Date: 26-May-2026
Few months back, i.e., in January 2026, I got a chance to review the article “Aga Khan or Ayatullah – the choice for the Khojas in the nineteenth century”. I am thankful to Kumail Rajani, the author of the article, for sharing it me. He also asked for my feedback and comments.
The complete article can be read here…
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186325101296 (It is hosted on cambride.org)
The author Kumail Rajani is a senior lecturer at
Imam Sajjad Chair in Shiʿi Studies
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
University of Exeter
Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4ND
I am happy to post below the feedback and comments I shared Kumail Rajani ( his consent)
Real Patidar
My Feedback and Comments shared over email
Email to k.r<xxxx>@<xxx>.ac.uk sent on: 12 January 2026 at 17:27
Dear Rajani Kumail-ji,
Thank you for seeking my feedback and comments on your article.
Your article, as you have mentioned, is primarily about the choice of religious sect (known their heads) made the Khojas.
As you have rightly mentioned, your article primarily deals the historical choices made the Khoja community regarding religious sects, particularly in relation to their respective spiritual heads. At the outset, I would like to clarify that I am not well versed about this specific field. However, since I come from an ex-Satpanth community, there is one particular perspective that I believe has a strong and direct relevance to the subject you have addressed.
Before elaborating on that perspective, a brief background about my community may be useful. My community practiced Satpanth for nearly 400 years, and even today a very small minority continues to do so. To the best of our knowledge, ours is perhaps the only community in India that has collectively reverted from Islam to Hinduism through sustained internal efforts. Although this process began nearly 220 years ago, it gathered significant momentum about a century ago.
We are fortunate to possess detailed historical records documenting this journey. The website of our community’s central organisation is https://abkkpsamaj.org/. Most of the relevant historical books and archival material are available at https://abkkpsamaj.org/books/, and a chronological overview can be found at https://abkkpsamaj.org/historical-dates/. You may also find it useful to read GharWaapsi, authored CA Chandrakant Patel. The book is originally in Gujarati, an AI-assisted English translation available on the same website. For anyone interested in the subject of religious conversion, this work offers a rare perspective—that of the affected community itself.
In my view, a comprehensive understanding of your article’s subject would benefit from examining two parallel viewpoints:
- The perspective of Satpanth followers at the time (not from a contemporary lens), and
- The perspectives of Aga Khan and the Twelvers (Isna Ashari / Ayatullah) when they entered the historical narrative.
To understand the mindset of early Satpanth followers, it is essential to examine how Hindus were originally drawn to Satpanth. This requires a close study of both Satpanth literature—particularly the Dasavatar narratives and the Ginans—and the socio-historical background of the Hindu communities that adopted Satpanth. The central question, though uncomfortable for many, is whether these conversions were entirely voluntary or facilitated through doctrinal ambiguity and misrepresentation the aim to convert.
The point I am trying to make is that, we should first find out whether the Hindus willingly wanted to convert to Satpanth, or were they tricked (cunningly) to make them follow Satpanth under some false pretext. Unfortunately, the answer is not everyone would like to hear. Nor Hindus, nor Satpanthis, nor present muslims who have left Satpanth to become staunch followers of so-called ‘pure’ Islam.
Historical evidence suggests that Satpanth literature was consciously designed to persuade ordinary Hindus that Satpanth represented the true Sanatan Dharma of the Kaliyug. Texts portraying Murtaza Ali as the tenth avatar of Vishnu are well documented and widely acknowledged researchers. This framework is often justified retrospectively suggesting that it eased the transition of converts into Islam. While the transition may indeed have been made easier, it was achieved obscuring the true destination of that journey. Early converts believed they were remaining in the fold of Sanatan Dharma, not departing from it. Newly attracted Hindus believed that their destination was the true Sanatan Dharm, but under this false pretext, the Satpanth drove them to the destination of Islam., all out the wish and will of the newly converted Satpanthis.
However, in order to legitimize this fraudulent / criminal act, it is whitewashed saying that Satpanth was introduced to make the journey of converts to Islam easy. Yes, the journey was made easy, but fooling them. The journey was not what they wanted to travel. The Hindus were brainwashed to such an extent that they always felt that they were on the right path of Sanatan (not Islam) religion. This is the viewpoint of the first initial Hindu converts to Satpanth. Unfortunately, the present generation of these Satpanth followers do not even know that their forefathers were cheated. They do not know that their forefathers never wanted to leave Sanatan (Hindu) religion. They do not know that their forefathers never wanted to ultimately convert to Islam.
As mentioned above, over time, this ideological structure ensured that subsequent generations remained unaware that their ancestors neither intended nor consented to a final conversion to Islam. The covert conversion methodology—widely attributed to Pir Sadruddin—operated through a gradual, three-stage process:
- Creating doubt and an inferiority complex among Hindus,
- Establishing a central religious authority during a period of doctrinal confusion, and
- Severing cultural, societal and religious links that would allow a return to Hinduism.
