AGA KHAN III AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE:

THE ISMAILIS IN TANGANYIKA, 1920-1957

ALIA PAROO

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY

YORK UNIVERSITY,

TORONTO, ONTARIO

MARCH 2012

© ALIA PAROO, 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada

Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition

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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission.

In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these.

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Ismaili Muslims, followers of Aga Khan III, were scattered throughout the British

Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in the years following World War I,

many Ismailis migrated from India to East Africa. This study demonstrates that Aga

Khan III negotiated this migration of Ismailis to Tanganyika, a migration that occurred

within the British Empire. Once Tanganyika was declared a British mandated territory

by the League of Nations following the First World War, nationals of all member nations,

which extended to India, were promised assurances of the same rights that would be

offered to them in their own territories. Increasingly, Ismailis from the subcontinent took

advantage of established networks of exchanges in commodities, people, cultures and

ideas that characterized movement throughout the Indian Ocean. The migration to

Tanganyika was intended to improve their quality of life.

In Tanganyika, Ismailis were politically grouped with other immigrants from

India, despite their vast religious differences. The Aga Khan and his representative

leaders in East Africa viewed this as a threat to the community's identity. In turn,

Ismailis were encouraged to distance themselves from the other immigrants from the subcontinent in an effort to bolster a sense of communal solidarity in response to this

perceived threat. In particular, separate educational facilities were developed and maintained in opposition to the public schools designed to cater to all immigrants from

India. In turn, these developments influenced the ways in which Ismailis identified themselves and how others identified them. Focusing specifically on the issue of education, this study examines the strategies that Aga Khan III employed in safeguarding the Ismaili community. In this examination, it is argued that Aga Khan III was able to

convince British colonial officials to protect the interests of the Ismailis as loyal subjects disproportionately to other immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, which effectively assisted in perpetuating the process of British imperialism. This study thus sets out to analyze the relationship that was constantly negotiated between Aga Khan III and the

British Empire through the lens of education.

iii Acknowledgements

I am thankful to members of my committee for their tireless efforts in helping me develop this dissertation. They have given so generously of their time, their resources and their wisdom. I am grateful to Ratiba Hadj Moussa who offered insightful feedback during my defence. Special thanks to Thabit A.J. Abdullah who often generated thought-

provoking discussions that pushed me to sharpen my analysis. I am indebted to Jose C.

Curto who has inspired me throughout my time at York University, providing steadfast support, sound guidance and encouragement that I hope to emulate with my students.

Thanks also to Doug Peers, who helped me unearth many ideas during the final phase of

my writing, forcing me to think about the coherence of my arguments, in turn greatly

informing the project. It has also been an honour and a delight to work with Gwyn

Campbell. I deeply appreciate his efforts in shaping both my thinking and scholarship. I am most indebted to Paul E. Lovejoy for accepting to serve as my advisor. His close and generous readings of my work helped me refine my arguments and push my research in new and exciting directions. He has been a pillar of support through this journey. I also appreciate the advice given to me by Abdul Sheriff, which continues to resonate with me.

I would also like to thank Lisa Hoffman and the administrative staff for their assistance in navigating the York administrative system.

I owe a great deal to the many generous souls who welcomed me into their homes during my fieldwork. The Mitha family offered material and intellectual support, including a room of my own during my stay in London, England. It is rare to find people as charitable as them in this world. While in Tanzania, the Meghji family took me under

iv their care, offering me a home away from home. I will never forget the efforts made by

Shabir Mawji in helping me undertake my research throughout Dar es Salaam. I cannot

imagine what my fieldwork experiences would have been like without these two families.

Words cannot express the gratitude I feel towards Taslin and Riz for the generosity they

have extended to me over the years.

While at York University, I was blessed to have developed lasting friendships

with my fellow graduate students. This community of peers has been an ongoing source

of support. I am especially grateful to Reeshma Haji for proofreading my work and

helping me rework the text.

I owe many thanks to the wonderful friends and family members who supported

and encouraged me over the years. It is a privilege to be associated with you. In

particular, I have profound reverence for the sacrifices made by my grandparents. 1 will

never be able to express how much they mean to me. My parents, who taught me the power of perseverance, patience, and humility, will always serve as sources of inspiration to me. I am indebted to my brother for all of his efforts in helping me achieve this goal. I am lucky to have him in my life. Lastly, I must thank my husband, Mohamed Rawji, for his love, patience and support. Moe, I could not have done this without you. I will forever be grateful for taking that walk with you that one summer night in Upanga. May we continue to walk together for the rest of our lives. TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV

INTRODUCTION 1

STRUCTURE 8 HISTORIOGRAPHY 12 METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES 15

CHAPTER ONE: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE ISM AILI COMMUNITY AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE AGA KHAN 19

THE ORIGINS OF ISMAILISM 20 PERIODS OF TURBULENCE 23 ISMAILIS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY INDIA 30 EARLY ISMAILI MIGRATIONS TO EAST AFRICA 35

CHAPTER TWO: ISMAILI MIGRATIONS TO TANGANYIKA 41

AGA KHAN III AND THE BRITISH BEFORE WORLD WAR 1 41 MIGRATION TO EAST AFRICA DURING AGA KHAN ILL'S IMAMATE 47

CHAPTER THREE: ISMAILI MIGRATION TO TANGANYIKA AFTER WORLD WAR I 52

TANGANYIKA: AN INDIAN COLONY? 53 THE ISMAILI COMMUNITY IN TANGANYIKA 72 THE DEMOGRAPHY OF IMMIGRANT GROUPS FROM INDIA IN TANGANYIKA 74

CHAPTER FOUR: ISMAILI IDENTITY FORMATION 84

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TANGANYIKAN ISMAILI IDENTITY 85 ISMAILI LOYALTY TO THE CROWN 95 ISMAILI INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS 97 JAMATKHANAS: THE CENTRE OF ISMAILI LIFE 103 AGAKHAN SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS NETWORKS AND OTHER SYMBOLS OF IDENTITY 106 DRESS: A SYMBOL OF CHANGE 115 ISMAILI FESTIVITIES 119 THE ISMAILI PRESS 124

CHAPTER FIVE: SOCIAL RELATIONS IN BRITISH MANDATED TANGANYIKA 135 RELATIONS BETWEEN IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA AND AFRICANS 136 RISING TENSIONS AMONG TANGANYIKA'S IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES FROM INDIA 146 RELATIONS WITHIN THE ISMAILI COMMUNITY 150

vi CHAPTER SIX: THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 156

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION 157 THE AGAKHAN SCHOOL SYSTEM 170 OBSTACLES IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA FACED WITH EDUCATION 175 INTEGRATION OF SCHOOLS FOR IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA 189

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE AGA KHAN'S RESISTANCE TO THE AMALGAMATION OF SCHOOLS FOR IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA 193

CASE STUDY: UGANDA, 1934 194 CASE STUDY: MOSHI, TABORA AND MWANZA, 1935 201 CASE STUDY: MUSOMA, 1948 204 GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE EDUCATION OF IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA 208 A PUSH FOR CHANGE 213 REACTIONS OF NON-ISMAILI IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA TO AMALGAMATION 224 THE LONG ROAD TO AMALGAMATION 229 WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EDUCATION OF IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA? 238

CONCLUSION 248

APPENDIX A: EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF H. H. SIR SULTAN MUHAMMAD SHAH AGA KHAN III (1877-1957) 256

APPENDIX B: EXECUTIVE AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS OF THE ISMAILIA POLITICAL BODY (1954) 260

APPENDIX C: A MESSAGE TO ISMAILI MEN AND WOMEN (1952) 262

APPENDIX D: CONDITIONS FOR GRANTS-IN-AID, 1937 263

BIBLIOGRAPHY 265

ARCHIVAL SOURCES 265 ISMAILIA PUBLICATIONS 278 PUBLISHED SOURCES 283

vii Introduction

On 25 October 2006, Aga Khan IV signed an agreement with the government of

Canada to fund the Global Centre for Pluralism. The Centre, to be located in the Old War

Museum in Ottawa, Canada, symbolically "replacing war with peace,"1 was designed to

express the "conviction that the progress of civilization depends on [one's] ability to

understand, embrace and energise the power of human diversity."2 It was intended to

represent the culmination of efforts taken by the Aga Khan's ancestors to foster a deep

sense of appreciation of human difference. Historically, however, extreme measures had

had to be taken before this goal was to be realized. Aga Khan Ill's vision of Islam

centred on the concept of pluralism, a value he actively worked towards implementing.

As this study reveals, however, he was not willing to accomplish this goal at the expense

of his followers' religious identity.

Aga Khan III was the spiritual leader, the Imam, of the Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili

Muslims from 1885 until his death in 1957. He guided his followers around the world in

both worldly and spiritual matters, providing a powerful singular source of guidance. As

will be explored later, he developed a reputation that caught the attention of political

figures around the world, offering him the opportunity to strategically position himself

between two worlds, the East and the West, at a time when the two were increasingly at odds with one another. His ability to negotiate these two worlds was acknowledged by

1 Remarks by His Highness the Aga Khan on the occasion of the Signing of the Funding Agreement for the Global Centre for Pluralism (Ottawa, Canada) 25 October 2006. 2 Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre, Toronto, the Aga Khan Museum and their Park, (Toronto, Canada) 28 May 2010.

1 the British, who sought to take advantage of his international standing. This is the

context in which this study has emerged.

By exploring the experiences of Ismailis who migrated within the British Empire

to the East African region of colonial Tanganyika, or modern-day mainland Tanzania,

this study investigates how Aga Khan III utilized his international status to safeguard his

community in a colonial structure that seemingly threatened its identity. In the colonial

context, some subjects of the Crown were permitted to migrate to new lands that were in

need of colonial consolidation. As they navigated their way between colonies, they did

so with the assurance that they were legally protected persons under the Crown. This

security did not ameliorate some concerns associated with migration, such as fears arising

with the encounter of foreign cultures, religions, languages and traditions. For minority

groups, a strong sense of identity was vital to survival. This work explores how the

Ismaili Imam and the centrality of his authority were paramount to the East African

Ismaili Muslim community's preservation and prosperity.

The scope of this study focuses on the period from the end of the nineteenth century to 1957. Aga Khan III emerged as the Ismaili Imam in 1885, coincidently at the same time that Africa was being partitioned by the European powers. In 1884 and 1885

Bismarck claimed substantial territories in the Pacific, West Africa and East Africa, including Tanganyika, to be occupied as colonies that would supply Germany with raw

2 materials and provide new markets for German manufactured goods.3 Ismailis and other

immigrants from India had already established a vast trading network that spanned the

coastal and hinterland regions of East Africa, settling in Tanganyika during the period of

German consolidation.

Despite the presence of Ismailis in German Tanganyika, during World War I the

Ismailis and the Aga Khan supported the British, not the German-Ottoman alliance.

Thus, even though Germany was allied with a Muslim state, that is the Ottoman Empire,

in his memoirs, the Aga Khan revealed that with the onset of the war, he

had no hesitation, no irresolution. Ambitions, aspirations, hopes, and interests narrowed down to one or two intensely personal, solitary decisions. [He] had one overruling emotion - to go to England as fast as [he] could and offer [his] services in whatever capacity they could best be used ... [He] telegraphed instructions to [his] followers in and on the borders of all British territories that they were to render all possible help and support to the British authorities in their area.4

Following Germany's loss in the First World War, the League of Nations was

faced with the task of determining the fate of Germany's ex-colonies. The future of

Tanganyika, it decided, would lie in the hands of the British, who had already established a commercial presence in the territory. As a result, the British mandate for Tanganyika came into force on 10 January 1920.5 Ismailis in Tanganyika hoped their support for the

British during the war would not go unnoticed with this transference of power. Given that this study explores the ways in which Aga Khan III negotiated the Ismaili experience

3 Iliffe (1969) and Eckert (1999) are among those who argue that German East Africa was considered to be one of the most, if not the most valuable of all German colonies because of the prominent role it played in the trading industry. 4 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 130-131. 5 James Clagett Taylor, The Political Development of Tanganyika (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1963), 38.

3 in British colonial Tanganyika, the community's support for Britain was believed to be a

symbol of its loyalty to the Crown. While the scope of this study covers the Imamate of

Aga Khan III (1885-1957), 1920 marks the commencement of a significant shift in focus

as Tanganyika was mandated to Britain. The study ends in 1957, with the death of the

central figure in this work, Aga Khan III.

Ismailis have often been defined by their migrations, both forced and free-willed.

As a minority group within the brotherhood of Islam, the Ismaili community has endured

a history of persecution that has driven many of its members to neighbouring regions. At

other times, Ismailis have voluntarily migrated in search of better economic, social and/or

political pastures. Regardless of their motives, throughout periods of instability, a central source of support was their Imam. As a result, many Ismaili traditions were forged in

historic moments of change. In turn, their communal identity developed a degree of

fluidity that enabled the Ismaili community to adapt and survive in the diverse regions they settled in over the years. Their belief in the singular, central source of authority, the

Imam, unified the community in the midst of social, cultural and political periods of change.

The Ismailis do not have a homeland or geographic region that holds special religious significance, other than those recognized by the wider Muslim ummah. This

lack of attachment to a homeland enabled them to migrate freely, without needing to sever ties to a particular region or break free from any sense of loyalty to a place.

Nonetheless, culturally, many Ismailis have felt a strong sense of identity with the Indian

4 subcontinent. As this thesis reveals, however, the opportunities in East Africa would help

shift loyalties, reinforcing identities increasingly based on their religious as opposed to

their cultural roots, in turn limiting their identification with their Indian counterparts. In

turn, they challenged the British colonial system that sought to organize society along

"racial" lines. Ismailis generally thrived in British Tanganyika, but at a social cost. They

developed a reputation of being a wealthy, insulated community that did not integrate

into local society. Yet, the Ismailis identified themselves as devoted subjects of the

Crown, loyal to the lands in which they lived. Many felt as though the British

government's style of rule complemented their way of life. It offered them safety and

protection and perhaps most importantly, colonial rule did not pose a religious threat.

This relative religious freedom was a luxury for a minority Muslim community that it had

not always had.

The British Empire, which stretched across boundaries and oceans, offered an

opportunity for a community that held no loyalties to any specific land. Colonial rule

allowed for movements within the empire with protection to those who were adventurous enough to seek employment in foreign lands, especially for those who did not have

loyalties to political leaders or ideologies that might restrict movement. Furthermore,

British rule enabled minority groups to search for opportunities that facilitated their

prosperity, rather than constricting them. A community that had been persecuted for their

religious beliefs in the past, one that had arguably been dependent on the process of migration for their survival, now was able to flourish in the British Empire. British officials allowed the more adventurous of its subjects to penetrate the hinterland and

5 develop a system that could be used to exploit the land and its peoples. This mutual

dependency fostered a strong relationship between the British and the Aga Khan and his

followers.

Though the Aga Khan expressed his gratitude to the Crown on many occasions

for the opportunities offered to his followers in Tanganyika, this work illustrates how he

took action against the British when his community was threatened. Some officials took

heed of his warnings, viewing the Aga Khan as "a valuable asset to [them] in Indian

affairs [having] a great deal of influence over Ismailis Moslems, not only in India but

throughout the Empire."6 As a result, especially during contentious periods, these

officials were more inclined to "satisfy him" in hopes of "keeping Muslim delegates in a

good frame of mind."7

This study reveals that acts of "resistance" were not always short-lived, at times

spanning decades. Even in these periods of contestation the loyalty of the Ismailis was

never called into question, however. Instead, advances for change were often couched in

terminology that reflected ongoing loyalty to the Crown. These challenges were not

designed to bring down the colonial system or reduce its legitimacy. Rather, they were

attempts at carving out increased autonomy within the boundaries of the empire.

This study uncovers periods when loyalties were tested and policies were contested in Tanganyika. These were moments that often resulted in compromises that

6 File CO 822/47/1 l(Education -Grants to Ismaili Mahommedan Schools): Representations by the Aga Khan): correspondence sent to Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister from Samuel Hoare on 9 December 1932. 7 File CO 822/47/1 l(Education - Grants to Ismaili Mahommedan Schools): Representations by the Aga Khan): correspondence sent to Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister from Samuel Hoare on 9 December 1932.

6 ultimately strengthened the relationship between the Ismailis and their colonizers. The

British offered this minority group the protection they desired within a colonial system

that afforded them increased economic opportunities with minimal threat to their

religious identity. Furthermore, if others challenged the identity of the Ismailis, the Aga

Khan believed he had enough leverage with the British to convince them to protect his

followers. It is these moments that this study will primarily focus on. More specifically,

this work analyzes the tensions that arose over the development of government-supported

education for immigrants from India. In an article published in the National Review in

July 1911, the Aga Khan expressed his views on the potential education had to shape the

futures of immigrants from the subcontinent in the British Empire:

Educate, educate, educate...If by education the myriads of India can be taught that they are guardians and supporters of the Crown Just as are the white citizens of the Empire, then the realization that India and the self-governing dominions stand and fall together, bound by a community of interests and a common cause to maintain, will have come. It is imperative to give Indians the education to fit them for their future role in the British Empire.8

When the colonial government did not support access to "quality" education, the Aga

Khan spoke out, for he viewed education as essential to his community's "progress," a

process he often defined within imperial standards.

The focus of this dissertation is colonial policy-making, and is not a study of east

African society. It does not address the relations between the Ismaili and African communities because of a lack of readily available source material and because this is a

8 Aga Khan III, The Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time (London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1954), 121.

7 topic that deserves its own dedicated and thorough study which is not possible within the

confines of this dissertation.

Structure

Chapter One contextualizes this study, tracing the history of the Ismaili

community through the emergence of Aga Khan I in the early nineteenth century. The

chapter explores the emergence of Ismailism as a consolidated Islamic school of

interpretation within Shi'i thought in the ninth century; the community's migrations that

shaped Ismaili communal identity, including the establishment of Ismailism in India; and

the underpinnings of the relationship forged between Aga Khan I (d. 1881) and the

British in the nineteenth century.

Chapter Two reveals the ways in which Aga Khan III maintained and strengthened his family's connections with the British. In turn, the chapter highlights the

Aga Khan's view of the empire and his envisioned leadership role within it. The chapter also explores the factors that led to the migration of the Ismailis to East Africa in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The family ties that developed between the Aga Khans and the British seemingly waivered at the beginning of the First World War when Aga Khan III, in consultation with other prominent leaders in India, called for a portion of Germany's ex-colonies to be transferred to the government of India. Chapter Three analyzes Aga Khan Ill's rationale behind calling for Tanganyika to be reserved for the relocation of emigrants from the subcontinent. The chapter reveals that the Aga Khan's concern was not with the imperial

8 agenda, but rather with who was to direct this imperial initiative. In response to the way

the colony was being administered, the chapter highlights how the Ismailis in Tanganyika

remained a distinct group among the other immigrants from the subcontinent both in their

settlement and their pattern of migration.

Ismailis were not the only immigrants from India to settle in Tanganyika. Once in

East Africa, these migrant communities were politically and socially grouped together

despite their religious and linguistic differences. Chapter Four thus focuses on the ways

in which the Ismailis sought to preserve a distinct identity from the other immigrants

from the subcontinent. In particular, the chapter explores the role of women in the

construction and maintenance of a Tanganyikan Ismaili identity, Ismaili loyalty to the

Crown, the community's involvement in politics, Jamatkhanas as a central aspect of

Ismaili life, the Agakhan social and religious networks, dress as a symbol of change,

Ismaili festivities and the Ismaili Press.

The foundation of the British colonial model was the division of races on almost

all levels of interaction. Chapter Five thus examines the relationships that developed

between and among the colonized in Tanganyika, highlighting the effects this segregated system had on societal relations. Ismaili leaders sought to develop a unique communal

identity as a means to differentiate their community from the other immigrants in the territory. In turn, Ismailis developed an image of being exclusive and isolating in nature, which impacted their social relations with other groupings in Tanganyika. Thus, the first section of this chapter explores the relations that evolved between immigrants from the

9 subcontinent and Africans. The second section traces the rising tensions that developed among the immigrant communities from India while the last section uncovers the

relationships that were forged between members of the Ismaili community. The chapter demonstrates the impact the British colonial model had on the relations between the

Ismailis and the other colonized groups throughout the territory, revealing in turn how these relations helped foster a sense of pan-Ismailism among the Ismaili communities in the diaspora.

As Chapter Six reveals, Aga Khan III and the Ismaili leadership in East Africa focused on education as a means of encouraging community solidarity. More specifically, they viewed the Agakhan school system as a central mechanism to strengthen and reinforce the centrality of the Imam as the basis of Ismaili identity. Many of the values espoused by the Aga Khan were reinforced in both the school curriculum and its related activities. By highlighting the state of education for all immigrants from

India, this chapter demonstrates the ways in which the Agakhan education system was developed as a response to the state of education throughout the territory.

The heart of the debate on the education of immigrants from India in Tanganyika, however, is explored in Chapter Seven, which examines the attempts made by these immigrant communities to effect change in the territory by pressing the government for increased support in the state of education. The aim was to establish high educational standards by calling for increased governmental grants-in-aid. Additionally, the leaders of the Ismaili community in particular sought to resist the government's attempts at

10 amalgamating education for immigrants from the subcontinent. Specifically, this chapter

highlights how the Aga Khan cited events that were taking place in one part of the

Empire to push for change in another. As such, this chapter examines the attempts made

to secure government funding in support of the territory-wide Ismaili educational

network.

Throughout this thesis, the term "Indian" has been adopted to refer to all people

who originated from the Indian subcontinent, including post-partition regions of India,

Pakistan and Bangladesh. The term "Asian" will only appear if used in direct quotes or

in reference to an organization that adopted the term in its title.

The thesis argues that British imperial rule depended upon hierarchies that

involved the social construction of "race." The thesis addresses social constructions in the colonial system, which requires an examination of race and ethnicity as political identities, imposed through the force of colonial law, and used to describe social order in the African colonies as recorded in colonial censuses. Specifically, the British used race to identify those not indigenous to Africa (Europeans and Asians), or those who were construed as not indigenous, such as Arabs.9 There were no essentialist meaning for social groupings, "only discursive practices which articulated and organized particular sets of relations through the workings of knowledge and power," according to Catherine

Hall.10 Identities were socially constructed to serve political agendas. The government,

9 Mahmood Mamdani, Keywords - Identity (New York, Other Press, 2004), 4. 10 Catherine Hall, "Of Gender and Empire: Reflections on Nineteenth Century," in Philippa Levine, ed., Gender and Empire (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 50.

11 for example, determined the commercial specialization of social groups.11 Africans were

forbidden from engaging in trading activities in certain zones, in turn enabling

immigrants from India to establish a sense of dominance in the trading industry. Colonial

law thus enforced these identities, rather than it being a natural or consensual process of

identification. The British colonial system was thus organized as a hierarchy that placed

Europeans at the top, immigrants from India in the middle, and Africans at the bottom.

Migration from the subcontinent to East Africa was encouraged by the British, who

viewed their role as "fill[ing] the gap between the two extremes of black and white."12

These racial categories were always unstable, given that they were constructed on

imagined differences in relation to whiteness. To avoid "contamination," a system of segregation was imposed, resulting in the establishment of separate spaces for these socially constructed groups: the European quarters, the prescribed zones in which

immigrants from India resided and the Native Townships.13

Historiography

L. W. Hollingsworth was among the first to undertake a broadly based study of immigrants from India in East Africa, focusing specifically on their economic and political contributions.14 Thereafter, Dharam Ghai focused on Asian politics at a time

11 Matthias Ogutu, "Commercial Specialization and Adaptation of Ethnic Groups," The Journal of Modern African Studies 11.3 (September 1973): 465. 1 Thomas R. Metcalf, Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920. (Berkley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2007), 173. 13 Hall 73. 14 Hollingsworth, L.W. The Asians in East Africa. London: MacMillan & Co. Ltd. 1960.

12 when African nationalism was on the rise.15 Ghai, along with Eva Kjellberg, J. S.

Trimingham, and Shanti Pandit, investigated the experiences of immigrants from the subcontinent throughout East Africa in an effort to understand the ways in which they contributed to the economic and political imbalance of the colonial period.16

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, research on East African immigrants from India was associated with broader studies of minority communities. J. S. Mangat, for example, analyzed the ways in which members of this minority community consolidated a sense of identity in East Africa.17 Mangat revealed how many immigrants from the subcontinent strove to eliminate the inequities they faced, despite their minority status. Along similar lines, Robert Gregory and H. S. Morris focused on issues of race relations to identify the roles immigrants from India played in the economic development of these societies.18 In turn, these studies broke free from a Eurocentric approach to history and development, revealing the role non-Europeans, especially immigrants from India, played in the expansion of the intricate, complex trading system that spanned the Indian Ocean.

The Ugandan expulsion of immigrants from India in 1972 and the subsequent exodus of Ismailis from Kenya and Tanzania provided a setting for further research on

15 Dharam P. Ghai, Portrait of a Minority: Asians in East Africa (Nairobi, London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1965). 16 Eva Kjellberg, "The Ismailis in Tanzania," (Dar-es-Salaam: Institute of Public Administration, 1967); J. S. Trimingham, Islam in East Africa (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964); Shanti Pandit, Asians in East and Central Africa (Nairobi: Panco Publications, 1961). 17 J. S. Mangat, A History of the Asians in East Africa, c. 1886 to 1945 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969). 18 Robert G. Gregory, India and East Africa: A History of Race Relations within the British Empire, 1890- 1939 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971); H. S. Morris, The Indians in Uganda (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968).

13 the background of these immigrants.19 In turn, it became clear that immigrants from

India did not form a monolithic trading community, but rather constituted a diverse group that held different religious, linguistic, class and caste backgrounds. Nanji, Walji and

Clarke, for example, focused specifically on the Ismailis and their East African experiences in relation to other immigrants from India prior to the expulsion.

Thereafter, for almost a decade, scholars concentrated on local studies.20 As socio-cultural factors such as identity formation and development took centre stage in the emerging themes in the study of diasporic communities, Richa Nagar focused on the means through which various Indian communities reinvented and/or retained aspects of their homeland identities in East Africa and how these different identifiers affected their experiences in Tanzania.21

Kaiser and Gregory analyzed the impact of immigrants from India who utilized their homeland connections to consolidate social and political networks in East Africa.22

While Chandra Jaywardena has argued strong connections with a homeland retards the

" Azim Nanji, "Modernization and Change in the Nizari Ismaili Community in East Africa - A Perspective," Journal of Religion in Africa 6.2 (1974): 123-139; Prem Bhatia, Indian Ordeal in Africa (India: Vikas Publishing House, 1973); Peter B. Clarke, "The Ismailis: A Study of a Community," The British Journal of Sociology 27.4 (December 1976): 487; Shirin Walji, "A History of the Ismaili Community in Tanzania" Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1974. 20 Martha Honey, "The History of Asian Merchant Capital in Tanganyika, 1840-1940," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, 1981; Sabrina Kassam, "Religion as a Medium for Social Change: A Case Study of the Ismailis in Kenya," M.A. thesis, University of Nairobi, 1982. 21 Richa Nagar, "The South Asian Diaspora in Tanzania: A History Retold," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 16.2 (1996): 62-80. 22 Robert G. Gregory, South Asians in East Africa: An Economic and Social History, 1890-1980 (Boulder: Westvie w Press, 1993); Robert G. Gregory, The Rise and Fall of Philanthropy in East Africa: The Asian Contribution (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1992); Paul Kaiser, Culture, Transnationalism, and Civil Society: Aga Khan Social Service Initiatives (Connecticut, USA: Praeger Publishers, 1996).

14 integration process for immigrants,23 Kaiser and Gregory have claimed that the central factor to the integration process was not whether a community maintained ties with its homeland, but rather, how strong those ties were in relation to their sense of connectedness to the new land.

This dissertation supports Kaiser and Gregory's argument, demonstrating that the

Ismailis developed a strong sense of connectedness to Tanganyika despite their association with their coreligionists throughout the British Empire, including the Indian subcontinent. In particular, I build on a central theme explored by Morris24 by arguing that the Ismailis' ability to adapt to their new environment was largely based on the central role played by the Aga Khan in consolidation of the community. More specifically, this thesis identifies the debate over education as a key issue in that consolidation.

Methodology and Sources

This study draws on official government correspondence and publications released by the Ismaili community during the period under investigation. For this work, I conducted research in the Tanzanian National Archives in Dar es Salaam, as well as The

National Archives in London. I also consulted Ismaili Council Offices and Libraries in

Tanzania. I examine official British sources from multiple levels of the colonial administration, relying heavily on documents from the Colonial Office (CO) and the

Foreign Office (FO). Whereas the government archives in both London and Tanzania

23 Chandra Jaywardena, "Migration and Social Change: A Survey of Indian Communities Overseas," Geographical Review 58 (1968): 426-449. 24 Morris, The Indians in Uganda, chapters 5 and 6.

15 house a few of the communal Ismaili publications used in this work, the majority of these

community-based sources were collected from the Ismailia Council Offices and Libraries

in Tanzania.

Because this dissertation relies heavily on colonial government correspondence

and local Ismaili publications from the twentieth century, data were analyzed primarily

on a qualitative basis. It is through these sources that the historian can glimpse the

encounters and relationships between the British and Aga Khan III and the Ismailis. The

data, however, do not fully address the scope of these fluid and evolving relationships.

One must remain cautious of how and why these sources were produced. Colonial

officials had varied opinions on how to govern the empire and who was considered

valuable to their imperial agenda; a range of perspectives that are not entirely depicted in

these sources. Similarly, the Ismaili publications present a uniform voice of a diverse community, often reflecting an ideal rather than an image of reality. I have therefore tried to be mindful of the variability of perceptions among these documents and how these issues might have affected the production of primary sources. Collectively, official government sources and those that circulated amongst the Ismaili community offer a range of perspectives on the events in question, shedding light on both the official position as well as the perspectives from within the Ismaili community, also operating as a tool to verify each perspective.

I have also relied upon extracts of speeches made by Aga Khan III throughout his seventy-two years as Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. Many of his addresses have

16 been compiled by K. K. Aziz in a two volume collection that covers topics ranging from

suffrage for the Indian woman to the post-war future of Turkey. This compilation has

been invaluable to this dissertation, shedding light on the guidance offered by Aga Khan

III to Muslims throughout the Empire. Along similar lines, this study draws heavily on

the Aga Khan's memoirs, revealing insights on the significant events of his life.

This thesis also analyzes local newspapers and periodicals, especially those

circulating among the communities that migrated from India. These sources allow an

examination of the disputes that took place in Tanganyika among the different

communities that emigrated from the subcontinent. The articles in these publications

provide insight on the underlying tensions among these diverse communities.

Recently, members of the Ismaili community were requested to forward their

familial documents to the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London. These sources

would provide additional perspectives on the issue, potentially providing further insight

on issues such as the relations between different social groupings in Tanganyika, the demographics of the migration of the Ismailis to the region and the range of Ismaili responses to the Aga Khan's guidance. Unfortunately, these sources were unavailable for examination during the period I undertook my fieldwork. Nonetheless, the documents obtained from the Ismailia councils and libraries in Tanzania and Canada offer a range of perspectives on the focal events addressed in this study. The documents housed in these community collections were mostly East African Ismaili publications in commemoration of the Aga Khan's Jubilees, in which individual Ismailis surveyed the community's

17 growth over time and reinforced the guidance offered by the Aga Khan. In turn, voices directly from the subjects of this thesis can be ascertained in conjunction with the Aga

Khan's public addresses and official government perspectives.

18 Chapter One: The Historical Background of the Ismaili

Community and the Emergence of the Aga Khan

This chapter traces the history of the Ismaili community through the emergence of

Aga Khan I in the early nineteenth century, including the origins of Ismailism, the

importance of migration during the periods of turbulence the Ismailis faced, and the

relations of the Ismailis with the British during the Aga Khan's long reign from 1817 to

1881. The chapter begins by exploring the emergence of Ismailism as a consolidated

Islamic school of interpretation within Shi'i thought in the ninth century. It then traces

the periods that led to the establishment of Ismailism in India, highlighting the turbulence

that characterized Ismaili history before the nineteenth century. The last section explores

the causes that led to the initial waves of Ismaili migration to East Africa during the

Imamates of Aga Khan I and II. While further research has yet to be carried out on the

demographics of the Ismaili migrations to Tanganyika throughout the nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries, the figures that are available reflect an increasing trend in the

movement of Ismailis from India to East Africa during the period under investigation. In turn, the chapter argues that the community tended to respond to instability by migrating to new lands and in the process, adapting to different religious, political and geographic environments, which would be vital to its transition to East Africa in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter also discusses the emergence of the family of the

Aga Khan and the relationship forged with the British in the nineteenth century. In turn, the chapter offers insight on how Ismaili identity evolved around the process of migration

19 and how this fostered a sense of loyalty to the British from the Aga Khan and his

followers.

The Origins of Ismailism

Following the death of the Prophet in 632 CE, a crisis of succession ensued

throughout the Muslim community, the ummah. The Prophet was the undisputed source

of guidance, a link with the Divine. Once he passed away, however, the ummah was

divided over who was to lead the community in both religious and secular matters. Since

the Prophet Mohamed was the khatim al-anbiya"the seal of the prophets," the choice of

successor and the nature of his authority was disputed. One group, who would later be

classified as the Sunnis, recognized the political authority held by Abu Bakr (d. 634 CE),

who assumed the position of caliph,25 or successor, to the Prophet. Others felt that Ali

ibn Abi Talib (d. 661 CE), the Prophet's first cousin and son-in-law, was better qualified

for this position. This initial split within the Islamic community revolved around the

nature of authority. Supporters of Ali, who subsequently were known as the Shi'a or

Shi'is, claimed he was divinely inspired and designated by the Prophet to be his successor

as the Imam. The Imam was a hereditary role that was believed to serve a key spiritual

function, one that distinguished this role from that of caliph. According to Shi'i doctrine,

the issue over the succession of the Prophet centred on the importance of the Imam,

which became a distinguishing feature of the Ismaili community. For the Ismailis, the

25 Initially, the title Khalifa (anglicized as caliph) was assigned to the first caliph because the term was ambiguous and "the nature and scope of the leader's authority remained to be decided". See Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (London, New York: Longman, 2004), 52. Over time, however, the term was used to refer to the head of state or leader of the Muslim ummah.

20 centrality of the Imam and his authority were paramount and formed the foundation upon

which the East African Ismaili identity was based.

It was during the eighth century, a period that Daftary refers to as the "formative

period of Islam," that the Shi'i concept of religious authority, largely developed by Ja'far

al-Sadiq, clearly articulated the leadership of the Imam, which also became a central

belief of the Ismaili community.26 The Shi'a maintained that the Imam was divinely

inspired to guide the ummah on both religious and political issues, even if the Imam did

not hold official political power. According to Shi'i interpretation, the revelation

contained messages that could not be interpreted by human reason alone. The Shi'is

believe that the Imam held the key to unlocking the true message of Islam, which in turn

meant that this position could not be filled by just anyone. The institution of Imamate

could only be granted to a member of the Prophet's family, based on certain

interpretations of the Quran and sayings of the Prophet. Thus, they viewed Ali as the first

Imam and the "Legitimate Authority for the interpretation of the faith."27 Because one of

the central elements of Islam is the inseparable nature of faith and the mode of behaviour

in this world, Shi'is looked to Ali and the successive Imams for both religious and secular

guidance.

The crystallization of religious identities among the different Muslim

communities was a gradual process. Over several centuries, the Shi'a were subdivided

into a number of smaller communities with particular theological doctrines. This process

26 Farhad Daftary, A Short History of the Ismailis (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), 1. 27 Aga Khan IV, Democracy and Pluralism in an Interdependent World: Where Hope Takes Root (Vancouver: Aga Khan Foundation Canada, 2008), 127.

21 led to the emergence of a consolidated Ismaili community by 890 CE.28 Disagreements

over successorship, however, resulted in the development of multiple Ismaili branches.

In 899 CE, one of the first major schisms that occurred among the Ismailis led to the

formation of the Qarmati Ismailis. Perhaps the largest divide among the Ismailis,

however, occurred during the Fatimid period of rule in North Africa.

In 909 CE, the success of the Ismaili dawa, or the proselytizing of Ismailism,

culminated in the establishment of an Ismaili state in North Africa, the Fatimid caliphate.

According to Daftary, the foundation of the Fatimid state transformed the Fatimids from

a regional power to an empire.29 Thus often cited as the "golden period" of Ismailism,

the Fatimid caliphate extended its influence over North Africa during the reign of the

fourth Fatimid Imam-caliph, al Mu'izz (953-975 CE). After securing his authority over the Berbers, al Mu'izz pursued policies of war and diplomacy, eventually transferring the

Fatimid capital to the new city of Cairo in 973 CE. Al-Mu'izz also increased the dawa activities outside of the Fatimid dominions. For example, a Fatimid dai converted a local ruler in Sind in the Indian subcontinent around 958 CE, establishing an Ismaili

principality in the Indian subcontinent. Daftary reveals that many Hindus converted to

Ismailism, and the Friday prayer was read in the name of the Fatimid Imam-caliph until

1005.30

28 Farhad Daftary, "ismaili History," from website of the Institute of Ismaili Studies: www.iis.ac.uk/view article.asp?ContentID=l 10257. 29 Daftary, Short History of the Ismailis, 2. 30 Daftary, Short History of the Ismailis, 79.

22 When the eighth Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir died in 1094, his wishes for

succession were contested when his youngest son challenged his elder brother for the

position. As a result, the Ismaili community permanently split into two rival factions, the

Mustaliyya and the Nizariyya. The Ismailis who are the focus of this work, belong to the

latter group and followed whom they believed to be al-Mustansir's heir-designate, Nizar,

who had gone into hiding following the schism. Hasan Sabbah, an Ismaili dai

(missionary), was tasked with establishing the community in a number of Iranian

fortresses, with Alamut as its headquarters. He was also responsible for reinvigorating

the Ismaili cause within the Seljuq dominions in Iran. Sabbah was the chief

representative of the hidden Imam until 1164, when the Nizari Imams felt it was safe for

them to openly emerge at Alamut.31 Thus, the Ismailis explored in this thesis belonged to

the Nizariyya branch of Ismailism, signifying their allegiance to the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir's son, Nizar from 1094.

Periods of Turbulence

As a community, the Nizari Ismailis have gone through periods of persecution that have had an impact on their identity, institutional organization, religious practices as well as their geographic proximity to their Imam and their religious counterparts around the world. After 1094 the Nizari Imams were never again heads of a state. Sometimes, the Imams had to guide their followers through turbulent periods of religious oppression and political subjugation. This section explores three examples of instability the Nizari

Ismaili Imams and their followers faced in the eighth, eleventh and nineteenth centuries.

