Sulaymanis
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By Adnan Azizuddin
Sulaymanis are a Musta'li Ismaili community who mostly reside in Najaran, Saudi Arabia and in Yemen, and can also be found in Indian Subcontinent. This Ismaili Tayyabi Community named after their Dai Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan, who succeeded to this position after the death of 26th Dai-e-Mutlaq Daud bin Ajabshah.
Sayedna Sulayman was Sayedna Daud bin Ajabshah's deputy in Yemen at the time of his death and a heated succession dispute broke out because in India Daud Burhanuddin Qutub Shah claimed the position of Dai for himself and managed to win the support of the majority of the Indian Tayyabis.
Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan returned to India to claim the succession on the basis of the Nass (explicit designation of a succession by his predecessor) of the Sayedna Daud bin Ajabshah, still in Sulaymani hands. The heated succession dispute was brought before the Emperor Akbar at Lahore but before any of his claim and dispute came to any conclusion Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan the 27th Dai-e-Mutlaq died in Lahore in mysterious circumstances.
The great majority of the Tayyabi Ismailis in Yemen and a small group of Indian Tayyabi Ismailis upheld the succession rights of Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan. These Tayyabis, designated as SULAYMANIS, accepted Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan as their 27th Dai-e-Mutlaq.
Henceforth the Sulaymani and the Da'udis followed different line of Dais, the Sulaymani Dawa was established with its headquarters in Yemen. Sayedna Sulayman bin Hasan was succeeded by his elder son Sayedna Jafar bin Sulayman. During the youth of Jafar bin Sulayman, Sayedna Safi al-Din Muhammad bin Al-Fahad, belonging to the influential Makrami family of Yemeni Ismaili tribe of Yam, ran the affairs of the Sulaymani Dawa as the Mustawda or acting Dai. He was later designated as 29th Dai-e-Mutlaq after Sayedna Jafar bin Sulayman.
The total number of Sulaymanis currently are around 300,000, mainly living in the northern district of Yemen and in Najaran, Saudi Arabia, beside the Banu Yam of Najaran, 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 Hamdan and in the vicinity of Yarim.
In India there are between three to four thousand Sulaymanis living mainly in Baroda, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Surat. In Pakistan there is a well established Sulaymani community in Sind, some five to six thousand Sulaymanis live in rural areas of Sind, these Ismaili Sulaymani communities are in Sind from the time of Fatimid Imam Muizz li din Allah when he sent his Dais to Sind.
There are also some 900-1000 Sulaymanis mainly from Indian Sub-continent scattered around the World, in the Persian Gulf States, USA, Canada, Thailand, Australia, Japan and UK.
In recent days after a long illness the 51st Dai-e-Mutlaq Sayedna Al Sharfi Hussain bin Ismail Al Makrami died on 2nd of June 2005 and now Sayedna Al Fakhri Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Udaini is the 52nd Dai-e-Mutlaq. In India there are two Mansoobs, one resides in Mumbai and the other in Hyderabad. In 1973 after the visit of 49th Dai-e-Mutlaq Sayedna Ali bin Hussain to India, Mumbai became the centre of the Indian Dawat replacing Baroda.
Sulaymanis in general, particularly in India are a liberal and forward looking community.They use urdu as their official day to day language and all their religious lectures, lessons and correspondence are conducted in Urdu language. There is no special dress code followed by the Sulaymanis other that for Namaz (Salat) and religious gatherings.
