The Sulaymani branch of

Tayyibi Isma'ilism Tayyibi Isma'ilism () is the only surviving sect of the Musta'li Ismailism, Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, the other being the extinct Hafizi Isma'ilism, Hafizi branch. Followers of Tayyibi Isma'ilism are found in various Bohra communities: Dawoo ...

is an

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic community, of which around 70,000 members reside in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, while a few thousand Sulaymani Bohras can be found in India. The Sulaymanis are sometimes headed by a ''

Da'i al-Mutlaq (; pl. , ) is the most senior spiritual rank and office in Tayyibi Isma'ilism. The Da'i al-Mutlaq has headed the Tayyibi community since the occultation (Islam), seclusion of the 21st Tayyibi Imamate in Ismaili doctrine, Imam, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Q ...

'' from the Makrami family. It is not correct to assume that this branch is always headed by someone from the Makrami family, as the Da'i al Mutlaq could be from other families and communities. Examples: the first Da'i was Dhuayb Bin Mousa from the Banu Hamdan, Dawud Bin Ajab Shah was an Indian, Sulayman Bin Al Hassan was an Indian and some of his brothers and sons were Indians. It is true, however, that for the very recent Da'is they have came from the Makrami family, with the exception of the late Da'i Abdullah bin Mohammad, who was not from the Makrami family.

History

Founded in 1592, the Sulaymanis are mostly concentrated in

but are also found in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The denomination is named after its 27th Daʻī, Sulayman bin Hassan. The total number of Sulaymanis currently are around 300,000, mainly living in the eastern district of

Jabal Haraz Jabal Haraz () is a mountainous region of Yemen, between Sanaa and Al-Hudaydah, which is considered to be within the Sarat range. In the 11th century, it was the stronghold of the Sulaihid dynasty, many of whose buildings still survive today. ...

in northwest

and in

Najran Najran ( '), is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Najran Province. Today, the city of Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As of the 2022 census, the city population was 381,431, wi ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Beside the

Banu Yam Banu Yam (, ') is an Arabian tribe that belongs to the Qahtanite branch of Arabian tribes, specifically the group known as Banu Hamdan, and are, therefore, native to southwestern Arabia. Their traditional way of life was well suited to life in ...

, the Sulaymanis are in Haraz, among the inhabitants of the Jabal Maghariba and in Hawzan, Lahab and Attara, as well as in the district of Hamadan and in the vicinity of Yarim. In India there are between 3000 and 5000 Sulaymanis living mainly in

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

. In

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

and there is a well-established Sulaymani community in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

. Some ten thousand Sulaymanis live in rural areas of Punjab known to the Sulaymani as ''Jazeera-e Sind''; these Sulaymani communities have been in the Jazeera-e Sind from the time of Fatimid Imam-Caliph

Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid caliph and the 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was m ...

when he sent his Daʻīs to Jazeera-e Sind. There are also some 900–1000 Sulaymanis mainly from South Asia scattered around the world, in the Persian Gulf States,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The Sulaymanis split off from the Tayyibi community, following a succession dispute upon the death of

Dawood Bin Ajabshah Syedna Dawood Bin Maulai Ajab Shah Burhanuddin (died on 27 Rabi ul Aakhir 999 AH Islamic calendar, AH/1591 AD) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India was the 26th ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' (Absolute Missionary) of the Dawoodi Bohra branch of Mustaali, Musta‘lī ...

in 1589. While most of the Tayyibis in India recognised

Dawood Bin Qutub Syedna Dawood Bin Qutubshah (born 23 Rabi-Ul-Awwal 946 AH/8 August 1539; died 15 Jumadil Akhir 1021 Islamic calendar, AH/1612 AD, Ahmedabad, India) was the 27th ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' (Absolute Missionary) of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Mustaali, Must ...

as his successor and thus forming the

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. They number approximately one million worldwide and have settled in over 40 countries around the world. The majority of the Dawoodi Bohra community re ...

s, the Yemeni community followed Sulayman bin Hassan. Starting from 1677, Sulayman's successors almost always came from the Makrami family. The ''

da'i A da'i (, ) is generally someone who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam. See also * Dawah * Da'i al-Mutlaq, 'the absolute (unrestricted) missionary' * Hujja * List of converts to Islam The following is a list of notabl ...