31 Daftary, The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1995), 31-44.

23 The first period of contention came with the death of the fifth Nizari Ismaili

Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, in 765 CE.32 According to the Ismailis, Al-Sadiq's designated heir, Ismail, was challenged by Musa al-Kazim, Ismail's younger brother. Those who accepted Musa al-Kazim came to be known as the Twelver Shi'is, while the followers of

Ismail are referred to as the Ismailis. According to Esmail and Nanji, as a result of this divide and its resultant tensions, Ismail and the four successive Ismaili Imams and their followers had to maintain anonymity in Salamiyya in Syria until the ninth century, when these tensions began to ease.33 As a result, the century that spanned the late eighth century to the late ninth century is commonly referred to as dawr al-satr, the period of concealment.

The second example of persecution lies in the period following the death of the

Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir in 1094, as outlined in the previous section of this chapter. Those who remained loyal to Nizar, the Nizari Ismailis, were faced with an increasingly hostile environment in North Africa as a result of this Fatimid schism. They in turn, established strongholds in parts of Iran to ensure their survival, including the

Alamut fortress. Once again, the identities of the Nizari Ismaili Imams were concealed.

Over time, however, this Ismaili community found itself under attack. In the first half of the thirteenth century, a large number of Nizari Ismailis fell victim to the Mongol invasion. Those who managed to escape the onslaught migrated to the neighbouring

32 The Nizari Ismailis do not view Ali ibn Abi Talib's eldest son, Hasan, as an Imam. As a result, Ja'far al Sadiq is their fifth Imam, while other Shia consider him to be the sixth Imam. 33 Aziz Esmail and Azim Nanji, "The Ismailis in History," from the website of Institute of Ismaili Studies: www.iis.ac.uk/view article.asp?ContentIP=l 10257

24 lands in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, where Nizari Ismaili communities

were already established as early as the eleventh century as a result of dawa activities.34

The third and final period of persecution that will be explored occurred in the

nineteenth century. In 1817, the 45th Ismaili Imam was murdered in Central Asia and

was succeeded by his son, Imam Hasan Ali Shah, who was a young boy at the time.

Raised by his mother, he received his education in the district of Mahallat, Iran. Even

among non-Ismailis, he was respected, for not only did he claim descent from the Prophet

Mohamed, his ancestors intermarried with the Safavid Shahs of Iran and occupied high

administrative positions of governors of important provinces in the region. Well aware of

his status, the Qajar Shah of Iran, who ruled from 1797 to 1834, agreed to marry his

daughter to Imam Hasan Ali Shah.

This prestigious background and post did not, however, protect the Imam from the

political minefields in Iran at the time. The region witnessed a series of upheavals over a short period such as the Afghan invasion, which took place in the first half of the eighteenth century; the exploits of Nadir Shah, who was the Shah of Iran from 1736 to

1747; and the brutal reign of the eunuch Aga Muhammad, the founder of the Qajar/Kajar dynasty. Yet, the Shah did not allow these disruptive forces to interfere with his reign. It was not until his death in 1834 that these devastating forces managed to break down the political hegemony held by the Shahs of Iran. In the process, the Imam lost his post as governor. It was in this context that the 46th Imam, Hasan Ali Shah, was forced to emigrate from Iran in 1839 and eventually settle in Sind in the Indian subcontinent.

34 Daftary, Short History of the Ismailis, 161. With the Imams having to conceal their religious identity in order to survive these

periods of religious and political turbulence, many misconceptions developed around this

mysterious and secretive community. As a result, their past has been recorded with

multiple misunderstandings and assumptions. Perhaps the best example of this is the account offered by Marco Polo (1254-1324), the famous thirteenth century Venetian traveller, who encountered the Ismailis in their remote mountain strongholds in Syria and

Northern Iran. He witnessed a divided society in which the Ismailis were on the defensive. After learning more about this elusive community, largely from others who

had a limited understanding of it, he returned home with the following legend:

The Old Man ...dwelled in a most noble valley shut in between two very high mountains where he had made them make the largest garden ... There were set to dwell ladies and damsels the most beautiful in the world, who all knew very well how to play on all instruments and sing tunefully and sweetly dance better than other woman of this world ... Their duty was to furnish the young men who were put there with all delights and pleasures. There were plenty of garments, couches, food, and all things which can be desired. No sad thing was spoken of there, nor was it lawful to have time for anything but play, love, and pleasure.. .And the Old Man made his men understand that... those who did his will should all when they died go to Paradise where they would find all the delights and pleasures of the world and will have there as many fair women as they wish at their pleasure ... And the Old Man kept with him at his court all the young men of the inhabitants of those mountains of the country from where years to twenty ... Sometimes the Old Man, when he wished to kill any lord who made war or was his enemy, made them put some of these youths into that Paradise by fours and sixes and by tens or twelves and by twenties together just as he wished, in this way. For he had opium to drink given them by which they fell asleep and as if half dead immediately as soon as they had drunk it, and they slept quite three days and three nights. Then he had them taken in this sleep and put into that garden of his, into different rooms of the said palaces, and there made them wake, and they found themselves there ... and when the youths were waked up and they find

26 themselves in there and see themselves in so fine a place ... they believe that they are most truly in Paradise. And the ladies and damsels stayed with them all day playing and singing and causing great enjoyment, and they did with them as they pleased, so that these youths had all that they wished, and never will they go out from thence of their own will... And after four or five days when the Old Man wishes any of them his Assassins to send to any place and to have any man killed, then he has the drink of opium given again to as many as pleases him of these youths to make them sleep, and when they are asleep he has them taken into his palace which was outside the garden ... The Old Man makes them come before him, and they go immediately before the Old Man and behave themselves very humbly towards him and kneel as those who believe that he is a great prophet... And the Old Man answered then, Son, this is by the commandment of our Prophet Mahomet [sic], that whoever defends his servant he will grant to him Paradise; and if thou art obedient to me thou shalt have this favour ... And when the Old Man wished to have any lord or any other man killed he took some of these his Assassins and sends them where he wished, and told them that he wished to send them carried by his angels to Paradise, and that they go to kill such a man, and if they should die that they will go immediately to Paradise.35

This quote illustrates the elaborate stories that developed about measures taken by the

Imam and his representatives to influence and control members of the Ismaili community.

These stories have shaped the image the Ismailis have developed over the years, impacting their identity and experiences over these periods.

Survival was paramount for the Ismailis and the examples cited above highlight the manner in which migration and adaptability became intrinsic responses of the Nizari

Ismaili community during these periods of instability. In turn, the guidance offered by the

Imams was couched in terms that concealed their religious identity in an effort to ensure their safety. The Imams' concerns were more broadly-focused than the day-to-day decisions that were developed by the political leaders of the lands in which the Ismaili

35 Daftary, Assassins, 109-111.

27 communities were living. This fostered a sense of pan-Ismailism because the guidance

was not intrinsically connected to a specific country or region. As a result, the Ismailis were not bound to any particular geographic location. Just as the survivors of the Mongol

invasion fled, Ismailis were free to migrate to new lands, often in areas where an Ismaili

presence had already been established. In turn, many adopted new political loyalties that overshadowed the ties they held with the lands they emigrated from.

While little is known of the fate of the Ismaili refugees who survived the Mongol

invasion and escaped to the Indian subcontinent, it is likely that during their period of settlement, they did not make a significant cultural impact on Indian traditions or culture since the research that focuses on the Ismailis in the Indian subcontinent excludes any evidence to support an Iranian cultural influence from the Alamut period among the

Ismaili community. Rather, they likely adapted the customs their Ismaili counterparts had developed since their earliest conversions by a Fatimid dai in the eleventh century.36

As a result, by the nineteenth century, despite their varied cultural backgrounds, Ismailis

from the Indian subcontinent identified themselves as members of the Khoja caste, a small mercantile group in western India.37 The Khojas were not a religiously exclusive group given that a number of religious groups self-identified as Khojas. Rather, it was their occupation as merchants that acted as the unifying force. This, however, changed upon Aga Khan I's arrival in India from Iran, as will be explored in the next section.

36 Ali Asani, "From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim: The Articulation of Ismaili Khoja Identity in South Asia," in Farhad Daftary, ed., A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community (London: I. B. Tauris & Co., 2011), 96; Daftary, Ismailis, 118-119, Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood: Indo-Ismaili Religious Lyrics, (London: Curzon Press, 2002), 5. 37 Asani, "From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim," 96.

28 Aga Khan I and the British

Table 1: The Aga Khans

Period of Imamate Imam of the Time 1817-1881 Hasan Ali Shah, Aga Khan I 1881-1885 Aqa Ali Shah, Aga Khan II 1885-1957 Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III

Only the last four of the forty-nine Imams have carried the hereditary title Aga

Khan. As outlined in the introduction, the title Aga Khan, meaning Lord of the Chiefs,

was granted to the 46th Nizari Ismaili Imam, Hasan Ali Shah, by the Iranian King Fatehali

Shah (d. 1834) in 1834. The Imam was granted the designation, which was usually

conferred to noblemen by Iranian rulers, in honour of the services members of his family

rendered to the King.38 The title Aga Khan was then carried over by the British in the

early nineteenth century. The relationship that developed between the Aga Khan and the

Iranian King and his experiences as governor of multiple Iranian provinces provided the

basis for the first intersection between the Ismaili Imam and British colonial forces.

Aga Khan I, born in Iran, was attached to the Qajar dynasty, which ruled over Iran

from the late eighteenth century. Following a rebellion that broke out in 1818 in the

province of Yezd, the Iranian King, Fatehali Shah, appointed the Aga Khan as governor

of the provinces of Mahallat and Qumm, and later, Kirman. Political uprisings in

Kirman, however, led the Aga Khan to flee Iran towards Afghanistan, where he likely

first encountered the British. It was in Qandahar that the Aga Khan formed an alliance with British forces based in Afghanistan, offering strategic and military support, largely

38 Daftary, Short History of the Ismailis, 196.

29 by assisting the British in their negotiations with local rulers.39 The British were in

Afghanistan in an attempt to protect their holdings in India from Russian designs in the

1830s, resulting in the British invasion of Afghanistan in 1839 to secure a frontier and guard against a potential attack.40 British aims of securing this stable frontier also led to the annexation of Sind in 1842.41 Upon completion of his services in both Afghanistan and Sind, the Aga Khan settled in Bombay in the late 1840s or early 1850s, focusing his attention on his followers there.

In return for the diplomatic service Aga Khan I rendered to the British he was granted a pension42 by the British government and was conferred the hereditary title of

"His Highness." In addition to his pension, Aga Khan I pursued his interests in horse racing and horse breeding, cultivating a large establishment of horses, hawks and hounds that were inherited by his successors. While in the Indian subcontinent, Aga Khan I continued to developed a personal relationship with the British royal family, fortifying his attachment to the British Crown until his death in April 1881.

Ismailis in nineteenth century India

When the Aga Khan migrated to Bombay, his followers had developed a long and established presence in the region. Ismailis from the Indian subcontinent identified themselves as members of the Khoja caste, a small mercantile group in western India that

39 Daftary, Ismailis, 510-514. 40 Daftary, Ismailis, 509. 41 Peers, India Under Colonial Rule, 43. 42 Farhad Daftary and Zulfikar Hirji, The Ismailis: An Illustrated History (Azimuth Editions, 2008), 190 cites an annual pension of £2000; also recorded in Farhad Daftary, The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 511; while Hatim M. Amiji, "Some Notes on Religious Dissent in Nineteenth-Century East Africa," African Historical Studies, 4.3 (1971): 609 records that Aga Khan I received a monthly pension of 3000 rupees from the Indian treasury.

30 traded in opium, silk, sugar and rice.43 The Khojas were not a religiously exclusive group as a number of religious communities self-identified as Khojas. Rather, it was their occupation as merchants that acted as the unifying force. Either working as independent traders or as employees for the government or private trading firms, the relationship

Khojas had with the British was largely limited to a professional basis. The nineteenth century, however, was a period of change for the merchant classes in India. Enticed by the economic prospects in Bombay, many Khojas migrated to the region in the nineteenth century, resulting in the growth of the community from one hundred and fifty or two hundred people to a population of over fourteen hundred.44

The expansion of the Khoja community was not the only transformation that took place in the Indian subcontinent during the nineteenth century. During this period, the ulama increasingly viewed the British education system with suspicion, resulting in the withdrawal of many Muslim students from western school systems. Many ulama viewed these foreign initiatives as attempts to diminish their authority and influence over Muslim society. The increased control exercised by the British following the sepoy "mutiny" of

1857 in an attempt to safeguard against another "attack" on the Empire promoted a general concern among many Muslims who viewed the measures taken by the colonial government as a threat to their identity and religious traditions.

43 Asani, "From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim," 96, Amrita Shodhan, "Legal Representations of Khojas and Pushtimarga Vaishnava Polities as Communities: The Aga Khan Case and the Maharaj Libel Case in Mid- Nineteenth Century Bombay" (Ph.D. thesis, The University of Chicago, 1995), 11. 44 Teena Purohit, "Formations and Genealogies of Ismaili Secterianism in Nineteenth Century India" (Ph.D thesis, Columbia University, 2007), 36.

31 As the curriculum was increasingly standardized, many of these religious scholars, though not all, disapproved of what they believed to be secular subjects that lacked the infusion of Islamic values. Furthermore, some had issue with the qualification of the teachers running the government schools. According to Forbes, female missionaries arrived in India in the 1840s and were assigned the responsibility of working towards the "advancement" of immigrants from India, particularly, women and children.

Much of the informal training that took place during this time was conducted in their students' households where they "read stories, taught needlework, and attempted to bring their charges to Christ."45 With the formalization of female education in the colony, the students of these female missionaries in turn became teachers in the new government schools for girls. Many members of the ulama might have had issue with these qualifications and may have been wary of the "dangers" of their teachings. In turn,

Muslims may have been advised not to send their children to these government schools, potentially reducing the number of eligible Muslim teachers qualified to teach in the

Tanganyikan schools.

In response, according to Robinson, many ulama made attempts to revive the state of Islamic education in opposition to these new western influences.46 In turn, as this secularized curriculum increasingly became mandatory for most forms of employment, opportunities for professional growth declined for those who opted out of western educational institutions. As reflected in the following chart, the percentage of Muslim

45 Forbes, Women in Modern India, 37. 46 Robinson, Separatism, 272.

32 students enrolled in private schools was considerably higher than the percentage of

Hindus attending private education institutions:

Table 2: Hindus and Muslims attending Private Schools as a percentage of all Hindus and Muslims attending School in the United Provinces47

Year Hindus Muslims 1890-91 18.2 47 1900-01 13.3 39.7 1910-11 7.4 26.6 1920-21 3.8 16.4

As a result, there were fewer Muslims attending government schools in which they would have been trained in the secular subjects that were required of qualified teachers according to the British education system.

In contrast, according to Shodhan, many middle and upper class men in Bombay studied in and were influenced by British educational institutions that were led by liberal reformists, such as Sir Erskine Perry, who was the President of the Board of Education from 1842 to 1852.48 In turn, many of these middle and upper class men in Bombay formed literary societies where members analyzed European classical literature, studied scientific courses and critiqued local customs. In the nineteenth century, these Bombay reformists called for the reform of Indian society along British lines, specifically in regards to the positioning of women. Although the Bombay Khojas merchant communities were not directly connected to these schools or societies, according to

47 Robinson, Separatism, 274. 48 Shodhan, "Legal Representations," 17.

33 Purohit, the social vision of these reformists spread amongst the merchant communities.49

In particular, the Khojas developed their own printing press and introduced English

education in their schools. In addition to an increased adaptation of the British style of

education, an increasing number of people in Bombay utilized the British system of law

to settle their legal disputes. Perhaps the most relevant example is the case brought

against the Aga Khan by some of the leaders of the Khoja community in 1866.

According to Purohit, the Khojas of Bombay were divided over their relationship

with the Aga Khan from the 1830s. After the Aga Khan settled in Bombay in 1848, he

sought to exercise greater authority over the affairs of the Khoja community, leading to a

permanent divide among the Khojas. Tensions, however, climaxed in 1866 when a group

of Khoja leaders in Bombay filed a lawsuit against Aga Khan I in a British court of law,

arguing that the property of the Khojas belonged to members of the Khoja community

and that the Aga Khan, who was not a Khoja, held no claim to the management of this

property. The following was the judgment made by Justice Arnold:

The Court is now in a position to give an adequate description of the Khoja sect: it is a sect of people whose ancestors were Hindu in origin, which was converted to and has throughout abided in the faith of the Shia Imami Ismailis, and which has always been and still is bound by ties of spiritual allegiance to the hereditary Imams of the Ismailis.50

This judgment resulted in the official identification of the Khoja caste as Ismaili Muslim, in spite of the religious diversity that existed within the caste. Furthermore, Justice

Arnold concluded that the Aga Khan was the Imam of the Khojas and in turn, was the

49 Purohit, "Formations and Genealogies," 47. 50 Purohit, "Formations and Genealogies," 25.

34 rightful owner of the community's property. While the purpose of this section is not to

explore the details of the disputes that occurred among the Khoja communities of

Bombay, this case offers insight on the fluidity of Ismaili identity and the ways in which

Khoja identity shifted from a caste to a religious marker. It is also highlights the role

played by the British system of law in settling the disputes that arose among members of

the Khoja communities and the Aga Khan, revealing a growing acceptance of the British

system of law and governance among the Khojas of Bombay in the nineteenth century.

Early Ismaili Migrations to East Africa

Sources suggest that early in the nineteenth century, Aga Khan I instructed

Ismailis who lived in India and in conditions that were rendered destitute as a result of

population pressures, famine and disease, to migrate to Africa. Much of the province of

Gujarat was affected,51 which was where many of the trading headquarters of the larger

trading classes from western India were located, especially in the regions of Kathiawar

and Kutch. Kutch, for example, experienced a severe famine in 1817, which Markovits

argues was as severe as the Irish potato famine of the mid nineteenth century.53 There are

a number of other nineteenth century factors that prompted individuals from these trading communities to migrate to other colonies in search of better economic opportunities.

According to Nair, the internal trade many of these merchants were likely involved in

51 Aziz Esmail, "Islam at the Cross-roads," Africa Ismaili: 48>h Imam Mowlana Sultan Muhamed Shah Agakhan III Centenary Celebration Special Issue 6.4 (2 November 1977): 49; Amiji, "Bohoras of East Africa," 37. 52 Thomas R. Metcalf, Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920. Berkley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2007,167. " Claude Markovits, "Indian Merchant Networks Outside India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A Preliminary Study," Modern Asian Studies 33.4 (Oct. 1999): 899, 908.

35 was disrupted by sea battles waged between rival European powers that blocked the port trade. This affected their business, motivating these traders to increasingly focus on economic prospects beyond the subcontinent. Additionally, Nair argues that the unrest that developed following the end of Shahjahan's reign during the Mughal period led to the development of an insecure, politically unstable state. Thus, the famines that affected

Gujarat in the 1880s and 1890s, as discussed above, took a toll on an already pressed system, leading many to seek alternative opportunities across the Indian Ocean.54 As

Gregory argues:

the source for nearly all the immigration after 1890 was north-west India... Gujarat, Kathiawar, Kutch and Maharashtra, the homelands of most of the free immigrants, were fairly fertile but dependent on the summer monsoons for rainfall.... When the monsoons failed, they were dust bowls. Drought and famine, recurring every two or three years.55

These measures were not completely foreign to these trading communities.56

Conveniently, these regions in Gujarat were geographically located very close to the major maritime routes between western India and the western Indian Ocean. Thus, these

Gujarati merchants had long since established trading networks across the western Indian

Ocean, which Ismailis and other immigrants from India later plug into. Furthermore, technological advancements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the use of the Suez Canal to link the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, telegraph cables and

54 Savita Nair "Moving Life Histories: Gujarat, East Africa and the Indian Diaspora, 1880-2000" Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2001,15. 55 Gregory, Quest for Equality, 5-6. 56 Nair, "Moving Life Histories," 17.

36 steamships made the movement of people and communication across the Indian Ocean

much easier.57

It has also been suggested that the migration from India to East Africa was

promoted, though not initiated, from 1840 when the Omani Sultan Seyyid Said shifted his

base of power from Oman to Zanzibar. According to Gregory, there were already three

or four hundred immigrants from India in Zanzibar when Said shifted his base,58 which

according to Delf, increased to around 1,000 around the mid-nineteenth century59 and

around five or six thousand by I860.60 The Sultan invited immigrants from India to settle

on the island as employees of his court and to stimulate the trading industry as merchants,

clerks and financiers. Despite the fact that the Omani Empire was based on the Ibadi

interpretation of Islam, the Sultan extended full religious protection to all immigrants

from the subcontinent, regardless of their religious beliefs. The establishment of the

British consulate in Zanzibar in 1841 offered immigrants from India, who were British

protected persons, a heightened sense of security and protection.61 They in turn handled almost all of the import and export trade and were major financiers of the island.

Convinced that they would have better futures in the African continent, pioneering individuals were thus encouraged to take the initiative and establish a community, a jamat, on the continent.62 Ismailis first settled in Zanzibar, Bagamoyo,

57 Nair, "Moving Life Histories," 20. 58 Gregory, India and East Africa, 18. 59 George Delf, Asians in East Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 2. 60 Markovits, "Indian Merchant Networks," 892. 61 Hatim Amiji, 'The Bohoras of East Africa," Journal of Religion in Africa 7.1 (1975): 35. 62 Kjellberg, "ismailis," 11.

37 Pangani and other areas along the coast. As they moved inland to settle in other trading

centres, they reached as far as the Congo and the Uganda Protectorate.63 Initially,

Bagamoyo was believed to be the most important trading centre and developed into

somewhat of a base from which people who migrated to the coastline began their careers.

Early nineteenth century reports reveal the presence of Sir Tharia Topan, the first known

Ismaili trader who set sail across the Indian Ocean and established himself on the east

coast of Africa with hopes of bettering his economic and social status.64 Whether he had

visions of laying the foundation for the eventual mass migration of thousands of Ismailis

from the north-western region of India is unknown. Regardless, this was the eventual

reality. Over time, other pioneer traders followed in his footsteps and help to develop a

trading network that spanned the eastern coastline of Africa. Establishing small shops

called dukas, these traders from India held a monopoly over trade goods, eventually

establishing substantial trading networks, requiring increasing numbers of partners and

employees, who were often solicited from the subcontinent. This demand increased as

other Ismaili traders such as Sewa Haji Paroo and Allidina Visram sought to extend these

networks into the interior of East Africa. For this, loyal, trustworthy and skilled partners

were sought from across the Indian Ocean, from the very community these pioneer

traders came from. It was these beginnings that form the backdrop for this study.65

63 Habib Jamal, "Ismailis in Tanganyika," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Year Book, 17 August 1885 - 17 August 1945 (Dares Salaam: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association forDar es Salaam, 10 August 1946), 119. 64 Mangat, Asians in East Africa, 19-20; Robert G. Gregory, Quest for Equality: Asian Politics in East Africa, 1900-1967 (New Delhi: Orient Longman Limited, 1993), 21-22; Pandit, Asians in East and Central Africa, 14. 6 Jamal, "Ismailis in Tanganyika," 119.

38 While Ismaili settlement in Tanganyika began much earlier than the twentieth

century, according to Walji, it was between 1900 and 1940 that the majority of

immigrants from India settled in Tanganyika.66 As was mentioned in the introduction to

this chapter, more research needs to be conducted on the demographics of the distinct

communities that emigrated from the subcontinent. We do, however, have a few figures

available and some details on where this broader community of immigrants settled in East

Africa. Table 3 for instance reveals that some 2,558 Khoja67 immigrants from the

subcontinent resided in East Africa as early as 1870.

Table 3: Population of Khoja immigrants from India in Tanganyika, 187068

Region Khoia immigrants from the subcontinent Zanzibar 2,100 Pemba 59 Kilwa 194 Bagamoyo 137 Dar es Salaam 43 Mrima village 25

As is evident in the above table, the majority of the Khoja immigrants from India settled

in Kilwa and Bagamoyo within Tanganyika territory in 1870. This trend, however,

shifted somewhat by the turn of the century.

66 Walji, History of the Ismaili Community, 19. 67 The term Khoja derived from the Persian word khwaja, which literally translates as "the honourable" or the "the disciple" and is commonly used to refer to an ethnic group from the western region of the subcontinent that converted to Islam by an Ismaili pir or missionary. While it is noteworthy that it is believed that the pir set out to convert people specifically to the Ismaili faith, this term Khoja was applied to everyone who originated from this region of the subcontinent, regardless of their religious beliefs or school of thought. As such, the phrase was used to denote a cultural affiliation as opposed to a religious one. 68 Makrand Mehta, "Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora: Major Historical Trends," Economic and Political Weekly 36.20 (May 19-25,2001): 1742; HoUingsworth, Asians of East Africa, 139.

39 By 1887, the population of Indian immigrants in East Africa was approximately

6,00069 leading the British Vice-Consul at Dar es Salaam to conclude that by 1900 these

immigrants formed the largest immigrant community in German East Africa. Table 4

reveals that the population in Tanganyika amounted to at least 3,000.

Table 4: Population of immigrants from India 190070

Region Immigrants from the subcontinent Dar es Salaam Nearly 900 Pangani Nearly 800 Bagamoyo Nearly 800 Kilwa 400 Mikindani 140 Lindi 80

Overshadowing Kilwa, Dar es Salaam, Pangani and Bagamoyo were the towns in which

the majority of the immigrants from the subcontinent resided.

By 1913, the total number of immigrants from India in German Tanganyika rose

from around 3,000 to 8,784.71 Since we have little information on the religious divisions

within this immigrant community, exact figures of the Ismaili community at the

beginning of the twentieth century remains obscure. Hollingsworth argues, however, that

"a considerable proportion of the Indians who had settled in German East Africa were

Muslims of the Ismaili Khoja sect."72

69 Gregory, South Asians in East Africa, 12. 70 Hollingsworth, Asians of East Africa, 62. 71 Hollingsworth, Asians of East Africa, 62. 72 Hollingsworth, Asians of East Africa, 62.

40 Chapter Two: Ismaili Migrations to Tanganyika

This chapter builds on the relationship forged between Aga Khan I and the British by revealing the ways Aga Khan III worked towards maintaining and strengthening his family's ties with the British during his Imamate after 1885. The chapter examines how

Aga Khan III viewed the Empire and what he believed to be his role within it. In addition, the chapter considers why the Aga Khan supported the migration of his followers from the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent to Tanganyika in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The chapter begins with an analysis of the relationship between Aga Khan III and the British followed by a review of the factors that led to the migration of the Ismailis to East Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during Aga Khan Ill's Imamate.

Aga Khan III and the British before World War I

Born on November 2, 1877 in Sind, Aga Khan Ill's childhood was short-lived as from the young age of seven he inherited the responsibility of leading the worldwide

Ismaili community after his father's brief four-year period of Imamate, which ended in

1885. According to Daftary, Aga Khan II maintained the ties Aga Khan I established with the British and increased his direct influence over the Nizari Ismaili communities in the upper Oxus Districts, Burma and East Africa.73 Aga Khan II designated his sole- surviving son, Sultan Muhammad Shah al-Husayni as Aga Khan III, the 48th Imam.

73 Daftary, Ismailis, 517.

41 Aga Khan Ill's upbringing highlights his mother's belief that her son needed to be

familiar with both eastern cultures and western traditions. As a result, in addition to

courses such as Arabic, Persian literature and Ismaili theology, he also received training

in European history and poetry. His exposure to western culture, however, reached a

heightened level around the age of twenty when Aga Khan III made his first visit to

Europe in 1898, where he lived for most of his life. Thus, Aga Khan III was the first

Imam to establish himself in the Western world,74 which was especially significant given

the growing divide between the East and the West as a result of the political tensions that

accompanied the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the fall of the Muslim Caliphate in

Turkey.

Aga Khan Ill's loyalty to the British has been documented in his memoirs and by

other scholars. According to Dumasia, "he made the enemies of the British his own and

the British cause his own cause."75 On many occasions, he worked to bring Muslim

states under the fold of British influence. The Anglo-Saxon race, the Aga Khan believed,

was skilled in the art of governance, "whether of itself or of others." He argued that:

English rule not only a titular supremacy, but a vigorous force permeating every branch of the administration, is an absolute necessity at the present time. Therefore I put it to you that it is the duty of all true Indian patriots to make that rule strong -1 do not mean strong in the physical sense. That is the duty of Great Britain which she is perfectly able to discharge. Moreover, Great Britain's mission in the East is not and never been one of force, but of the peace and liberty which have brought tens of millions in Asia the comfort, the

74 While a specific cause for his shift to Europe has yet to be explored, his appreciation of the culture and people might add some context in addition to France being his wife's main country of residence. (Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 117). 75 Naoroji M. Dumasia, The Aga Khan and his Ancestors: A Biographical and Historical Sketch (Bombay: The Times of India Press: 1939), 27.

42 prosperity and opportunities of intellectual advancement which they now enjoy. No. I mean strong in its hold on the mind, the affection, the imagination of the peoples of India. This is a duty which lies not only upon Muhammedans, but equally upon Hindus, Parsees [sic] and Sikhs, upon all who are convinced of the benevolence of British rule. 6

Aga Khan III believed, however, that Britain's political success in their own lands was

"not proof of their suitability to Oriental conditions." Instead, he argued that Britain's

greatest contribution would be the guidance and experience they could offer those whom

the Aga Khan believed to be better positioned to lead in the East.

It flows from the mandate of the office of the Imam of the Time to both "interpret

the faith and also to do all within his means to improve the quality and security of

people's daily lives."77 Believing himself to be a protector of Muslim interests

worldwide, the vastness of the British Empire offered him the opportunity to use the

relationships he developed with the colonial government to oversee and protect the

interests of many Muslim communities. He worked to extend the consolidated

relationships that both Aga Khan I and II developed with the British, offering his services

to the colonial power just as his grandfather had rendered on the battlefield in

Afghanistan and Sind.78 Aga Khan III also encouraged his followers to be loyal subjects of the British Empire because he believed British policies offered his community the

freedom to practice their faith and live their lives according to their values and ethics with

minimal external interference. "The British Government stood as the one really tolerant

power they knew, securing to them freedom in religion and justice in law such as they

76 Dumasia, Aga Khan and his Ancestors, 144. 77 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 15. 78 Dunasia, Aga Khan and his Ancestors, 85.

43 might seek in vain in those days in most parts of Islam."79 Thus, it was believed that this

protection accorded the Ismailis the opportunity to develop their own sense of identity

and establish a strong sense of community.

The relationship that was forged over time between colonial officials and Aga

Khan III paralleled the political bonds the British developed with many Indian princes in

the nineteenth century even though the Aga Khan did not rule over any land. Rather, just

as Indian princes were viewed as tools through which the subjects of the Empire could be

controlled, the British considered the Aga Khan as a "a valuable asset... in Indian affairs

[with] a great deal of influence over Ismailis Moslems [sic], not only in India but

throughout the Empire."80 Thus, their impression of the Aga Khan's perceived influence

over Muslims in the colonies accorded him similar treatment to Indian princes through

which the British ruled much of the Indian subcontinent.

British perceptions and policies towards the princes of India, however, changed

over time and place, just as they did with the Aga Khan. Both colonial officials and

Indian princes negotiated their relationships with each other when it was necessary to

strengthen or maintain their political power and to gain economic benefits.81 Similarly,

the Aga Khan's relationship with the British was constantly negotiated. Just as many of

the Indian princes compromised with the British in attempt to gain increased control over

their states and a larger share of local revenues, similarly, the Aga Khan developed a

79 Dumasia, Aga Khan and his Ancestors, 56. 80 correspondence sent to Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister from Samuel Hoare on 9 December 1932, CO 822/47/11 (Education - Grants to Ismaili Mahommedan Schools: Representations by the Aga Khan). 81 Ramusack, Indian Princes, 92.

44 close relationship with the British in hopes of leveraging for change for his followers, in

turn dispelling a common perception among many colonial officials that Muslims were

narrow-minded fanatics, which was a view that gained currency following the Indian

Rebellion of 1857.82

The relationship the Aga Khans had with the British was ceremonially reinforced

through imperial rituals like guards of honour and gun salutes. Ramusack argues that

salute tables, imperial orders, and imperial rituals awarded to Indian princes, loyal Indian

allies and British officials were a means through which the empire was ceremonially

linked to the metropole.83 As a result, many colonial officials viewed the Aga Khan and

these Indian princes as tools that could be used in pursuance of their imperial agenda.84

The imperial government, for example, used the Aga Khan's status to forge ties with

international leaders and raised him to the status of a Privy Councillor in 1934. The Aga

Khan's reputation among members of the British government in turn enabled him the

opportunity to work towards carrying out what he believed to be his mandate as the Imam

of the Time, that is, caring for the welfare of humanity, often through monetary

donations.85

The Aga Khan's relationship with the British was acknowledged and reinforced

through a variety of accolades. For example, the Aga Khan's efforts to advance the fields of education and social reform in the colonies were praised by Lord Curzon who

82 This event will be discussed in greater depth in Chapter Five. 83 Ramusack, Indian Princes, 92. 84 Ramusack, Indian Princes, 6. 85 "His Highness the Aga Khan Third," 22.

45 nominated him as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council in 1902, the youngest

o/ member ever appointed. In 1924, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in securing a Turkish allied peace agreement. The influence of the Aga Khan was strengthened by the government of India in his nomination to represent the opinion of the residents of the subcontinent at the Round Table Conference held at the St. James Palace.

He was also later selected as the Indian representative at the World Disarmament

Conference by the Viceroy, upon recommendation by Samuel Hoare, the Secretary of

State for India. In addition, he sat for a number of years in the League of Nations as the representative of India, and in 1937 he was elected President of the League.87 See

Appendix A for a detailed list of Aga Khan Ill's achievements.

Much debate has surfaced around the source of the Aga Khan's wealth and whether his followers' contributions could be considered a source of his wealth. He writes, "about my own personal wealth a great deal of nonsense has been written."88

While the extent and specific source of his wealth is unclear, it was well known that Aga

Khan III inherited a tradition of breeding and training horses that had been established by

Aga Khan I, his grandfather. When Aga Khan II died after his short four-year reign, most of the inheritance from Aga Khan I was then passed on to Aga Khan III, which included

"a large and imposing sporting establishment in being - hawks, hounds, and between

86 "His Highness the Aga Khan Third," 20. 87 "His Highness the Aga Khan Third," 22. 88 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 188.

46 eighty and ninety racehorses."89 The Aga Khan viewed this inheritance as a heavy

responsibility, as the following reveals:

I read about the 'millions of pounds a year' I am supposed to possess, I know only that if I had an income of that size I should be ashamed of myself. There is a great deal of truth in Andrew Carnegie's remark: 'The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.' I should add: The man who lives rich, lives disgraced.90

Many of these misconceptions arose from the belief that his followers were making

contributions to him on a personal level. This, however, is inaccurate. He earned a living

off of his personal investments, including the tradition of breeding and training horses he

inherited from his father. These were the funds he used to carry out what he believed to

be his mandate as the Imam of the Time.

Migration to East Africa during Aga Khan Ill's Imamate

As explored in Chapter One, waves of migration to East Africa occurred among

members of the Ismaili community. Since the Ismailis were not attached in a religious

sense to their homelands, migrating to new lands in search of better economic prospects

was a common trend throughout the community's past. Historically, the main centre of

the Ismaili community and the seat of the Imamate have shifted from the Middle East to

North Africa to India and Europe, preventing the community from establishing a strong

connection to any one geographic region. In turn, this helped foster a spirit of migration

among the Ismailis. This lack of attachment to a specific country, in essence enabled a

sense of mobility to become entrenched in the notion of what it meant to be Ismaili.

89 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 192. 90 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 189.

47 Many however, developed a strong cultural affinity to their homelands, which often

weighed heavily in their decision to migrate. Nonetheless, this study reveals that

although those who opted to set sail across the Indian Ocean to East Africa valued both

the religious and cultural aspects of their identities, their actions demonstrate that many

Ismailis held a greater sense of connectedness to their Muslim identity rather than their

Indian cultural background, although there remained a degree of connectedness between the two.

Ismaili migration to East Africa accelerated during Aga Khan Ill's Imamate.

There are different perspectives on the causes of this increased trend. Some believe that this increased migration can be attributed to the building of the Uganda Railway which commenced in 1896. As Mangat, Gregory and others have argued, however, the majority of the immigrants from India who were used to build the railway were from the Punjab,91 and many returned to the subcontinent upon the expiration of their labour contracts. In fact, only about 7,000 out of the estimated 32,000 to 38,000 who entered into labour contracts stayed behind in hopes of finding regular work to raise their standard of living.92 This distinction is important because although the construction of the railway facilitated the mass migration of immigrants from India to the region because it opened

91 Mangat, Asians in East Africa, 38; Gregory, Quest for Equality, 3; Peter G. Forster, Michael Hitchcock, and Francis F. Lyimo. Race and Ethnicity in East Africa (Great Britain: MacMillan Press Ltd., 2000), 83; Shanti Pandit, Asians in East and Central Africa (Nairobi: Panco Publications, 1961), 17. 92 Richa Nagar, 'The South Asian Diaspora in Tanzania: A History Retold," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 16.2 (1996): 63; Robert G. Gregory, South Asians in East Africa: An Economic and Social History, 1890-1980 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), 10; L. W. Hollingsworth, L.W. The Asians in East Africa. London: MacMillan & Co. Ltd., 1960,47 cites the total number of "coolies" that were recruited to build the railway at "nearly 32,000"; Forster, Hitchcock and Lyimo, Race and Ethnicity, 83.

48 up the interior for increased settlement and trade, it was not a direct cause for the

establishment of the Ismaili community in East Africa.

At the time when many of the railway labourers severed their ties with East Africa

upon expiration of their contracts or the completion of the railway, the Ismailis had just

commenced the next wave of migration to East Africa, with Aga Khan III encouraging

them to make Africa their "new home" and to permanently settle there. Mangat reports

that "the Indian population in German East Africa increased from about 3,000 at the turn

of the century to over 9,000 on the eve of the First World War."93 It should be noted that

this decision was taken by individual families, and should not be viewed as a communal

decision to migrate. In fact, many families opted to stay in their homelands.

Nonetheless, with the Aga Khan's relocation to Europe from India, his involvement in

international initiatives like the League of Nations and his association with pan-Islamic

movements similar to the All-India Muslim League, the Aga Khan's international

connections increased, in turn resulting in a degree of physical and ideological distancing

from the subcontinent and its politics. In this context, East Africa provided for his

followers a relative sense of stability, offering them the potential to thrive economically.

As a result, the followers who migrated across the Indian Ocean often established

permanent ties to the region rather than looking to the subcontinent as a primary marker of their identity.

