Khoja

Khoja
Khojas of Western India ca. 1855-1862
Regions with significant populations
Gujarat, Sindh, Maharashtra
Languages
Gujarati, Kutchi, Sindhi, Hindi-Urdu
Religion
Nizari-Ismaili Shia (majority), Twelver Shia, Sunni (minority)

The Khoja are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people from the western Indian subcontinent. Khojas predominantly reside in India, Pakistan and eastern Africa.[1]

In India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the city of Hyderabad. Many Khojas have also migrated and settled over the centuries in East Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and North America. The Khoja were by then adherents of Nizari Isma'ilism. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the aftermath of the Aga Khan Case a significant minority separated and adopted Sunni Islam and Twelver shi'ism, while the majority remained Nizari Isma'ili. In Pakistan, most Khoja live in Karachi in Sindh province.[2]

  1. ^ Khoja at the Encyclopædia Britannica. "Khoja, Persian Khvājeh, caste of Indian Muslims converted from Hinduism to Islam in the 14th century by the Persian pīr (religious leader or teacher) Saḍr-al-Dīn and adopted as members of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah sect of the Shīʿites.".
  2. ^ Boivin, Michel (2014). "The Isma'ili — Isna 'Ashari Divide Among the Khojas: Exploring Forgotten Judicial Data from Karachi". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 24 (3): 381–396. doi:10.1017/S1356186314000224. ISSN 1356-1863. JSTOR 43307309. S2CID 162188373.

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