''s made

their headquarters and ruled the area, supported by the

, until their power waned under the successive rules of the Ottomans and Saudis. The leadership of the Sulaymaniyah, whose Indian community was small, reverted to the Yemen with the succession of the thirtieth

, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Fahd Al-Makrami, in 1677. Since then the position of the dai al mutlaq has remained in various branches of the al Makrami family except for the time of the forty-sixth dai, an Indian. The Makrami da'is usually resided in Badr in

. With the backing of the tribe of the

they ruled Najran independently and at times extended their sway over other parts of the Yemen and Arabia until the incorporation of

into

in 1934. The peak of their power was in the time of the thirty-third

, Isma'il ibn Hibat Allah (1747–1770), who defeated the Wahhabiyah or

Wahhabism Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to oth ...

Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...

and invaded Hadramawt. He is also known as the author of an

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

Qur'an commentary, virtually the only religious work of a Sulaymani author published so far. Since

came under Saudi rule, the religious activity of the

s and their followers has been severely restricted. In the Yemen the Sulaymaniyah are found chiefly in the region of Manakha and the Haraz mountains. In India they live mainly in Baroda, Ahmadabad, and Hyderabad and are guided by a representative (mansub) of the

residing in Hyderabad, India.

Sulaymani ''da'i al-mutlaq''s

The following is a list of religious leaders (''

da'i al-mutlaq (; pl. , ) is the most senior spiritual rank and office in Tayyibi Isma'ilism. The Da'i al-Mutlaq has headed the Tayyibi community since the occultation (Islam), seclusion of the 21st Tayyibi Imamate in Ismaili doctrine, Imam, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Q ...

'') of the Sulaymani Isma'ilis. For the 26 predecessors, see

List of Dai of Dawoodi Bohra This is a list of Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra. The Dawoodi Bohra are a sect of Shia Islam, whose leader is the Dai. According to Fatimid (Taiyabi, Mustali, Ismaili) tradition, after the death of Imām Al-Amir, Arwa al-Sulayhi, al-Malika al-Sayyida ...

. See Sulayman bin Hassan for more information. # Sulayman bin Hassan al-Hindi # Ja'far bin Sulayman al-Hindi # Muhammad bin al-Fahd al-Makrami # Ali bin Sulayman al-Hindi # Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Makrami # Muhammad bin Isma'il al-Makrami # Hibat-Allah bin Ibrahim al-Makrami # Isma'il bin Hibat-Allah al-Makrami # Hasan bin Hibat-Allah al-Makrami # Abd-al-Ali bin Hasan al-Makrami # Abd-Allah bin Ali al-Makrami # Yusuf bin Ali al-Makrami # Husayn bin Husayn al-Makrami # Isma'il bin Muhammad al-Makrami # Hasan bin Muhammad al-Makrami # Hasan bin Isma'il Shabaam # Ahmad bin Isma'il al-Makrami # Abd-Allah bin Ali al-Makrami # Ali bin Hibat-Allah al-Makrami # Ali bin Muhsin Shabaam # Ghulam Husayn bin Hazrat Farhat Ali Husami # Sharaf-al-Din Husayn bin Ahmad al-Makrami # Jamal-al-Din Ali bin Sharaf-al-Din Husayn al-Makrami # Sharafi Hasan bin Husayn al-Makrami # Husayn bin Isma'il al-Makrami # Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Makrami # Ahmed bin Ali al-Makrami # Ali bin Hāsin al-Makrami

History of the Imāmī Sūlaymānīs

{, class="" style="float:; margin: 2ex 0 0.6em 0.5em; width: 8em; line-height:111%;" !The schematic history of the development of the Imāmī- Mustā‘lī Sulaymanism from other Shī‘ah

Muslim sects Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, Madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or ''Aqidah, ʿaqīdah'' (creed). Within Sunni I ...

, - ,

History

Sulaymani ''da'i al-mutlaq''s

History of the Imāmī Sūlaymānīs

See also

Notes

Further reading