The following account offers an insight on the Ismaili network and its influence in

Bagamoyo as early as 1899:

93 Mangat, Asians in East Africa, 94.

49 As I was staying in Bagamoyo in East Africa in August of 1899, when His Highness the Aga Khan set foot on the continent for the first time at Bagamoyo and honoured the Ismailia community, which already counted numerous members at that time, by his visit, I remember very well the following events:

His Highness arrived in his own yacht which anchored at a distance of about four miles from the shore. Thousands of Indians, natives, and also Europeans, of whom there lived only about 20 at Bagamoyo at that time were waiting on the beach - all wanted to see His Highness and welcome him. Among those present there were also Indians from Zanzibar, Dar-es-Salaam, Sadani, and Pangani. Among the prominent Indians of the Ismailia community, I remember a number by names.... Among other events, His Highness the Aga Khan was received with great honours at the Boma by the chief of the District, Surgeon-Major Gaertner, and all the Europeans, among them myself. The Indian Ibrahim Lila of Zanzibar had sent a cab with a white horse to be placed at the disposal of His Highness so that he might move about the town with great speed. At these drives ovations of the highest veneration took place everywhere; but as soon as His Highness gave an almost imperceptible sign in order to say a few words, absolute silence reigned.

At that time, the chief trade with the interior as far as the three big lakes, and even with the Belgian Congo, was carried on from Bagamoyo, hence most of the trades-people had settled at Bagamoyo even many years before the German government occupied and administered the territory. Mainly they were Indians from the district of Cutch in India, and by far the biggest number of them belonged to the Ismailia community, the smaller part consisted of the so-called Isna-ashari [sic] under the leadership of Nasser Virji and his brother Kassum Virji. Further, there were ... people from other communities... In 1899, there were 401 brick houses in the town of Bagamoyo, belonging almost entirely to members of the Ismailia community. In addition, there were 2431 native houses with maketi roofs, built along streets which were already comparatively straight in those times. Besides, there were two large and magnificent houses which had been given as a present to the German administrative authorities by the Indian Sewa Hadji [sic]. Between the old and the new Boma was a house which belonged to a rich Banva, Ratu, and which had an historical past, inasmuch as from one of its windows, the well-known explorer and governor of the Equitorial [sic] Province of the Sudan, Emin Pasha, had fallen and badly hurt himself a day after he had arrived at Bagamoyo in the company of the still more famous English explorer and Africa traveller, Henry Stanley, who had liberated him from a mutiny in the Sudan.

50 I should still like to mention that in the years 1899 and 1900 religious quarrels existed between the Ismailia community and the followers of Nasser Virji, which frequently led to violence and affronts and had to be settled at the Boma. Gradually, however, all this ceased, if I, who lived in Bagamoyo from 1899-1902, remember it right.94

Otto Mahnke's account offers a sense of the size and influence of the Ismaili

community in Bagamoyo at the turn of the twentieth century as well as his perspective on

how the different groups of immigrants from India interacted with each other and others

in society. The twentieth century witnessed increasing tensions between the Muslims

communities from India, which lingered for decades and would, in turn impact the ways

in which the government engaged with the immigrant communities from the

subcontinent. Perhaps more importantly, Mahnke's observations also reveal the

influence of Aga Khan III during his first visit to the shores of East Africa. As tensions

mounted between the different immigrant groups from the subcontinent, this study

highlights the ways the Aga Khan was able to use his influence to protect the interests of

his community, enabling his followers to extend their influence beyond the initial base

they formed along the coast.

This pattern of migration continued under British rule, according to Nair, as the

British used immigrants from India and Indian labour in particular to "fulfill their

overseas projects."95 Immigrants were drawn to the colony to benefit from what they

believed to be increased economic opportunities that arose with the expansion of the

British Empire after 1875, which came to encompass much of Africa.

94 Otto Mahnke,"When the Aga Khan First Visited East Africa," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Year Book, 17 August 1885 - 17 August 1945 (Dar es Salaam: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association for Dar es Salaam, 10 August 1946) 149. 95 Nair, "Moving Life Histories," 21.

51 Chapter Three: Ismaiii Migration to Tanganyika after World War I

This chapter explores the Aga Khan's policy on the migration of the Ismailis to

East Africa during and immediately after World War I. More specifically, the chapter

explores Aga Khan Ill's opinion of Tanganyika being reserved for the relocation of

emigrants from the subcontinent prior to the colony being declared a British mandated

territory following Germany's defeat in the war. The chapter then analyzes the Aga

Khan's understanding of this mandate and the role he sought to play within it. While

further research has yet to be carried out on the demographics of the migration of the different immigrant groups from India, by analyzing the figures that are available, this chapter reveals how the Ismaiii community in Tanganyika remained a distinct group among the immigrants from the subcontinent. The first section of this chapter explores a

proposal supported by Aga Khan III, which proposed that Tanganyika be mandated a colony of India. The section then explores the Aga Khan's view of Britain's

responsibility as colonizers and the role he sought to play in fulfilling his understanding of Britain's mandate in Tanganyika. The second section reveals the number of

immigrants from the subcontinent that migrated to Tanganyika while it was under

German rule and in the years after World War I. It also highlights the specific regions the

Khojas migrated to, offering insight on the size and influence of the Ismaiii community in these regions. Lastly, the third section situates the Ismaiii migration to Tanganyika within a larger pattern of migration of emigrants from the subcontinent, revealing the

52 ways in which the Ismaili migration in particular remained distinct as late as the middle

of the twentieth century.

Tanganyika: An Indian Colony?

On 19 February 1914, long before the end of the First World War, Gandhi's

mentor, Gopal Krishna Gokhale passed away. In the last weeks of his life, he drafted a

memorandum, detailing his vision for the future of the Indian government. In turn, this

non-Muslim Indian leader was to stir a change in the prospects of East Africa. Gokhale

concluded his testament with the following statement: "German East Africa, when

conquered from the Germans, should be reserved for Indian colonization and handed over

to the Government of India."96

This memorandum was then sent to two individuals: Sir Pherozeshah M. Mehta, a

Parsi leader in Bombay, who passed away a little over a year after Gokhale and the Aga

Khan, the head of the All India Muslim League. According to the Aga Khan, Gokhale

requested that his political testament be made public in two years, when, as he had hoped, the war would be over and India "capable of facing the supreme task of working out her own destiny."97 Initially this testament was published in 1917 in The Times in London.

A year later, however, the Aga Khan published an essay entitled, "India in Transition," in which he added a memorandum, revealing his own position on the issue. The Aga Khan asserted that as a reward for the services offered by the people of India to Britain during

World War I, not only should the spoils of German East Africa be transferred to India,

96 Robert G. Gregory, India and East Africa: A History of Race Relations within the British Empire, 1890- 1939 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 158. 97 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 148.

53 but that the entire East African region be mandated to it.98 He argued that the region

could serve as an outlet for what was already an over-populated Indian subcontinent. The

thought of a "mere handful" of whites preserving East Africa for themselves was

unacceptable to him." His concern, then, was not with Tanganyika being viewed with an

imperial agenda. Rather, he had issue with it not being reserved as an Indian imperial

project. He believed that his proposal would serve multiple interests, arguing "Indian commerce and enterprise will have an outlet for great trans-African development, with the Congo, Egypt, North and West Africa, and the South. The East Coast will be for

India a shop window open to the West."100 In this section, we will explore the

implications of this proposal and analyze any potential effect this may have had on his

relationship with the British government.

In that memorandum written in early 1914, Gokhale suggested that Tanganyika be transferred to the government of India, but to whom would the Aga Khan have suggested

it be placed in the care of? In his memoirs, the Aga Khan explained that in 1919, he was eager that there should be built a South Asian federation of self-governing states within the framework of the British Empire.101 He revealed that, in some measure, these proposals would fulfil and extend the ideas and hopes that he developed during his years of close association with Gokhale.

9! Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 12. 99 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 12. 100 Gregory, India and East Africa, 158. 101 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 147.

54 What prompted individuals like Gokhale and the Aga Khan to put forward such claims? After World War I, with the exception of Canada, each British Dominion was entrusted with mandatory powers over parts of the colonial spoils from Germany's lost empire. Gokhale and the Aga Khan believed that by entrusting India, or rather the government of India, with a mandate over former German East Africa, there would be an increased transfer of power from Britain to India. Their proposals may have been both inspired by and inspirational for the War Cabinet who set out to tackle the question of an

Indian trusteeship for German East Africa in July 1918. A memorandum written by the

Secretary of State for the India Office, Sir Theodore Morison, entitled "A Colony for

India" supported the opinions of these leaders from India, declaring that German East

Africa "should be offered to India in consideration of her huge contribution to the war, and as compensation for the exclusion of Indian emigrants and traders from the

Dominions."102 However, the price he expected India to pay for the establishment of

India's administrative control, as a colonial power over Tanganyika, was its right of free entry into all parts of the British Empire, a price many leaders from the subcontinent were not willing to pay.103

Rather than restricting the right of free entry of immigrants from India within the

British Empire, the Aga Khan believed East Africa should be a part of a larger Muslim network, perhaps under the responsibility of a body of representative Muslim leaders

102 Herbert Luthy, "India and East Africa: Imperial Partnership at the End of the First World War," Journal of Contemporary History 6.2 (1971): 58; Mangat highlights India's contributions to the conquering of German East Africa, based on a resolution passed by the East African Indian National Congress in November 1919 (Mangat, Asians in East Africa, 128). 103 Metcalf, Imperial Connections, 183.

55 similar to those involved in the All-India Muslim League, an organization designed to protect and secure the interests of Muslims in India and in the diaspora. What is evident is that he believed in Islam as a unifying force that could serve to both alleviate the political and demographic tensions in India, which would introduce the necessary skill sets that would further the "advancement" of the African. "Islam" he argued,

in all these countries has within it, I earnestly believe, the capacity to be a moral and spiritual force of enormous significance, both stabilizing and energizing the communities among whom it is preached and practiced. To ignore Islam's potential influence for good, Islam's healing and creative power for societies as for individuals, is to ignore one of the most genuinely hopeful factors that exists in the world today.104

To the Aga Khan, the essence of Islam included a basic conviction that in the eyes of God all men, regardless of colour or class or economic condition, were equal,105 a valuable perspective when developing a multiethnic territory.

Further discussion of the matter, however, was futile because in response to

Morison's proposal, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India from 1899-1905, flatly denied

India's capacity for sharing the burden of the war and asked how a country which was not even self-governing could administer a colony or a mandated territory. Rather, the real issue was the Aga Khan's rationale behind claiming Tanganyika a colony of India.

Perhaps even more interesting is how he justified these imperialistic goals and whether he continued to perceive Tanganyika as an Indian trusteeship, a colony of settlement and development by people from India, despite Lord Curzon's ruling.

104 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 332. 105 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 332.

56 Perhaps the largest issue confronting scholars interested in this area of study is

defining the meaning of terms such as empire, colony and imperialism. In Imperial

Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, Thomas Metcalf describes how

Mesopotamia, from 1915 to 1920, could be imagined as a colony of an Indian imperial

centre. Here, he describes this region as a colony, arguing that it was "a place where

Indians of all classes might find opportunities not so readily available at home and where

Indian laws, institutions, and technical enterprise might flourish."106 For Metcalf,

economic and political opportunity and growth for these immigrants within a structure

developed to model their homeland institutions were central factors to his definition.

Contrastingly, James Clagett Taylor reveals that Tanganyika's second Governor,

Sir Donald Cameron, held an alternate view of colonies, and by extension, the obligations

placed upon colonizers. Britain was directed by the League of Nations to promote "to the

utmost" the material and moral well-being and social progress of Tanganyika's

inhabitants.107 With the case of Tanganyika, Cameron felt as though the British

government accepted the responsibilities assumed under the covenant of the League of

Nations. More specifically, he believed that Britain's mandate for Tanganyika was

not a permanent and absolute one and is to be exercised only until the people 'can stand by themselves.' That being so, it is clearly, I submit, the duty of the Mandatory Power to train the people so that they may stand by themselves, at least as part of the whole community of the Territory, however long that training may take, and to make its dispositions in such a manner that, when the time

106 Metcalf, Imperial Connections, 101. 107 Vincent Harlow and E. M. Chilver, ed., History of East Africa, Vol. II (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), 692.

57 arrives, a full place in the political structure shall be found for the native population.108

Here, Cameron expressed his understanding of the role played by colonizers as one that

focused on the development of the indigenous population. Furthermore, he argued that

Britain's mandate should only be in put into effect until the African community was

adequately prepared to participate in the affairs of the territory.

Building upon Cameron's definition, Herbert Luthy, in his discussion of British

rule in India, cited a budget speech made by Gokhale in 1902, in which Gokhale discussed the "true spirit of imperialism," focusing specifically on the Indian diaspora. In

his speech, Gokhale expressed what notions of empire meant to men like himself and

Gandhi:

What is needed is that we should be enabled to feel that we have a Government national in spirit though foreign in personnel - a Government which subordinates all other considerations to the welfare of the Indian people, which resents the indignities offered to Indians abroad as though they were offered to Englishmen, and which endeavours by all means in its power to further the moral and material interests of the people in India and outside India... in a true spirit of Imperialism - not the narrower Imperialism which regards the world as though it were made for one race only - but that nobler Imperialism which would enable all who are included in the Empire to share equally in its blessings and honours.109

Gokhale's definition arguably calls for a truly cosmopolitan approach to entry within the empire, yet one that continued to operate within a power structure. That is, a world-wide, open space, without closed frontiers. He believed that the empire should be an arena for all "citizens" of the crown to flourish in, operating under the leadership of the British.

108 Taylor, Political Development of Tanganyika, 48. 109 Luthy, India and Exist Africa, 72.

58 Similarly, in 1953, the Aga Khan wrote an article which captured his idea of the

responsibilities of colonizers:

For as long as we can foresee the British people are the trustees of the population of East Africa.. .there can be no real union in East Africa among the races if any portion of them believes that the trustees are divided or that they have particular favourite wards. The trusteeship of the African colonies is a great responsibility, a touchstone of success or failure for the British race in one of the greatest challenges placed before it by destiny.110

Of critical importance here is the word "responsible." It implies that one is responsible to

someone. But to whom? To Britain and the British government, or to the people?

According to the Aga Khan, Britain's failure to provide the "people" with the basic

necessities required for progress was where the greatest injustice was carried out. This

was one of the main reasons cited by the Aga Khan for British East Africa to be

transferred to others whom he believed were more concerned with the welfare and

development of its people, which included Africans, Arabs, Swahilis, Somalis and those

immigrants from India that viewed East Africa as their permanent homes.111 Upon the

completion of the First World War, however, it was apparent that these suggestions fell

on deaf ears.

According to Metcalf, the late Victorian and Edwardian empire in Africa and

Southwest Asia was run by immigrants from India and Britain, trained in India. India's contribution to the development of the British Empire, in some of these officials' minds, justified an elevated status for the colony. India, Metcalf suggests, conquered Africa for

110 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 167. 111 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1196.

59 Britain.112 It came, then, as no surprise when in August 1917, the Secretary of State for

India, Montagu, revealed that the British government had decided to take "substantial

steps" towards the development of responsible government in India. The first step taken

was the publication of a report he wrote in collaboration with the Viceroy, recommending

"the devolution of considerable power to Indians in the provinces."113 Many anticipated

a future where India would be in control of its own destiny.114 In turn, residents of India

increasingly understood their positioning in the empire not as mere colonial subjects but

as imperial citizens.115 By the 1920s, however, throughout much of the colonial world,

people from India were no longer needed in the same way they were during the early

years of conquest and consolidation. Furthermore, during the interwar years, imperialists

were anxious to portray the empire as "truly" British and from their perspective people

from India had little to contribute to this goal. The symbolic use of the passport turned

rhetoric into reality as residents of India were identified on their official passports as simply "Indian," not as imperial citizens with distinguished status.

Despite the calls for India to have an elevated status within the empire and the

proposals made for Tanganyika to be declared an Indian colony, following Germany's

defeat in World War I, many of its colonies fell to the British and the French armies.

With Tanganyika being declared a British mandated territory, discussion commenced around how it should be managed and administered. Many debates were initiated over

112 Metcalf, Imperial Connections, 79. 113 Francis Robinson, Separatism Among Indian Muslims (London: Cambridge University Press, 1974), 257. 114 Metcalf, Imperial Connections, 210. 115 Metcalf, Imperial Connections, 2.

60 the approaches the British colonial government should take to ensure that "the people"

would be able to "stand by themselves."116 Although the Aga Khan's suggestions were

not implemented, he included himself in these debates, attempting to hold the British

accountable for any perceived breaches of the mandate117 or any oversights in what he

believed to be Britain's responsibility as colonizers. Given his personal interests as the

leader of the Ismaili community, his political positioning and the colonial concerns of the

time most of the issues he addressed dealt with the treatment and positioning of people

from India at home and in the colonies.

Overall, the Aga Khan felt that it was the duty of the British as colonizers to work

towards improving the quality of life for all who resided in the colony. When he felt the

British lost sight of this responsibility, he saw to it that they were reminded. The Aga

Khan voiced his concerns in a number of speeches directed towards both the colonizer

and the colonized.118 He chastised the British for failing to commit to this responsibility

and he also encouraged the colonized subjects to attempt to take responsibility of their

own lives, despite the common perception among British subjects from India that their

colonizers were treating them unfairly.

Addressing issues he believed were persistent throughout the empire, the Aga

Khan lectured British colonial leaders on the problems of imperial rule, acting as a

116 Taylor, Political Development of Tanganyika, 48. 117 The mandate stipulated that in theory, equality of status would be granted to all sections of society; Britain would be responsible for the peace, order and good government of the territory; and they were expected to attempt to promote the material and moral well-being and the social progress of its inhabitants. 118 While we do not have evidence that speaks to the effectiveness his attempts, his persistence is evident in the 219 speeches, interviews and letters captured by K. K. Aziz's two-volume set of Aga Khan's public addresses over a 53 year period. Most of these addresses were made in Europe and the Indian subcontinent.

61 spokesman for India in England. He prescribed education to the Muslims in particular as a means to self-direct their social and political advancement. Viewing this as both the colonizer's and the colonized's responsibility, he argued that "in the long run, their education will go further than any amount of other action in bringing about a better understanding of their qualities as citizens of [this African region]."119 But education was equally needed, he argued, "by those Britons who aspired to rule India from the comfortable yet demanding seats in the Indian civil service. The candidates should be obliged to study Indian culture, languages and history."120 He declared that "during their career they should spend most of their service in one province, in order to know the people and perceive their problems, and should, over the years, develop sympathy for the region and friendship of the local population."121

The Aga Khan also condemned the British for 1) failing to give enough seats to people from India in the army and the civil service, 2) withholding wider powers from legislative councils, 3) neglecting rural development, 4) failing to protect the rights of immigrants from India in Africa, 5) denying women from the subcontinent their right to vote, and 6) not initiating reform at a faster pace. As early as 1918, he declared that the various modern departments of state that led towards social betterment and social welfare in the West had yet to be organized in the developing world.122 Almost twenty years later, in a speech made in New Delhi in 1936, he echoed the same message: that

119 Aga Khan III, Speech before the Natal Indian Congress, Durban, 16 August 1945, cited in K. K. Aziz, ed., Aga Khan III: Selected Speeches and Writings of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah (London: Kegan Paul International, 1998), 1216. 120 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 175. 121 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 175. 122 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 160.

62 immigrants from India were not being treated fairly in the dominions and colonies.

Furthermore, he argued, at home they lived under inequitable living standards, "extreme

poverty, hunger and nakedness, emaciated and enfeebled bodies and ignorance." They

could only be called "human beings by courtesy."123 Rather than relying on the British to

truly realize the magnitude of their responsibility in East Africa, the Aga Khan sought to

improve the living conditions of his followers, in turn acting similar to a self-appointed

trustee for segments of Tanganyikan society.

He also focused on guiding his followers away from saturated professions in

hopes of avoiding a repetition of what occurred in India, where university graduates were

being paid less than servants. Aga Khan III, in an interview with the East African

Standard on 26 March 1945, recommended that students receive agricultural, technical

and vocational training, rather than being limited to commercial or clerical work.124

According to Mangan, British missionaries believed that the African was incapable of

benefitting from anything other than vocational training because literary education was

too advanced for his underdeveloped "reflective and imaginative faculties."125

Comparatively, the Aga Khan's encouragement of Ismailis to pursue vocational training

was not reflective of the community's literary abilities, or lack thereof, but instead, was

more reflective of the prospective professional opportunities in the territory.

Aga Khan III, Speech at a Meeting in New Delhi, 17 February 1936, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1107. 124 Aga Khan III, Interview with The East African Standard, Nairobi, 26 March 1945, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1190. 125 J. A. Mangan, "Images for Confident Control" in J. A. Mangan, ed., The Imperial Curriculum: Racial Images and Education in the British Colonial Experience (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 13.

63 He argued that entering these agricultural fields was vital to the welfare of

Tanganyika where there was a small indigenous population with large areas awaiting development.126 On the other hand, those who chose to carry on with post-secondary studies in law, medicine, liberal arts, theology, and religious studies were recommended to continue their programs in Britain, India, America or Egypt. The Aga Khan stressed, however, that religious education should not be forsaken in his followers' quest to attain secular education.

Another source of concern for the Aga Khan was the future of Islam in Africa, where the Muslims were surrounded by a vast non-Muslim population and lived under their Christian colonizers.

Well! If you have to save Islam in this part of the world, you should help and raise the Africans, Arabs, Swahili, and Somalis. The reason why I insist on this is not because they are Africans but because they need it more. We must give help to those who are most exposed to danger. If worse comes to worse, Indians can go back to their own country, but the bulk of Africans will have to face it here, and it is to place them on a basis which will remove future danger and give them the possibility of becoming so numerous as to save Islam.127

Social reform in Muslim communities throughout the British Empire was an area in which the Aga Khan also devoted his attention.128 He argued that co-operative enterprise along modern scientific lines could help remove the destitution, hunger and economic

126 Aga Khan III, Interview with The East African Standard, Nairobi, 26 March 1945, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1190. 127 Aga Khan III, Reply to the Address of Welcome from the East African Muslim Conference, Mombasa, 16 June 1945, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1196. 128 His involvement with international organizations such as the All-India Muslim League, a political party founded by Muslim leaders in or associated with British India to protect the interests of Muslims in the subcontinent and in the diaspora, was a reflection of this.

64 distress among them. "Physical fitness and mental ability [were] necessary conditions of progress. This economic and social progress would constitute an important factor towards permanent political freedom of the Muslims people."129

As a result, by 1945 the East African Muslim Welfare Society had been set up under the Aga Khan's patronage with the aim of improving the living conditions of

Muslims in general, but more specifically, African Muslims. To encourage the collection of funds, he pledged that for every pound given by non-Ismaili Muslims he would donate an equal sum, what has been labelled the pound for pound scheme. Up to July 1957, his personal contribution to the Society amounted to £200,000, enabling it to oversee the construction of a number of schools, health clinics and mosques throughout East

Africa.130

Other initiatives that focused specifically on putting the finances of his followers in East Africa on a safe basis included the Jubilee Insurance Company and an Investment

Trust, organizations that provided the financing for business ventures that otherwise would not have been possible. The Trust was a vast association for receiving money and then putting it out on loan at a low rate of interest, to people who wanted to buy or build their own houses. The insurance scheme accelerated the "Ismaili economy" by offering shares for sale, money that was turned back into community development, making large sums of money available on loan for the expansion of existing businesses.131 In the late

1930s and early 1940s, interest rates were set at a rate of six percent for Ismailis and non-

129 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 109-110. 130 Aziz, Aga Khan III, 130. 131 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 170.

65 Ismailis alike.132 Since these schemes were non-profit and self-sustaining, the funds

received were channelled back into other prospective business ventures, offering others

the opportunity for social mobility. We have little information on the recipients of these

loans, leaving one to ponder who benefitted the most from these initiatives.

Some interpretations of Islam forbid both insurance and usury, however, the Aga

Khan emphasized the importance of insurance, arguing that it was perfectly lawful in

Islamic sharia (law). Insurance, he said, "was not a form of gambling as many people

were, perhaps, inclined to think. Indeed, it was no more gambling than locking up an

iron safe at night in order to protect its contents."133 Moreover, while recognizing that the

religion of Islam forbids usury, the Aga Khan revealed "the rule was made to save the

poor man from economic enslavement by the rich."134 Rather than creating a system of

financial dependency and furthering the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots," by

funnelling the funds back into the schemes, his initiatives were designed to foster

economic and commercial cooperation amongst its members. The Aga Khan firmly

believed that implementing healthy and satisfactory adjustments was the first step

towards encouraging members to realize that they were all dependent upon each other, thereby creating a truly co-operative society that aimed to be as prosperous as it was

large.135

132 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 167. 133 Aga Khan HI, Reply to the Address of Welcome by the Directors of the Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company, Calcutta, 1 March 1934, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1025. 134 Aga Khan III, Broadcast Address to the USA, London, 27 September 1931, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 864. 135 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 165, 331.

66 The Aga Khan focused on all of these areas in an effort to compensate for what he

believed to be Britain's inadequacies as colonizers. Whether it was wilful negligence on

the part of the British or an unrealistic expectation of the British by the Aga Khan is not

the focus here. Rather, at least for a small period of time early in the twentieth century,

the Aga Khan perceived the British as ineffective imperial leaders that focused far too

heavily on serving their own interests at the expense of the local population. He believed

that the local Muslim communities in particular were being subjected to injustices, which

contributed to his increased involvement in these regions. This, in his mind, supported

his claim that East Africa should be mandated a colony of India, which he believed would

have a better understanding of the local issues and be better positioned to enact positive

and substantial development, a goal he seemed to believe could not be attained in East

Africa without an external source of assistance.

Even among other immigrant communities from India, there continued to be a

drive for the increased involvement of these migrants in the affairs of the region, even

with the entrenchment of British administration. In a memorandum sent to Sir Samuel

Wilson, the Permanent Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, from the Bukoba Indian

Association on 14 May 1929, the local Indian organization expressed its opinion that the imperial government should continue wielding the sole responsibility of overseeing and caring for the indigenous communities in the territory but that if they were looking to share some of this responsibility with other communities in Tanganyika, the community

67 of immigrants from India was willing to assist.136 With heightened political involvement,

this immigrant community believed it would be more closely associated with the

responsibilities of the government and in turn, would have more claim to issues for which

they had been fighting. These included equal treatment with the Europeans in regards to

appointments, promotions and pensions; access to medical and educational facilities; the

administration of arms licences laws, access to trials by jury, and travel options on

railways and steamers.137 Here it is evident that the broader community of immigrants

from India fought solely for their own interests, with little to no regard for the

advancement of Africans.

Rather than predominantly working towards improving the conditions of the

Africans in Tanganyika, which likely would have eroded some of the benefits offered to

the Ismaili community, the Aga Khan supported the British over other European powers

interested in governing the region. The Aga Khan recognized that the only way to ensure

opportunities for real progress for his followers would be to support Britain, which he

believed would be most successful if it collaborated with other European powers. In an

article published in the Tanganyika Standard on 4 April 1945, the Aga Khan revealed

that

the immediate future of the world lies with the Big Three - Britain, America and the Soviet Union. If they work together in their true self interest - and I think their own interests will make them work together - then there will be peace and,

l36Bukoba Indian Association memorandum to Sir Samuel Wilson on the occasion of his visit 14 May 1929,198 (Indian Association). 137Bukoba Indian Association memorandum to Sir Samuel Wilson on the occasion of his visit 14 May 1929,198 (Indian Association).

68 possibly, prosperity. If they work together for selfish reasons, only, I think there will be peace and some prosperity as well, but much unhappiness, also.138

Although the Aga Khan supported the collaboration between the "Big Three," he

believed that it would be best to have Britain at the helm of what he referred to as a triple

commonwealth. The first of the triple commonwealth, he argued, would be a white

commonwealth, which would be made up of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand

and South Africa. The second would be a commonwealth of Britain and the Muslim

World, which would include Cyrenaica, Egypt-Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria,

Lebanon, Trans-Jordan, Muscat and Bahrain. The Aga Khan proposed that the third

commonwealth would be made up of Britain, India, Ceylon, Burma, and possibly

Malaya.139 Although there was no explicit reference, it seems likely that he envisioned

the territories of East Africa falling into the third category. The Aga Khan believed that

being a part of a larger confederacy would tie all of these regions together, offering each

complete equality and freedom, with Britain playing a leading role. As he explains,

I do not believe it is possible to get a homogeneous and harmonious mixture of all peoples of whatever colour, caste, or creed in one, single commonwealth, but each of them, with Dominion status or its equivalent could work together in their own and in their common interest; they could have a common foreign policy, for instance, in the same way as they have agreed upon a common war policy. There are other and innumerable ways in which they could work for their own and at the same time, each others' interests.

I regard this as a practical and sound solution of the problem of the future of it would have the benefit of bringing in willing partners who would work together by virtue of the fact that their own interests would, also, be the interests of the

138 "Aga Khan's Views on World Affairs," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Volume II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan). 139 "Aga Khan's Views on World Affairs," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Volume II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan).

69 whole. It is, I am convinced, the only real solution as there can be no workable political compromise unless the partners are willing partners and free to choose for themselves. Anything on the lines of the old Imperialism will, I am convinced, break down sooner or later.140

While the Aga Khan initially proposed that Tanganyika become an Indian colony

at the end of the First World War, once Britain gained control over the territory and

began to consolidate its administration, he began advocating for change within the British

colonial system. Yet, his original goals were not completely abandoned. In the proposals

he forwarded to the colonial government, the Aga Khan continued to encourage the

increased involvement of immigrants from the subcontinent in the management of the

region. Nonetheless, the reality of a divided India in the late 1940s forced him to

restructure his strategy to ensure that it would work in the best interests of his followers.

Throughout this section, we have seen the passion and determination with which

the Aga Khan pressed for increased opportunities for Muslims in East Africa, though it is

evident that he did not work as forcefully towards bettering the quality of life for Africans

in general. Given his concern for Muslims in East Africa, if Tanganyika was handed to

the government of India, would the same issues that arose in 1947 that led to the partition

of the subcontinent take root in Tanganyika? Which perspective would win control over the region? What factors would be taken into consideration when establishing a

legislature, especially when dealing with the indigenous communities? What would the

national language have been? If in fact Muslims held political power over this region,

140 "Aga {Chan's Views on World Affairs," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Volume II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan).

70 thereby drawing it into the Muslim World in a more direct manner, would the notions of brotherhood, equity and unity that Islam espouses shape the activities of the government?

It would be difficult to deny the influence and impact the Aga Khan had in East

Africa. He held no political control, no political responsibility, and had no aspiration of becoming a political leader; yet, his influence is apparent in almost every aspect of reforms initiated in these regions. We are all familiar with the cliche actions speak louder than words, and from his achievements it is apparent that the Aga Khan felt some kind of responsibility that compelled him to step in and make up for what he viewed as Britain's denial or neglect of their obligations as colonizers. The interesting question here is what role did he see himself occupying that drove him to assist in the capacity that he did?

Some might call him a philanthropist. I would contend that he saw himself as much more than that. His actions were guided by his understanding of the mandate he inherited as the Ismaili Imam, a mandate which he believed made him responsible for the welfare of

Muslims around the world. This leadership was not something that he could choose to take up if he desired. In his mind, it was a challenge that he was obligated to accept. In a speech he delivered as the President of the League of Nations in Geneva over seventy years ago, the Aga Khan quoted the Persian poet, Sadi, who wrote:

The children of Adam, created of the self-same clay, are members of one body. When one member suffers, all members suffer, likewise. O Thou, who art indifferent to the suffering of the fellow, thou art unworthy to be called a man.141

141 Aga Khan IV, "The Peterson Lecture" Annual Meeting of the International Baccalaureate, marking its 40th Anniversary, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 18 April 2008 www.akdn.org/Content/6377Annual-Meeting-of- the-International-Baccalaureate

71 The Ismaili Community in Tanganyika

As previously discussed, the demographic background of the Ismaili migration to

Tanganyika for much of the period under investigation has yet to be adequately

researched. As a result, we are unable to explore the specific trends in the community's

migration to East Africa. We are aware, however, that following the First World War the

migration of immigrants from the subcontinent to Tanganyika continued to rise

throughout the early twentieth century, as reflected in Table 5. With the added sense of

security offered by the introduction of British administration,142 Tanganyika increasingly

became a common destination for immigrants who sought to better their quality of life,

causing the population of immigrants from India to more than double from 9,441 in 1921

to 23,422 in 1931 and expand to 70,160 in 1948.143 Furthermore, the sale of ex-German

property provided an opportunity for these immigrants to become land-owners, as land

was freed up for purchase.

Seeking to benefit from the policies implemented by the British administration, the Ismailis in particular sought to secure for themselves a sound position within

Tanganyika. While trading was the major source of income for many of the Ismailis who settled in Tanganyika, following British occupation of the region, plantation work and farming in conjunction with trading became a source of revenue for an increasing number of Ismailis. The most common crops exported from Tanganyika between 1913 and 1924

142 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 146. 143 Hollingsworth, Asians in East Africa, 63.

72 were sisal, groundnuts, coffee and cotton.144 In addition, many Ismailis were also land

owners, building contractors and architects.145 These activities enabled them to set their

sights on developing a fortified network beyond their immediate horizons, connecting to

the larger, pan-Ismaili network created by the Aga Khan. This support offered by this

network made the Ismaili transition to East Africa relatively easy in the first decades of

the twentieth century, which witnessed the urbanization of market centres, the

development and expansion of large-scale transportation and communication networks,

as well as the establishment of British educational institutions.146 Furthermore, during

the first two decades of the twentieth century, immigration from western India to East

Africa was formally encouraged not only by British agents, but also by established

entrepreneurs in East Africa who offered to train and prepare them for the industry, assist

them in obtaining capital to fund their economic endeavours, and provide them with

accommodations during their initial period of settlement.147

Table 5: Number of Immigrants from the subcontinent that migrated to Tanganyika in

1921, 1931, 1948148

Year Number of Immigrants from India in Tanganyika 1921 9,441 1931 23,422 1948 70,160

144 File AB 1 (Tanganyika Annual Report 1924): Report on the Mandated Territory of Tanganyika for the year 1924 and Kenneth Ingham, "Tanganyika: The Mandate and Cameron, 1919-1931," in Vincent Harlow and E. M. Chilver, ed., History of East Africa, Vol. //(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), 562. 145 Jamal, "Ismailis in Tanganyika," 119. 146 Nair, "Moving Life Histories," 123. 147 Markovits, "Indian Merchant Networks," 903. 148 Hollingsworth, Asians of East Africa, 63 and Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948, 745 (Population Census).

73 By 1948, details on the different immigrant communities from the subcontinent, including the Ismailis, were included in the Tanganyikan census reports. The next section analyzes this data, providing a context for the relationships that developed between the immigrant communities from India throughout the territory.

The Demography of Immigrant Groups from India in Tanganyika

As reflected in Table 6, the Ismailis were not the only immigrants from the subcontinent to settle in Tanganyika. By 1948, British census reports offer more detailed information on the demographics of the community of immigrants from India. These reports reveal that to a large extent, these migrant communities remained relatively distinct from each other throughout the period under investigation. That is, even though a degree of amalgamation did occur within some religious groupings, there did not appear to be a single cohesive community of immigrants from the subcontinent. Even within the folds of Islam and Hinduism, for example, the census reveals that these immigrant communities were divided based on their specific religious schools of interpretation.

Among the Hindus, according to the 1948 Population Census inserted below in

Table 6, there were five groups that were identified as distinct communities, divided along linguistic and caste lines: Brahmin, Kshatrya, Vaishya, Sanatan Dharamist and

Arya Samaj. The majority of Hindus, however, identified themselves as simply "Hindu," without offering a more defined label. In turn, this likely reveals an increased trend towards amalgamation among the Hindu castes. From Kjellberg's analysis, within this broad category existed members from Hindu castes that held a connection with the

74 Ismailis,149 namely (a) the "Shah" Jains, who engaged in trading and originated from

Kutch and Kathiawar, similar to the Ismailis and (b) the Lohanas/Lohannas, who also

came from Kutch and Kathiawar and was the group from which it is believed many

Ismailis converted.150 In addition to the Hindu categories listed in the 1948 census

record, other prominent Hindu communities that resided in Tanganyika were the Patels,

the Gujaratis, and the Punjabi Hindus.

149 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 4, 5. 150 Gregory, Quest for Equality, 15.

75 Table 6: Hindu population in Tanganyika as at 25 February 1948151

Religion Indian Indian Total Total Total Non- Total Males Females Indians Non- Native Non- Native Females Natives Males Hindu —Hindu, so 6,769 5,075 11,844 6,799 5,095 11,894 stated —Brahmin 932 756 1,688 944 763 1,707 —Kshatrya 575 494 1,069 579 498 1,077 —Vaishya 377 284 661 377 284 661 —Sanatan 116 54 170 116 54 170 Dharamist —Arya 94 56 150 98 58 156 Samaj TOTAL 8,863 6,719 15,582 8,913 6,752 15,665 NOTE: Categorization and spelling is as shown on the census

Table 7: Immigrants from India divided by religious affiliation as at 25 February 1948152

Religion Indian Indian Total Total Total Non- Total Males Females Indians Non- Native Non- Native Females Natives Males Christian 200 163 363 7,976 5,543 13,519 Hindu 8,863 6,719 15,582 8,913 6,752 15,665 Islam 13,727 12,293 26,020 20,967 17,235 38,202 Jain 248 198 446 248 198 446 Sikh 1,051 679 1,730 1,061 690 1,751 Parsee 44 17 61 44 17 61 Other 21 25 46 349 167 516 TOTAL 24,154 20,094 44,248 39,558 30,602 70,160 NOTE: Categorization and spelling is as shown on the census

As illustrated in Table 7, another group from India that migrated to the region were the Sikhs, who predominantly originated from the Punjab region of the

151 Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948,745 (Population Census). 152 Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948,745 (Population Census).

76 subcontinent. Many Sikhs came to East Africa as contract labourers to assist with the

construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway at the beginning of the twentieth century.

While these contract labourers were "permitted" to return home upon the expiration of

their contracts, an option many took advantage of, some stayed in East Africa and

became skilled workers and craftsmen.153

The Parsis was another influential group from India that established roots in East

Africa during this period. Although relatively small in number, this group had quite an

impact on society. Identified by the colonial government as a "westernized community,"

many Parsis took up occupation in the civil service. Although this group had cultural

similarities to the Ismailis, religiously they were different. The Parsis were descendants

from a group of Iranian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India to avoid religious

persecution.

Another immigrant group that established itself in Tanganyika was the Goans, a

group named after the region from which they migrated, the Portuguese colony of Goa in

India. From Table 8, we learn that the overwhelming majority of the Goans in

Tanganyika were Roman Catholic.

153 Delf, Asians in East Africa, 9; Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 5; Gregory, Quest for Equality, 17.

