View source for Khoja

{{Short description|Nizari Isma'ili Shia Islamic community in India}}
{{other uses|Khoja (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Khoja
| image            = Kojahs (9727943566).jpg
| image_caption    = Khojas of Western India ca. 1855-1862
| regions          = [[Gujarat]], [[Sindh]], [[Maharashtra]]
| languages        = [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Kutchi language|Kutchi]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Hindi]]/[[Urdu]]
| religions        = [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari-Ismaili Shia]] (majority), [[Twelver Shia]], [[Sunni]] (minority)
}}
{{ismailis|Ismaili History}}
The '''Khoja''' are a tribe or [[caste]] of Muslims mainly members of the [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Ismaʿiliyyah]] sect of Islam with a minority of followers of Shia Islam originating the western Indian subcontinent, and converted to Islam from Hinduism by the 14th century by the Persian ''pīr'' (religious leader or teacher) [[Pir Sadardin|Saḍr-al-Dīn]].<ref name="brit">{{britannica|316803|Khoja}}. "Khoja, Persian Khvājeh, caste of Indian Muslims converted from Hinduism to Islam in the 14th century by the Persian pīr (religious leader or teacher) [[Pir Sadardin|Saḍr-al-Dīn]] and adopted as members of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah sect of the Shīʿites."</ref><ref name="Tyler19862">{{cite book |last1=Tyler |first1=Stephen A. |title=India: An Anthropological Perspective |date=1986 |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-0-88133-245-2 |page=186 |language=English |quote=Some, like the Khojah caste, are Bania groups converted to Islam by Muslim pirs (saints).}}</ref>  

In India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, [[Maharashtra]], [[Rajasthan]] and the city of [[Hyderabad]]. In [[Pakistan]], most Khoja live in [[Karachi]], [[Hyderabad, Pakistan|Hyderabad]] and [[Thatta]] in [[Sindh]] province, and in [[Gwadar]] in [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khoja-Moolji |first=Shenila |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35LCEAAAQBAJ&dq=khoja+in+gwadar&pg=PA12 |title=Rebuilding Community: Displaced Women and the Making of a Shia Ismaili Muslim Sociality |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-764202-3 |pages=12 |language=en}}</ref>   

In [[Oman]] a large portion of them live in [[Muscat]] and in the [[Arab world]] they are known as the [[Al-Lawatia|Lawatia]]. Across Africa and especially in [[East Africa]], the Khoja have historically dominated business in various fields however many of these families migrated to Europe in the [[East African campaign (World War II)|colonial era]] or immediately afterwards. In [[Madagascar]] the Khoja are known by the honorific [[Indians in Madagascar|Karana]] title and are now concentrated in the capital.  

The Khoja originally observed Hinduism and then became adherents of Nizari Isma'ilism.<ref name="brit"/><ref name="Tyler1986">{{cite book |last1=Tyler |first1=Stephen A. |title=India: An Anthropological Perspective |date=1986 |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-0-88133-245-2 |page=186 |language=English |quote=Some, like the Khojah caste, are Bania groups converted to Islam by Muslim pirs (saints).}}</ref> In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the aftermath of the [[Aga Khan Case]] a small minority separated and adopted [[Sunni Islam]] and [[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver Shi'ia Islam]], while the majority remained Nizari Isma'ili.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boivin |first=Michel |date=2014 |title=The Isma'ili — Isna 'Ashari Divide Among the Khojas: Exploring Forgotten Judicial Data from Karachi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43307309 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=381–396 |doi=10.1017/S1356186314000224 |jstor=43307309 |s2cid=162188373 |issn=1356-1863|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Etymology==
The term ''Khoja'' derives from ''[[Khwāja]]'' (New Persian ''Khājé''), a [[Persian language|Persian]] honorific title (خواجه) of pious individuals used in [[Turco-Persian]] influenced regions of the Muslim world.

The specific term ''Khoja'' in the [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] and [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] languages, was first bestowed by the [[Persianate]] [[Nizari Isma'ili]] [[Pir Sadardin|Sadardin]] (died c. 15th century) upon his followers during the lifetime of the ''[[Nizari Ismaili]] Imam Islam Shah'' (1368-1423 CE). As such, Pir Shihab al-din Shah, brother of one of the [[List of Ismaili imams#Nizari|Nizari Ismaili imams]], wrote regarding the origins of the Khojas that the very formation of the community came about through Pir Sadardin's devotion to the Imam.<ref name="Virani, Shafique N 2007, p. 102">Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), 2007, p. 102.</ref>

