The end of Taqiyya: reaffirming the religious identity of Ismailis in Shughnan, Badakhshan – political implications for Afghanistan

Abstract

Ismailis constitute a small religious minority community in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. They reside primarily in Rushan, Shughnan, Ishkashim, Wakhan, Zibak and Kuran-Munjan regions. The inhabitants of these regions are predominantly Tajik in their ethnicity and Ismaili in their religious orientation. Ismailis advocated millenarianism during the Alamut period under the astute leadership of Hasan al-Sabbah and his successors in Persia (Iran) and became depoliticized after the collapse of the Ismaili Centre, or the Alamut, before the Mongol invasion in 1257. After that they remained subservient to concerned local and regional authorities. Governments in Afghanistan and the Sunni majority in Badakhshan have discriminated against them, Ismailis however maintained the principle of taqiyya (a precautionary dissimulation of their faith in a hostile environment) in practising their beliefs, thereby preserving their religious literature and safeguarding their identity. The focus of this article is to examine how Ismailism unfolded and consolidated in Badakhshan, to explore factors that led to politicization of the Ismaili intelligentsia in Shughnan in the 1960s and 1970s, to study the basis of their support of the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan during the tumultuous years of the Soviet occupation of the country, and to reflect upon opportunities for their future in the post-Soviet era politics in Afghanistan. Badakhshan, a mountainous region in the eastern part of Afghanistan covering an estimated area of 40,886 sq. km, much of which is dominated by extremely mountainous terrain and deep ravine and valleys, is one of the least developed provinces. There are no asphalt roads and the only unpaved roadway for vehicles is located in the capital of the province, Faizabad, which had been maintained by the local people on a corvee basis. Badakhshan enjoyed a quasi-autonomous status when the people of Badakhshan elected Yaribig, son of Shahbig, as the Amir, or chief of the region in 1068. This situation lasted until Badakhshan was occupied by the Amir of Afghanistan, Abd al-Rahman, in the early nineteenth century. Yaribig ruled over Badakhshan but resigned several years later when the people of lower Yaftal elected Shah Emad as their Amir. Yaribig, infuriated