77 Table 8: Goans in Tanganyika, divided by religious affiliation (1948)154

Religion Goan Goan Total Non- Total Non- Total Males Females Native Native Non- Males Females Natives

Anglican -- — 2,575 1,773 4,348 Dutch Reformed -- — 281 206 487 Presbyterian -- — 404 245 650 Roman Catholic 1,205 759 3,114 2,047 5,161 Methodist -- — 85 60 145 Baptist — — 27 28 55 Calvinist -- — 21 15 36 Christian Scientist — — 7 8 15

Congregationalist — — 10 7 17 Greek Orthodox — -- 718 497 1,215

Lutheran Church -- 139 161 300 Salvation Army — -- 3 5 8

Seventh Day — — 14 18 32 Adventists Society of Friends « .. 6 4 10 Unitarian — 10 5 15 Christian (so 16 8 146 105 251 returned) Protestant (so — 1 276 236 512 returned) Catholic (so — — 6 9 15 returned) Non Conformist — — 16 11 27 (so returned) Undenominational — 28 28 56

Other Christian 1 -- 90 74 164 Sects TOTAL 1,222 768 7,975 5,543 13,519 NOTE: Categorization and spelling is as shown on the census

Not only were there religious differences between the Ismailis and the Goans, this group was also linguistically different from the Ismailis as the Goans spoke Portuguese and

Konkani. Perhaps one of the more significant ways they differed from the Ismailis was

154 Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948,745 (Population Census).

78 the fact that they maintained close ties with their homeland. The strongest evidence used

to support this claim was that a relatively large number of Goans chose to maintain their

Portuguese citizenship and eventually, Indian passports, after Goa officially became a

part of India in 1961. Many Goans took up careers as clerks in areas such as commerce,

banking and the civil service.155 Overall, they viewed themselves as educated and

progressive,156 traits that the Ismaili community in East Africa also claimed to adapt.

As tables 7 and 9 illustrate, the majority of immigrants from India in Tanganyika

were Muslims, more specifically, "Shia Ismaelia Khojas."

155 J. G. C. Blacker, "Fertility Trends of the Asian Population of Tanganyika," Population Studies 13.1 (July 1959): 49. 156 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 9.

79 Table 9: Muslims in Tanganyika as at 25 February 1948157

Religion Indian Indian Total Total Total Non- Total Males Females Indians Non- Native Non- Native Females Natives Males Islam —Islam, so 404 285 689 1,439 946 2,385 stated —Suni 126 93 219 3,482 2,373 5,855 Eschafei —Suni 1,989 1,566 3,555 2,187 1,737 3,924 Hannafi

—Suni 1 — 1 3 1 4 Maliki

—Suni — — — 1 -- 1 Hanbali —Shia 7,982 7,405 15,387 8,055 7,464 15,519 Ismaelia Khoja —Shia 2,003 1,832 3,835 2,092 1,886 3,978 Ithnasheri —Shia 1,198 1,089 2,287 1,208 1,106 2,314 Bohora —Shia 12 10 22 2,479 1,703 4,182 Ibaadhi(see note below) —Amadya 12 13 25 21 19 40 Radian TOTAL 13,727 12,293 26,020 20,967 17,235 38,202 NOTE: Categorization and spelling is as shown on the census

Among all of the Muslims immigrants from the subcontinent, the most prominent communities were the Ithnashari or Twelver Shi'is (15 percent), the Hannafi Sunnis (14 percent), the Bohoras158 (9 percent) and the Ismailis (59 percent). According to

157 Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948,745 (Population Census). 158 The Bohoras are a Shi'i Muslim group who split from the Nizari Ismailis before the Nizaris broke from the Fatimid Caliphate and fled to Alamut in 1094. According to Lapidus, after establishing roots in Yemen, many Bohoras likely migrated to Gujarat in the thirteenth century [Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 461].

80 Kjellberg, Twelver Shi'is were based primarily in southern Tanganyika, in the main

coastal towns of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, as well as Zanzibar. Their daily routines

revolved around their religious centre, the Imambara. The community's activities were

overseen by their central authority, based in Mombasa.159 The Bohoras, in contrast,

predominantly settled in large urban areas where they established themselves as

landlords, craftsmen, artisans and shopkeepers.160

While we do not have details on the distinct religious communities that resided in

the major towns in the territory, since the Ismailis formed the largest of the Muslim

groups in Tanganyika, as reflected in Table 9, and as Table 7 reveals, Muslims formed

the largest group of immigrants from India. The figures that are available on the

immigrant communities from India in the major towns offer us some insight on where the

Ismailis likely settled and established themselves as of 1948. Immigrants from the

subcontinent were highly urbanized with 42 percent of these immigrants settling in Dar es

Salaam, as illustrated in Table 10. Thus, Dar es Salaam likely continued to be the town

in which many Ismailis settled after 1900, when it replaced Kilwa as a the most common

destination of these migrants.

159 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 7. 160 Amiji "Bohoras of East Africa," 27.

81 Table 10: Population of Immigrants from India by towns as at 1948161

Towns Population of Immigrants Percentage of immigrants from India in each town Dodoma 1,477 4.3 Bagamoyo 281 0.8 Dar es Salaam 14,296 42 Kilosa 319 0.9 Kimamba 208 0.6 Morogoro 631 1.8 Iringa 574 1.7 Tukuyu 190 5.6 Mbeya 463 1.4 Chunya 188 0.6 Bukoba 715 2.1 Mwanza 2,068 6.0 Musoma 356 1.0 Shinyanga 390 1.1 Kilwa Kivinje 260 0.8 Lindi 997 2.9 Mikindani 329 1.0 Songea 126 0.4 Arusha 1,750 5.1 Moshi 2,100 6.1 Korogwe 358 1.0 Lushoto 53 0.2 Pangani 162 0.5 Tanga 3,953 11.6 Kahama 217 0.6 Kigoma 388 1.1 Tabora 1,367 4.0 TOTAL 34,216 NOTE: Categorization and spelling is as shown on the census

As a majority within a majority, not only did the Ismailis remain as a distinct community based on its size, its cohesiveness also enabled it to retain a separate identity from the others that migrated from the subcontinent. Led by their Imam, the Ismailis in

l61Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948, 745 (Population Census). Tanganyika worked towards maintaining a strong sense of pan-Ismailism with their East

African Ismaili neighbours and their religious counterparts in other parts of the world. As

a result, their Imam could physically be in one part of the world and guide his followers

from around the world in both spiritual and worldly matters. Ismaili allegiance to the

central figure of their Imam served to reinforce their communal bonds and meet many of their daily needs, without having to rely on members of the other immigrant communities

from India. As a result, it was predominantly religion, rather than culture that shaped this community's identity. This notion will be explored in greater depth later on in this thesis.

83 Chapter Four: Ismaili Identity Formation

As revealed in the previous chapter, the Ismailis were not the only immigrants from India to settle in Tanganyika. Despite the differences that existed between these immigrant groups, once in Tanganyika, Ismailis were politically and socially grouped together with their counterparts from the subcontinent. In turn, the Nizari Ismailis focused heavily on developing and preserving a distinct identity. The issue, however, were the regional, linguistic and economic differences that existed among the Ismailis.

The leaders of the Ismailia Associations worked to consolidate or unite the Ismailis by forging a communal identity that emphasised a common identifier among the Aga Khan's followers: a religious identity that revolved around the figure of the Aga Khan. Thus, measures were taken by the Aga Khan and the leaders of his community to consolidate a strong communal bond between the Ismailis in Tanganyika that highlighted their religious identity by using a variety of symbols, festivities and rituals. This chapter thus explores the ways in which the Ismailis maintained a distinct identity from other immigrants from India, with a particular focus on the role of women in the construction and maintenance of a Tanganyikan Ismaili identity, Ismaili loyalty to the Crown, the community's involvement in politics, Jamatkhanas as a central aspect of Ismaili life, the

Agakhan social and religious networks, dress as a symbol of change, Ismaili festivities and the Ismaili Press.

84 The Role of Women in the Construction of a Tanganyikan Ismaili Identity

The Aga Khan paid considerable attention to uplifting the status of women, which

from the community's perspective divided the Ismailis from the other immigrants from

India. The sources suggest that Aga Khan Ill's mother, Lady Aly Shah played a pivotal

role in this regard. She held a prominent position within the community not only because

of her relationship with Aga Khan II, her husband, but also because she was the mother

of the community's then living Imam, Aga Khan III. As a result of these relationships

and her abilities, she was charged with managing the affairs of the Ismailis when her

husband passed away. Any decisions concerning the community were overseen by her.

This continued until 1893 when her son turned sixteen and was perceived as being

physically mature enough to manage the community's administration.162 From then on,

Lady Aly Shah took an avid interest in the education of Ismaili women and in turn,

introduced many social reforms designed to improve the status of women so that they

could, in turn, improve the conditions in which the community was living.

Similarly, during his seventy-two years of Imamate, the Aga Khan took great efforts to increase the number of opportunities available to women. Perhaps the most monumental issue addressed to improve their standards of living was education.

Personally, if I had two children, and one was a boy and the other a girl, and if I could afford to educate only one, I would have no hesitation in giving the higher education to the girl. The male could bend his energies to manual effort for reward but the girl's function was the maintenance of home life and the bringing up of children. Her influence in the family circle was enormous and the future of

162 "Her Highness Lady Aly Shah," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, 1885-1946, 17.

85 the generation depended upon her ability to lead the young along the right path and instruct them in the rudiments of culture and civilization.163

The Aga Khan believed that educating women would help ensure that the next generation

had a sound footing to build upon as they grew up. It was the mother after all, that

typically cared for the children before they embarked on their own educational

endeavours. "An educated mother will educate her children, whereas an educated father

is so tied up with his business that he will not teach his children."164

His views of the potential women had in advancing the community's status were

quite conservative and family-centred, in that his push for educating women centred on

their roles as mothers, which seems to parallel those of many prominent Victorian

thinkers of the time.165 In the nineteenth century, women's work was increasingly separated from the home. With this, debates developed over what should be considered the most suitable type of education for women. Female education largely operated on an

informal basis and was typically limited to training in practical matters. For example, women were offered courses in bee-keeping, dairying, poultry-keeping, gardening, dressmaking, health-care, and citizenship.166 Moreover, most women learned only the household arts. In the late nineteenth century, however, the fields of medicine, teaching

163 Aga Khan III, Reply to the Address of Welcome from the Transvaal Muslim League, Johannesburg, 12 August 1945, cited in Aziz, Selected Speeches, 1211-1212. 164 Adatia and King, "Some East African Firmans," 187. 165 As Tripp (2004) reveals, this approach was also taken by British activists in East Africa, who focused on women's domestic skills not only as a part of a domesticating imperial project, but to vie for women's advancement in the public sphere because as these activists argued, women's domesticity fostered an interest in human welfare, concerns they believed were lacking in the public sphere. 166 Barbara Bush, "Gender and Empire: The Twentieth Century," in Philippa Levine, Gender and Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 87.

86 and law emerged as new careers options for female migrants from the subcontinent.167

Yet, as Forbes argues, many of these educational schemes were designed to socialize

women to be more "dependent and obedient than previously;"168 attempts made to

convert "Indian and African women into good modern wives and mothers who would act

as stabilizing influences on men."169

Yet, the Aga Khan's guidance starkly contrasted the treatment of women in other

immigrant communities from India (though not all) throughout the empire.170 This must

have made quite a statement about the "progress" of the Ismaili community given that the

behaviour and the position of women increasingly became the yardstick against which the

British measured and judged those they colonized, a common practice from the

eighteenth century.171

Along similar lines, it was believed that women should take measures to ensure that their educational endeavours did not conflict with their domestic responsibilities.

Rather, they were advised to utilize their educational training to improve themselves as mothers and wives. Being educated did not necessarily conflict with the traditional roles women held. Often the education they received was designed to advance the skills that were required of them to fulfil their conventional responsibilities, while offering them an

167 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India (London: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 161 and 186. 168 Forbes, Women in Modern India, 6. 169 Bush, "Gender and Empire," 97. 170 Perhaps the most applicable example of this is the practice of purdah, or the seclusion of women, which was increasingly identified as a Muslim practice. 171 Philippa Levine, "Introduction: Why Gender and Empire?" in Philippa Levine, ed., Gender and Empire (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 7; Catherine Hall, "Of Gender and Empire: Reflections on Nineteenth Century," in Philippa Levine, ed., Gender and Empire (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 51.

87 opportunity to enter what was viewed as "appropriate" professions for Ismaili women.

Yet, it was always expected of them to serve their families as good housewives. This is

perhaps illustrated best in a statement given by Aga Khan Ill's wife, Begum Ali Shah,

made specifically to Ismaili women during her visit to East Africa on July 22, 1946:

I am happy to be here once again. I have the sweetest memories of your hospitality and magnificent reception. On this great occasion of the Diamond Jubilee, I like to give this message to the women, and particularly to the girls, of the Ismailia community that, though they must progress side by side with men in all walks of life, the stress should always be on self-help, and their training should be such as to make good house-wives of them.172

Although women were encouraged to follow their professional desires, there were expectations placed upon them in the household that could not be ignored at the expense of their professional endeavours. This reveals the community's conventional view of women and their association with the household.

Women were assigned the responsibility of rearing the next generation of Ismailis as loyal and productive subjects of the empire. From 1953 onwards, in an effort to encourage mothers throughout the territory to pay particular attention to the wellbeing of their children, the Ismailia Women's Association introduced baby clinics across the territory to offer services for babies and their mothers. On an annual basis, the community also hosted baby shows, at which each baby was examined by doctors who awarded prizes and shields to the healthiest babies.173 Recognition was also granted to

172 "A Message to Ismaili Women," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Year Book, 17 August 1885 - 17 August 1945,1. 173 H. H. The Agakhan Health Administration (Tanganyika) Progress Report 1962-1965, (Dar es Salaam: H.H. T. A.K.. Ismailia Association for Tanganyika), 22-32.

88 babies that were brought to the clinics on a regular basis, measures designed to ensure that the children in the Ismaili community were offered regular medical attention during the early years of their lives.

The Aga Khan worked towards improving his followers' health conditions by advancing their awareness of health risks and the preventative measures that could be taken to avoid severe health complications. It was emphasized that good health was not something that just simply occurred. Instead, the Aga Khan argued, because the human body was a very complex mechanism, it required continual care, not just attention when something was wrong. Women, in particular, were assigned the responsibility of caring for the family's wellbeing. The following are excerpts offirmans or guidance offered by

Aga Khan III and IV, who collectively worked to raising the Ismaili community's awareness of the importance of good health:

Today medicine is not what it was 50 years ago. It is a precise and exacting science. Today if a doctor says to you, 'You must not eat such and such a food, you must take a pill at 4 o'clock,' he doesn't mean half past three and he doesn't mean half past four, he means four o'clock. Otherwise there is no point going to a hospital if you are not going to follow the doctor's orders.

During these hot months I will like you to remember that you should pay particular attention, not to make your children, particularly the youngest ones amongst you, inhale a lot of dust. It is mainly when your children are young and when they inhale dust and sand that they get asthma later on in life - You should take care of this and protect them from this difficult disease to cure.

Those amongst you who are parents should remember that children under the age of ten must be in bed by half past seven at night. If not, when the children go to school next morning, they are tired. Secondly a young child with insufficient rest does not grow to its normal height not in his health strong, when he becomes a man. Thirdly, if a man's body is tired when he is prone to suffering from germs

89 and disease. I would like you to think that as soon as a child seems to have sickness or an illness, something is wrong with eye or his mouth or his ear, take him immediately to the doctor, particularly when the child is young; as there are many diseases which you can cure in youth but which you can no longer cure in manhood. The future health of the children depends upon how they are cared for up to the age of ten.

With regards to their health, I have seen on this tour on three occasions when due to the fact that when your young boys and young girls had not been vaccinated against all these diseases, they have had terrible effect.174 Three small spiritual children who had one these common diseases, small-pox and other diseases, they had completely lost their eyesight. This is a sort of think which I no longer want to see in the Jamats. I consider those parents, who do not care for their children, to be absolutely irresponsible. I do not like to see this.

Remember what my beloved grandfather always told you that personal hygiene is one of the greatest importance from the youngest age upto [sic] the oldest age.

Again too many sweets are bad for the teeth and bad teeth which are not cleaned regularly can lead to much more serious diseases.175

Once again, the guidance offered rang closely to the Victorian ideal, which valued the primacy of character over intellect, in turn placing a great deal of emphasis on the need for a healthy mind and body. According to this philosophy, since God created the mind and the body, Mangan argues that by developing both, a believer was serving Him in the same way He would be served through the practice of prayer.176 As G. E. L.

Cotton, the Headmaster of Britain's Marlborough Public School in 1852 argued, "the life

174 The practice of inoculation was never regarded as a proper medical procedure, which Bashford argues was connected to its foreign (likely Indian) origins. (Levine, Gender and Empire, p. 115-116) In 1867, British imperial powers declared the inoculation process illegal, replacing this unscientific method with vaccination. 175 Letter from the Chief Secretary to the Heads of Departments and Provincial Commissioners, 29 Oct 1952,32497. 176 Mangan, Athleticism, 27.

90 builds the body. A bad life builds an ugly, unhealthy body; a good life builds a good and

healthy body."177

The emphasis the Aga Khan placed on the physical and mental wellbeing of his

followers was a responsibility assigned particularly to Ismaili women and was reflected

in the professions and careers that women were encouraged to enter. In turn, the

community's views on what professions were "appropriate" for women were quite

conventional. In a souvenir magazine that was distributed to all of the Ismailis in

Tanganyika, Gulzar Juma wrote an article which reveals some of the careers that many

Ismaili women were encouraged to enter. Defining the term career as a means through

which one could go "through life progressively,"178 Mrs. Juma laid out professions that

would help women achieve this "progression." She argued that women in the community

were typically grouped into one of five categories: (a) a daughter when young, (b) a sister

when young, (c) a wife when young, (d) a mother when grown up, and (e) a grandmother

when grown up. Pointing out that all of these identities were connected to someone else,

Juma asked, how then could an independent woman living in Tanganyika set out to lead a

progressive life when her primary role was inherently connected to someone else? Even

the most common "career" choice for women in the colony at the time, the housewife,

was designed to cater to the needs of others, requiring very little skill or training, and thus, developed a stigma. That a housewife could even be considered as having a career sheds light on the expectations of women's professional contribution to society. A

177 Mangan, Athleticism, 46. 178 Gulzar Juma, "Careers for Women," Golden Jubilee Souvenir: H. H. Agakhan Schools, Mombasa, 1918- 1968 (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association), 57. housewife was not monetarily compensated for her work, yet Juma presents it as an

acceptable career option. Instead of viewing women's careers as sources of economic

contributions to the family, instead, the benefits of women's careers were largely limited

to the "skill sets" that would in turn be instilled in women, in turn creating more valued

members of the household. Nonetheless, Juma argued that this role was one of the most

important in the building of a nation and perhaps more importantly, in the development of

a "progressive" Ismaili identity.

In her article, Juma argues that a housewife was responsible for the care and

wellbeing of her family. Ultimately, it was she who would ensure their well-being as

productive and valuable "future citizens of [the] Nation."179 She was also responsible for

managing the family's finances, the economics of the household. These roles were often

complex and challenging, and Juma argued that women required adequate training to

prepare them for their multi-dimensional roles. She suggested that women should be

trained in domestic science, teaching, commercial art, social work, secretarial courses as

well as medical and allied courses. While this would be valuable training for all

housewives, she also recommended these fields to women who were seeking "suitable"

alternative career options. She remarked:

Domestic Science: A course in Domestic Science/Home Economics would be essential. This would help a woman to apply the knowledge in her home and if need be to teach others. Allied to Domestic Science would be a course in Catering. This would enable a woman to do catering in hotels, institutions, boarding schools etc.

179 Juma, "Careers for Women," 57. Teaching: The next career, in order of preference, would be Teaching. As soon as one mentions the name "teacher" the common picture conjured up in peoples' minds is a severe bespectacled School [woman] with a cane in her hand. But in reality teachers, these days, tend to be smart and elegant and quite approachable!! Teaching has a very wide sphere one could specialise in the field one is most interested in.

For those interested in young preschool age children, there is Montessori or Froebel Training to qualify as Kindergarten teachers. There is training available for Primary School teaching after passing the School Certificate Examination. Presently, our greatest need is in Secondary Schools. One could do a degree in Arts or Science and then be eligible for Secondary School Teaching. There is also scope for lectureship in Training Colleges and Universities. Another opening is in Adult Education where teachers are in great demand. Admittedly, the teaching profession, unlike other professions, is not so well paid but then the satisfaction one gets out of teaching is tremendous. Imagine the joy when a little child masters the art of Reading and you feel that you, as a teacher, have helped to open up so many possibilities for him. Again, the school vacations are very handy. No profession or job gives one a holiday after every three months - not that the teachers do not justly deserve this rest. For unmarried girls, this would be an ideal opportunity to pursue further studies, to travel, to take courses in sewing, embroidery, flower arrangement, painting etc. For married women it is an excellent opportunity to be with their children especially when they are on vacation too.

Commercial Art etc.: Commercial Art/Interior Decorating/Textile Printing. These three careers -have been put under one heading as they are similar. Women with artistic tendencies should try their hand at these courses. Commercial Art is the planning of posters and advertisements in order to boost the sales of any particular item. It covers a number of different fields such as lay-outs, illustration work and type-setting. It also includes photography and the processing of photographs. Interior decorating involves designing and preparation of lay-outs for the inside of homes, offices, show-rooms, windows, dressing etc. Textile Printing includes various ways of designing fabrics in order to make them attractive, appealing and hence saleable. Once could also include Dress Designing with these three careers.

Social Work: Ina rapidly changing society many problems arise for individuals and families and for society as a while. Trained people are needed to deal with these social problems. Social Welfare work is divided into three fields. Case

93 work - with individuals and families; Group work - with groups such as Youth leadership, and Community work in implementing social policies e.g. Community Development. Persons are selected for training in these fields if they have the necessary aptitude, sympathy and concern for people and understanding of social problems.

Secretarial Courses: Secretaries are in great demand all over the world. Young girls intending to be secretaries would be well advised to do Languages with their usual courses. This would help them to get jobs in International Organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, E.C.A., W.H.O., in Airlines, Hotels and Tourist Organisations. Tourism us growing in our country and knowledge of foreign languages would prove an asset in this direction.

Medicine and Allied Courses: A few years back there used to be a common fallacy amongst our people to think that women were not suited to enter the world of Science. In most of the girls' schools there was no provision made for Science teaching. But now things have changed. Women have proved that they can take up Science subjects as well as men if not better. Women who take up medicine should try and specialise as Paediatricians, Gyncologists [sic], and Obstericians [sic].

If some feel that medical courses are too long i.e., 5 to 7 years, then they could take up the following courses of shorter duration: - Radiography - 2 years, Health Inspector - 3 years, Physiotherapy - 3 years, Pharmaceutical Assistant - 3 years, Occupational Therapy - 3 years, Nursing - 3.5 years.

Careers in the medical field are most rewarding. One of the biggest enemies in Kenya is disease. In helping to eradicate disease, medicine plays an important part. The attributes of a person intending to do medicine or allied courses, would be patience, sympathy for the sick and needy, and a cheerful disposition. Courses in the medical field can be taken locally at the Medical Training Centre, Nairobi.180

After reviewing these careers, the author emphasized that monetary gains should not be the only aspect one should consider before entering a profession, but that one should work to find a career that built on her abilities and aptitude. This, Juma argued would

180 Juma, "Careers for Women," 57-61.

94 help women feel confident about their career choices, ensuring their lives would be filled

with satisfaction and joy, and the "courage to face the future with hope and

confidence."181 To a large extent, this satisfaction and joy was connected to women's service to their families and communities.

Many of the professions women were encouraged to enter addressed the needs of the community. Teaching and health care roles, for example, were in demand and many young women who were looking for suitable career options were directed to these fields.

While we have limited information on the percentage of women who entered these

professions, it is noteworthy to point out that these were also the primary areas the Aga

Khan focused on in the colonies through his vast institutional network. In many ways, these careers were complementary to women's roles as mothers and daughters, roles that were perceived to be among the greatest responsibilities a woman could have, for mothers were directly responsible for raising loyal and productive "citizens" of the

Empire.

Ismaili Loyalty to the Crown

The importance assigned to assisting the sovereign was evident in many of the religious rituals carried out by the Ismaili community. The family of the Aga Khan had a history of assisting the British in their political endeavours,182 and Aga Khan III was no exception. In an article written in the Diamond Jubilee Souvenir distributed in

Tanganyika, one writer comments:

181 Juma, "Careers for Women," 61. 182 For example, Aga Khan 1 was conferred the hereditary royal title His Highness by Queen Victoria of Britain for the efforts he made to safeguard British interests in Afghanistan and India.

95 The peaceful and rapid progress of the millions of the Aga Khan's followers is due to the inculcation of the spirit of loyalty and human charity in their mind through daily prayers which specifically include a formula wishing the good of the sovereign, the happiness and welfare of the subjects and relief for the suffering.183

On a daily basis, Ismailis offered special prayers and blessings to their political rulers,

hoping that their leadership would offer good tidings to the community. Their loyalty to the Crown was often inspired by the relationship their Imam had with the British government. From their perspective, the Aga Khan and the British had a sound

relationship built on mutual respect and understanding. By offering blessings to the

British, they were working to ensure the perpetuation of a colonial power that they

believed had their best interests in mind, at least most of the time.

In addition to the daily prayers offered to the government, the Aga Khan emphasized that as loyal citizens, Ismailis had an obligation to offer their services and devotion to the rulers that governed them, wherever they were living.184 This did not conflict with their allegiance to the Aga Khan who, as their material and spiritual leader, played a minimal role in their political lives. Whereas their political interests were tied to the British, their religious loyalty rested with their Imam. Thus, at a communal level, there was no apparent conflict between their allegiance to their Imam and their trust and reliance on the British. In fact, many saw a direct correlation between the two. The

Imam would guide and mentor them in attaining their material and spiritual goals, which

185 Pickly, "Aga Khans and the British," 18. 184 Azim Nanji, "Modernization and Change in the Nizari Ismaili Community in East Africa - A Perspective," Journal of Religion in Africa 6.2 (1974): 134; Adatia and King, "Some East African Firmans," 190; Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 44.

96 in turn would then place them in an ideal position to become useful and productive

members of society and subjects of the Crown. In the same article that was published in

the Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, the writer reveals that:

a community which has the advantage of such a spiritual and material guidance cannot but advance in general prosperity and make its influence felt in the country. The person who has been responsible for this remarkable and unique achievement is the Aga Khan whose innate modesty, however, makes him always work without any ostentation.185

This enabled the Ismailis to offer their loyalty to the government of the countries in

which they lived. In most cases, there was no conflict between their religious identity

and their political systems of governance. As a result, affirming one's loyalty to the

British government in Tanganyika whose policies, in their minds, generally worked in

their interests did not conflict with their religious allegiances.

Ismaili Involvement in Politics

Entering politics on a communal basis was not a general practice of the Ismailis.

Individually, however, they were free to engage in the political affairs of the region.

They were advised to play constructive roles in the nation's progress and political development, rather than working solely in the political interests of the Ismaili community. Those who chose to become more involved in politics were advised to work towards establishing good relations with all other communities in the region.186 Working with others for the progress of society, in the Aga Khan's view, was one of the most

185 Pickly, "Aga Khans and the British," 18. 186 "From Takht Nashini Addresses," Africa Ismaili: Imamat Day Number (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 1 August 1969), 28.

97 important roles they could play as "citizens" of the Empire. In turn, this collective

activity helped direct Ismaili interests towards a common goal, which the Aga Khan

believed could be quite powerful:

[You] may be relatively small in number but [your] influence is great. It is your duty to use your influence not simply for the advancement of yourselves as individuals, not even from the whole of the Ismailis; you must use it for the benefit of Pakistan. As a community our faith will always preserve our special identity. There should be nothing exclusive in what you do to partake more thoroughly in this country's development. I have to see my spiritual children spread out in all walks of life. All the fields are open to you, it is for you to sow the seeds and reap the fruit.187

This message to his followers in Pakistan was echoed throughout the regions in which his

followers lived. The Aga Khan argued that their faith would ensure that they remained a

united and distinct community so they should not fear collaboration with others in society. He also emphasized that their religion would assist them in overcoming some of their future challenges, for he envisioned the post 1957 period as one of immense change and development that had the potential to create new problems for his followers as

individuals and as a community. In spite of this, he believed that there was no reason for them to be concerned because they would:

surely surmount them if [they stood] by [their] Faith. This is specifically important for the younger generations who will have to carry the future on their shoulders .... We think a great deal today of material advancement.... But wealth is not all that matters. Our religion teaches us that a spirit of humility and devotion is of first importance.

"From Takht Nashini Addresses" 28. 188 "From Takht Nashini Addresses" 28.

98 Perhaps the most concerted political effort taken by the Ismailis in Tanganyika

came in 1952 when the Aga Khan encouraged his followers to declare to the British

government that they no longer wished to be considered Asians.189 Following the

partition of the Indian subcontinent into the two countries of India and Pakistan in 1947,

the term "Indians" was avoided when referring to the peoples of the subcontinent, for it

was no longer representative of all of its peoples, as revealed in the following excerpt of a

correspondence sent from D. K. Patel, the President of the Indian Association, to the

Acting Chief Secretary to the Government, dated 9th April 1951:

The Indian Associations in the Territory formerly represented all sections of the Indian community. Since the partition of India and creation of two states, India and Pakistan, a section of people with sympathies with Pakistan did not like to associate themselves with Indians as the word India now has a different meaning than before, i.e. formerly it was inclusive of those parts which are now Pakistan and now those parts are excluded.190

Instead, the phrase "Asians" was adopted. These changes affected everyone associated with the subcontinent, including those in East Africa. In response, the

Ismailis' rejection of the term "Asian" was viewed as an attempt to politically distance themselves from the effects of the political developments in the subcontinent, in turn

increasing the divide between them and their counterparts in Tanganyika.

Politics in Tanganyika was heavily influenced by events that took place in the subcontinent. There were two major reasons for this. First, during the period under investigation, Tanganyika was a British-mandated territory, with Britain being assigned

189 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 44. 190 Letter sent from D. K. Patel, the President of the Indian Association to the Acting Chief Secretary to the Government, 9 April 1951, A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Communities, etc.).

99 the responsibility of overseeing the progress and development of the region. In turn, the

events that took place in India, a British colony, had an impact on the policies and

opportunities established specifically for immigrants from the subcontinent in

Tanganyika. The second was that many of the migrants from India still held a close

connection to their homelands. Thus, their actions were also heavily influenced by the

events that took place across the Indian Ocean.

Prior to the 1950s, the few Ismailis who chose to be associated with an official

political body joined the Indian Association. Since they believed the organization was

biased towards the Hindu communities, however, it was not popular among the

Ismailis.191 From the community's notes, we learn that Ismailis had issue with the

perceived lack of adequate representation in these Indian Associations. As a result, there was a perception that the existing Indian political bodies did not accurately reflect the needs or views of the Ismailis as evidenced in the following taken from a letter sent from the Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika:

You may be aware, that our Community has scarcely taken any active [official] part in Asian, Indian or such Association - in the past. We should like it to be recorded now that no Asian, Indian or such Associations could claim to represent our Community, its views, or interests, and we declare our disassociation with such bodies.192

While the Aga Khan advised the Ismailis to be loyal to both their countries of residence and Islam, little guidance was offered on specific political issues. That was

191 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 35. 192 From The Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika to Acting Chief Secretary, 11 October 1952, 32497.

100 until 25 September 1952, when the Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika was

formed.193 This was a unique body among the Ismailia institutions because the

community generally stayed away from institutionalizing any organization that had a

political agenda to it. The Aga Khan made it clear, however, that each individual should

think critically about his or her political interests and participate accordingly, rather than

relying on this committee to dictate the political decisions Ismailis should make.194 Thus,

its mandate did not include coercing its members to vote in a particular way. As revealed

by M. V. Nazerali, the President of the Ismaili Supreme Council, "Ismailis are free to

vote for whom they please and there is no question of the Political Committee

representing the views of the community."195 Some scholarly debate has developed over

the Aga Khan's motives for initiating this political body.196 From the community's

perspective, however, the need to organize the Ismailis to advise them of their political options was seemingly so great following the partition of the subcontinent and its ensuing effects in Tanganyika that many leaders felt there was little choice but to institute this

body. In their view, their communal identity, their interests and their religion were at stake. Thus, this body was not formed to sway the opinions of its members in any

193 From the Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika to the Acting Chief Secretary, 11 October 1952, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). 194 Extract from Sunday News 22 June 1958, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). 195 "Aga Khan dissolves Political Committee," Sunday News, 22/6/58, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). 196 For a summary of a few of these views, please see Robert G. Gregory, "Co-operation and Collaboration in Colonial East Africa: The Asians' Political Role, 1890-1964," African Affairs 80.319 (April 1981): 265.

101 particular direction but instead, it was designed to inform and guide its members of their

political options.197

In an effort to show their commitment to the British, this Committee offered all of

its services to the government, hoping it would be "a useful body in the peaceful and

progressive development of this Territory."198 Ismaili leaders also argued that a true symbol of their loyalty to their territory would be to have their presence recognized in the

political arena. Since the Ismaili community was the largest immigrant group from India

in the territory, it argued that its members should be considered for appointments to the

various political boards and authorities engaged in the political process, such as the

Indian Advisory Board and the Provincial Councils.199 Furthermore, it argued, since its

members came from all over the territory, Ismailis would be well-positioned to offer sound advice that was reflective of much of the territory. In response, the government argued that it would be best if people were appointed to these bodies based on their ability to serve in the public's best interest, rather than assigning these appointments along communal lines.200 This was significant because it deviated from past practice, in that in early twentieth century India, the Muslim League, a political party founded to secure the interests of Muslims at home and in the diaspora, persuaded the government to

197 "Aga Khan dissolves Political Committee," Sunday News, 22/6/58, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). 198 From the Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika, Dar es Salaam to the Acting Chief Secretary, 10 Dec 1954, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). '"From The Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika to Acting Chief Secretary, 11 October 1952, 32497; From the Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika, Dar es Salaam to the Acting Chief Secretary, 10 Dec 1954, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). According to the 1948 census which revealed that the Ismailis constituted 30 percent of all of the Indians in the Territory, and perhaps in spite of the freshness of their organization 200 Government notes, 32497.

102 elect members based on the proportion of their population and their alleged political

importance.201

On 22 June 1958, however, the Sunday News reported that the Aga Khan was

dissolving the Political Committee of the Ismaili community. Since it was established to

be an advisory and informative body, when debates were initiated over whether it would

nominate some of its members for an upcoming election, the community leaders wanted

there to be no misunderstanding in that their organization was not designed to be directly

involved in politics. Given that an election was approaching, Ismaili leaders felt as

though there was no need for the Ismailia Political Advisory Board to continue, since

their role involved advising the community and informing them of their options. Once

those aims had been met, the functions of the Committee were completed and the Aga

Khan and the leaders of the community decided to terminate it.

Jamatkhanas: The Centre of Ismaili Life

Though the Ismailia Political Body had been dissolved, members of the Ismaili

community continued to guide each other in a less structured manner and in a less public

forum, in their Jamatkhana. The lives of many Ismailis revolved around the Jamatkhana,

which was a sacred space that catered to their religious, social, educational, political and

familial needs.202 This was also where their communal identity was reinforced on a daily

basis. It was in the Jamatkhana that the community congregated daily for prayers, after

201 Robinson, Separatism, 173. 202 Peter B. Clarke, "The Ismailis: A Study of a Community," The British Journal of Sociology 27.4 (December 1976): 487.

103 which members would partake in a series of rituals that fostered strong social bonds,

which arguably formed the glue that held the community together.

Typically, the Jamatkhana was a large building that had multiple rooms to cater

to the different needs of the community. It had a room devoted to congregational prayer,

but it also usually had spaces for social gatherings, and in some cases, other rooms for

religious instruction and certain religious ceremonies. Many of the Jamatkhanas

throughout East Africa had offices, from which the local Ismailia Councils would

operate, in addition to libraries and reading rooms. These libraries usually carried both

educational and religious books. The library membership fee was one shilling per

annum, a rate that ensured that these services were accessible to many of its members.203

The Jamatkhana provided opportunities for communal gatherings for a wide range of

purposes, cementing the community's solidarity, but also limiting their interactions with

outsiders.

It would have been fairly easy for the Aga Khan to seek out separate properties

for each of the buildings he developed. Instead, he wished for their religious, charitable, educational and recreational needs to be met in one compound. This helped strengthen the bonds between his followers because no matter the time of day, no matter the type of activity, once you entered the Jamatkhana complex, you were bound to meet another

Ismaili.

203 Application for exemption by HHTAK Provincial Council, Mbeya, 1960, UW 83471/2 (IringaTown Council Rating - Application for Exemption - H. H. Agakhan Provincial Council, Iringa).

104 It was also through the local Jamatkhana that one would stay connected with the

wider international Ismaili community. In the 1950s, the Ismaili daily prayer was changed from a version recited in the Indie vernaculars to an Arabic one.204 Over time,

this Arabic version was also introduced in all of the worldwide Jamatkhanas, becoming a

common ritual that united the Ismailis and a symbol of their identity. As Aga Khan III stated, "Ismailism has survived because it has always been fluid. Rigidity is contrary to our whole way of life and outlook. There have really been no cut-and-dried rules."205

Adopting elements of local traditions or customs enhanced the Ismaili integration process and was not viewed as threatening to Ismaili identity as long as it did not compromise their belief in and recognition of the Imam. Similarly, the standardization of Ismaili

rituals served to reinforce the bonds between Ismaili communities throughout the world.

This approach lent itself well to the pan-Ismaili sentiment that continued to develop throughout the twentieth century.

An equally important symbol of Ismaili expression and faith were the firmans, the guidance offered by the Aga Khan to his followers. Daily, his words served to direct,

inspire and unite his followers from across the world. With the advent of the printing press, a firman made to his community in one part of the world would be translated

(where applicable) by the institution within the Aga Khan Network designed to oversee the religious affairs of the community, and made available to Ismailis in other parts of the world. While there were other Islamic expressions of faith that served to unite Muslims worldwide, the examples provided above were specific to the Ismailis, each reaffirming

204 Asani, "From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim," 120. 205 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 185. and reinforcing the centrality of the Imam and thus, served as important unifying communal forces specific to the community.

Additionally, at the end of each evening, announcements were read after the daily

prayers were recited. These announcements not only informed the local community of

upcoming seminars, social events and religious ceremonies, they would also notify the

Jamat of the deaths of their fellow Ismailis in other parts of the world, for whom prayers were offered. Announcements would also be made of momentous events being held in other parts of the world. Similarly, Jamatkhanas in other parts of the world were informed of the events that took place throughout East Africa, offering an opportunity for the community in the diaspora to stay connected.