After these three stages are crossed, the person would eventually convert to Islam. It is obvious that the victims (fresh Satpanth converts) are unaware of this religious conversion design.
By the time Aga Khan entered the Satpanth narrative, the community had reached the second stage of this process. The Aga Khan case of 1866 clearly illustrates that the dispute was fundamentally about religious authority—specifically, the identity of the living representative of the tenth avatar of Vishnu. At that time, Khojas openly identified themselves as Satpanthis, and their religious worldview remained a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic elements. The Aga Khan case 1866 amply clearifies this. The whole fight was about who is the religious head of Satpanth, the present form of 10th Avatar of Vishnu. Remember, during those days, the Khojas were openly associating themselves Satpanth, unlike Ismailism in present times. In those times, the followers of Satpanth, were in a complete state of religious confusion. Their religious texts were a mix of Hindu and Islamic elements. They believed that the 10th avatar of Hindu god Vishnu is Ali and followed his descendants. Identifying themselves as normal Hindus brought them an inferiority complex. Because the ‘true’ Hindus of Kaliyug era were Satpanthis. Hence, it was a pride for them to call themselves as Satpanthis. The religious texts compelled the society they were living in fuelled the confusion. This was the textbook perfect ideological subversion of Hindus.
What followed, in my assessment, is often inadequately addressed in existing scholarship. Nearly four centuries had passed since the initial conversions. The Satpanth followers of 1866 were deeply invested in the belief that allegiance to the tenth avatar of Vishnu defined their religious identity, even though they were unaware of how this belief had been shaped historically. When the question arose as to whether Aga Khan or the Ayatullah represented legitimate authority, the community divided accordingly.
What happened next, is something most of the researchers fail to either understand, or do not have courage to openly write about it. They may have their own reasons. Nearly four centuries had passed since the initial conversions. The Satpanth followers of 1866 were deeply invested in the belief that allegiance to the tenth avatar of Vishnu defined their religious identity, even though they were unaware of how this belief had been shaped historically. Primarily the Hindu Lohanas, and some other Hindu communities, were practising as Satpanthis. It is very obvious that none of the followers of Satpanth (during the year 1866) would have known that their forefathers had initially chosen Satpanth, falsely believing it to be the true Sanatan religion of Kaliyug (as I already covered above).
The efforts of Pir Sadruddin were yielding fruits. The fruits in the terms of the totally confused state of the converts. The converts who had forgotten their roots, who had no pride for their roots, and who did not want to be associated their roots. However, they were clear about one thing. Their allegiance to the 10th avatar of Hindu God Vishnu. Remember here that they were fooled/tricked to believe that the 10th avatar will be a muslim. Needless to say this was achieved because the Satpanthis had undergone a very high level of sophisticated nature of brainwashing. The GharWaapsi book, as mentioned above, covers this point perfectly and in a very easy manner to understand.
At this time, came the crisis of who is the religious head of Satpanth community. Aga Khan or Ayatullah. The Aga Khan was successful in his claim that he is the 10th avatar (Nishkalanki Narayan avatar or Kalki Avatar – as per Satpanth Dashavatar) and hence he is the religious head of Satpanth community. It is for this reason that the dasond (tithe) money collected from the community should be given to him.
From a Hindu perspective, this division may be understood as a fragmentation of a community that was itself the product of prolonged ideological manipulation. The Satpanth followers were, and remain, the primary victims of this process—often unaware of their own historical trajectory. They clearly wanted to follow the 10th avatar of Hindu God Vishnu (as claimed in the Dashavatar) but did not know who that real person was.
As said earlier, those who believed (after the Aga Khan case of 1866) believed that Aga Khan was their 10 avatar of Vishnu, followed him. And those who had faith in Ayatullah called themselves as Isna Ashari Khojas or Twelvers. To my mind, from the viewpoint of Hindus, this was nothing but division of the ‘fruits’ of the efforts of Pir Sadruddin. First converts to Satpanth are the real victims, as they had never envisaged that their future generations would be drawn towards Islam, due to their present acts. Even today’s Satpanthis do not know about this victimhood. The sad part is that these very victims consider their tyrant/oppressor as their hero. For any normal person this incomprehensible, sophisticated nature of brainwashing can even exist is beyond their wildest imagination.
Before concluding, I would like to seek your permission to host your article in the RealPatidar.com digital library. If there are any additional permissions required—from a publisher or other authority—I would be grateful for your guidance in obtaining them. I am also thinking of putting this email in the realpatidar.com digital library.
Finally, I wish to clearly state that my observations are not directed against any individual, group, or religion. My intent is neither to offend nor to disparage, but to engage the subject from an academic and historical standpoint.
Real Patidar
www.realpatidar.com