Many [[Lohana]]s of Gujarat converted to Nizari Ismailism due to the efforts of Pir Sadardin. They gradually used the title ''Khoja.'' Before the arrival of the [[Aga Khan]] from Persia to British ruled India in the 19th century, Khojas retained many Hindu traditions, including a variation on the belief in the [[Dashavatara]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=McGregor|first1=R.S.|last2=Mallison|first2=Francoise|title=Devotional literature in South Asia : current research, 1985-1988 : papers of the Fourth Conference on Devotional Literature in New Indo-Aryan, anglo saxon Languages, held at Wolfson College, Cambridge, 1-4 September 1988|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0521413117|pages=91|edition=1. publ.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-X5Nv3gkdGoC&q=khoja++ali+kalki&pg=PA101|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref><ref>Morris, H.S., 1958. The divine kingship of the Aga Khan: A study of theocracy in East Africa. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 14(4), pp.454-472 [https://www-journals-uchicago-edu.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/doi/epdf/10.1086/soutjanth.14.4.3628938]</ref>

==History==
[[File:Khoja.png|thumb|A photograph of a Khoja man, 1911]]

=== Origins and syncretism ===
The Khojas are an ethnic and cultural group originating from Hindu [[Lohana|Lohanas]]. Their ethnonym ''Khoja'' is derived from the Persian term ''khwāja'', which roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master', a translation of the traditional Lohana title of ''[[Thakkar|ṭhakkar]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=Lawrence G. |editor-first1=Lawrence G. |editor-last1=Potter |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137485779 |title=The Persian Gulf in Modern Times |date=2014 |publisher=New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. |isbn=978-1-349-50380-3 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137485779}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> However, this term also included certain groups such as [[Charan]]as,<ref name="deccanherald.com">{{Cite web |date=17 November 2018 |title=Alyque Padamsee: The man who wore several hats |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/entertainment/alyque-padamsee-man-who-wore-703433.html |access-date=8 September 2021 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kapur |first=Geeta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHbWAAAAMAAJ |title=Contemporary Indian Artists |date=1978 |publisher=Vikas |isbn=978-0-7069-0527-4 |language=en |quote=The Padamsees, who came from the village of Mauva in Saurashtra, had originally belonged to the caste of Charanyas. Having been converted to the Khoja sect of Islam, their clan had become followers of the Agha Khan. Akbar's grandfather, who was a landlord and village chief, prided himself on the fact that he had, by his own express persuasion, brought the then Agha Khan to visit their village.}}</ref> predominantly from Gujarat and [[Kutch]]. 

The Hindu [[Lohana|Lohanas]] from Sindh were converted to [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizārī]] [[Isma'ilism|Ismāʿīlism]] by [[Pir Sadardin|Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn]] in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Ṣadr al-Dīn was a dāʿī ("missionary") acting on behalf of the Nizārī [[Nizari Imams|imām]] who lived in Persia. Ṣadr al-Dīn belonged to a hereditary lineage of pīrs who served as leaders for the Khoja community as a deputy of the imām in Persia.<ref name="Tyler1986" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=De Smet |first=Daniel |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE |publisher=Brill |year=2020 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |chapter=Khōja |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Stewart |editor-first5=Devin J.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Maclean |first1=Derryl N. |title=Religion and society in Arab Sind |date=1989 |publisher=E.J. Brill |isbn=9789004085510 |location=Leiden New York København Köln |page=142}}</ref>

The pīrs composed religious hymns called [[Ginans|''ginān''s]] that served as the religious scriptures for the Khojas rather than the [[Quran|Qurʾān]]. The majority of the gināns glorify the Nizārī imām as an absolute and infallible leader. Some gināns contain large amounts of Hindu-Muslim syncretism, with Hindu deities being identified with Muslim figures. The gināns took inspiration from diverse traditions, including Nizārī Ismāʿīlism, Hindu [[Sant (religion)|Sant]] and [[Bhakti movement|Bhakti]] traditions, and [[Sufism|Ṣūfism]]. Such syncretism with Hinduism has been viewed as a strategy by the Ismāʿīlī missionaries to convert Hindus, as well as ''[[taqiyya]]'' to hide them from other Muslims. The religion of the Khojas was known as [[Satpanth]].<ref name=":1" />