The Jamatkhana was also the space in which prayers were taken out to: (a) assist members of the community that were sick, (b) pray for the wellbeing of the larger Ismaili community throughout the diaspora, and (c) pray when conditions in the region became turbulent as a result of environmental, religious, political or economic strain. This was a way for Ismailis to maintain a sense of connectedness with each other and with their co­ religionists from around the world. Offering prayers on behalf of others was viewed as an expression of humility, compassion and devotion. According to their interpretation of the faith, Islam required these qualities of them.

Agakhan Social and Religious Networks and Other Symbols of Identity

There were a variety of symbols that signified the Ismaili communal bond. One of which was the Ismaili flag. Despite the lack of a singular geographic focus, and

106 despite the fact the Aga Khan was not a political leader of any specific territory, the

community recognized and honoured its flag as a symbol of their religious identity and

pan-Ismailism. Since it held no political significance, it did not serve as a competing

expression of national identity. Rather, it was often flown alongside their territory's

standard. The Ismaili flag was green in colour with a red diagonal stripe descending from

the upper left corner to the bottom right. Many interpretations have developed regarding

the symbolism behind the colours of the banner or standard. Perhaps one of the more

common interpretations associate green with the colour of the Prophet, symbolizing

paradise, peace and prosperity and red with the sacrifice made by the second Shi'i

Imam,206 whose life came to a jarring end at the Battle of Karbala.

Another important communal symbol was what has generally been referred to as

the "Ismaili constitution" or the rules and regulations governing the affairs of the

community and its institutions. It was in 1905 that the Aga Khan first issued a

constitution for his followers throughout Africa.207 Central to the constitution was the

ultimate authority carried by their leader, the Aga Khan. This was outlined at the

beginning of the constitution:

Nothing herein contained shall affect the Absolute Power and Sole Authority of Mowlana Hazar Imam to alter, amend, modify, vary or annul at any time or to grant dispensation from the Constitution or any part thereof.208

206 The second Shi'i Imam, according to Ismaili interpretation, was Imam Husayn (the son of Ali). 207 Hirji argues that it is likely that the 1905 version was not the "first Nizari Ismaili Constitution" to be developed, citing evidence to support a version published in Bombay in 1902. He suggests that "caste- constitutions" were common at the turn of nineteenth century India. ("Socio-legal Formation," 147) 208 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 21.

107 The entire constitution had this concept of the Aga Khan's supreme and ultimate

authority at its core, which also formed the basis of Ismaili theology. Even as the

constitution was amended over the years to cater to the needs of the community, the

overarching authority held by the Imam never diminished or changed. The constitution

provided an authoritative framework within which the community was encouraged to

operate. It informed the institutions designed to address the community's needs of the

time, including education, health and local tribunals. It also informed individual Ismaiiis

of their rights and duties as members of the community living within the British Empire

in Africa.

Other prominent symbols among the Ismaiiis in Tanganyika included their

intricate system of institutions and networks, their buildings (many of which carried the

Aga Khan's name), their own finance and insurance funds as well as their own

recreational facilities, all of which addressed virtually every aspect of their lives. This

ensured that there was little necessity for any member to go outside of the community to

have his or her material or spiritual needs met. There were, however, occasions where

interaction with outside communities threatened the social and religious cohesion built by the Aga Khan and the Ismaili leaders. Usually, the response would be to socially distance themselves from other communities, similar to what happened following the Khoja Case, as described in Chapter One.

Many of the institutions developed by Aga Khan III were aimed at promoting the material and spiritual wellbeing and progress of his followers. The organizational

108 structure of the Ismaili communities throughout East Africa reveals much about what

they found to be pressing issues at the time, including the Ismailia Association, which

was responsible for the community's religious affairs;209 the Departments for Health and

Education; the Housing Project; institutions catering to the specific needs of women and

the youth; as well as the tribunals, which met the smaller legal needs of the community.

To help ensure that the community's issues were being addressed adequately, a system of communal councils was established at the provincial, territorial and continental

levels building a transnational, hierarchically structured network.210 Sources have described the organization of the Ismaili network as a "state within a state."211 This

because in many of the countries in which they were granted the freedom to initiate their

institutional network, they developed an elaborate system of institutions and projects that

operated together, under the central leadership of the Imam, forming a system of

"efficient organization."212

This local network would also then be connected, through the Imam and his mandated role,213 to the other Ismaili networks around the world. These institutions not only facilitated the progress of his community, but they also provided a means through which his members could communicate with each other, establishing a sense of connectedness to one another and the Imam, at all times, all over the world. In turn, this

209 Clarke, "Ismailis," 485. 210 Nanji, "Modernization and Change," 130. 211 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 237; Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 20. 212 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 20-23. 213 The mandate included interpreting the faith and to do all within his means to improve the quality and security of people's daily lives, as discussed on page 23.

109 strengthened their communal identity and reinforced the centrality of the Imam in both

their worldly and spiritual affairs.

Before 1937, the Ismailia Executive Council, based in Zanzibar, was charged with

the responsibility of overseeing all religious matters.214 Local affairs, on the other hand,

were administered by the Ismailia Provincial Councils, which safeguarded the general

welfare of the community in their respective towns. Collectively, the Provincial Councils

were supervised by the Ismailia Supreme Council for Tanganyika, which came into

existence on 1st October 1954. This body was tasked with protecting the community's

general interests throughout the territory and included women on its Executive

Committee, as revealed in Appendix B.21S Collectively, this network was created to

guide, mentor and direct Ismailis in a private and discrete manner according to the

Imam's guidance and the Ismaili "constitution." The leaders of the councils were vested

with the authority to manage the daily activities of the followers in the region, with

regular reports being sent to the Aga Khan on a variety of issues, such as domestic cases that involved divorce and matrimonial disputes. There was a hierarchical structure to the council whereby a member from the community could appeal to the Supreme Council, which oversaw and addressed questions of conflicting jurisdiction. If an individual was

214 From the President, HHTAK Federal Council for Africa, Mombasa, to the Chief Secretary of Tanganyika, 15 November 1954, AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council). 215 From the Honorary Secretary of HHAK's Ismailia Supreme Council for Tanganyika to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tanganyika, 9 November 1954, AB 45/01.

110 dissatisfied with a ruling made by the Supreme Council, he/she had the option of

appealing to the East African Federal Council whose decisions were final and binding.216

This hierarchy of councils, which were staffed and directed by appointed leaders

who served in voluntary capacities, enabled a sense of conformity to develop among the

Aga Khan's followers throughout East Africa, in turn contributing to an increased sense

of community solidarity.217 As a result, the reports sent to the Aga Khan by the leaders of

the local councils would often be shared with the other East African council leaders,

offering them an update on the community's activities, challenges and progress. It was

hoped that the community would learn from each other's successes and assist to help alleviate each other's difficulties, without having to rely solely on the colonial

government to meet their needs.

Although the Ismailia Institutional Network was hierarchically organized along

international, territorial and regional lines, individual members of the community were considered equal followers of the Imam of the Time and did not belong to any

pronounced communal social stratum. One's economic, educational or political accomplishments did not necessarily impact his or her position within the structure of the

Ismaili councils or community, although some professions, such as business owners, did offer a degree of flexibility that might have afforded individuals the time necessary to oversee and manage a number of the tasks required of a leader of a council board. As a result, "one can not [sic] escape the fact that business success is still closely aligned with

216 "The Aga Khan's Ismailia Councils," Imam-e-Zaman (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association) 25. 217 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 116.

Ill success in attaining office."218 Nonetheless, many of the community's social initiatives

were designed to assist all interested members. If the process became destructive for the

community, the Aga Khan held the constitutional authority to intervene in private matters

that did not concern the state.

Perhaps the most significant initiative developed by the Aga Khan was the

housing projects located in the major Ismaili centres throughout the territory. The aim

was not to create a new class of Ismaili land-owners but instead, it sought to assist "the

lower- and middle-income groups to have apartments of their own."219 The initiative is said to have developed as a result of the poor conditions in which many of the Aga

Khan's followers lived. After hearing that so many people were living in houses that were not equipped to meet their needs, the Aga Khan cautioned his followers against overcrowded their homes. He encouraged the sons in each family to settle in homes of their own, "on a co-operative tenant-into-owner basis,"220 rather than staying with their parents once they got married. He argued that this would result in economic success, and perhaps more importantly, it would help maintain good family relations. Within this housing scheme, families could find homes within the same complex, enabling extended family members to stay connected.221

218 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 180. 219 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 215. 220 Ghai, Portrait of a Minority, 50. 221 "His Highness the Right Hon'ble Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah The Aga Khan," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, 1885-1946: The All Africa Celebrations, (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 28 June 1946), 2.

112 Not only was this initiative designed to ensure that his followers benefited from

adequate living facilities, the layout of the scheme fostered a strong sense of community.

At the centre of many of these housing developments was the local Jamatkhana, which

formed the centre of their social and religious lives. Often, this was also where many

business negotiations took place. While this might have secluded the Ismailis from

others in the region, it increased the solidarity amongst its members. Thus, the

advantages of building these houses around a regular social and religious congregational

venue were seen to outweigh the limitations of this scheme.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the network was their tribunals, which were

established at three different levels: provincial, territorial and continental. These were

developed to help members of the community resolve their issues internally. The Ismaili

tribunals were an alternative to the government courts or the qadis, Islamic judges. As

Hirji argues, the East African colonial government avoided interfering with communal

forms of self-governance, and "allowed and encouraged communal self-governance."222

Hirji cites a 1928 case included in the East African law reports in which the judge makes

"yyx reference to the Ismaili "constitution," indicating that he had some level of awareness

of the rule books and perhaps even the tribunal system in which these cases were

addressed. When civil disputes arose between Ismailis and members of other religious

communities, however, these internal tribunals were not used since they were designed to govern only the Ismaili community. Nonetheless, having this internal mode of dealing

222 Zulfikar Hirji, "The Socio-Legal Formation of the Nizari Ismailis of East Africa, 1800-1950," in Farhad Daftary, ed., A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community (London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2011), 147. 223 Hirji, "Socio-Legal Formation," 150.

113 with disputes enabled the Ismaili community to remain inward looking, without having to

publicly settle their disputes and "air their dirty laundry" to others.

Out of all of the organizations mentioned, it was the Ismailia Association that the

Ismailis engaged with the most. The Ismailia Association was a network of organizations

which came into existence across the territory in 1945 as a result of a "Mission

Conference" held in Dar es Salaam.224 The Association handled the religious affairs of

the community and was usually the medium through which ongoing religious guidance

was offered. It also oversaw the religious education in each region and was the body that

handled conversions to the faith. Emphasizing its importance to his followers, the Aga

Khan sent the following message in a Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, the year after the

Ismailia Association for Africa was developed:

All Ismailis should take an interest, and those who can, an active one in the work of the Ismailia Association of Africa which is necessary if the Ismailis of Africa are to understand the meaning of their Historic Faith with its Glorious Traditions.225

One of the "glorious Traditions" described here was the languages spoken by the

Ismailis, which was a shared element of their identity with other immigrants from India in the territory. Many Ismailis were perhaps most familiar with their Indian languages and dialects, such as Gujarati and Kutchi. By the early to mid twentieth century, however, the Aga Khan advised his followers to learn English in addition to their mother tongues.

He also recommended that the children of the community learn English as their first

224 Roshni U.S.A. Salegreh Issue, (New York: His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismailia Association for the U.S.A, 13 December 1980), 18. 225 "His Highness the Right Hon'ble Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah," 2.

114 language and later learn the other languages commonly spoken amongst the Ismailis. As

subjects of the British Empire, the official language of the government was English and if

one was not familiar with the language, that individual would have limited access to

employment opportunities and would in turn maintain a position of secondary

citizenship.226 A linguistic barrier would also prevent members from the Ismaili

community from standing up for themselves should the need arise. In addition, the Aga

Khan argued that English was increasingly becoming the language that was most used

around the world and by becoming familiar with it, his followers' international economic

and educational opportunities would increase. As a result, in their homes and in their

daily lives, Ismailis were generally multi-lingual, the most common languages being

Kutchi and Gujarati and over time, English and Swahili.

Dress: A Symbol of Change

Our clothes define us as much as we define ourselves through our clothes, and differences in dress do not merely suggest that "we" are different from "them", but also naturalize these differences and thereby become the very basis and proof of difference itself.227

Dress was a custom that increasingly distinguished the Ismailis from other East

African immigrants from India in the twentieth century. Ismailis typically adopted elements of western attire to a greater extent than did their counterparts from the subcontinent. The men usually wore trousers and a dress shirt, occasionally wearing their

226 Anthuia Natsoulas and Theodore Natsoulas, "Racism, the school and African education in colonial Kenya," in J. A. Mangan, ed., The Imperial Curriculum: Racial images and education in the British colonial experience (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 112. 227 Emma Tarlo, Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India (U. S. A.: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), 318.

115 traditional Indian garb or even Arab attire on special occasions. The typical attire of a

woman from India was a salwaar khameez, a long shirt worn over loose pants, or a sari, a sheet of fabric draped over the body. This was the case until 1952 when Aga Khan III sent a picture of himself, seated on a chair with his wife Matasalamat standing beside him. He wore a western-style suit and bow-tie, while she was dressed in a flowing

European-style dress that was fitted around her waist. In the upper right-hand corner of the picture, he wrote: "I give my paternal blessings to all who adopt simple colonial dress. Aga Khan, 1952." See Appendix C for an illustration of his message.

In the past, it was customary for the Ismailis to adopt the local dress of the countries in which they lived. Given that in East Africa, as a result of their segregated

living conditions, Ismailis lived and engaged with a large number of immigrants from

India, the majority of whom retained the traditional Indian apparel, it must have seemed

natural for the Ismailis to also preserve their Indian style of dress. After receiving this picture from Aga Khan, however, literally overnight, women had European style dresses made, a task that was made easier given that many of them were familiar with the art of sewing. People across East Africa awoke to the sight of Ismaili women in European dresses. Many Ismailis, however, continued to wrap their Indian scarves or pacharies over their heads, a practice commonly adopted on the other side of the Indian Ocean.228

Over time, even this symbol of traditional dress was discarded by many Ismaili women.

In the Aga Khan's mind:

228 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 46, 57.

116 [The Ismailis] arrived there with Asiatic habits and an Asiatic pattern of existence, but they encountered a society in process of development which is, if anything, Euro-African. To have retained an Asiatic outlook in matters of language, habit and clothing would have been for them a complication and in society an archaic dead weight for the Africa of the future.229

Kjellberg argues that this shift reveals that Ismaili women attached too much

value to their outward appearances "which [were] simply superficial adjustments."230

Without grasping the context of events such as these, however, it would be challenging to

fully gauge their intentions. I agree that many Ismaili women were quite proud of their

adjustment once they grew accustomed to it. I would argue, however, that this pride

could have stemmed from a deeper issue couched in a broader context. Following the

partition of India in 1947, the Aga Khan increasingly encouraged his followers to "look

towards the West rather than towards the East" as a model of progress and

advancement.231 The Aga Khan disapproved of the outcome of the partition of the Indian subcontinent. After realizing how deep hostilities ran, he accepted that it was inevitable, drafting a list of suggestions for the Muslim leaders of Pakistan. Perhaps most pressing was his suggestion that Arabic be adopted as the national language because of its religious significance. His recommendations, however, were largely ignored. 1 argue it

is likely that a part of his call for change was connected to the political turbulence that arose following the partition of the subcontinent. Thus, there is a possibility that parting with the traditional Indian dress was illustrative of a much larger and more significant trend.

229 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 30. 230 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 31. 231 From the Chief Secretary to all Heads of Departments and Provincial Commissioners, 29 November 1952, 32497.

117 British imperial presence in India introduced, among other things, notions of

"civilization," which was associated with the west, and often expressed through clothing.

According to Tarlo, many members of the Indian intelligentsia admired Europe's

progress and development in the scientific and educational fields, but were more cautious

when it came to European culture.232 Despite their hesitation, Tarlo argues that since clothing was perceived to be such an essential component of imperial notions of civilization, the educated man in India could not simply ignore this influence,233 or the opportunity to distance himself from the uneducated majority. In turn, aspects of western-style clothes, used and viewed as manifestations of British culture, were assessed and assimilated in the late nineteenth century by a small, yet influential group of men in

India. This process, argues Tarlo, was not motivated as much by their admiration for the

British than by their "acceptance of the idea that India's development could be brought about through cooperation with European values and ideas of progress."234

Dress became a symbol of identity, a sign of belonging to different social and religious groupings. As described by Tarlo, an individual or community is identified through a dual process of identification and differentiation, often expressed through the form of clothes.235 Clothes drew boundaries which excluded those dressed differently, but they also served to encompass those dressed in the same way.

232 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 23. 233 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 24. 234 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 320. 235 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 15.

118 Conversely, given the structure of the European women's dress, which had "a

distinctive and exaggeratedly curvaceous outline"236 in opposition to the loosely

structured traditional feminine Indian suits, women in India appeared slightly more

resilient to this foreign influence that seemingly breached traditional ideas of female

modesty and respect. Instead, they adopted European fashions, fabrics and designs, and

expressed them in an "Indian" form. Women and their bodies carried the responsibility

of acting as symbols of the community. They symbolically embodied the pure nation, the

pure community.237 Thus, their selectivity was generally admired by men in India who sought to "preserve their women from the tainting influence of the West," operating

instead as patrons of Indian tradition.238

As Tarlo suggests, the very idea of looking Indian seems to have emerged only through the immigrant's encounter with the "other."239 Interestingly, this study uncovers an additional layer to this process of identification. If the very idea of looking "Indian" developed in relation to the "other," the Aga Khan sought to redefine and express his community's identity in opposition to this construction of what it meant to be an immigrant from India as it was defined following the encounter with the "other."

Ismaili Festivities

Many of the Ismaili festivities were quite lavish and imposing on the rest of society. The community often organized annual celebrations that included parades

236 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 29. 237 Urvashi Butalia, "Legacies of Departure: Decolonization, Nation-making, and Gender," in Philippa Levine, ed., Gender and Empire (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 204. 238 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 320. 239 Tarlo, Clothing Matters, 331.

119 traversing through the town. The two largest annual celebrations were 1) Imamat [sic]

Day, which was a celebration of the day the Imam was installed and 2) Khushiali, the

Imam's birthday. On these occasions, festivities were held with food and dance and the

Ismaili marching band paraded around the major city streets, which were decorated by

Ismaili volunteers. Indirectly, these celebrations included non-Ismailis who lived in the

areas these festivities were held in.

Many non-Ismailis in addition to a few Ismailis believed that these celebrations

went against some of the policies outlined in the Ismaili "constitution" and/or the

guidance offered by the Imam, which according to them, clearly advised against

excessive spending. Some believed that the guidelines stipulated what should be

considered appropriate celebrations for births, engagements and marriages. For instance,

the constitution advised that there should not be any elaborate celebrations when a child

was born, aside from the religious ceremonies that were associated with someone joining

the faith. In addition, when a couple got engaged, they were recommended to sign a

contract and have a reception at the girl's house where only sweets and drinks were to be served. Along similar lines, during the wedding, couples were advised to avoid excessive spending, having a small reception with no more than 200 guests where drinks and sweets should be served.240 Thus, if the constitution encouraged simple celebrations to mark

important life cycles and events, there was concern from some segments of society who questioned the appropriateness of these annual festivals. Nonetheless, the majority of the

240 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 32.

120 community believed that these were important markers that helped pass traditions on to

the next generations.

In addition to the annual festivities organized by the Ismaili community, perhaps

the most elaborate celebrations took place when Aga Khan III visited the territory. The

first visit he made to East Africa was in 1899 and he continued to visit his followers

periodically. In spite of the fact that the Aga Khan was not a head of state, the British

government accorded him a special ceremonial welcome accorded to other prominent

political leaders.241 For example, a correspondence sent from the colonial office to the

Governor of Tanganyika, Sir William Battershill, on 9 May 1946 reveals that Aga Khan

III had been granted the status of an Indian prince and was thus entitled to a salute of

eleven guns in India242 and was accorded a military guard of honour of fifty men during

his 1925 visit to East Africa.243 During his later East African visits, however, he did not

receive the ceremonial gun salute but was still granted a military guard of honour,244 changes which were reflective of a larger trend among the British to minimize the rituals held in honour of Indian princes.245 These ceremonial events were a source of pride for

his followers because not only did they view this as a public honour but it also accorded

241241 Refer to Chapter One for further details on the relationship between the colonial government and Indian princes. 242 According to Ramusack, the rank of twenty-one guns included princes from the following provinces: Hyderabad (most populous), Kashmir (the largest), Mysore, Baroda and Gwalior. Nine was the lowest level. Salutes were assigned according to diverse criteria, including historical importance, regional status, extent of territory, size of population, service to the British, and modernising reforms. [Barbara N, Ramusack, Indian Princes and their States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 89]. 243 Letter from Cohen in the Colonial Office to Sir William Battershill on 9 May 1946, Secretariat file 42483 (The Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations - 1946). 244 Correspondence from A. H. Maddocks, Chief Secretary to the Government to the Honorary Secretary of the Shia Ismaili Council, Dar es Salaam on 11 January 1937, Secretariat file 24612 (Visit of H. H. Aga Khan). 245 See Ramusack, Indian Princes, 89.

121 them the opportunity to welcome their spiritual leader in a worldly manner that

emphasized his centrality in their lives.

His most monumental visit occurred when the Ismaili community made

arrangements to commemorate his sixtieth year of Imamate, his Diamond Jubilee, by

weighing him in diamonds. Furthermore, they set out to have him weighed in two

continents: Africa and Asia. According to an account of the ceremony published in the

1945 Platinum Day Souvenir, the Aga Khan was said to have gotten teary-eyed with

pride stating, "no [one has] ever weighed their ruler in diamonds before,"246 let alone on

two occasions. Members of the community expressed the symbolism of this gesture and

its significance in the Diamond Jubilee Souvenir: "Even though diamonds are the most

precious and the most valuable of all minerals, their value is of insignificance compared

to the value of the boundless affection and loyalty which the Ismailia community have for

him."247

Initially, this ceremony was only supposed to be held in the Indian subcontinent,

however, plans quickly changed, as reflected in the following account included in the publication entitled, lmam-e-Zaman:

It is a well-known fact that as originally conceived the Diamond-weighing Ceremony of His Highness was to be observed only once, and that in India, but the funds for the ceremony were to be donated to His Highness' followers in all parts of the world, and these followers were expected to come to India for the auspicious function. But the magnificent contributions of His Highness'

246 Aga Khan III, "The Future of Tanganyika," Platinum Imamat Day Souvenir (East Africa: HHTAK Ismailia Association), 8. 247 "Foreword," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, 1885-1946: The All Africa Celebrations, 28 June !946(East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association), 5.

122 followers in Africa, justified a revision of the original plan, and His Highness, always susceptible to his follower's sentiments and aspirations, and solicitous of their comfort and well-being, has graciously condescended to commemorate the Diamond weighing ceremony independently again in Africa in or about August 1946.248

This reveals the levels of economic success members of the Ismaili East African community were able to attain in a matter of decades. If immigrants from India developed a reputation of being money hungry and arrogant, festivities that showcased their material success likely added to these perceptions.

Once they got approval for the ceremony, perhaps the biggest barrier they faced was acquiring the 600,000 grams of diamonds they required, at a cost of £400,000.

According to the colonial government notes, the diamonds were flown in from South

Africa during a regularly scheduled flight to London, which routinely stopped over in Dar es Salaam. Arrangements were made to leave the diamonds in Dar es Salaam until the ceremony was over, and then be shipped to London on the next scheduled trip. The quality of diamonds used for the ceremony was rough industrial stones, covered by a layer of properly cut diamonds of better quality.249 Since the diamonds were merely used as a symbol or a ceremonial gesture, and would eventually be sent to London, the quality of diamonds underneath the top layer was irrelevant. The Ismaili community had already raised £400,000, the equivalent amount of money that they would have spent on acquiring the diamonds and instead, offered that sum to the Imam. In turn, however, the

Imam gifted the money back to his followers with instructions that it should be used for

248 "Emigration," Imam-e-Zaman, 27.

249 Government notes, CO 42483/46.

123 the betterment of the local Ismaili community. From this gift, institutions were built,

designed to improve the quality of the lives of his followers, including the Investment

Trust and Insurance schemes, as explored in Chapter Three.

The Ismaili Press

Early in the twentieth century, the Ismailia Literature Society aimed to establish a

Muslim Press throughout East Africa and called upon members of the Young

Tanganyikan Society along with others in the community who were interested in collaborating with the Ismailis to establish a publication for all Muslims throughout the

East African colonies. While publications that were developed by and largely produced

for the immigrant communities from India were released as early as 1924 or 1925, 250 the first religious magazine from Dar es Salaam was introduced in 1934, entitled Shafiq.

A.M. Sadaruddin was pivotal in the development and advancement of Ismaili

publications.251 The attempt made by the Ismailia Literature Society was intended to make a rigorous and resounding appeal for all Muslims, not just the Ismailis, to unite in the interests of the entire community, as it once did for the Muslims in the subcontinent during nineteenth century.

In the first half of the nineteenth century many innovations and reforms were introduced into the Indian subcontinent by the British, including the printing press. In

1866 the Aligarh Institute Gazette was founded, with articles in English and Urdu that addressed the social and educational issues of the time. The largest intellectual

250 Gregory, Quest for Equality, 167. 251 Roshni U.S.A. Salegreh Issue, 18.

124 contributor was Syed Ahmed Khan (d. 1898), an influential leader from the subcontinent who played a prominent role in advocating for and developing an educational model in

'SC'J India. This weekly newspaper became the foremost of its kind in the province and is indicative of a larger trend that developed during this period. However, as these publications adopted an exclusively religious tone, it increased the divide between the

Muslims and the Hindus throughout the Indian Ocean World.

On August 19, 1936 the first edition of The Ismaili Voice: The Voice of the

Muslim was published in Tanganyika, which was the first bilingual weekly Ismaili newspaper, written by and catering to the Muslims in the territory. This was designed to ensure that Muslims had a voice that would inform public opinion on issues at the local, national and international levels. Furthermore, from their perspective they believed that the world would "[take] more notice of the written than the spoken word, and therefore a paper [was] absolutely essential in the everyday life of a community."253 Moreover, there was concern that the broader Muslim community would be left behind in the field of journalism unless similar publications were established that addressed the needs of the wider ummah. These publications would therefore ensure that the Muslim community's perspectives were being offered to the public in hopes of improving the perception of

Islam by non-Muslims and Muslims alike. In addition, many Muslims also anticipated that such a publication would help unite its members, especially given that in the past, previous attempts to put forward regular periodicals were met with what was described as

252 Robinson, Separatism, 93. 253 Khalid Sheldrake, 'To the Muslims of East Africa," The Ismaili Voice: The Voice of the Muslim Bulletin, No. 1 (Dar es Salaam, 19 Aug 1936).

125 "indifference on the part of the public and disunity among its workers,"254 leading to the eventual abandonment of such efforts. Publishing a Muslim magazine, developed by

Muslims for Muslims, was an attempt to resolve such issues.

The other publications produced by some of the immigrant communities from

India often conveyed the interests of the Hindu communities, as evidenced by a statement made by the Commissioner of Police, who argued that there was a "genuine need" for a

Muslim voice from the subcontinent in journalism. After close investigation into the backgrounds of the editors of the existing Indian newspapers, The Herald and The

Opinion, he concluded that they were putting forward one-sided views, namely, the interests of the Hindus.255 Furthermore, one of the newspapers produced by the immigrants from India, The Opinion, mainly dealt with events that had taken place in

India, relying largely on news from India and its people, with a relatively small amount of attention being devoted to "items of local East African interest."256 This increased focus on India contrasted with the Aga Khan's advice to his East African followers to permanently establish themselves in the region. Although it was important for East

Africans to be made aware of the activities undertaken by their co-religionists in India,

Ismailis were advised that this should not occur at the expense of local events and accomplishments.

254 Organizers of publication, "The Voice that will be Heard," The Ismaili Voice: The Voice of the Muslim Bulletin, No. 1 Dar es Salaam (19 Aug 1936): 2. 255 From the Commissioner of Police to the Chief Secretary, 8 October 1936,12915. 256 From the Information Officer, H. C. Baxter to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 29 October 1946, 22227.

126 As a result, when the Ismaili community decided to release their own publications

in Tanganyika, one of the goals was to provide only "a quick look at Ismaili concentrations around the world."257 They served, for example, as a lens through which the Ismailis in Tanganyika could read and learn about their Ismaili counterparts throughout the Empire. Often, these comparative articles revealed the problems and achievements of others, thus highlighting the necessity of helping those who were in

need. Perhaps more importantly, they also offered the community an opportunity to learn

from the successes of others. In turn, this helped solidify a strong sense of Ismaili

identity not just territorially but internationally.

The leaders of the Ismaili community wanted a journal to be published in 1936, in commemoration of the Aga Khan's fiftieth year as their Imam. More specifically, they wanted the journal to memorialize the festivities and jubilation. They believed the publication was a means:

to appreciate the generosity of benefactors and to pacify the doubts of uncharitable antagonists, to encourage a good cause and to check a wrong move, to ameliorate, to educate, and to organize internally, and externally to safeguard and protect a community from outside exploitations, nothing is more serviceable than a well-conducted paper. Mutely have Muslims in East Africa celebrated significant religious occasions which non-Muslim press had no courtesy even to record. No Muslim leader or missionary has ever come to this country who has not been seriously hampered in delivering his message to the masses for lack of due publicity. On the other hand wide publicity has been accorded by the organized non-Muslim Indian press to the views of a handful of so-called Muslim nationalists to undermine the Muslim solidarity on this side of the Indian Ocean. Have not for long the news of true Muslim leaders been simply suppressed? Have

257 "Purpose of Publications," African Ismaili: Imamat Day Number, (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 1 August 1969), 102-103.

127 not for long the Muslims of this place been kept in dark about the progress of Islam in other countries? Have not they been ignored because they could not ventilate their grievances? Have not they suffered slurs for lack of means to vindicate their position? Have not they suffered rebuke which they did not deserve? They have suffered and suffered, and are not prepared to suffer any more.258

Furthermore, the leaders of the Ismaili community argued that their institutions, which were established throughout East Africa, would be able to grow and improve only if they were in close contact with each other, ensuring that their policies were uniform where applicable. Print media would provide a means through which this could occur but also enabled communication to be regulated. In addition, articles included in these publications would serve the needs of the youth; exposing them to their historic roots in the colonies and offering them an opportunity to learn from the experiences of the past.

Another related initiative taken by members of the Ismailia community was to publish an

Ismaili Directory, the first of its kind in Africa. This offered the community an opportunity to increase communication at both the communal and individual levels.

For example, in an Imamat [sic] Day Souvenir distributed to the Jamat in August

1969, readers were updated on the progress of their fellow Ismailis in regions such as

Malaysia, Pakistan and Kuwait. The following excerpts were taken from each section:

Malaysia: [Ismailis] have been settled there for about forty years now, indulging in businesses of various sorts. They have built themselves a spacious Jamat Khana. A conference of Ismailis in Malaysia was held in 1936 to consider ways of uplifting socially and culturally the community in the peninsula. It resulted in

258 Sheldrake, "To the Muslims of East Africa".

128 the setting up of an Ismaili Council and arrangements being made for more intense religious practice.

Pakistan: Ismaili presence in that country goes back to the period of the Fatimide [sic] Empire when parts of Sindh [sic] and Multan were under the Ismaili rule. The seats of government were Mansura and Multan. At present there are over 500,000 Ismailis in the two Pakistans [sic] and surrounding territories. They are engaged in all types of professions, and are now beginning to concentrate on industries, going into products like jute, silks, oils, plastics, etc .... At new general hospital is presently being built in Karachi at a cost of 4 crore rupees, which is going to be larger than the Platinum Jubilee Hospital in Nairobi.

Kuwait: There are about 250 Ismailis in this middle-eastern oil Sheikhdom. The Jamat Khana was first established in 1952 by Vazir Ahmed Nizari, when there were only a handful of Ismailis in that area. The Vazir has worked untiringly to help more of our brothers settle there .... Most Kuwaiti Ismailis are employed by government and private organizations. Others are engaged in business, mostly as importers and manufacturers' representatives. The Kuwaiti Ismailia Council came into being in 1955 ... [the President] receives numerous enquiries from Pakistani and other Ismailis about job opportunities and business openings in Kuwait. He reports that there are job opportunities for professionally and technically qualified people such as doctors, engineers, mechanics, telephone, radio and wireless operators.259

While this publication falls outside of our time period, it is illustrative of the nature of the communication that was transferred between Jamais in the diaspora. Updates like these

helped to preserve a bond among members of the Ismaili community in spite of their geographic separation.

The official Ismaili publications rarely engaged with national politics or discussed matters that would instigate problems with other communities. In fact, on at least one occasion in 1936, we find evidence in the Provincial Commissioner's official notes

259 "Purpose of Publications," African Ismaili, 102-103.

129 revealing that a few members of the Ismailia community attempted to publish a paper which "contained contentious matter which may lead to unfriendly feelings between the various communities."260 These individuals were attempting to publish their ideas, claiming that they were the "true voice" of the community. After consulting with the leaders of the Ismaili community, the Provincial Commissioner discovered that these initiatives were taken by individuals who did not have the authority within the Ismaili network to put forward such claims. Since these were then considered unofficial publications, the Provincial Commissioner argued that under the Newspaper Ordinance and the Post Office Regulations, which outlined the requirements for a newspaper to be registered and enabled these registered newspapers to be transmitted through the post, they should not be distributed among the public given the potential fallout that might occur as a result of what was described as "contentious matter." Almost twenty years later, a similar notice was sent to the Chief Secretary from HHTAK's Provincial Council for Moshi in which Abdulsultan Maherali of Arusha's authority, or lack thereof, was clarified.261

In a community that often attempted to convey a unified public image, dissention among its members often went unnoticed, especially given the highly structured network that worked to resolve many of their internal disputes privately. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that Ismaili institutions did face challenges from their members,

260 Provincial Commissioner responds to Chief Secretary 2 October 1936 and File 12915: Honorary Secretary for HHTAK's Provincial Council for Moshi to Chief Secretary, 6 August 1955 re: Mr. Abdulsultan Maherali of Arusha, AB 45/01. 261 Provincial Commissioner responds to Chief Secretary 2 October 1936 and File 12915: Honorary Secretary for HHTAK's Provincial Council for Moshi to Chief Secretary, 6 August 1955 re: Mr. Abdulsultan Maherali of Arusha, AB 45/01.

130 such as the case mentioned above. In most instances, however, these confrontations were

generally small-scale and were resolved at a local level. "The security of the community

has been made more compelling than the right to dissent."262 This was significant

because it demonstrated the relative effectiveness of the Network's structure and its

ability to shield internal issues from the public eye. When it came to matters that were

difficult to resolve internally, instead of turning to the public courts and lawyers, the

leaders of the community consulted with the Aga Khan, again ensuring that their issues

were kept private, perpetuating an image of a united and cohesive community.

The cost of publishing these souvenirs was borne solely by members of the Jamat,

the Ismaili community.263 Publications such as the Platinum Periodical (1953) were

designed as souvenir magazines to commemorate some of the monumental events and

celebrations held in honour of their Imam. In these publications, messages were sent by

prominent government officials throughout East Africa, expressing their good wishes for

the Aga Khan and sending messages to his followers. For example, in the Diamond

Jubilee Souvenir edition, the Governor of Tanganyika, Sir William Battershill, sent the

following message:

The celebration of his [the Aga Khan's] Diamond Jubilee marks the conclusion of a long period of devoted service by His Highness. I hope that these celebrations will be an inspiration to his followers to emulate that example of service.264

262 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 116. 263 Roshni U.S.A. Salegreh Issue, (New York: His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismailia Association for the U.S.A 13 December 1980), 18. 264 John Hathron Hall, "Message," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Year Book, 1.

131 As discussed earlier, the Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee was commemorated in 1945, marking his sixtieth year as the Ismailis' spiritual leader. Here, the Governor of

Tanganyika acknowledged the impact the Aga Khan made on the territory, but he also used this opportunity to remind the Ismailis that their obligation should be to serve their land and the British colonial government.

Finally, these publications were also a way for the Ismailia Association of

Tanganyika to keep the community informed of their Imam's ongoing vision for them as foundation builders for a bright and prosperous future in the territory. In the Platinum

Jubilee edition of the Imamat [sic] Day Souvenir, the Ismailia Association published an interview the Aga Khan had with a journalist from the Tanganyikan Standard on 15

August 1954 entitled, "His Highness the Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika."

Speaking directly about the planning that he believed the nation should be making the

Aga Khan said, "I am not a communist but I think that the Russians have done amazing things for their backward people."265 The Aga Khan was encouraging the readers of the newspaper, both Ismailis and non-Ismailis alike, to think critically about comprehensive and energetic planning for the future with the shared goal of assisting the "advancement" of the African. He argued that this imperial outlook would benefit the entire territory, laying the foundation for complete development.

There were also publications distributed to the Ismaili community that spoke to some of the more pressing issues affecting them. One of the areas was education, which the Aga Khan and his followers invested much time and resources. In 1953, the

265 Aga Khan III, "The Future of Tanganyika," 7.

132 community in Dar es Salaam published a magazine entitled, The Torch, which was issued

to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Aga Khan school system in the region.

At a cost of 3 shillings, readers were informed of the activities and progress of many of

the schools that their children attended, including the boys school, the girls school, as

well as the commercial and vocational schools. In it was a message from the Governor of

Tanganyika, Sir Edward Twining:

I have noticed with appreciation the progress of H. H. The Agakhan Boys' School of Dar es Salaam from its beginning in 1914 as a small religious school with six standards in the Jamat Khana to its present spacious home in Selous Street having well over a thousand pupils and giving teaching in all twelve standards. This expansion shows in a striking manner the importance attached by the followers of His Highness The Agakhan to education and I hope that every boy is taking full advantage of the opportunities offered to him in this school. Next year, the school will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary, and I hope that it will achieve, in the next generation, progress as notable as has marked the years since the First World War.266

Given all of the issues the community faced in regards to education in Tanganyika, the

Governor's message in addition to the educational accomplishments highlighted in the

publication must have inspired members to further invest in the maintenance and progress of these schools. It also served to encourage those that were not "taking full advantage of

266 Sir Edward Twining, "Message from His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Tanganyika," The Torch: Agakhan Schools: In Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary (Dar es Salaam: H. H. The Agakhan Boys School in Co-operation with H. H. The Agakhan Girls School, H. H. The Agakhan Commercial and Vocational Schools as well as H. H. The Agakhan Nursery School, 1953). 5.

