Twelver Shī’ism in North India: Through the Lens of Sayyid Dildār ʿAlī Naṣīrābādī

Author: Shabbir Agha Abbas

When discussing the characteristics of Twelver Shī’ism, especially between the late middle ages through the modern period, ample focus is given to the debates between the Uṣūli and Akhbārī factions. Likewise, the geographies are largely limited to the Shī’ī shrine cities as well as imperial [Safavid/Qajar] centers of power, and very little concern is given to the Islamic ‘peripheries.’ India, remembered for its many Muslim dynasties, too possesses a vibrant history concerning Twelver Shī’ism. A form of Twelver Shī’ism not detached to the happenings of Iran and Iraq, yet distinct enough to merit its own separate analysis. Hence, this paper examines the personage of Sayyid Dildār ‘Alī Naqawī Naṣīrābādī (d. 1235 AH/1820 CE), a Najaf-trained Awadh-based mujtahid, regarded as the establisher of Uṣūlī Shī’ism in North India. Having studied under the preeminent Uṣūlī polemic, Muḥammad Bāqir [Waḥīd] al-Bihbahānī (d. 1205 AH/1791 CE), whilst in Najaf, Dildār ʿAlī’s Asās al-Uṣūl work trouncing Akhbārism in India is regarded as essential to his biography. However, when delving into his bibliography of corrective literature, his pen is found to not be limited to just antagonism against Akhbārīs, in fact he addressed Twelver communities outside the binary of the Uṣūlī-Akhbārī debates; his al-Shihāb al-Thāqib work is aimed at an entirely different group of Twelvers, those who appear to come under the umbrella of Sufism, espousing beliefs like waḥdat al-wujūd. Therefore, this paper aims to illustrate through the plethora of Dildār ʿAlī’s disputations, that Twelver Shī’ism as practiced in North India was [and is] philosophically far richer than that of the two aforesaid divisions. Additionally, this paper will show how proximity to and/or distance from Persian political authority and culture shaped the theology and intellectual milieu of this region. Giving rise to the need of further intellectual engagement concerning the histories of Twelver Shī’ism and the communities in India. This paper maps the provenance of the Twelver Shī’ī community from its Persianate origins to its post-Awadh transformation, leading to the dominant culture of today.