At the end of the fifteenth century, the imām in Persia, [[Al-Mustansir Billah II (Nizari imam)|al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh II]], abolished the pīrs as a source of religious authority, and replaced them with a book called ''Pandiyāt-i jawānmardī'', which was then translated into [[Gujarati language|Gujarātī]]. [[Imamshah Bawa Dargah|Imām Shāh]] (d. 1513) was supposed to become the next ''pīr'', but in response to the imam's decision, ''Imam Shāh's'' son ''Nūr Muḥammad'' claimed he was the imām and founded a splinter sect called the ''Imām-Shāhīs'', also known as the ''Sat-Panthīs''.<ref name=":1" />

In the nineteenth century, the Khojas gathered in [[Jama'at Khana|jamāʿatkhāna]] buildings, did not read the Qurʾān, and generally did not follow [[Islamic law]].<ref name=":1" />

The Khojas, mainly merchants from [[Kutch]] and [[Kathiawar]], began moving to Bombay in the late 1700s. There they were engaged in petty trade and shop-keeping, with larger magnates gaining fortunes from trade routes with [[Qing China|China]], [[Muscat]], and [[Sultanate of Zanzibar|Zanzibar]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Shodhan |first=Amrita |date= |title=Legal Representations of the Khojas and ''Pushtimārga'' Polities as Communities: The Aga Khan Case and the Maharaj Libel Case in Mid-Nineteenth Century Bombay |url= |degree=PhD |chapter= |publisher=University of Chicago |page= 11-12|docket= |oclc= |access-date=}}</ref>

=== Arrival of Āghā Khān and Ismāʿīlī Islamisation ===
In 1845, [[Aga Khan I|Ḥasan ʿAlī Shāh aka Āghā Khān I]] moved to India due to conflict with the [[Qajar dynasty]] in Persia. He settled in [[Bombay]], which had the largest concentration of Khojas in India. For centuries the Khojas had been a self governing community with nominal allegiance to a distant Nizārī imām in Persia, but the newly arrived Āghā Khān sought to interfere in their internal affairs. This led to conflict in the Khoja community, culminating in the [[Aga Khan case|Āghā Khān case]] of 1866. The Khoja plaintiffs argued that community in fact were Sunnī Muslims and thus were not under the authority of the Āghā Khān imām. The British judge decided in favour of the defendant, Āghā Khān I, ruling that the Khojas were the descendants of Hindus who became Shīʿa Ismāʿīlīs and thus were under the religious authority of the imām, Āghā Khān I. In response to the verdict, some Khojas converted to [[Sunni Islam|Sunnī Islam]].<ref name=":1" />

The imām succeeding the next imām, [[Aga Khan III|Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh Āghā Khān III]] (r. 1885–1957) continued to attempt exert his authority over the Khojas and push them towards normative Ismāʿīlī–Shīʿa Islam; this led to the [[Haji Bibi case]]. The plaintiffs in the Haji Bibi case of 1908 claimed that the Khojas were followers of [[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver Shīʿa]] Islam, however the British judge upheld that the Khojas were Ismāʿīlī and so those Khojas split off to follow [[Twelver Shi'ism]].<ref name=":1" />

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Khojas were under pressure from the Āghā Khāns as well as Muslim and Hindu fundamentalist movements to alter their religion. The religious fundamentalists considered the Khojas to be heretics who should convert to Sunnī or Twelver Shīʿī Islam or normative Hinduism. The Āghā Khāns who wielded religious power over the community as imām sought to Islamise the community to normative Ismāʿīlism. The gināns were codified under their authority, those with Hindu influences were purged, and new gināns were composed with Qurʾānic verses. The use of the Gujarātī language was also replaced by [[English language|English]]. By the time of the imām [[Aga Khan IV|Shāh Karīm al-Ḥusaynī Āghā Khān IV]] (r. 1957-2025), the Khojas had been integrated into a transnational Ismāʿīlī community with a focus on the Qurʾān and literacy of Islamic concepts.<ref name=":1" />

The Khojas live today in India and Pakistan, with a significant diaspora in [[East Africa]], [[Europe]], and [[North America]]. They show a strong commitment to the values of Indo-Muslim philanthropy in their business entrepreneurship and contribution to societies in which they live. From the 18th century, some of the Khojas have migrated to the [[Persian Gulf]] region, mainly in the Sultanate of [[Oman]] and [[United Arab Emirates|U.A.E]], where they are known as [[Al-Lawatia]].<ref name=":0">This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and Muslim World, Vol. II, p. 393, ed. Richard C. Martin, MacMillan Reference Books, New York, 2003</ref>