133 the opportunities" to do so, for in one contributor's opinion, far too many Ismailis

remained illiterate in spite of the increased communal funds spent on education.267

This marked the first attempt made by the community to release an annual that

focused on projecting a desirable image of the regional schools to the larger

community.268 In turn, the publication aimed to serve as a motivator, encouraging its

readers to act, rather than being passive spectators of the literary effort launched by the

editors. Even the front cover served to inspire with an image of an olive wreath wrapped

around a torch, symbolizing

the human struggle for knowledge against the enveloping darkness of ignorance; the wreath of olive leaves [signified] man's yearning for Peace and Prosperity. Thus, humanity endowed with Knowledge, Peace and Prosperity can achieve still great glories in years to come.269

267 Extract from Newsletter No. 21 of 1936 relating to affairs in India, 22 December 1936,22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board). 268 R. D. Shariff, Jimmy Kheraj and Sadru Damji, "A Word to Our Readers," The Torch: Agakhan Schools. In Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary (Dar es Salaam: H. H. The Agakhan Boys School in Co­ operation with H. H. The Agakhan Girls School, H. H. The Agakhan Commercial and Vocational Schools as well as H. H. The Agakhan Nursery School, 1953), 3. 269 R. D. Shariff, Jimmy Kheraj and Sadru Damji, "The Cover Page: Its Significance and Meaning," The Torch: Agakhan Schools: In Commemoration of the 40,h Anniversary (Dar es Salaam: H. H. The Agakhan Boys School in Co-operation with H. H. The Agakhan Girls School, H. H. The Agakhan Commercial and Vocational Schools as well as H. H. The Agakhan Nursery School, 1953). 2.

134 Chapter Five: Social Relations in British Mandated Tanganyika

"Loyal and progressive attitude of Asiatic communities" - We received numerous memoranda and deputations from the Indian and Goan communities and were deeply impressed by their loyalty and gratitude to Government... and by their fair-minded attitude towards African education and progress. It was also gratifying to note the cordial feeling which exists between the various Asiatic Communities in East Africa.270

This quote is an extract of the report made by the commission appointed by the

Secretary of State on Higher Education in East Africa in September 1937. The commission attempted to portray a unified immigrant community, vested in the progress of all "citizens" in the territory. This chapter sets out to explore the validity of its findings by exploring the relations that developed between social groups throughout the territory. Although some mixing occurred, for the most part, once immigrants landed on the shores of East Africa from India, most chose to retain the identity with which they arrived. This in turn, perpetuated some of the communal tensions that developed in India, which were exacerbated by the colonial policies in Tanganyika that grouped all immigrants from the subcontinent together. Furthermore, having a large part of their identity connected to the subcontinent minimized what these immigrants from India had in common with other ethnic and racial groups in East Africa. This chapter thus sets out to explore how these facets of identity were crucial in determining the dynamics that

270 Extract from Report of the Commission appointed by the Secretary of State on Higher Education in East Africa, September 1937,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

135 existed between the communities that resided in the racially stratified system imposed by

the British colonial model, as defined in the introduction. The first section of this chapter

explores the relationships that evolved between immigrants from India and Africans. The

second section reveals the rising tensions that developed among the immigrant

communities from India as each group endeavoured to establish a unique identity in an

East African context. The last section uncovers the relationships forged between

members of the Ismaili community. Given that many of these bonds were built on their common religious affiliation, the community tended to be isolating in nature. As a result, this chapter also explores how the social relationships forged between the Ismailis and other segments of society led to the development of stereotypes about the Ismaili community in Tanganyika.

Relations between Immigrants from India and Africans

By its very nature, the segregated colonial social structure in Tanganyika, as described in the introduction, led to a heightened level of ignorance of "the other," which provided fertile ground for the development of racial stereotypes. There was little to no mixing between the races including separate housing facilities and social service initiatives.271 There were even racially divided sports centres and other community based facilities. When social engagement did occur between ethnicities, it was not on a meaningful level and did not therefore break down many of the stereotypes that existed among segments of society.

271 Pierre L. van den Berghe "Asians in East and South Africa," in Pierre L. van den Berghe, ed., Race and Ethnicity in Africa (Kenya: East African Publishing House, 1975): 280.

136 Despite their established presence in East Africa, immigrants from India

developed an image of only being a wealthy class of businessmen and tradesmen, having

very little interaction with other communities.272 Protective government policy restricted

the rise of African traders who were prevented from competing with immigrant traders

from the subcontinent.273 This had severe implications on the social structure of society.

In particular, it affected one's socio-economic status as well as one's access to

employment opportunities. As Tanzania's first Prime Minister, Julius Nyerere,

articulated:

The economic divisions between the rich and poor coincide almost exactly with the divisions between the races. Wherever extreme poverty exists beside a visible high standard of living, there is the risk of bitterness; then the problem is linked with racial differences, it is far more potentially dangerous than in mono-racial societies.• 274

Although the cause of this racial divide cannot be exclusively attributed to the immigrants

from India who resided in Tanganyika, their contribution to its longevity cannot be

ignored. Often, there was no issue hiring Africans to perform manual labour around one's duka, nor was there a problem hiring Africans as guards or askaris for one's house and there was absolutely nothing wrong with having African women cook and clean one's house. The problem arose when the generally accepted colour lines were crossed in

regard to better economic activities, social interactions, and especially marriage. In essence, when an immigrant from India wanted to expand his business, instead of looking

272 Mangat, History of the Asians, 110,111. 273 Scotton (1978) provides brief insight on the responses of Africans to the trading monopoly held by immigrants from India, among other issues. 274 Julius K. Nyerere, "We cannot afford to Fail," Africa Special Report (Washington, December 1959) cited in Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 35.

137 for local personnel, he would turn to his counterparts across the Indian Ocean, depending

on recruits from the subcontinent to assist in this expansion. This then fuelled a system

in which one's economic fate was largely determined by one's race.

The real tension for the Ismailis in Tanganyika centred on the issue of African

Muslims. This because the Aga Khan emphasized the importance of building strong ties

with other Muslims in the lands in which they lived, regardless of their racial, economic

or linguistic background. Aga Khan III emphasized to his followers that it was their

responsibility to care for their co-religionists to ensure that the needs of Muslims were

being met without any compromise to their religious values, beliefs and practices. The

Aga Khan felt as though the key to building a stable and progressive territory would be to

unite all of the Muslims in the region and collectively work towards bettering society at

large, a belief shared by other members of the All-India Muslim League. He argued that

the bond of Islam was a powerful source of potential cohesion amongst societies that

were stratified.275 This bond, he argued, would not only provide a solid and concrete

basis to build a sense of national responsibility, it would work toward strengthening his

community and the larger Muslim brotherhood to which the Ismaili community belonged.

By reorganizing society where all followers of Islam, regardless of their race, were

bonded together there would be shared ideals, which the Aga Khan argued would be a

sound basis upon which society could be rebuilt to meet the needs of those who were

most vulnerable, those who had been historically ignored by the colonial government.

This was especially important in Tanganyika, given that Muslim Africans were not a

275 Aga Khan 111, A Lecture delivered in London on 3 July 1911, recorded in The Times of India, Bombay, 22 July 1911, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 357.

138 microscopic minority, but rather comprised one of the largest communities in the region.

In a speech made in 1945, the Aga Khan stated that: "whatever Government may be in power at the time the Africans are responsible people of their country; they are the sons of the soil; they can build up and fight for the interest of Islam."276 Their demographic strength would, in the Aga Khan's view, strengthen the cause of Islam in East Africa, and should thus be viewed as an integral component to the pan-Islamic movements designed to protect Islam.277

The prescribed zoning districts for the races, as defined in the introduction, created a potential obstacle to relations between African Muslims and the Ismailis. In

1946, for example, leaders of the Ismaili community applied for land in hopes of building a school in Mwanza. On the desired site, there were 51 houses that were occupied, largely by Africans. In spite of this, the District Commissioner of Mwanza, D. J. Powell, revealed that the government was on board with the plan of reserving the land to build an

Agakhan School. He recognized, however, the need for the current homeowners to be compensated if they were to be dispossessed of the land on which they were living.278

Since many of these houses were built on land that had not yet been assessed or surveyed, compensation was determined based on an estimated value of their houses and an additional fifty percent for the "disturbance" they may incur as a result of the move. The

m Aga Khan III, Reply to the Address of Welcome from the East African Muslim Conference, Mombasa, 16 June 1945, cited in Aziz, Aga Khan III, 1197. 277 Similar to the Khilafat Movement (1919-1924), a political campaign launched by Muslims in the subcontinent to protect the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and what was believed to be religiously significant monuments and territories. 21 Application for land for Agakhan School, Mwanza, from District Commissioner, 11 April 1946,970 (Education Indian Schools Mwanza).

139 total cost of this relocation came to a total of £2,500, which the Aga Khan Board offered to pay if their application was approved. This offer was advantageous for the government because the area in question fell outside the African zone of Township. As such, these

African homeowners would eventually have to be forced off the land and into the appropriate zoned areas. Thus, it was in the government's interest to take advantage of the offer made by the leaders of the Aga Khan Board because it saved them the expense of compensating these homeowners for their relocation at a later date. After having been approached with the offer of compensation, of the 51 families, all except three accepted.

The remaining three had no objection to moving, but instead, had issue with the amount of money they were offered. The District Commissioner concluded, however, that they had no proper claim to a higher offer of compensation. This example was reflective, however, of the priorities of the Ismaili community and their understandings of the social ordering of society. That a proposal was even put forward upon discovery of the land being occupied reveals a certain sense of entitlement. In this example, erecting a school was seen to be of greater importance than the homes in which these families resided.

In addition to the offer of paying for their relocation fees, the Aga Khan Ismailia

Provincial Council submitted a plan for a communal building program catering to those who would be displaced from their homes as a result of the erection of a new Agakhan

School building in Mwanza. The Ismailia Council also gifted one of their plots of land and their Club building to the African Social Welfare Centre. This, according to the community, saved the Centre from having to fundraise for the land as well as the costs it would have incurred to erect this facility. Perhaps more importantly, Powell, the District

140 Commissioner of Mwanza, believed this gift would enable the Centre to begin operation much sooner than if it had to be newly built.279 In the end, Powell reported that no apparent rifts developed between the Ismailis and the Africans as a result of their relocation.280

Despite the District Commissioner's conclusion, tensions continued to mount between the immigrants from India and their African neighbours. One of the more serious allegations made against the larger community of immigrants from India was that they sent money abroad rather than investing it in the land in which they lived.281 This was a point of contention because it revealed where these immigrants' loyalties lied. Was

East Africa simply a transitory stop; a place from which they intended to make a profit and move on? Was it not their duty to re-invest the money they earned in the

Tanganyikan economy, helping it gain momentum and establish itself on an international basis?

Given that many immigrant men from India migrated to the shores of East Africa without their immediate families, perhaps they felt compelled to send money abroad, to help care for their wives and children. In such cases, they would have been solely responsible for providing for their families and whether they lived in Tanganyika or the

279 To Honorary Secretary, HHTAK Ismailia Provincial Council, Mwanza, from District Commissioner, 2 Oct 1946, 970 (Education Indian Schools Mwanza). 280 Application for land for Agakhan School, Mwanza, from District Commissioner, 11 April 1946,970 (Education Indian Schools Mwanza). 281 Dharam P. Ghai, Yash P. Ghai, "Asians in East Africa: Problems and Prospects," The Journal of Modern African Studies 3.1 (May 1965): 41; Dharam P. Ghai, Portrait of a Minority: Asians in East Africa (Nairobi, London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 105; Mangat also reveals that a degree of hostility directed towards Indians resulted from the argument that "Indians only thought of returning to India with their savings" (Mangat, History of the Asians, 111) and Ghai, Portrait of a Minority, 103.

141 subcontinent, this was their responsibility. Whereas this might have been the case for

some immigrants from the subcontinent, Ismailis generally migrated with their families

and thus were operating in a different context.282 This should have created a different

pattern of economic investment in East Africa since many migrated with their immediate

families, in turn making it easier for Ismailis to sever or minimize their financial

obligations in India and reinvest their money in the territory.

The guidance offered by the Aga Khan provides further insight into the matter.

The fact that he made mention of the issue supports the possibility that his followers

engaged in this practice and thus required his guidance on the matter. Alternatively,

perhaps he was speaking to a larger trend among the immigrant communities from India,

steering the Ismailis away from this practice. Nonetheless, his guidance emphasized that

immigrants from India who had come to East Africa to earn a living must also make it

their home. He disapproved of any tendency to make money in Africa and send the gains

back to India.283 There is a strong possibility, however, that some of the Aga Khan's

followers did not heed his advice and continued to engage in these acts. Regardless, the general impression Africans had of these immigrants from India was that their loyalty did not lie with Tanganyika but instead India. This severely impacted relations between

these groups and Africans over time.

Another area that divided these immigrants from their African neighbours was

politics. The subject of African nationalism was a sensitive one. Many immigrants from

282 Gregory, Quest for Equality, 15; Mangat, History of the Asians, 13; Amiji "Some Notes on Religious Dissent," 605; Pandit, Asians in East and Central Africa, 11. 283 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 37.

142 the subcontinent came to Tanganyika as subjects of the British Empire and were thus

protected persons. As such, they were permitted to migrate to East Africa with their

Indian passports. After Indian independence in 1947, however, the British permitted

these immigrants to accept both Indian and British citizenship. To many immigrants, this

was an advantage, offering a sense of security should their economic welfare be

threatened in Tanganyika. Foreign citizenship would enable them to return to India or

migrate to Britain. Thus, when the call for African nationalism grew in intensity just

prior to the coming of independence in the early 1960s, many immigrants from India

hesitated to adopt African citizenship, fearing it would jeopardize their economic

security. In their minds, they were being asked to give up the protection of their British

and/or Indian passports and instead become members of a new nation, a new African

nation. In essence, people's loyalties were being called into question: should they acquire

a Tanzanian284 passport or should they retain their Indian and/or British status? The decision would reveal their allegiances and would thus help to determine their position

within the newly independent country. Immigrants' hesitation to politically identify with the new nation did not go unnoticed and led to heightened tensions between the races at the onset of Tanzanian independence.

While the perception was that immigrants from India in general opted to retain their Indian and/or British status, not all immigrants opted for foreign citizenship.

Ismailis, once again, found themselves as a minority within a minority by fully accepting

284 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged in 1964, forming the United Republic of Tanzania.

143 a Tanzanian national identity. In an article submitted to the Sunday News in Dar es

Salaam on 5 Feb 1967, one author writes:

A comparison between the two largest of the Asian communities in Tanzania shows the difference between positive, practical thinking and sentimental procrastination. Both Aga Khan and the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi, said in Dar es Salaam in December, 1961, that their people should give all their loyalty and sweat to Tanzania. Some 90 per cent of the Ismailis responded by becoming citizens making a welcome gesture of confidence and faith in a land which had been kind to them for decades. But not so the Hindu community. In possession of British passports of varying status, the majority opted to stay here, apparently on an endless chain of permits, with the background thought that if anything went 'wrong' there was always the passage to India as an escape, or perhaps retreat to England.285

Almost 90 percent of the Ismaili community officially recognized themselves as citizens

of this new African country, according to the President of the Ismaili Territorial

Council.286 In spite of the fact that they were quite a sizeable minority group, the

communal Ismaili stance on the issue was not distinguished from the decisions adopted

by their counterparts from the subcontinent on this issue. Instead, all of communities

from India were treated as a homogeneous group, one that was not willing to permanently

identify with Tanzania. Perhaps most intriguing are the causes behind the Ismaili community's decision to adopt local citizenship. The inspiration for this trend rested with the Aga Khan who encouraged his followers to adopt local citizenship, officially making East Africa their "home."

285 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 50. 286 Kjellberg, "Ismailis," 43; Kaiser, Culture, 99.

144 After witnessing the manner in which immigrants from India, Europeans and

Africans engaged socially during a visit to Dar es Salaam in 1954, the Aga Khan commented on how impressed he was by these interactions, while emphasizing the need for further opportunities for social engagement.287 In turn, he expressed interest in promoting organizations focused on enhancing racial understanding such as the Dar es

Salaam Cultural Society, agreeing to deliver a lecture during his next visit.

Another area the Aga Khan believed would work towards uniting the social groupings in Tanganyika was sports. By having regular meetings, he argued, players would get an opportunity to become familiar with each other. This would continually increase the level of awareness they had of each other.288 Similarly, in Britain, by 1900, a new era of games regimentation had developed. Many students spent much of their daytime leisure engaged in supervised activities on the games field.289 Over time, clubs and societies were formed to instil the imperial values of chivalry, loyalty, masculinity, patriotism and decency outside the classroom, ensuring that time was being spent on

"constant and wholesome recreation."290 Furthermore, in accordance with the Aga

Khan's goals, Mangan argues that competitions and tournaments were organized in

Britain among opposing groups of students in an effort to increase communal solidarity.

Unfortunately, in Tanganyika, any heightened level of awareness between social groups, as desired by the Aga Khan failed to manifest itself in a meaningful manner. Rather,

287 Aga Khan III, "H.H The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika," Platinum Imam Day Souvenir (East Africa: H.H.T.A.K. Ismailia Council), 8. 288 Aga Khan III, "H.H The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika," 8. 289 J. A. Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School (London: Frank Cass, 2000), 86. 290 Mangan, Athleticism, 23.

145 impressions of the "other" continued to be formed on superficial observations and

through meaningless encounters.

Rising Tensions Among Tanganyika's Immigrant Communities from India

Morris and Blacker argue that the Hindus and Muslims from India could not

follow the traditional caste and sectarian system in East Africa as closely as their

counterparts in the subcontinent. Morris identifies two possible causes for this. First, the

hierarchical organization of the castes and sects in one region may not be similar to

arrangements made in another district. As a result, the organization of religious classes in

East Africa varied according to local leadership and organization. Second, Morris argues

that in East Africa, not all religious groupings were represented. Therefore, the

organization of immigrants from India differed based on the demographics of each

religious community in the colonies.291 Furthermore, Morris argues that access to

heightened social and economic standing was not necessarily regulated by caste or sect,

as was the case in the subcontinent. Rather in East Africa, an individual had the potential

to improve his social standing by acquiring increased wealth. As a result, there were

instances where an individual belonging to a traditionally low caste might actually fare

better than his counterpart who belonged to a traditionally higher caste. This in turn

impacted the social relations that existed among and between each community. To some, these were fundamental changes in the organization of society.

291 H. S. Morris, "Factions in Indian and Overseas Indian Societies, Part 3: Communal Rivalry among Indians in Uganda," The British Journal of Sociology 8.4 (December 1957): 308; Blacker (1959).

146 The ways in which each immigrant community from India established itself in

East Africa impacted the relationships they forged with other segments of society.

Immigrants from the subcontinent preferred to live in their own quarters within their

residential zones, largely in an attempt to preserve and nurture their religious beliefs and

traditions.292 Whereas the Ismailis generally engaged with "others" for commercial

purposes, socially, the Ismailis remained relatively distant from their neighbours,

especially those with origins in the subcontinent. This in turn, heightened the tensions

they had with their neighbours, especially the other immigrant communities from India,

including their Muslim counterparts.

By the time Tanganyika was declared a British mandated territory, tensions that

arose in the nineteenth century among the Shi'i communities in the territory had not

subsided. In fact, they had been exacerbated. Arguments ranging from ownership of

property to family disputes over marriage arrangements ensured the continued religious,

social and economic division of these communities. These disputes were significant, given the Aga Khan's understanding of his role as a universal Muslim leader and his expressed concern for the wellbeing of all within the fold of Islam. Furthermore, the

memory of the ruling made by Justice Joseph Arnold in 1866, when it was decided that

the Aga Khan held ownership over the property of the Khojas, not the Khojas themselves,

had not been erased from the communal memory of the Twelver Muslim community in

Tanganyika.293 From their perspective, the British sided with the Ismailis. The impact this had on the relationships between members of each group has yet to be adequately

292 Amiji, "Bohoras of East Africa," 40-41. 293 Amiji, "Some Notes on Religious Dissent," 611. See Chapter One for details.

147 examined, but is crucial to understanding the social dynamics between the East African immigrant communities from India. Nonetheless, an analysis of the organizations developed to oversee the affairs of these immigrant communities provides some insight on the matter.

The Indian Associations were some of the largest initiatives designed to cater to the political, economic and social needs of these immigrants. Numerous Indian organizations evolved over the course of this study, including one initiated specifically for the Ismaili community. In 1956, the Aga Khan initiated The Central Society of

Tanganyikan Muslims, with the following aims and objectives:

To foster and encourage unity amongst the Muslim communities of Tanganyika; by constitutional means to advise and assist the Muslims of Tanganyika territory in advancing their progress in religious, social, educational, cultural and economic welfare and matters relevant thereto; to form, foster help and create institutions for the common use and benefit of all Muslims; to settle by all possible means any differences and disputes that may arise between Muslims and/or Muslim institutions as and when requested to do so; to purchase, sell, transfer, dispose of, build and/or manage any property and/or land, or right over land in the exercise of attainments of the aims and objectives of the Society hereinabove set out.

The Society specifically excludes politics.

Qualifications and Admissions of Members: All Muslims over sixteen years of age residing in Tanganyika shall be eligible for membership.294

This organization was created in opposition to the direction taken by the Indian

Association, which according to the Ismaili leaders was largely a reflection of Hindu interests and agendas in the region, as reflected in the official stance taken by the non-

294 Government notes regarding The Central Society of Tanganyika Muslims, 21/5/1956, ABJ 52 and Constitution, Rules and Regulation of the Central Society of Tanganyika Muslims, 7/5/56, ABJ 52.

148 Ismaili Association and expressed in the first issue of the Asian Association Weekly, which was distributed on 15 July 1957:

In this first issue we intend to make a further effort to acquaint the public of our policy. This has become necessary because we have an impression that the Government and some people including some of our own member have not really understood our stand. We think the most controversial aspect of our position and policy is the fact that although we advocate non-racialism, we repeat non- racialism we still choose to stand and continue under an ostensibly racial banner namely Asian, and the fact that we have supported the universal adult franchise. The latter aspect is perhaps the most sensational. Of course it is sensational and it is new and as we look around we find that no organization composed of immigrant races in East or central Africa nay in the whole of Africa has yet made a solemn declaration supporting universal adult franchise when they know that they are in a hopeless minority.

This stand has been taken because we have learnt from the pages of history, especially in multi-racial African Territories that restricted franchise has been interpreted and looked upon by the vast masses as a vehicle of injustice and something that must be opposed and by struggle obliterated. Furthermore it is an imposition from the top, an arbitrary action and therefore does not even have the semblance of democracy. Then again only a fool will deny that today such restrictions to democracy are invented in Territories where minorities are in a privileged and advanced stage in comparison to the indigenous populace.

Our said stand has its foundation source not only in our conviction that today unlike the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, qualitative democracy must drive the masses to greater African racialism but germinates from practical politics in that by conceding the voting right to every citizen on the basis of nationality and not "equality for all civilised men" the greatest obstacle to building a Tanganyika nationhood irrespective of race will have been removed. But even this democratic right - and mind you no other yardstick has yet been found or accepted for a democracy except the universal adult franchise - is fiddled the reaction will be opposite to what the Government and some people hope for and that is, there will be an upsurge of nationalism and racialism. Again our stand is most reasonable because in Tanganyika the greatest number of people must be given the training in democracy and especially when there is not very great dispute amongst the

149 various political parties that the colonial office control and parity in Legco be retained for some time to come.

... but our grouse is that everything points today to the usual type of self Government namely monoracial and that is largely because the Government is not bold or big enough to take steps now to remove racial barriers say in schools, in administration, in social life and now in elections.

... we believe in non-racialism in every walk of life in Tanganyika now but as things stand today we know that by simply changing the name and constitution we will not change our composition much and hence is it necessary to create this futile misconception. But this does not mean that we are not conscious of the fact. We will act in this direction at the first opportune moment.295

The different objectives of the groups are evident in the above passages. While some of the ideals presented by one organization may have overlapped with those expressed by the other, perhaps the greatest point of contention was the manner in which their goals were articulated. The tone used by the Indian/Asian Association, whose members were predominantly Hindu, was almost in complete contrast to the one expressed by the

Ismaili Political Body. Furthermore, rather than using this body to engage with the colonial government, the Aga Khan insisted that his community's organization be one that was designed solely to inform his followers of their political options, to meet a communal need at a local level. The Central Society of Tanganyikan Muslims did not operate as body that directly engaged in the political affairs of the nation.

Relations within the Ismaili Community

In any plural society, it can be challenging for a community to maintain its distinct identity and sense of community, given its exposure to external influences and natural changes that occur over time. For the East African Ismailis, the Aga Khan

295 Asian Association Weekly, 15 July 1957, ABJ 10 (Asian Association).

150 constantly worked towards preserving his community's identity, developing new identifiers along religious, rather than racial lines. In fact, these new religious identifiers worked in opposition to the racial ones that were indirectly imposed by the British colonial system that was organized based on the division between the immigrants from

Europe, the immigrants from India and the Africans.

One of the ways the Aga Khan assisted in the process of preserving a distinct communal identity was by fostering and maintaining connections with all of his followers from throughout the British Empire and from around the world. In addition, he also encouraged Ismaili leaders to remain in touch with one another. The aim was for them to learn from each other's experiences, and guide each other through whatever trials and tribulations they were facing. These efforts to reinforce the communal Ismaili identity were essential to the development and enhancement of strong bonds between Ismailis from around the world.

Perhaps the most significant effort made by the Ismaili Imam occurred in July of

1952, when he held a conference in Evian, on Lake Geneva in France, for all of the leaders of the East African Ismailia community. It was attended by forty leaders, including the presidents of the Ismailia Supreme Council, the Provincial Councils and the

Ismailia Association, education administrators, the managing director of the Jubilee

Insurance Company and three members of the East African Legislative Council.296 This was an opportunity for Aga Khan III to guide the leaders of his community in areas that would benefit his followers in religious and worldly matters. A correspondence sent out

296 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 218.

151 from the Acting Chief Secretary to all of the heads of departments and Provincial

Commissioners on 29 November 1952 revealing a significant decision that had been

made at this conference. The Imam advised these leaders that the East African

community should look to the West rather than the East in the future, while identifying

themselves completely with the territories in which they resided.297 In turn, Gujarati was

gradually replaced by English as the medium of instruction throughout the Agakhan

Schools.298 This was significant because of the message it sent to the political leaders in

East Africa. It symbolized Ismailis' loyalty to the British Empire and became a trademark in what they believed to be their progress. Perhaps more importantly, from the

Ismaili community's perspective, it set the Ismailis apart from other immigrants from

India. Rather than attempting to overthrow the colonial system in which the Ismailis had

benefitted, it was hoped that this gesture offered the government a potential motive to offer the Ismailis special concessions in relation to the other immigrants from India.

Thus, if they subsequently required government assistance in dealing with their counterparts from India, it was hoped that Ismaili loyalty to the Crown, as expressed through these symbols, might be taken into consideration when determining official policy.

Another outcome of this conference was the decision to establish separate political committees for each East African territory, catering strictly for the Ismaili

Muslim community. As discussed in the previous chapter, prior to this conference, there

297 From Acting Chief Secretary to all heads of departments and Provincial Commissioners, 29 November 1952, A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Community). 298 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 220.

152 were no alternate political bodies the Ismailis could join and participate in. As a result,

many of them belonged to the Indian Associations of the territories in which they lived.

Once these Ismailia political bodies were established, however, Ismailis were instructed

by their leaders to stop attending the Indian Association meetings. In turn, a message was

sent to the government, informing colonial officials that the Ismaili community was

officially disassociating itself from all other Indian Associations, including the decisions

made by these political groups.

While the effects the Ismailis' withdrawal from the Indian Associations remains

obscure, this work analyzes the key events that contributed to this decision. Why was it so important for the Aga Khan to separate his community from the other immigrant

groups from the subcontinent? What was it that he was seeking to gain? How did the

fact that the Ismailis belonged to a wider diaspora contribute to the decisions made by the

leaders of the community and the Imam? This study acts as a lens through which we can

gain a better understanding of how this community not only survived but thrived in

colonial Tanganyika in the first half of the twentieth century.

To others, it might have seemed as though the Ismailis were focused solely on their progress at the expense of others. Members of the community did not seek to clarify their intentions, which exacerbated the existing stereotypes of Ismailis as insular, arrogant and money-hungry. For example, in a correspondence sent by Battershill, the Governor

153 of Tanganyika, and Cohen in the London Colonial Office on 10 April 1946, the Ismailis

in Tanganyika were described as "a community [that was] simply bulging with cash."299

Another way in which the Ismailis believed they were misunderstood was as a

result of the cooperatives and corporations they established to foster stronger bonds

between members of their own community. In an article entitled, "The Future of Ismailis

in Africa," Bahadurali K. S. Verjee, a lawyer, reported that there were sixteen Ismaili

cooperative societies in 1946. By working together, the Ismaili community sought to

maintain their community's identity in a society where one's identity and role were

somewhat defined by the government. Thus, rather than working with other immigrant

communities that might pose a religious threat, the Aga Khan established these

cooperatives in an effort to raise the social standing of his followers. In the Aga Khan's

mind, this offered his followers a sense of agency, enabling them to manoeuvre beyond the stratified system imposed by the British. These cooperatives, however, were seen by many as another attempt to advance the economic status of Ismailis at the expense of others. In fact, in the same article, Verjee advised the community that:

In course of time, with the deliberate - conscious and very desirable policy, that is followed by the East African Governments - for the advancement of the native population in every branch of economic activity, there is bound to be an appreciable rise in the standard of living of the indigenous population, and in consequence, there shall be a greater demand on its part for merchandise of every description. Our entrepreneurs can play here a very useful role with benefit to themselves - and the countries of their adoption.300

299 Government notes, 10 April 1946, CO 691/192 (The Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, 1946) 300 Verjee, Bahadurali K.S., "The Future of Ismailis in Africa," Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Year Book, 17 August 1885 - 17 August 1945 (Dar es Salaam: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 10 August 1946), 111.

154 Here, it is evident that there was a belief among some Ismailis that by working within the framework of government policy, their community would be assisting in the

"advancement" of Africans, which in turn would benefit the Ismailis economically. It was argued that once the Ismailis prospered from the colonial system, they could then work towards assisting others without fear of dismantling the very system in which they prospered. There is little doubt, however, that the primary goal of many Ismailis was to thrive economically, rather than to assist those they believed required "upliftment."

155 Chapter Six: The Development of Education for Immigrants from India in the Twentieth Century

The colonial system divided the educational system into four groups, catering to

the Africans,301 the Europeans, immigrants from the subcontinent and the other

immigrants. Immigrants from India pressed the colonial government in Tanganyika for

increased benefits for the development and management of their educational institutions.

This, however, perpetuated cleavages among these immigrant communities from the

subcontinent as they debated over the direction their educational institutions should take.

This chapter thus sets out to explore the development of the Agakhan educational system

in relation to the state of education for the other immigrant communities from India in

Tanganyika. The first section explores the emphasis placed upon education by the Aga

Khan in the twentieth century. Section two traces the inception of the education system

for all of the immigrant communities from India, while section three highlights the Aga

Khan's response to the direction taken by the other immigrant communities from the

subcontinent. More specifically, this section traces the evolution of the Aga Khan's

board of education, assigned the task of overseeing the Ismailia schools and liaising with

the colonial government, while the fourth section explores the growth of the Agakhan schools, which took place largely as a result of the efforts taken by the Ismaili board of education. The fifth section uncovers some of the obstacles all immigrant communities

faced with the colonial government in regards to their education and highlights the range

301 As outlined in the 1949 Annual Report, British colonial efforts concentrated mainly on African education, impacting government involvement in the education of non-Africans. See Cameron (1967).

156 of responses implemented by the different immigrant communities in response to these

challenges. The final section explores the issue of integration within both the Indian

central schools and the Agakhan schools.

The Importance of Education

Throughout the twentieth century, the one area that the Aga Khan consistently

encouraged his followers to excel in was education. Stressing that it was one's duty to

advance one's personal welfare, he argued that it was not just the book-learning one

obtained in school that was important. Rather, the education received every day of one's

existence by the very act of living, a process he referred to as life-long learning, was

essential. Included in the Aga Khan's twenty-first birthday souvenir that was distributed

among the jamats in East Africa, he said "you do not have to be a learned scholar to

discover in the every-day contacts of human life, the value of such qualities as integrity,

honesty, discipline and humility."302 This foundation, he argued, should be a basis upon

which all meaningful encounters should develop. Echoing imperial sentiments that

viewed education as a means of securing the younger generation's adherence to national

ideals including patriotism, good citizenship and moral training,303 the Aga Khan also

emphasized education as a vehicle to advance his community's standing in society as

productive contributors and citizens of the empire.

302 Aga Khan IV, "Speech by His Highness at the Second Installation Ceremony at Nairobi," 21" Birthday Souvenir: H. H. The Aga Khan's Tour of East Africa, (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismail ia Association, December 1957), 30. 303 J. A. Mangan, "Images for Confident Control: Stereotypes in Imperial Discourse," in J. A. Mangan, ed., The Imperial Curriculum: Racial images and education in the British colonial experience (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 17; Kathryn Castle, "The Imperial Indian: India in British History Textbooks for School, 1890-1914," in J. A. Mangan, ed., The Imperial Curriculum: Racial images and education in the British colonial experience (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 23.

157 There were many occasions where the Aga Khan expressed his belief that the

Muslims had long been in obscurity because of their social and economic stagnation,

which was often rooted, as he saw it, in false conceptions and misinterpretations of

Islamic ideals.304 This statement is significant when viewed in the context of the

educational debates that emerged in the subcontinent in the post-1857 period. Following

the Indian sepoy "mutiny,"305 the British asserted greater control over the educational

institutions in the colonies, in both the public and private spheres, to ensure that these

schools were not provoking Muslim students in India to rebel against the British.306

There were varied responses among the leading thinkers in India of the time. Thobani

highlights three educational responses, in particular. The approach taken by the Muslim

ulama set out to revive what they perceived to be the traditional Islamic educational

model that focused on instilling in its students "a renewed commitment to and observance

of Islam."307 The second approach was introduced by Syed Ahmed Khan who proposed a

system that centred on a modern approach to navigating the social and political changes

that accompanied the introduction of colonialism in British India. This required a curriculum that contextualized liberal education in an Islamic perspective, producing

modern leaders that could address the needs of the time through the application of traditional Islamic values and teachings. The last approach Thobani examines called for

304 Pickly, "Aga Khans and the British," 18. 305 The Indian "mutiny" or rebellion occurred in 1857 and was initiated by the sepoys of the British East India Company's army. It quickly erupted to include civilians, which posed a sizeable threat to the Company's presence in the subcontinent. Although the sepoys involved in the rebellion identified with a range of religious affiliations, many colonial officials suspected the Muslims of initiating the "mutiny," thus believing that Muslims posed the largest threat to their power. 306 Castle, "Imperial Indian," 36. 307 Shiraz Thobani, "Communities of Tradition and the Modernizing of Education in South Asia: The Contribution of Aga Khan III," in Farhad Daftary, ed., A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community, (London: I. B. Tauris & Co., 2011), 163.

158 education to be reconnected to the great classical traditions of Islam and apply them to a

"wider pan-Islamic legacy beyond the subcontinent."308

Within this debate, the Aga Khan's views seem to fall closest to Syed Ahmed

Khan's response to the increased control exerted by Britain over the education of

immigrants from India in the subcontinent, though not in all respects. With the transfer

of power from Company to colonial rule, Syed Ahmed Khan increasingly became

concerned about the reputation Muslims developed following the Rebellion. He

attempted to bridge the gap of understanding between his co-religionists and their

Christian rulers by developing a vast network of connections with Muslim leaders

throughout the subcontinent, which would provide him with a platform to launch his

social, educational and political initiatives.309 He advocated for education in an effort to

remove the misconceptions Muslims had about the colonial government. Initially, his

primary concern was the preservation of the Urdu-speaking elite, assigning this group the

responsibility of reconciling with British rule. Over time, however, he re-focused his

attention on the Muslim elite, aiming to eradicate the factors that prevented Muslims

from taking advantage of the opportunities created by modern education. Similarly, the

Aga Khan believed that if the Muslims wished to improve "their moral and material

welfare,"310 they had to increase their knowledge of and exposure to liberal education.

The Aga Khan's focus, however, was on his followers who came from a range of

economic backgrounds, rather than an elite group, which was the focus of Syed Ahmed

308 Thobani, "Communities ofTradition," 164. 309 Robinson, Separatism, 89-90, 94. 310 Pickly, "Aga Khans and the British," 18.

159 Khan. It was for these reasons that he focused so heavily on the cause of education in

Tanganyika.

Along similar lines, in an interview for the Tanganyikan Standard, the Aga Khan emphasized the need for education not only for his followers, but also for Africans. His

views were not only conservative, they had strong imperial tones to them. He argued that

real progress in Africa could only occur with the advancement of the African. In his

words, "the future of Tanganyika does not lie with the settler or the Indian, but with the

African. The advancement of the African is the foundation of progress."311 Although he acknowledged the progress that had already been initiated, he believed that it was occurring too slowly. Since the territory was still in its "babyhood," processes of change needed to be maximized before people became entrenched in their ways, which in his mind would present an obstacle to real development. Thus, he argued that Tanganyika, which had tremendous potential in the Aga Khan's mind, should build from within, from the ground up, on the foundation of African prosperity. "You will get nowhere if you regard Tanganyika as a sort of plantation, from which crop is to be exported and for which Africans provide the labour,"312 he said. There is little evidence to suggest however, that the Aga Khan made as concerted an effort to improve the conditions of

African education, even African Muslim education, as he did with the educational conditions of his followers. His priority rested first and foremost with his followers.

311 Aga Khan III, "H.H The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika," 7. 312 Aga Khan III, "H.H The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika," 7.

160 The educated African, the Aga Khan argued, would not topple the British colonial structure. Rather, recognizing and capitalizing on each other's strengths would ensure that the relationships between these groups were based more on cooperation, rather than competitiveness. The Aga Khan was not necessarily advocating for the boundaries separating these groups to be blurred. He suggested instead that since the immigrants from India were perceived as efficient merchants carrying out the "duka" trade, perhaps this was an area they could oversee, whereas other professions, such as higher level

banking, could be assigned to the Europeans. If these sectors of society worked towards

bettering the status of Africans, increased cooperation between Europeans and the immigrants from India would ensure the steady economic progress of the majority of

population, without jeopardizing the system in which his followers flourished. Once the

Africans attained a level of independence, he argued, society would be better positioned to rebuild as a whole. Progress could then be made in the interests of all, as a natural

process rather than it being imposed from above. This, the Aga Khan believed would be a real indicator of society's true progress and advancement.313 Aside from these appeals, there is little to suggest that he implemented any long-termed plans towards achieving this vision, with the exception of the development of the East African Muslim Welfare

Society.314

The Aga Khan's conventional views were not limited to the issue of African education. As discussed in Chapter Four, in a firman made to his followers, the Imam explained that if a father had two children, a son and a daughter, and could only afford to

313 Aga Khan III, "H.H The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika," 7. 314 For more information on the East African Muslim Welfare Society, see Chapter Three.

