for sixteen years as Governor and forty-four, as independent prince. He was ninety years of age when he died. The new Sultan's first act was to change the State religion from the Shia to the Sunni. His next action was to dismiss all the  foreigners such as Turks, Persians and Mughal from his service with the exception of 400 men, whom he retained as a special Guard. In their place, he enlisted Deccanees and Abeyssinians.

References available on Request

Image Courtesy Google