To cite this: Virani, Shafique N. "Taqiyya and Identity in a South Asian Community." In Journal of Asian Studies 70, no. 1 (February 2011): 99-139. www.academia.edu/36996009/Taqiyya_and_Identity_in_a_South_Asian_Community www.shafiquevirani.org iBrary ONLINE VOLUME 70 NUMBER 1 FEBRUARY 2011 Reegno OLA. Fart Nº Jypo Phukeal THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES UPPER BRAHMAPUTRA 1828 to an inch. PUBLISHED FOR THE ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES, INC. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Taqiyya and Identity in a South Asian Community SHAFIQUE N. VIRANI The Gupt?s of Bhavnagar, India, represent an unexplored case of taqiyya, or pre- cautionary dissimulation, and challenge traditional categories of religious iden- tity in South Asia. Taqiyya is normally practiced by minority or otherwise disadvantaged groups of Muslims who fear negative repercussions should their real faith become known. Historically, the Shi'a, whether Ithn?-'ashari or Ismaili, have commonly dissimulated as Sunn?s, who form the dominant com- munity. However, the Guptis, who are followers of the Ismaili imam, and whose name means "secret" or "hidden ones," dissimulate not as Sunn? Muslims, but as Hindus. The Gupt? practice of taqiyya is exceptional for another reason: Hindu- ism is not simply a veil used to avoid harmful consequences, but forms an integral part of the Guptis' belief system and identity, and the basis of their conviction in the Aga Khan, not only as the imam, but as the avatara of the current age. N THE CELEBRATED HAJI Bibi Case of 1905 at the Bombay High Court, His 1 Highness Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, the forty-eighth imam or spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili Muslims, was questioned about the provenance of his followers. While enumerating his disciples in Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Central Asia, Chinese Turkestan, Syria, and so on, in his oral testimony, the Ismaili imam also remarked, "In Hindustan and Africa there are many Gupsi who believe in me." Asked to elucidate the identity of these "Gupti" followers, the imam replied, "I consider them Shf? Im?m? Ismailis; by caste they are Hindus."1 In his judgment in the case in 1908, Justice Coram Russel shed more light on the existence and identity of the Gupfis: Three witnesses were called before me who belong to what are known as Guptis. They are unquestionably Shia Imami Ismailis. But they certainly adhere to some of the Hindu practices, for instance they do not circum- cize their males and they burn their dead, but they are true followers of the Aga Khan; and one could not help being struck with the dramatic Shafique N. Virani (shafique.virani@utoronto.ca) is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Chair of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto. 1Quoted in N?mad?r ?g?kh?n s?meno Mukadamo: sane 1905 no mukadamo nambar 729, Bombay High Court, 1905; and Val?bhai N?nj? Hud?, Asatya ?rop y?ne Khoj? J?tinum Gaurav (Dhor?j?: En. Em. Budhaw???, 1927), 134.
100 Shafique N. Virani aspect of the situation when two of those Guptis said that they had made a Mehmani [offering] to the present Aga Khan in the Ritz Hotel in Paris .? In Sanskrit, as in many