161 educate one of them, the daughter should be educated.315 The rationale was that a boy had other options open to him that would not require formal education. "A man can go anywhere, sleep anywhere, and support himself; a woman needs an education to enable her to earn the money she may need and the shelter she may require."316 Without education, women's economic prospects were much more limited, which could potentially create a system of their dependency on men. In addition, if a woman were to have children, they would be more influenced by her as the mother since she would likely

be the one who spent the most amount of time with them. If the mother was educated, she would be in a better position to pass on these ideals and teachings to her children while they were at a young age, which was a crucial period of development.317 Thus, by educating the daughter, one could build for the future for she bore the burden of uplifting the next generation of Ismailis.

Beginnings of Education for Immigrants from India

According to government records, there was a school opened in Tanganyika for boys from the subcontinent during the German period that had one teacher offer instruction in their vernacular language. It also appears as though there was an Agakhan school, held at the local Ismailia Jamatkhana in Dar es Salaam from 1914, catering to six grades or standards.318 Whereas this school seems to have survived the First World War,

315 Paul Kaiser, Culture, Transnationalism, and Civil Society: Aga Khan Social Service Initiatives (Connecticut, USA: Praeger Publishers, 1996), 51 sourced from a firman; Aziz cites a speech made by Aga Khan III at the Transvaal Muslim League in Johannesburg on 12 August 1945, (Aziz, Selected Speeches, 1211-1212). 316 Adatia and King, "Some East African Firmans," 187. 317 Kjellberg, "Ismailis in Tanzania," 26; Aga Khan III, Speech at the Transvaal Muslim League, Johannesburg, 12 August 1945, cited in Aziz, Selected Speeches, 1211-1212. 318 Sir Edward Twining, "Message from His Excellency," 5.

162 the general Indian school ceased to exist after 1917. This left the broader community of

immigrants from India without formal education from that point onwards, despite the

strong desire for one. As such, education of any kind for young children fell solely on their parents and the community after 1917, which created an unbalanced, narrowly focused form of schooling.319 It limited the growth of each child since the most they could learn depended on the level of education their parents received, a process which in

most cases fell on the mothers' shoulders who were largely the ones that stayed home

with the children. This situation persisted until after World War I, when Tanganyika

became a mandated territory of Britain. According to the government, immigrants from

India "did not think it advisable to request the British Government to reopen the school and to add difficulty to its financial embarrassment."320

It was not until March 1920, when a mass meeting was called by the Indian

Association to start the drive for collecting funds to establish an Indian Public School in

Dar es Salaam, that the issue of education for immigrants from India was formally addressed. A little over a year later, in August 1921, the Lok Tilak Memorial School321 was opened with a total of 21 boys and 2 girls enrolled, who were led by one Gujarati teacher. Over a period of less than four years, the number of boys enrolled in the school jumped from 21 to 90 and the number of girls increased from 2 to 45. Three other teachers and a mistress were added to the staff. In terms of curriculum, the Indian school

319 From the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Educational Society to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 12 March 1925,7682. 320 From the Honorary Secretary of The Indian Educational Society to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 12 March 1925, 7682. 321 Lok. Tilak (1856-1920) was viewed as one of the early Indian Nationalists.

163 had the same content as the government and grant-in-aid schools in India, with the vernacular Gujarati being taught up until Standard VI and English up to Standard III.322

If the Indian Central School's curriculum was established along the same lines as the schools in India, to what extent was an attempt made to integrate into Tanganyikan society? The curriculum and the languages in which it was taught were rooted in their homelands, providing insight on how these immigrants viewed the colony, namely as a temporary stop on their way to economic prosperity in the homelands.

In 1925, the Director of Education informed the Chief Secretary that immigrants from India had a desire to eventually be relieved of the financial responsibility of the education of their children after obtaining grants-in-aid to help shoulder this burden. He also revealed that these immigrants wished to have a more distinguished status than the

Africans, who were granted the right to free elementary education, a right offered to every citizen "who [could] benefit by it" in the territory.323 Their request to be given preferential treatment sheds insight on their understanding of their positioning in society; that is, having an elevated status in relation to the African communities.

In response, the Director of Education argued that as long as the immigrants from

India wished to preserve their identity by encouraging the use of their vernacular language, Gujarati, for commercial purposes rather than adopt the medium of elementary education used throughout the region, the community as a whole would have to bear the financial responsibility of educating their youth. The Director of Education felt it was

322 From the Honorary Secretary of The Indian Educational Society to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 12 March 1925,7682. 323 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925, 7017.

164 "improbable that [the] Government will decide to assist only in schools in which English is taught."324

From the 1925 Tanganyika report, we learn that there were a total of 26 Indian schools throughout the territory with an approximate enrolment of 1,100 students.325 At that time, the education of immigrants from India was financed solely by the communities that operated the schools and did not receive any financial assistance from the government. The year 1925 may be considered a turning point on the issue, however, since proposals were sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies by members of the immigrant communities from India, who sought to establish an Indian Central School in the region of Dar es Salaam, operating in accordance with government regulations.

Contrastingly, the leaders of the Ismaili community, operating as representatives of the

Aga Khan, were noticeably unsupportive of this plan,326 the reasons for which will be explored later in this chapter.

In total, there were four schools in Dar es Salaam that catered to the immigrants from India in 1925: The Lok Tilak, the Agakhan School, the Hindu Free School and the

Bohora School. Of the four, the only nondenominational school was the Lok Tilak

School and was thus the only institution that was qualified to received government funding and support. There were a total of 120 students enrolled, of which 66 percent were boys and the remaining 34 percent were girls. There were twice as many Hindus

324 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925,7017. 325 Report by His Britannic Majesty's Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Tanganyika Territory for the year 1925 falls back on the 1921 Census reports for population figures, which totalled 9,411 British immigrants from India, pg. 24 and 72. 26 1925 Annual Report Tanganyika Territory, 72, AB 13.

165 enrolled as Muslims, which would later be cited by some Muslims as a justification for communal schools as in their minds, this numerical inferiority threatened the religiosity of their Muslim children. The Hindu Free School had a total of 70 boys and 30 girls; whereas the Bohora School, which the Director of Education described as being in a state that was a "little short of a nightmare," had a total of 51 pupils enrolled in it.

On the other hand, the Agakhan School catered to 194 boys and 120 girls. The

Director of Education pointed out that the standard of the school building surprised him.

One expects the Ismailis to be fairly progressive and as they are not generally a poor community, it is disappointing to find that they have not made a greater effort to equip their school more efficiently and to make better provision for the welfare of their children...There is a plot of ground, now a vegetable garden, directly in front of the school building and belonging to the community, which should obviously be the school playground. I am informed however that regardless of the interests of the younger generation, this land is to be put to other community uses and the school will continue to be without a playground for recreation during school intervals and for instruction in physical drill. Provision is however made at the community club for games in the afternoon.

This was especially worrisome to the Director because the Agakhan School had the largest enrolment and thus was reflective of the conditions in which many children from the subcontinent were being educated in. As discussed earlier in this chapter, according to British imperial ideals, these conditions would not have created responsible, honourable boys, whose priorities and goals centred on the preservation of the Empire and the values it represented. The next section examines how the Ismaili community

327 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925, 7017.

166 responded to these concerns, and how this was used to persuade the government to

reconsider its decision to financially support only nondenominational institutions.

Management and Organization of the Agakhan School Network

The Aga Khan placed a heavy responsibility on those assigned the task of

managing educational affairs throughout the territory, as reflected in the following quote

by a prominent Ismaili lawyer, Verjee:

It is the bounden duty of those placed at the helm of educational affairs of the Community to formulate - and carry out an educational policy that will bear close and definite relationship to the economic structure of the Community. They must fully realise that by virtue of their appointment, they occupy ... the most important of the great offices of the Community - and accordingly bear the greatest responsibility to it. That great Greek philosopher Plato has observed 'children are a man's riches, the greatest of his possession, and the whole fortune of his house depends on whether they turn out ill or well. So long as the young generation is and continues to be well brought up, our ship of the state will have a fair voyage: otherwise the consequences - are better left unspoken.' This quotation informs us how greatly the welfare of the Community depends upon its younger generation and what great pains should be taken to inculcate the right type of education in our children - as otherwise it is better not to speculate about the consequences that may follow.328

Verjee, a resident of Uganda, submitted this article to an Ismaili magazine that was distributed throughout East Africa. In it, he discussed the responsibilities assigned to the

Ismaili institutional body designated to oversee the state of education in the East African colonies and act as a liaison between the community and the governments to which they were accountable. The leaders of this body were encouraged, according to Verjee, to

328 Verjee, "Future of Ismailis in East Africa," 111.

167 read - re-read and digest this direction received from [the Imam] - and take appropriate steps to devise and implement an educational policy with full aid - and co-operation of the Governments of East Africa, that will produce a generation - which shall not only be an asset to the Community but - a positive gain to the countries of their adoption - or if you prefer their 'home land' - namely East Africa.329

Developed to oversee the progress, organization and management of the Agakhan

schools throughout the territory, the Aga Khan instituted the Agakhan Education Board in

Tanganyika.330 The Board included a Department of Education, headed by an

administrator who was appointed by the Aga Khan and was responsible for overseeing

the general operation of the schools in the district. It was the administrator's duty to

submit to the Aga Khan an annual report on the school's finances and activities.

Assisting the administrator was a deputy and two executive officers. All of the Agakhan

schools throughout the territory, which numbered somewhere around 50, were funded by

the Education Fund. This consisted primarily of private donations, much of which came

from the Aga Khan himself.

The Aga Khan's Central Board of Education was the body that regulated religious and secular education, which was imparted either for free or at a nominal fee. In many cases, books were also provided at no cost. Scholarships to cover other expenses such as travel and accommodations were also granted to those in financial need, enabling them to continue their studies rather than be forced to seek employment at a young age.331 As a result of these efforts, the Ismailis had the largest number of educational institutions of all the minority communities in the region, in turn educating a sizeable portion of their

329 Verjee, "Future of Ismailis in East Africa," 112. 330 Kaiser, Transnationalism, 25. 331 "The Aga Khan's Ismailia Councils," 26.

168 students. In 1938, for example, there were 450 students enrolled at the Agakhan Girls

School in Dar es Salaam and 426 at the Agakhan Boys School, totalling 876.

Contrastingly, in the same year, the government central school had 298 students enrolled

and an additional 502 in the junior school, with a combined roll of 800.332

1945 witnessed a shift in the operations and management of the Ismaili schools

across the territory. In that year, the Aga Khan introduced a few changes to the

"constitution" of the Ismailia community in East Africa, specifically in the administration

of Ismaili education. From that point onwards, in place of the Ismailia Central and

Provincial Boards of Education, which were authorized to correspond with the territorial

governments in East Africa on issues related to Ismaili education, the Aga Khan created a

new body entitled, His Highness the Aga Khan's Central Council of Education for Africa,

connecting his network on a wider basis, in turn enhancing the control the leaders of the

community had over each school. In turn, the administrators of the Agakhan schools

worked more as a collective, under the direction of the Ismaili leaders, which in the

leaders' minds, increased the efficiency of their educational network. Previously,

administrators were appointed to represent the respective Territories they were assigned

and dealt with all matters related to the educational welfare of the Ismaili community in their regions while the new Central Council acted as a body that was authorized to deal with all of the governments throughout East Africa.333 The Council consisted of one person from each of the Territories of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. The

332 Government notes, 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 333 From H. H. the Agakhan's Executive Council, Zanzibar to the Chief Secretary, 12 Dec 1945, 32497.

169 first meeting of the Council took place in Dar es Salaam on November 12, 1945.334 This

initiative ensured the increased centralization of education throughout East Africa and

aided the process of expansion of the Agakhan school network from a range of

institutions that taught up to six standards to a diversified educational network that

catered to the different sectors and academic interests of the Ismaili community.

The Agakhan School System

In a message sent by the Governor of Tanganyika, Edward Twining describes the

evolution of the Agakhan Schools from its beginnings in 1914 as a small religious school

held in the Ismailia Jamatkhana, to a building catering to "well over a thousand pupils"

who received education in all twelve standards by 1953. 335 To Twining, the expansion

and growth that had taken place since the First World War revealed "the importance

attached by the followers of His Highness the Aga Khan to education and [he hoped] that

every boy [was] taking full advantage of the opportunities offered to him in this

school."336

Change within the Ismaili community was not always smooth, despite having a

single leader to whom members pledged their loyalties. Perhaps the most glaring

example of this can be seen in one of the areas the Aga Khan focused on the most,

education. While many Ismailis felt as though they were the most "progressive" among

the immigrants from India, their educational goals did not always reflect this. Generally

as a community, there was a great deal of emphasis placed upon trade. After all, this was

334 "Ismaili Education," The Tanganyika Standard, 12 November 1945, 32497. 335 Sir Edward Twining, "Message of His Excellency," 5. 336 Sir Edward Twining, "Message from His Excellency," 5.

170 the underpinning of their presence in the region. It was also common to find young boys being encouraged to withdraw from higher schooling to take up positions in their family's business or even a family friends' business. In response, the Aga Khan commercial and vocational schools were initiated.

According to the Ismaili publication entitled "The Torch, 1953" the Agakhan commercial and vocational school was composed of two different units or sections: the commercial section and the vocational unit. The commercial section sought to prepare its students through subjects such as book-keeping, typewriting, shorthand, commercial correspondence and English. According to the 1953 annual report, many students endeavoured to complement the courses at their day schools with these commercial courses that were offered in the evening. Given the fact that the commercial courses did not exist at any of the day schools in Dar es Salaam, this institution filled a vital need of society given that such a large portion of the Ismailia community engaged in commercial ventures. On the other hand, the vocational section was largely developed to cater to female students. The courses offered included tailoring, cutting and stitching, which were offered in the morning, afternoons and evenings, enabling students to attend classes around their domestic and religious responsibilities. Both streams thus encouraged students to continue their education by addressing their commercial and vocation needs and interests.

Space was an issue for both of the programs offered at the school. The building in which it was held had only three rooms. As a result, the vocational program served a

171 maximum number of 100 students, while the commercial unit had availability for 60.337

Annually, new areas of study were introduced to both sections. For example, courses on

artificial flower making and cooking were introduced in the vocational unit while the

commercial section launched a series of lectures by prominent businessmen flown in

from the capital to speak to the demands of the business world.

An article entitled "Social Welfare Among the Ismaili Khojas," written by Zarina

E. G. Currimbhoy, an Ismaili woman, reveals that members of the Ismaili community

stressed the importance of education to one another, serving to reinforce the Aga Khan's

advice on the importance of education:

Although in the last few years since the High Schools have been established the number of children receiving education is on the increase, yet the rise is not as much as expected in spite of the facilities for free education given to deserving and needy children. The reason can be that a correct appreciation of the need for education has not dawned on the parents yet. In the community as a whole, there are lawyers, doctors and men in the administrative services. There are men who have gone up high in life, but the number is infinitesimal as compared to the whole community. An effort must be made to raise the social as well as the economic conditions of a large group of people if the community is to survive and make its contribution with the other communities in the life of the Nation.338

Through articles such as these, members of the community attempted to inspire each other but also reinforce their understandings of the Imam's messages.

337 "HHTAK Commercial and Vocational School Report," The Torch: Agakhan Schools: In Commemoration of the 40lh Anniversary (Dar es Salaam: H. H. The Agakhan Boys School in co-operation with H. H. The Agakhan Girls School, H. H. The Agakhan Commercial and Vocational Schools as well as H. H. The Agakhan Nursery School, 1953), 25. 338 Zarina E. G. Currimbhoy, "Social Welfare Among the Ismaili Khojas," Salgreh Number (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 13 December 1958), 11.

172 The Agakhan schools also held religious courses, which was not a unique trend

since most schools in Tanganyika offered a religious education component. What made

their curriculum unique was the form that religious education took on throughout the

Agakhan educational network. Ismaili philosophy emphasized that little success could be

achieved without religious education. As a result, Ismaili theology was weighted equally

with other subjects in all of the Agakhan schools. The religious educational curriculum

offered at these schools offered a unique opportunity for the Ismaili youth to learn about

their interpretation of Islam. Focused specifically on the centrality of the Imam, Ismailia

religious education reinforced the values, ethics, teachings and ideologies specific to the

Ismaili community, bearing little relevance to other immigrants in the region. The goal

was to ensure that their children were offered clear, concise and comprehensible religious

education, in turn being:

thoroughly acquainted with the fundamentals of our Holy Faith, and the Spiritual role of our present Lord Hazar Imam. Real and true intellectual understanding of our Holy Faith will bring spontaneous loyalty to our Imame [sic] Zaman, the Lord of the Age, and will bring realisation upon every Ismaili - about his priceless possession in Hazar Imam.339

There was a prescribed syllabus supplied by the Ismailia Association for this purpose,

which was introduced at the nursery school level and continued up to high school.

Throughout all levels, the centrality of the Imam was emphasized.340

339 Verjee, "Future of Ismailis in East Africa," 112. 340 N. Thobani, "Religious Education," Golden Jubilee Souvenir: H. H. Agakhan Schools, Mombasa 1918- 1968, (Kenya: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association), 28.

173 Besides imparting secular and religious education, the Agakhan schools took a

great deal of pride in focusing on the physical education of their pupils. Even after

students completed their schooling, they were encouraged to participate in the local sports

clubs, which offered a variety of sports including soccer, volleyball, cricket, swimming,

boxing, tennis, hockey, table tennis, badminton, rounders and netball. The schools in the

region would gauge their successes by participating in inter-school competitions and

friendly matches against other Indian schools, inter-house tournaments and even

competitions with other Agakhan Schools throughout East Africa.341

These goals paralleled imperial values that formed a large basis upon which the

British public school system had developed, a system which served as a vehicle of

transmission of the Victorian ideals of chivalry and gentlemanly ethic. In mid-nineteenth century Britain, there was an increased belief that the common good was best served by the realization of the need for collective responsibility. Some believed that the training one acquired on the games field would form the basis of courage and communal loyalty,

in turn creating "responsible, honourable boys, willing to give their lives unquestionably

to the preservation and expansion of Empire."342 The qualities of authority, discipline, team spirit and physical agility were valuable assets to the imperialist mission. To assist in this realization, games were incorporated into the public school curriculum and

341 N. Thobani, "Sports Activities in our Schools," Golden Jubilee Souvenir: H. H. Agakhan Schools, Mombasa 1918-1968, (Kenya: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association), 105. 342 Mangan, Athleticism, 8.

174 suitable facilities were built. In turn, the public schools evolved into a "mint for the

coining of Empire builders."343

Obstacles Immigrants from India faced with Education

In 1939, the Provincial Development Committee of Lake Province344 held a

meeting to discuss the state of education for immigrants from India. From the minutes

we learn that approximately ninety percent of the trade that was carried out in the

province was overseen by immigrants from India, which was used to convince the

government to focus more attention on the quality and direction of education this segment

of the population received given their involvement in trade. One area that required

special attention, it was decided, was the course offerings in the school curriculum.

Allibhai, an Ismaili representative, commented that the field of business was very saturated and the future looked bleak for children who wanted to enter that industry.

Instead, he suggested that more concrete efforts be made to expose future generations of

immigrants from India to other fields, diverting their attention to areas with which they may be less familiar but ones that might spark their interests. The first step in achieving this, Allibhai argued, was to expose them to and prepare them for futures in other occupations using the school curriculum.345

Another area of concern was the syllabus implemented in Indian schools. Prior to the late 1920s, individual school boards were left to manage the curriculum with little to

345 Mangan, Athleticism, xxv. Tanganyika was divided into a number of provinces, largely based in their geographic locations. Lake Province, for example, refers to the area surrounding Lake Victoria. 345 Extracts of the minutes of the Provincial Development Committee, Lake Province, 11/3/1939,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

175 no government guidance or regulations. Towards the end of 1928, however, the first syllabus specifically catered to immigrants from India was adopted by the Indian

Advisory Committee on Education, which was then called the Indian Education Board.

This body managed the development of education of immigrants from India in their respective colonies similar to the other Advisory Boards assigned the responsibility of overseeing the state of education for the diverse ethnic groups throughout the empire.346

Though this was a modest beginning, over the next four years, the Indian Advisory

Committee determined that some modifications were necessary to ensure that the syllabus was relevant and applicable to the students for whom it was designed. As a result, in

May 1932, a syllabus committee was established and consisted of the Headmaster of the

Indian central school, which was undenominational; Mr. P. G. Padhye, who was the

Headmaster of the Agakhan School; and Mr. B.D. Patel, the Senior Assistant Master of the Indian central school.347

In the report they compiled in December 1932, the committee made the following recommendations:

That it should be suitable to the standard achieved by the pupils both with regard to their mental and intellectual progress; that it should not be beyond the range of the ability of the majority of the pupils taught; that it should contain subjects - known as bread and butter subjects - which would be of great value and usefulness to the pupils in life viz. commercial subjects like English and

346 Examples of other non-African Advisory Boards: the Goan Advisory Board, the Seychellois Advisory Board and the European Advisory Board. 347 Report of Syllabus Committee, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.).

176 Vernacular Book-keeping, Shorthand, Typewritting [sic], Geography etc that its aim should be to turn out good and useful citizens.348

The first issue they tackled was whether the existing syllabus, in the 11 years it spanned,

offered the students enough time to reach the Bombay matriculation standard, or a level

of education that would prepare them for post-secondary schooling. Given the fact that

the standard of English at any English university, such as London or Cambridge, was

higher than that of the Bombay matriculation and that the curriculum being implemented

in Tanganyika needed to be at the very least that of the latter level, the committee

unanimously recommended that at least one year should be added to the 11 years the

previous syllabus spanned, if not two.

Similarly, they also discussed whether "modern" languages should be taught in

their schools. They determined that they would not include instruction in languages such as Sanskrit, Persian, French or Latin, which they felt had little relevance in the students'

lives.349 This because they felt the English component of the examination was challenging enough for students whose first language was not English. Any additional

language courses would push the standard of the syllabus beyond the grasp of the average ability of many of the students who attended their schools, especially given that "the children of the domiciled communities [had] to face the hard-work of mastering their own vernacular - Gujarati or Urdu as the case may be - whose place [was] taken by Swahili in

348 Report of Syllabus Committee, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.). 349 Report of Syllabus Committee, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.).

177 their homes; and the number of such pupils, as you know, is not small."350 Thus, they decided to retain the teaching of Gujarati, the vernacular language, as the additional language required for the matriculation examination.

Thus, at the end of their deliberations, the Committee concluded that the courses it would like to see included in the curriculum were: English, geography, Gujarati, elementary mathematics, physics (experimental mechanics, heat, light and sound), and either book-keeping and shorthand or physiology and hygiene.351 These recommended courses revealed the committee's desire to see immigrants from India continue to be trained in areas that would serve them best as traders or accountants. These professions were typically viewed by the British as being suitable for immigrants from the subcontinent whom they viewed as "representatives of civilizations in decline" that could operate in between the spheres of the "civilized" professions and the "self-indulgent

[African] sunk in tropical abundance."352 By focusing on these areas offering instruction in vocational training, the Directors of Education argued, the government had the opportunity to transmit these values to an increasing number of immigrants from India who were leaving school early to assist their families who might have already established themselves in these careers. Subjects such as history, geography and English were also introduced throughout the British Empire, which as Mangan argues were developed in a

350 Report of Syllabus Committee, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.). 351 Report of Syllabus Committee, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.). 352 Mangan, "Images for Confident Control," 17.

178 manner that perpetuated political inequalities. Embedded in the curriculum, for example,

were lessons that created and reinforced racial stereotypes of the colonized.353

Nonetheless, during his 1945 visit to East Africa, the Aga Khan observed that it

was "noticeable that both the Indian and indigenous communities [were] better dressed,

look to be better fed and generally more prosperous than they were seven years ago. The

chief impression [seemed] to be a note of optimism in the future." He continued to say

that he had "already noticed a great advance in [education] and ... [hoped] that much

more [would] be done during the next eight years."354 More specifically, the Aga Khan

advised his representatives to educate the youth along vocational and technical lines but

he also commented on how much need there was for agriculturalists.355 He did not

believe, however, that further migration from India was needed to meet these needs.

Rather, sometime around 1945 he advised his followers in the subcontinent not to migrate

to East Africa, arguing that he wanted to see the East African immigrants from India take

advantage of these economic opportunities. This because, in the Aga Khan's view, "there

[were] as many Indians [there] as these countries [could], at the present moment and

circumstances, accommodate economically at [that] stage of their development."356

In spite of this, even as late as 1947, vocational training had yet to be fully

developed. The push to include additional commercial subjects in the Indian school

353 Mangan, "Images for Confident Control," 16-17; Castle, "Imperial Indian," 37. 354 "Aga Khan's Views on World Affairs: Future of East Africa," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Vol. II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan). 355 "Aga Khan's Views on World Affairs: Future of East Africa," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Vol. II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan). 356 "Aga Khan's Views on World Affairs: Future of East Africa," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945, 24612, Vol. II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan).

179 curriculum continued to increase. The colonial government, however, stated that they did

not believe that it was desirable for them to include vocational training in the curriculum,

nor did they think it was possible. Yet, these officials recognized a need for further

commercial education in the regions of Dar es Salaam and Tanga and thus, worked

towards including it in the syllabi in the future.357

While the Indian Central School was forced to rely on the state to integrate these

fields in the curriculum as discussed in the previous section of this chapter, the Agakhan

Boys School in Dar es Salaam introduced both commercial and vocational training

without government support or assistance. The only other option children had to receive

training in these areas was from a private commercial school managed and operated by

professionals from India.

In addition to the obstacles immigrants from India faced in developing an adequate curriculum, they also struggled to find professionals to oversee the

implementation of it. One of the largest barriers the Indian community faced, especially the Ismailis, was finding certified teachers who held the appropriate educational qualifications required by the government but who also had the necessary background required for instruction in religious studies.358 Given the lack of adequate teacher training facilities throughout East Africa, the community had to rely mainly on a supply

357 From the Chief Secretary to the Tanganyika Indian Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, 3 July 1947, 36096 (Commercial Education in Indian Schools). 358 From the Agakhan's School Committee, Mafia to the Acting Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 10 June 1938, E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia).

180 of teachers who were recruited from the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, most of the government qualified candidates were Hindus.

This trend can be traced to the increasing suspicion with which the ulama viewed the British education system and the resultant withdrawal of many Muslim students from western school systems and teacher training programs throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as explored in Chapter One. Furthermore, in light of the theological differences between Hinduism and Islam and the rise of religiously divided private schools in the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most Hindu teachers in twentieth century Tanganyika did not have a firm grounding in the Ismaili faith or tariqa which, according to the Imam's interpretation of Islam, was to be integrated in all areas of study, given his perceived connectedness between faith and practice. All secular teachings thus had to be rooted in the values and ethics of Islam.

Even though the school's managing body had a pool of local candidates to select from, the community was in search of teachers who would ensure that their interpretation of the faith permeated all aspects of the syllabus. Selecting a member from the local Ismaili community to lead nightly religious classes was not a viable option since they would not be connecting these religious ideals to the secular teachings offered at their academic institutions.

Given that so many Ismailis were encouraged to pursue commercial interests, or oversee their household duties, there was a shortage of Ismailis entering teaching professions, which limited the number of qualified personnel who could integrate the

181 specific values and ethics of the Ismailism into the curriculum. This then created

generations of children who were not exposed to the interpretations of the faith that

connected the material and spiritual aspects of the content they were learning. While this

concern may not have been unique to the Ismailis, given their ongoing push for increased

government support of their educational institutions, this was one of the most pressing

concerns articulated to educational officials.

It is in this context that teachers who were no more than eighteen years of age

began being appointed in the 1930s to facilitate the curriculum in the Agakhan schools.

Many of these instructors were not qualified as teachers and had no previous teaching

experience. While this may have been a common trend throughout other colonies in the

Empire, including Canada, the Acting Director of Education found these conditions

highly inadequate and called for a detailed inspection from the school inspector to help

determine if the Ismaili school should be considered for the assisted list (government

financial assistance).359 This was being used as a way to potentially reduce or eliminate

the government funding these schools were receiving. The real issue in the minds of the

Ismaili leaders, however, rested with the government and the lack of government supported teacher training facilities.

At the 1938 conference of the Directors of Education from Kenya, Uganda,

Tanganyika and Zanzibar, there was an acknowledged need to invest in the training of

potential teachers at the schools for immigrants from India but the Directors concluded

359 From the Acting Director of Education to the Honorary Secretary of the Agakhan Provincial Education Board, Dar es Salaam, 6 May 1938, E 1/8 (Education: Indian School - Mafia).

182 that this issue did not warrant government investment. They argued that the supply

would not justify the expenditure that was required to develop courses for teacher

training.360 The Directors of Education admitted that it was unlikely that teachers who

were trained in India and who had good qualifications would leave their homelands to

take advantage of job opportunities in East Africa. They stated, however, that the

government had no other option but to rely on them for continued support. In the

meantime, teachers with local experience in the territory's assisted schools could be

utilized.361 As a result, immigrants from India were left fending for themselves,

searching for locally qualified teachers that met the government's certification standards

as well as the religious grounding that would be required of them.

Even as late as 1947, there is evidence of this persistent issue. In 1947, the

government inspector of Indian schools, I. A. Talib, revealed that the teacher shortages in

the schools for immigrants from the subcontinent continued to be a barrier for the

community. He observed that many of the Indian schools had only one teacher, who was

forced to facilitate multiple grades. One explanation offered for this was that many

teachers were unwilling to stay in "the bush" or the smaller villages, even though they

were offered a higher salary than the maximum fixed by the government.362 Despite the

Aga Khan's belief that the continued migration of immigrants from the subcontinent to

the colony was not necessary and that established immigrants would be able to fill the

need for teachers, the government believed otherwise. They felt there was a trend of

360 Extract from the Proceedings of Conference of Directors of Education of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, May 1938,25545 (Indian Education -General Policy). 361 Government Notes, 24 January 1938,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 362 From the Government inspector of Indian Schools, 1947, 970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

183 decline in the number of migrants from India to East Africa. Unless the government was

willing to develop institutions that would help train the local immigrants in these areas,

however, there continued to be a need to fill these positions through an ongoing process

of migration.

The perception of a shortage in the number of immigrants from India migrating to

the colony was addressed among government officials as early as the late 1930s. A

suggestion was made that Africans should be trained to take the place of immigrants in a

number of the fields in which migrants from the subcontinent held a monopoly. Many of

the leaders from the Indian Association saw value in such a policy, but they felt that it

was necessary to first ensure that immigrants from the subcontinent were being

adequately trained for these positions before considering Africans for these fields. The

major obstacle to this, the Indian Association argued, was that there was a lack of

adequate facilities to educate local immigrants from India to the standards required to fill

many of the posts. In response, the Director of Education commented that he would like

to see the Indian Association taking more of a lead in remedying this situation, rather

than having them rely solely on the government to initiate change in this area.363

These sorts of remarks provoked resentment among many of the immigrant

communities in Tanganyika that openly expressed disappointment with what was

perceived as a lack of attention being paid to the education of their children. Many

criticized the government for expecting immigrants to make more of a concerted effort

363 Extracts from draft notes of Standing Finance Committee Meeting at the Budget Sessions, 1937,25545 (Indian Education -General Policy).

184 towards resolving these issues when they believed these expectations were not being

made of Europeans. When the 1937 education report was published, immigrants from

India submitted articles to The Tanganyika Opinion and other community newspapers,

sharing their thoughts with other readers. One article, published on 27 October 1938,

argued that the report revealed that despite the uniform system of taxation that was being

imposed by the government across the segments of society, immigrants from India were

not being offered the same sort of educational opportunities as others in the territory.364

The paramount complaint was the disparity between the consideration that was given to

the European and Indian schools in the interior. The expenditure spent on each

European pupil increased from 17.11 shillings in 1931-32 to 26.49 in 1937, whereas the

amount spent on each child from the subcontinent rose from 9.22 to just 12.64 during the

same time period.365 Furthermore, members of the broader immigrant community from

the subcontinent argued that in contrast to the attention paid to the issue of European education in the report, the Inspector failed to include any details on the conditions of

Indian schools. The writer of the article described this disparity as an indicator of the

"step-motherly treatment" or discrimination (s)he felt immigrants from India were receiving.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the writer of another article published on

27 October 1938 was that there were no provisions being made by the government to increase the number of schools in the interior for the immigrants from India. (S)he also criticized the government for only having one government-run school that taught up to a

364 Cutting from The Tanganyika Opinion, 27 October 1938,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 365 Cutting from The Tanganyika Opinion, 27 October 1938, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

185 university examination level. As a result, many immigrants from India proposed to send their children to Makerere, the Uganda higher college. This would require that children

from the subcontinent study alongside Africans, which went against the racially divided system imposed by the British. In turn, the Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed a commission to investigate the state of higher education in East Africa, which reported

that given the number of the immigrants from India who financially contributed to the

territory and their status as British subjects, the government would have to "take into

account their wishes."366 In the commission's view, issues of race tended to become less

of a barrier at such high a level of education. Thus, it argued that the university would

work towards easing some of the racial barriers present in the territory. It warned,

however, that at no point should the entrance of large numbers of immigrants from India

threaten the interests of Africans who were already enrolled in the college.367

The immigrant community from the subcontinent did not just criticize the

government for failing to meet their educational expectations they also voiced their

dissatisfaction with the Indian school boards for the deplorable conditions in which their

children were expected to learn. In a cutting taken from The Tanganyika Herald, one

writer posed tough questions to all who were responsible for overseeing the state of education of throughout the territory. In it, he asks:

Is it true: that Junior Indian School is a cattle-house for cattle awaiting their slaughter? That members of the Indian Education Board mercilessly allow

366 Extract from the Report of the Commission appointed by the Secretary of State on Higher Education in East Africa, September 1937, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 367 Extract from the Report of the Commission appointed by the Secretary of State on Higher Education in East Africa, September 1937,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

186 themselves to be a party to this cruel show? That prevention of cruelty to animals is more important than prevention of cruelty to human souls? That inability of parents to form themselves into a body is the root cause of the trouble? That the responsibility of parents towards these little souls ceases to exist after their children go to school? That this responsibility is to be shared also by Health Authorities who show so much concern for public health? That pupils have no tongue to air their grievance so as to move the humanitarian hearts to action? That neither Government nor Advisory Board nor parents care to think this in terms of humanity? That general pupils strike is only means for opening the eyes of all responsible for this crime? That Indian parents allow themselves to be placed in the category of animals which throw their offsprings [sic] away on the street to the care of others?368

Given these conditions at the Indian Central School, the Aga Khan fought for government

support for his own schools, which he argued alleviated some of the expenses associated

with funding the education of immigrants from India.

The colonial government was not the only body that was held accountable for

what many members from the immigrant community from India felt were substandard

conditions in its schools. In another article published in The Tanganyika Herald on 6

May 1948, another writer argued that students who attended the Indian Central School

had two significant complaints:

One is about placing them in the hands of such teachers as are quite ignorant of the teaching science. Housing congestion is the second one. To us the second one is of outstanding importance. We do not want to see nine hundred souls rotting in a place which veterinary authorities would find unfit for animal occupation. We want to get these poor and dear ones immediate relief. We have been raising our voice ever since we saw the gruesome picture with our own eyes. Our voice has proved too feeble to attract attention from any responsible quarters. Neither the Education Department nor the Advisory Committee seem to realise the gravity of the situation. Our warning to parents has also proved of no avail.

368 Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 6 May 1948, 20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam).

187 We are told some parents want to move in this matter but they feel shy of it. With our previous warning we couple our sincere appeal to parents in the name of nine hundred helpless children that they must go to the rescue of the latter with as little delay as possible. There is an institution for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Surely there is need to prevent cruelty to human beings. If parents are not prepared to look after their dear little ones, who would do that? Pupils of this school are badly in need of more room. We have aired their grievance. All parents should come out to make it felt strongly in proper quarters. Will parents wake up!369

Thus, the other group that was targeted and held responsible for its contribution to the

"intolerable" conditions in which the school operated was the Indian Advisory Board.

A Grim Crime? The situation in Government Indian Junior School is now entirely intolerable. What surprises the public is the negligence on the part of the Indian Education Advisory Board. Is it too much to expect them to go round the school for an inspection at once to see whether there is any truth in the complaints which have appeared in the press from time to time! It is not for nothing that we bother our head incessantly. We have seen the conditions of this school with our own eyes and we are fully convinced in our mind that both the Government and the Board have entirely neglected them. The shutting in of nine hundred tender souls in room which is hardly capable of accommodating five hundred is a grim crime. Not a single minute should be wasted to remedy the situation ...The grave situation in which pupils are allowed to rot renders quick action inevitable.370

Given the fact that the number of students attending this institution was approximately 900, with 100 additional children on the waiting list, immigrants from

India often used the print media to voice their opinions on the conditions of their schools.

On 28 April 1948 one writer revealed that the "Town Talk" recommended that "either temporary huts be built forthwith or one of the new buildings should be requisitioned all

369 Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 6 May 1948, 20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam). 370 Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 5 May 1948, 20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam).

188 at once. Overcrowding [was] likely to affect the health of pupils of tender age and it

[would be a] sin to let them live in buildings which no medical opinion would certify as

fit for human occupation."371 The writer pleaded that immigrant parents from India

throughout the territory should "wake up." S(he) argued that after close consideration, it

was the parents and the parents alone to whom the "ill-fated" students of the government

junior school could turn to for hope, hope that they would be rescued from the conditions

in which they were forced to learn that were inadequate for the development of their

minds.

Integration of Schools for Immigrants from India

Initially, the growth of the Agakhan school system occurred largely independently

of the educational needs of other immigrants from India in the territory. In fact, for many

years, non-Ismaili immigrants were not permitted entry into the Ismaili schools. As a

result, some might argue that the Agakhan schools' progress occurred at the expense of

the other immigrants since they divided the collections and donations that could have

been used towards improving the quality of education for the whole community. In 1935,

however, the leaders of the Ismailia schools began admitting non-Ismaili students from the subcontinent into their institutions following an increased government involvement in the management of education for immigrants from India. In response, the Indian

Education Advisory Board expressed its gratitude, emphasizing the importance of amalgamation in areas where it was desirable "on the grounds of economy and

371 Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 29 April 1948,20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam).

189 efficiency."372 It was much later, however, that the Agakhan schools admitted Africans into their classes.

In a letter sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies from the Governor of

Kenya on 9 October 1953, the issue of segregation throughout the East African colonies was addressed:

As you are aware, wide differences of language, culture, social habits and standards of living between the three main racial groups in Kenya necessitated the development of separate European, Asian and African education systems. Those differences still persist to a very large extent, and for the foreseeable future it will be necessary on practical and political grounds to maintain separate schools for the three communities, subject to certain exceptions which I shall refer to later on.