==Khoja communities==
{{main article|Pir Sadardin|Jama'at Khana}}
===Isma'ili Khojas===
[[File:Khoja.jpg|right|thumb|A watercolor painting of a Khoja woman by [[M. V. Dhurandhar]], 1928]]
Originally [[Nizari Isma'ili]], after the 1866 [[Aga Khan Case]] that consolidated the bulk of the Bombay Khoja community under the leadership of the [[Aga Khan I|Aga Khan]]. The Khojas credit their title to [[Pir Sadardin|Pir Sadr al-Din]] who allegedly laid the foundations for the Nizari Ismaili community in India, even before the [[Anjudan]] phase of the [[history of Nizari Ismailism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daftary |first1=Farhad |title=A Short History of the Ismailis: Traditions of a Muslim Community |date=1998 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-0904-8 |page=179, 198}}</ref>

===Twelver Khojas===
Khojas who follow [[Twelver]] [[Shia Islam]] and have large communities in [[Pakistan]], [[India]], East Africa, [[North America]] and the [[United Kingdom]].
Moulvi Ali Baksh who had settled in Mumbai in the mid-late 1800s was a prominent Moulvi with great respect in Ithna'ashari Khoja community. It is said that then the Shias were organised into a distinct community by Moulvi Ali Baksh himself. (Excerpts as translated from the book Greatness Bygone authored by Ziauddin Ahmed Barni Published by Taleemi Markaz Karachi on 30 July 1961, Page: 342 written on one of 93 great personalities Ali Mohammed Moulvi. The author had not met only 2 of the 93 personalities noted in his book).

Twelver Khojas are said to have broken away from the Isma'ili Khojas due to their determination to defend their remembrance practices against Aga Khan's efforts to ban them, in order to elevate his personal status as the reincarnation of [[Isma'il ibn Ja'far]], the seventh Imām of the Isma'ilis.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315674711 |title=Devotional Islam in Contemporary South Asia |date=22 December 2015 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315674711 |isbn=978-1-317-38000-9 |editor-last=Boivin |editor-first=Michel |editor-last2=Delage |editor-first2=Remy }}</ref>

== Culture ==
{{Expand section|date=April 2025}}

=== Dress ===
Traditionally, Khoja men wore a ''pāghaḍī'' (loose white turban), ''chol'' (double breasted jacket), ''suthaḷī'' (trousers) or ''dhotiyuṁ'' ([[dhoti]]), and pointed shoes. By the second half of the 20th century, Khoja men had forsaken their traditional garb in favour of ''ṭopī'' (velvet cap), ''kabjo'' (European shirt/long jacket), ''paheraṇ'' (collarless inner shirt), and ''survāl'' (European buttoned trousers or waist-string trousers). Khoja women wear a tight blouse or short armed jacket, a ''ghāghro'' skirt as a lower garment, and an ''oḍhaṇī'' (veil) on the head.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jain |first=Jyotindra |title=Folk Art and Culture of Gujarat: Guide to the Collection of the Shreyas Folk Museum of Gujarat |publisher=Shreyas Prakashan |year=1980 |pages=148–149}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Khojki]], a script used exclusively by the Khoja community to write their language
* [[Momna]], Nizari Ismailis from northern Gujarat

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Azim Malikov, Kinship systems of Xoja groups in Southern Kazakhstan in Anthropology of the Middle East, Volume 12, Issue 2, Winter 2017, pр.78-91
* Azim Malikov, Sacred Lineages in Central Asia: Translocality and Identity in Mobilities, Boundaries, and Travelling Ideas: Rethinking Translocality Beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus edited by Manja Stephan-¬Emmrich and Philipp Schröder (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers), 2018, pp.&nbsp;121–150
* Azim Malikov, Khoja in Kazakhstan: identity transformations in Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Department ‘Integration and Conflict’ Field Notes and research Projects VI CASCA – Centre for Anthropological Studies on Central Asia: Framing the Research, Initial Projects. Eds.: Günther Schlee. Halle/Saale, 2013, pp.&nbsp;101–107

== External links ==
{{commons category|Khoja}}
* [https://www.kpsiaj.org/kpsiaj/content.aspx?t=4 Origin of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415021812/http://kpsiaj.org/kpsiaj/content.aspx?t=4 |date=15 April 2017 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512170509/http://www.world-federation.org/default.htm World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna Asheri Muslim Communities]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100616070800/http://imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=3032 History of the Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheries]
* [http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109502 The Institute of Ismaili Studies - Khojas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402130549/http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109502 |date=2 April 2015 }}

{{Indian Muslim}}

[[Category:Khoja Ismailis|*]]
[[Category:Sunni Islam in India]]
[[Category:Muslim communities of Gujarat]]
[[Category:Muslim communities of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Social groups of Sindh]]
[[Category:Lohana]]