...the question whether children of one community may be admitted to grant- aided schools intended for another community had not yet become a live issue in Kenya, and it is one which the Government is anxious to avoid raising for as long as possible. It is certain that the proposal would meet with strong opposition from the European community, and probably from sections of the Asian community. In March 1952 a proposal by a Member of the Asian Advisory Council that an inter-racial school should be started in Nairobi met with much opposition, and was not approved by the Council.

The old Grant-in-Aid Rules for Indian and Goan Schools (Laws of Kenya 1948, Vol. V page 993) contained the following provision under rule 7:

"notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in these rules, the manager shall have authority to admit to any school children of races other than Indian or Goan."

The original intention of this rule was to permit the admission of Seychellois and half-caste children, but as the rule stood it could have been taken to cover African children as well.

...Since the Legislature votes grants in aid for Asian schools for the purpose of aiding Asian (not African) education, it could be argued that the admission of

372 Minutes of the Fourth Meeting of the Indian Education Advisory Board, held at the Office of the Director of Education, 28 June 1935,19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.).

190 African children to Asian schools (at any rate on a large scale) would be in conflict with the intention of the Legislature. It would be impossible to avoid discussion on the matter in the Legislative Council, and the debate would inevitably be on racial lines. Our hope therefore is that the Aga Khan Community will not press this matter at the present time.

It is unclear when the Agakhan schools began admitting African children into their

institutions;373 however, sources indicate that by 1953, African students were enrolled, as

evidenced in the following telegram sent from Tanganyika to the Secretary of State for

the Colonies on 20 June 1953:

I have not (repeat not) received any request for African children to be admitted to Aga Khan School. I am informed that individual requests are made by African parents from time to time to the administrators of the Aga Khan Central Council of Education Tanganyika and when vacancies available and children suitable they have been admitted. Government see no cause to interfere with this arrangement.

While there is no certainty of when this trend developed, the sources suggest that

Ismaili leaders throughout East Africa were encouraged by the Aga Khan to push for the admission of African students in the Agakhan school system. On 26 May 1953, Nathoo, a leader from the Ismaili community in Kenya made the following speech, which was reported in an article entitled, "East Africa and Rhodesia:"

Our Evian conference laid down that our schools are to admit children of all races, and a year ago, I asked the Government of Kenya for permission to admit Africans. There has been no reply despite three reminders. The Aga Khan

373 In her dissertation, Walji argues that the Agakhan Schools were admitting African students as early as 1940, based on "oral information collected from one Ismaili who was closely associated with enrolment of students in the Aga Khan schools." (Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 189 and 206). Comparatively, Paul Kaiser dates the admission of Africans to the Agakhan Schools to 1956, citing Kjellberg's work as evidence. No evidence, however, is provided in Kjellberg's work.

191 provides 50 per cent of the cost, the Government of Kenya pays the teachers' salaries and about 35 per cent and we has to ask their consent in regard to Africans because that would involve payment from public funds.

As explored in Chapter Five, the Evian Conference, held in France in July 1952, was

organized by the Aga Khan for the leaders of his East African community. During the

conference, the Aga Khan offered practical advice on how his institutions should develop

to adequately ensure what he believed was necessary for the progress of his community,

including the issue of amalgamation in his education network. The next chapter explores the lengthy process that led to this change in policy.

192 Chapter Seven: The Aga Khan's Resistance to the Amalgamation of Schools for Immigrants from India

In his book, The Ismailis in the Colonial Era, van Grondelle draws on an official

correspondence sent in 1932 to the Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Stewart Symes, to gauge

the relationship between the Aga Khan and British officials. It is clear that Aga Khan III

and British colonial officials were at odds over the direction of education policy. Aga

Khan III wanted to maintain separate schools for Ismailis to sustain the solidarity of the

community, while the British wanted an integrated, but racially segregated system.

Speaking directly to the tone he inferred from this specific communication regarding the

Aga Khan, van Grondelle argues

this somewhat charged and passionate exchange with one of His Majesty's most senior civil servants, threatening financial sanctions and indeed even disorder, constitutes quite a contrast with the Aga Khan's public messages of religious harmony and intercommunal [sic] peace which are to be found on a regular basis in his public writings and speeches.374

In the same correspondence, British officials classified the Aga Khan as an "irritant," specifically in regards to the demands made by the Aga Khan for his educational

institutions.375 This chapter sets out to investigate the source of the Aga Khan's "charged and passionate exchange." The first section explores three case studies from across East

Africa that highlight the protests made by the leaders of the Ismaili community against

374 Van Grondelle, Ismailis in the Colonial Era, 44. 375 Van Grondelle, Ismailis in the Colonial Era, 59.

193 the development of amalgamated schools for immigrants from the subcontinent. The

next section uncovers the state of education for immigrants from India, revealing the need

for increased funding and government support. The push made by the immigrant

communities for increased assistance is covered in the third section of the chapter.

Colonial officials in turn suggested amalgamation to alleviate the financial burden of

operating multiple schools. The fourth section uncovers the non-Ismaili reactions to the

government's suggestion for amalgamation. The fifth section traces the long path to

amalgamating the schools for immigrants from India, highlighting the Aga Khan's

demands for increased government involvement in the state of education. The final

section uncovers the different perspectives on who was responsible for the education of

these immigrant communities in Tanganyika, revealing the Aga Khan's contributions

towards the development of sound educational facilities for his followers.

Case Study: Uganda, 1934

Relations between the Ismaili community and Tanganyikan colonial officials

became tenuous in 1930 when news spread that in Uganda, the local government opted to

increase the amount of funding reserved for the education of immigrants from India. In

the process, colonial officials explored the option of turning these schools in Kampala

and Jinja into government schools. The proposed plan included the erection of a new

school building, working off of the "£ for £ principle," whereby the government would

match every pound raised by the immigrant communities for this cause.376 The

immigrant communities, according to government correspondence, were in favour of the

376 Government notes, 26 February 1934,23538 (Uganda).

194 plan, including the Ismailis who agreed to close their schools and amalgamate once the

government school was opened. Presumably the Ismailis agreed to the proposed plan

because it would make them eligible to receive some form of government support. As a

result, plans commenced to build the new amalgamated Indian public school in Uganda

beginning in 1931, with hopes of it opening in April 1932.

This might have left Tanganyikan officials wondering why the Ismaili community

in Uganda agreed to co-education when the Ismailis rejected similar plans in Tanganyika.

Tanganyikan officials quickly discovered, however, that the reaction of the Ismailis did

not differ between the two colonies. The situation in Uganda took a drastic turn in 1933

when it was reported that the Ismaili council "re-opened" their communal school. The

Agakhan school, in turn absorbed many of the students who were expected to attend the

new government school, which was designed and built specifically to accommodate the

increased number of students that would ensue following amalgamation.377

A message was sent to the government to explain why Ismaili students were

"withdrawn" from the new government school:

(1) The distance of the Government School from the Indian quarter. The Departmental Organization Committee [considered] that this need not prevent any but very young children from attending

(2) No fees are charged to Ismailia children attending a community [Agakhan] school378

377 Government notes, 23538 (Uganda). 378 Ismaili children were free to attend any educational institution they chose, including the Indian Central School. They were not bound to enrol in the Agakhan Schools.

195 (3) The Ismailia community [was] afraid that if their children [attended] the Government School the Aga Khan's grant [would] be stopped.379

Officials were convinced that the Aga Khan was not fully aware of the situation in

the colony. They felt that in order to reverse the withdrawal of Ismaili students from the

government school the Aga Khan needed to be acquainted with the benefits they believed

Ismailis would obtain if they attended the government school. Officials recommended

that the Aga Khan use the grant he was investing in his community's school to establish

scholarships for Ismaili children who attended the government school.380 This, they

believed, would offer the Ismailis an advantage over the others in the government school,

which they hoped would be enough to garner his support for the central school in

Uganda. Or perhaps the Aga Khan could be convinced to divert his grant to support an

infant school for Ismailia children, which, they argued could be held in the existing

Ismaili school building in Kampala.381 The Governor recalled how strongly the

community felt about the need for young Ismaili children to receive religious education in

the early stages of their lives. The latter suggestion would, in the government's eyes,

fulfil this desire and relieve some of the pressure the government was facing following the withdrawal of Ismailia students from the new government school.382

These suggestions however, did not minimize or eliminate the concerns the Aga

Khan had with the government's plan. In 1932, the Aga Khan first raised his concerns

with the Secretary of State, expressing his dissatisfaction with the fact that his followers

379 Government notes, 26 February 1934,23538 (Uganda). 380 Government notes, 26 February 1934,23538 (Uganda). 381 Government notes, 23538 (Uganda). 382 From the Governor of Uganda, 23538 (Uganda).

196 were attending the same educational institutions as Hindus. In response, the Secretary of

State informed the Aga Khan that the amalgamated school was developed with the

support of the local Shia Imami Ismailia Council. The aim was to reveal the steps taken

by government officials to ensure that they had the support of the Ismaili community.

The Aga Khan asked "whether, even assuming this to be the case, they could get back to

the status quo ante if it were found that in practice Khoja children were becoming

infected by Hindu influences."383 The Secretary of State responded that in such

circumstances, they would support the withdrawal of Ismaili students from the

amalgamated government school if a genuine threat existed. If, however, their resistance

ensued largely as a result of external pressures, the government would not be supportive

of their withdrawal. From the available government records, officials were under the

impression that they would revisit the issue if there appeared to be a "genuine threat" to

the Ismaili children enrolled in the government school.

It was thus surprising for these government officials when in 1934 they were

informed that the local Ismaili school had been reopened. From their perspective, they

felt as though there was nothing to indicate that the reopening of the school had to do

with "the infection of Khoja children by Hindu influences," a stipulation they made clear

the Aga Khan had to prove before the Ismailia school could be reopened. When the

government investigated the matter further, they discovered that despite what they

383 Government notes, 26 February 1934, 23538 (Uganda).

197 believed to be the Ismaili community's agreement to close the communal school in

March 1932, the school never closed.384

According to the Supreme Council of the Shia Imami Ismailia Khojas, based in

Zanzibar, the Kampala body of the Ismaili network did not have the authority to approve the plans for amalgamation. Instead, they argued that the situation in which the government found itself would have been quite different had they consulted the appropriate Ismailia council bodies. This process, the Ismaili leaders argued, was outlined in a correspondence sent to the government when the Supreme Council was first

introduced in the region. Given the circumstances, the Aga Khan was not in favour of compromising with the government. Instead, he instructed his representatives to continue educating Ismaili children at the Agakhan school, separated from their Hindu counterparts. Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Uganda, believed this decision was

indicative of the Aga Khan's inability to "put common-sense before sect."385

From January 1933, the number of students enrolled at the Ismailia school continued to grow. The entire time, the government was not aware of the school's existence, or as was argued, its re-opening. According to officials, they were never requested to revisit the issue, a condition they believed both parties agreed upon. It was not until the Director of Education was approached with a request to supply the school with a syllabus that the government became aware of the school's existence and

384 Government notes, 23538 (Uganda) 385 Bourdillon replies to Bottomley on June 23; File 23538 (Uganda): From W.C. Bottomley to Bourdillon, 21 June 1934,23538 (Uganda).

198 operation.386 As such, the school's Managing Board was asked to apply for registration, a

procedure that needed to be followed before a school could be officially recognized by

the government. Since the community never believed that their school had ceased to

exist, however, they argued that registration was not necessary, especially since the body

that the government consulted before "closing" the school did not have the authority to

do so. Nonetheless, Mr. Suleman Virji, who was a member of the East African Ismaili

community, flew to England to visit with the Aga Khan to discuss many of the questions

and issues affecting the education of immigrants from India in general but also to gain

advice on how this particular incident should be handled.387

Before action was taken by the Ismaili community, aware of the sensitivity of this

issue, Sir Cecil Bottomley, Assistant Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, drafted a

letter to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Uganda, cautioning against taking any

severe action against the Aga Khan or his community, revealing that

[we] are frankly disturbed at the idea of coming between the Ismailia in Uganda and their spiritual lord and master particularly as it seems possible that the Aga Khan had some part (perhaps even a large part), in the reopening of the school. The Government grant being no longer payable, the grant from [His Highness] presumably made the re-opening possible.388

In the same correspondence, Sir Cecil Bottomley questioned whether the Aga Khan really

"feared Hindu influences so much as normal Mohammedan influence," given the tensions

386 From the Governor of Uganda, 23538 (Uganda). 387 From the Governor of Uganda, 23538 (Uganda). 388 Draft letter from Bottomley to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, 13 March 1934,23538 (Uganda).

199 that existed within the Muslim ummah389 and the potential threat of his followers

converting from one school of thought within Islam to another. Nonetheless, Bottomley

advised that they should approach the situation with delicacy, looking first into the

possibility that the re-opening of the school was made possible by a grant offered by the

Aga Khan.390

What complicated matters even more was that according to the Deputy to the

Governor, E. S. Scott, the parents of the children who he believed would be most affected

by this issue did not submit any official complaints about the effectiveness of the central

school. Aside from meeting the needs of the very young children of the Ismaili

community, "for whom the walk to the government school might have been too

fatiguing,"391 from the government's perspective, there did not appear to be any necessity

for a separate communal school for the Ismailis. This left the government with the same

conclusion they started with:

The main cause of these withdrawals is, however, to be found in an agitation fostered by the fear that if children who belong to the Ismailia community attend the Government school the grant from [His Highness] the Aga Khan, upon which the community school subsists, will be withdrawn.392

Although these events took place in Uganda, which falls beyond the scope of this study,

they have been included here because they inevitably had an impact on the state of education for immigrants from India in Tanganyika, especially in regards to the local

Ismailia community. The Directors of Education from across East Africa met regularly

389 See Chapter One for more information on this. 390 Draft letter from Bottomley to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, 13 March 1934, 23538 (Uganda). 391 From the Deputy to the Governor, E.S. Scott, 2 February 1934,23538 (Uganda). 392 From the Deputy to the Governor, E.S. Scott, 2 February 1934,23538 (Uganda).

200 to discuss issues they faced in regard to the broader issue of education in each of their

colonies, including the education of immigrants from India. This offered the directors an

opportunity to update each other about the state of education in their regions and discuss

the advantages and limitations of the approaches each chose to take. Perhaps more

importantly, it gave them a chance to learn from each other's regrets. These meetings

enabled the directors to warn each other of the obstacles they may face in the future.

Sure enough, a few years later, Tanganyika's government witnessed a similar issue

amongst the immigrant communities from India.

Case Study: Moshi, Tabora and Mwanza, 1935

In Mwanza (Tanganyika), the issue of education took a similar path to the Uganda

study cited above. Initially, immigrants from India were solely responsible for the

education of their children. This led to the emergence of distinct communal educational

institutions, among which was the Agakhan school, the only school in the area to rival the

Indian Public School, which catered to the other immigrants from the subcontinent. After

managing the education of their children for almost twenty years, immigrants from India

grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress that was being made and the

relatively poor standards maintained by the school. As a result, in 1927 many of the

immigrant communities from the subcontinent decided to form an education board to

oversee the management and efficiency of the Indian Public School, which catered to 65

boys and 21 girls.393 In contrast, the first Agakhan school building opened on the first of

393 Memorandum on AgaKhan School, Mwanza, 22 June 1927, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools).

201 November in 1925 at which point a total of fifty students enrolled. The building was

gifted to the Aga Khan by one of his followers, Mr. A. Visram. In 1928, the school

catered to 28 boys and 22 girls who were taught in Gujarati, with the exception of the

primary class, although long-term plans included increasing the number of classes that

were to be taught in English.394

The education of immigrants from India took a drastic turn in the mid 1930s in the

towns of Moshi, Tabora and Mwanza. From the government's perspective, the leaders of

the Ismaili community in these regions assured the government they were on board with

amalgamating the schools and would support the development of a central government school for their children and the accommodations required for it. This new school would

be built at the expense of the government, which would, in conjunction with the other

immigrant communities from India, assist in the costs required to maintain the school. In turn, this school would be the only school for immigrants from India in the region and would thus receive full grants-in-aid from the government. According to the colonial authorities, however, once the central school was built, the Ismaili community seemingly reversed their decision to support the amalgamated school and instead, chose to retain their separate school.395 This then forced the government to provide large sums of money to finance school accommodations that would no longer be used, given that the Ismaili students would not be enrolled in the institution. As a result, the government ruled that the Ismaili community had accepted the policy to amalgamate with the other immigrants

394 Memorandum on AgaKhan School, Mwanza, 22 June 1927, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools); From the Provincial Commissioner, Mwanza to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 7 May 1928, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools). 395 Government notes, 21647.

202 from the subcontinent but later rejected the decision "without adequate reason." As a

result, the government decided to withhold their assistance to these Ismaili schools given

that they felt that the Ismaili children could be educated more economically in the newly

built institution where education would be overseen by the government.396 In

accordance, the government added the following to their policy:

Where Indian communities subsequently changed their mind and continued a separate community school, though their children could have been accommodated at the local public school, they have not, as a rule, received grants-in-aid, though awards have been usually been made from the balance of the Education Tax Fund.397

The policy with regard to grants-in-aid was applied to the Agakhan schools in Tabora,

Mwanza and Moshi where the government believed that the Ismaili community failed to

fulfil their undertakings to the government.

The Ismailis, however, had a different perspective of the situation. They admitted that Ismaili children were withdrawn from the central school after it was built, in turn leaving these new schools virtually half empty. The real concern for the Ismailis, however, was the manner in which the government solicited their community. In their minds, the decision to amalgamate was not made in consultation with the suitable channels of the Aga Khan's institutions. Rather, individual leaders from each locality were solicited and persuaded to agree to the plan. In turn, the government bypassed the channels the Aga Khan instructed them to use following the establishment of the

396 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647. 397 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647.

203 Supreme Council in Zanzibar. The Supreme Council was instituted to handle all issues

related to the Ismaili community, and it was this body that should have been consulted on

this issue. As a result, the appropriate leaders of the community did not approve this

plan. Therefore, the decision to amalgamate was not signed off of by the appropriate

representatives of the Aga Khan. This, the Ismailis argued, was grounds for withdrawing their children from the amalgamated institution particularly because the issues that

prevented the amalgamation of schools for immigrants from India in other regions

throughout the territory also existed in Mwanza, Tabora and Moshi. Until these issues

were resolved, the leaders of the community believed that it would not be in the community's interest to have its children educated in any of these institutions.398

Case Study: Musoma, 1948

The Ismaili community was not the only community from India that challenged the government in regards to educational issues. At the end of 1947 leading into the beginning of 1948, the Managing Board of the proposed Indian Public School in Musoma submitted a proposal to erect a new school for its children. At the time, the Agakhan school was the only educational institution in the region and catered to all children from the subcontinent. After reviewing the conditions, the Director of Education determined that the immigrant communities from India were not large enough to support two schools, especially since they found that the Agakhan school was an "efficient institution."399

This institution was already receiving a grant-in-aid from the government and there were

398 From the Secretary, 1935 Governor's Conference held in Nairobi to the Chief Secretary, 15 January 1936,21647. 399 From the Director of Education to the President of the Managing Board of the Indian Public School, Mwanza, 2 January 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

204 no additional funds available to assist the other communities in the development of another school.

The Managing Board of the proposed Indian Public School, however, did not accept this decision. The Board argued that the Agakhan school at Musoma was "quite

far from efficient" until 1939, when all communities of immigrants from India joined efforts and assisted the school's management in meeting its running expenses. According to the Board, it was only through this cooperation that the school gained a sound

footing.400 Based on their initial complaints, the immigrant communities from the subcontinent did not feel obligated to financially assist the leaders of the Agakhan school

in meeting the needs of their children's education. Furthermore, they pointed out that up to that point, the non-Ismaili students formed a minority in the institution. By 1941,

however, this group increased in size and became the majority. Despite the sizable non-

Ismaili representation, the proposed public school's Managing Board argued that the

administration of the school lay solely in the hands of the Ismaili community, leaving the rest of the immigrants from India with "no voice or representation in it." Moreover, on account of the difficult war conditions, which left the colonial government with few

resources and personnel to oversee and mediate these disputes, the Board carried on saying:

The public deplorably felt this anomaly and did not like the idea of leaving, any more, such a serious question of education of its children in the hands and at the mercy of any communal school which, even if it be a Government Grant-in-aid

400 From the Honorary Secretary of the Musoma Indian Public School's Managing Board to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 21 January 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

205 school, is, we understand, not in any way under obligation to accommodate children of other communities over one-third of pupils of its own community for

In addition, the Board argued that the Ismailia community did not have the

necessary funds to meet the ongoing expenses it needed to operate the school, nor did they have the means to build a suitable building that would accommodate the increasing

number of students seeking enrolment. Finally, the Board revealed that during his visit,

the District Commissioner agreed to discuss plans to erect a new public school. When

probed by the Director of Education about this matter a few months later, however, the

District Commissioner stated that he made these comments before the inspection of the

Agakhan school was carried out sometime in September or October of 1947. As a result

of the Inspector's favourable report, the District Commissioner called a meeting with the

representatives of the immigrant communities from India, seeking an agreement for the

continuation of one school. This attempt, however, was unsuccessful.

The Commissioner admitted that he expressed an initial degree of willingness to

discuss the matter with the immigrants from India, however, he vehemently denied a

claim made by the Managing Board of the proposed public school, that he expressed

"satisfaction as to the essentiality of the new school." He argued that he was well aware of the fact that this was dependent on the population of the community, which according to the Indian School Inspector, did not justify the existence of two schools.402 Since

401 From the Honorary Secretary of the Musoma Indian Public School's Managing Board to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 21 January 1948, 970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza). 402 From the District Commissioner to the Director of Education, 5 February 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

206 minutes were not taken of the meeting, the Commissioner believed that the Managing

Board revealed their bias. Neither party would be able to prove their position, however.

He mentioned that to the best of his recollection, all parties were told that there would

only be one school in Musoma and they needed to collectively agree on whether that school should be the existing Agakhan school or the proposed Indian Public School.403

The heart of the issue centred on the details in the Ismaili "constitution" that

addressed the education committees that were formed in each East African territory in

1937, which operated under the Aga Khan's Provincial Ismailia Council.404 The

"constitution" did not permit the inclusion of non-Ismaili members on the managing

committee. The rest of the immigrants from India were thus left out of the management

of the school, resulting in their unwillingness to enrol their children in it. Given that an

additional school would increase the cost of education in the region and divide the available teaching staff, the Provincial Commissioner asked for the central body of the

Ismailia community to be approached in an effort to ascertain whether the "constitution" could be altered or amended.405 The administrator for the Aga Khan's Central Council

for Education for Africa believed, however, that it was not appropriate to include non-

Ismaili members on the school committee. In turn, closer to the end of 1948, the

403 From the District Commissioner to the Director of Education, 5 February 1948, 970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza). 404 Walji, "History of the Ismaili Community," 186. 405 From the Provincial Commissioner to the Director of Land and Mines, 5 July 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

207 government was seemingly forced to approve plans for the proposed Indian Public

School in Musoma.406

In many ways, this case study is a reflection of the issue the Aga Khan had with

the state of the education of immigrants from the subcontinent in the territory. It was not

that he was fundamentally opposed to allowing Hindu students entry into his schools, nor

was he against amalgamation. Rather, his strongest criticism centred on the issue of

government involvement in the state of education. The colonial government, in the Aga

Khan's mind, had the power to control the standards of the schools and ensure that his followers' religious identity was not threatened by what he saw as a strong Hindu

influence. Until the government agreed to increase their involvement in the affairs of the

education of immigrants from India, the Aga Khan had enough leverage by way of his

personal finances to hold his ground and continue to fund his denominational schools, in

an effort to protest the proposed amalgamation scheme and call for increased government

involvement in the state of education throughout the colony.

General Conditions of the Education of Immigrants from India

According to the Director of Education, the education of immigrants from the subcontinent throughout Dar es Salaam in 1925, which was the region that housed the

largest population of Ismailis, was in such deplorable conditions that he thought it futile

to assist the schools in such a state.407 He felt that the staff in each school was

406 From the Provincial Commissioner to the Director of Land and Mines, 5 July 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza); From the Provincial Commissioner to the Director of Education, 18 October 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza). 407 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925, 7017.

208 unbalanced since the lower grades were lacking personnel while the higher levels had such a low level of enrolment that it was difficult to justify the employment of a qualified teacher. In his view, the only feasible solution to increase enrolment at the higher levels would be to encourage English as the language of instruction until the first standard and then allow Gujarati as the teaching medium thereafter. Perhaps the most controversial of

his suggestions for the Ismailis was to have only one central school that catered to all of the religious communities among the immigrants from the subcontinent. He believed that these recommendations would ensure that there would be enough students enrolled in the

higher grades to warrant the employment of a qualified teacher.

The Director of Education also recommended that a new building and plot of land

be secured for the central school and suggested that the "wealthier and philanthropically minded members" of the immigrant communities from India consider taking on the cause.408 It was estimated by the community that there were only two really wealthy immigrants from the subcontinent in Dar es Salaam. Many felt, however, that these two would not be willing to support this cause. Unfortunately, the religious affiliations of these two individuals were not specified. Based on this feedback, the Director recommended that a lottery be created to help raise some of the funds required to secure an adequate school building, evidently unaware of the controversy gambling would create among many of these religious communities.409 He emphasized to the Chief Secretary that it was essential that a newly equipped school be secured not only for the educational progress of the immigrant community but also for their health and general welfare.

408 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925, 7017. 409 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925,7017.

209 Consequently, he suggested that the government provide a building grant that would be dependent on the amount of money the immigrants from India were able to secure.

Finally, he recommended that an Inspector be appointed to take charge of all matters related to the education of immigrants from the subcontinent.410 Unbeknown to him, the findings of his report would set off a chain of events and developments that would impact the relations that existed among the various communities throughout Tanganyika.

Aside from funding, another issue of concern for both the Director of Education and the leaders of the Ismaili community was the state of girls' education. There was a great demand for female teachers and the Ismaili community attempted to remedy the situation by suggesting that male and female teachers get paid the same salary, in an effort to encourage more women to become teachers. The Chief Secretary, however,

indicated that the government was "unable to accept the principle that women should be paid at the same rate as men."411 Even though this suggestion was not implemented, the broader issue of the education of women posed a considerable dilemma for the government. In order to meet the educational needs of women from the subcontinent, more staff and funds would be required in addition to the creation of a new curriculum.

Unfortunately, even though these concerns were initially raised by government officials

in 1924, they were never adequately dealt with during the period under investigation.

Another pressing issue, highlighted by the Chief Secretary, was the need for an inspector of the schools for immigrants from India in Tanganyika. The inspector would

4,0 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925,7017. 411 Letter from the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 13 Mar 1931, 11558 Vol. II (Recruitment of Indian Teachers for Indian Schools).

210 have to be fluent in Gujarati since this was the medium of instruction in many of these

institutions.412 Thus, in order to gauge the quality of instruction and the material being taught, the inspector would have to understand the language. The Director of Education

revealed that it would be ideal, if feasible, to send an officer to the education department

in India to learn the vernacular languages, including Gujarati and Urdu, in an effort to

become acquainted with the standard and approach to education there. The need for this seemed to have been so great that at one point in time, the Director of Education for

Zanzibar favoured a plan that would see the partnering of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to share the cost of training such an inspector. Even though Zanzibar was unable to

financially follow through with the plan, it reveals the extent to which such a position

was required, and thus sheds light on the state of education at the time.413

Perhaps the most burdensome concern the government continued to grapple with

when it came to the education of immigrants from India was the matter of grants-in-aid.

Although they had implemented regulations designed to ensure that all of the immigrant communities from the subcontinent were treated fairly, the government recognized that it was unable to cover the full cost of education in the territory unless taxation or school fees increased. In 1935, however, the government attempted to address the issue from a different angle. The government proposed to finance the costs of primary education only,

leaving secondary education in the hands of the immigrant community. Even though this policy was common in many British colonies, the justification offered to the immigrants

412 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 20 March 1934,21792 (Teaching of History in Indian Schools). 413 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 20 March 1934,21792 (Teaching of History in Indian Schools).

211 from India for what they viewed as restricted financial support rested, according to the

Directors of Education, "in ... the wasteful efforts which ha[d] been made by certain

Indian communities."414 The Directors of all of the East African territories recommended that the proposal be submitted to the Indian Advisory Councils in each region in an effort

to gauge their interest in the suggestion.

Over the next few years, the situation continued to worsen. From 1937 to 1938,

the number of schools on the assisted list jumped from 53 to 65, and although the

inspection of all 65 schools had not occurred at the time the issue of grants was being discussed, it was believed that all of the schools would likely be found "worthy of assistance." Furthermore, many of the schools that were already on the list were

increasing in enrolments and were pushing for extra staff grants. An example given was

the Ismailia school in Dar es Salaam, which already received 28 percent of the total vote

and if given a full grant, could receive nearly 50 percent415 Having said that, the government felt the communities from India did not have any grounds for complaints, given that the provision for 1938 was £5,400, an increase of £400 from the year before

which had increased by £1,600 from what was spent in 1935.416

The state of education for immigrants from India in the territory seemed to have deteriorated to a heightened level during the pre-war period, when the government was forced to reduce the amount of funding available for grants-in-aid for all schools. As a

414 Directors ofthe four East African Territories at their meeting in Nairobi, 12-17 January 1935, 19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.). 415 Government Notes, 24 January 1938,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 416 Government Notes, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

212 result, the total amount available was £3,500 less than the full sum required to meet the needs under the latest conditions.417 Given that there was a similar request for increased grants to be made to the European school committees as well as to the missionary societies that provided religious instruction to Africans, the government encouraged all of these organizations to work towards making up the deficits at a communal level and on a voluntary basis. This, the government argued, was illustrative of the fact that there was no preferential treatment offered to any one community and that the entire territory was shouldering the financial burden during this period.418

A Push for Change

In the early 1940s, immigrants from India seemed to have reached their limits of tolerance regarding the educational conditions for their children. At this time, individuals openly expressed their discontent with the situation by submitting entries to the

Tanganyika Standard. For example, on October 18, 1941 an author who identified himself or herself simply as "D" expressed dissatisfaction with the Indian Advisory

Committee, suggesting that

the powers that be kindly condescend to give a trial to my humble suggestion to appoint more qualified and fresh individuals on the Advisory Committee on Indian Education if and when the term of office of the present members expires? Blood transfusion is an effective remedy even for some otherwise incurable diseases. The problem of Indian Education in this Territory now requires to be

4,7 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 30 January 1939, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 418 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 25 July 1938, 25871 (Indian School Mwanza).

213 considered from a radically different point of view. A discerning eye will find suitable persons any time.419

Conditions in the Indian Public School drove these disgruntled members to publicly voice their opinions in periodicals, which were mostly read by their counterparts and also sent to the Chief Secretary of the territory. In turn, these descriptions left an impression with colonial officials of a fragmented community on which the government could not rely for assistance in enhancing the community's progress.

The government acknowledged the deficiencies with education and believed that the best resolution would be to amalgamate the schools for immigrants from India. With an amalgamated system, there would be a single body to consult and a unified source of funding they could leverage to assist in the management of their educational facilities.

For example, in response to the President of the Bukoba Ismailia Association proposal to erect a separate school building, the Director of Education expressed that he felt it would

be better if everyone worked together to improve the standard of education for all immigrant children from India in the territory, rather than dividing their financial resources between two schools. He feared that if they went ahead with their plans, it would create two schools of "very moderate academic standards, both embarrassed by financial embarrassments instead of one school of advancing standard unencumbered by pecuniary difficulties."420

419 Cutting from The Tanganyika Standard, Dar es Salaam, 180ct 1941, 22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board). 420 From the Director of Education to the President of the Ismailia Jamat, Bukoba, 21 March 1939, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools).

214 One of the greatest opponents to amalgamation was the Ismaili community and

the government could not seem to agree on how best to handle the community and the

Aga Khan. In regard to the Ismaili community's claim made throughout the late 1920s

and 1930s that their schools should be entitled to receive additional funding given their

ongoing commitment to the territory, initially, the government argued that they were not

able nor were they willing to show discrimination against any school by favouring one

community over the other. Thus, when it came to the question of funding the Ismailia

school in Dar es Salaam, though the government was quick to point out that the relations

that existed between the departmental officers in East Africa and the Ismaili Khojas in the

territory were "of the happiest," the governor also emphasized that the Agakhan schools

were already receiving the maximum amount the government was willing to offer.421

These grants had been paid under the educational policy or code of regulations on

precisely the same terms and conditions as any other school for immigrants from the subcontinent that qualified for government assistance in the form of grants-in-aid. See

Appendix D for a list of the conditions that had to be met for consideration of grants-in- aid.

In spite of all of these arguments, a few months later in 1935, in a letter sent to the

Chief Secretary to the Government, the Secretary of State for the Colonies requested that a less rigid policy be adopted when it came to the Ismailia schools in the territory.422 In addition, he expressed his concern over a proposal submitted by the Directors of

421 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647. 422 From the Secretary, Governors' Conference to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 7 Jan 1936, 21647. Education from across East Africa to their local Indian Advisory Councils, soliciting their advice on how best to meet the educational expenses in each region. These Advisory

Council representatives,423 who were typically prominent and influential leaders of their respect ive religious communities, specifically cited "the problem of the Ismailia" as one of the major obstacles that needed to be overcome, and policy was eventually adopted to reflect this opinion.424 An example of the recommendations made by these Advisory

Council representatives was to opt out of any form of added taxation to cover the cost of education, because their communities preferred to meet any increase in education costs with the government grants-in-aid, individual or communal donations and by charging fees. The Secretary of State's concern was that this recommendation, along with the other suggestions made by the Directors of Education, was implemented despite the well- known tensions that existed between the Ismailis and many of the other immigrant communities from India. A number of these non-Ismaili leaders sat on the Indian

Advisory Council and were solicited by the Director of Education to assist him in formulating his recommendations, heightening the animosity between immigrant groups from the subcontinent.

From the perspective of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the issue at hand should have been whether the Ismailia schools that were receiving grants should receive the same rate of financial assistance as the other community schools for immigrants from

423 The Advisory Board of Indian Education included the Director of Education, the Provincial Commissioner of the Eastern Province of the Territory, and eight Indian members, who were typically prominent and influential members of the Indian community and were appointed by the Governor. In this instance, the perspectives of the eight Indian members are being discussed. 424 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 30 January 1936, 21647.

216 the subcontinent. Instead, the Directors of Education focused on the Agakhan schools that were not receiving government funding, as was the case in Tabora, Mwanza and

Moshi (details provided in the Case Study section of Chapter Seven). The Secretary of

State for the Colonies argued that discussions needed to take place around whether it would be wise for the government to make reasonable concessions in favour of the

Ismailis on matters such as school sites, rent, and the hotly debated topic of grants.425

Perhaps this would be a better approach for the government to take, he argued, rather than to force the Ismailis to share educational institutions with other immigrant communities from India towards whom they felt "antipathy."

In response, the Director of Education wrote to the Chief Secretary, complaining that the Secretary of State had suggested that they alter their approach to the Ismailis as it would be "politic" to award them the grants that they requested. The Directors felt as though the Secretary of State was not considering the fact that as a result of the Ismaili withdrawal from government schools, they were left without an adequate number of students to justify the size of the public school.426 The Chief Secretary felt that the

Secretary of State believed that it was unwise to exclude Ismaili children from benefiting from government grants simply because of the "unenlightened views of their religious superiors."427 Nonetheless, the Director of Education suggested that if they were to offer the grants to the Ismaili community, in spite of the seeming retraction of their support for

425 From the Secretary, Governors' Conference to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 7 Jan 1936, 21647. 426 From the Secretary, 1935 Governor's Conference held in Nairobi to the Chief Secretary, 15 January 1936,21647. Details of this incident can be found at the beginning of this chapter. 427 From the Secretary, 1935 Governor's Conference held in Nairobi to the Chief Secretary, 15 January 1936,21647.

217 a government initiative, it should be made clear that this would be an extremely liberal

favour being made to the Aga Khan.

At the very least, the Director of Education recommended that if grants-in-aid be awarded to the Agakhan schools in Mwanza, Tabora and Moshi then they be awarded grants at a reduced scale to help prevent the colonial office from over-spending on grants-

in-aid for the immigrants from India.428 Furthermore, at the Directors of Education

Conference held in Kampala, Uganda, which was attended by all of the Directors of

Education from across East Africa, the following resolution was passed:

The Conference reiterates that cordial relations have always existed between Education Departments and the various Indian Communities and that the principles of equality of treatment have consistently prevailed. There are, however, exceptional instances where a local community has been over-ruled by some higher authority and prevented from implementing its undertaking to Government. It is considered that such exceptional cases can best be dealt with by the Government concerned.429

In the end, the Chief Secretary determined that the Agakhan schools in the towns of

Tabora, Mwanza and Moshi should be offered grants but at a reduced rate, due to the increased economic pressures of the time.430 Furthermore, if these schools were to be added to the grants-in-aid list during the next year, he suggested that they explore the option of reducing the amount of grants offered to all schools for immigrants from India in the following year (1937).431

4M Minutes from the Director ofEducation, 6 Feb 1936,21647. 429 Minutes from the Director ofEducation, 6 Feb 1936,21647. 430 The 1930s marks a period of great international economic hardship predominantly caused by the Great Depression and its resultant pressures. 431 From the Chief Secretary to the Secretary of the Governors' Conference, Nairobi, 6 June 1936,21647.

218 While the government was generally opposed to paying grants to communal

schools in cases where their children could be accommodated at a central school, once

pressure was imposed from "home," local colonial government officials tended to change

their views. For example, in the late 1930s or early 1940s, colonial officials in East

Africa were instructed by colonial administrators in London to show the Aga Khan

"courtesy and consideration as he is very prominent in the Councils of the Empire and at

Geneva."432 Aware of his influence in Geneva and in colonies, colonial administrators

expressed their opinion that it would be best to appease this potential "irritant."433

The beginnings of this change in attitude can be traced back to at least 1932 when

the Aga Khan expressed his dissatisfaction with the treatment his followers received from

the Tanganyikan government. The situation escalated when in 1934 he sent a

memorandum to the government, stating that he would withdraw his support from his

academic institutions, which amounted to approximately £11,000 in 1933, if the

government did not show a more concerted interest in the quality of the Ismailia

educational facilities 434 The Aga Khan argued that the Ismailis were entitled to receive special consideration because they were relatively independent as a result of the

assistance they received through the Aga Khan, and the government could be assured that

members of the Ismaili community were "true East Africans" since they no longer considered India as their home. Thus, the Aga Khan urged the government to reconsider the requirement that Ismaili children be educated in schools with other students from the

432 Kaiser, Culture, 22. 433 Van Grondelle, Ismailis in the Colonial Era, 59. 434 Government Notes, 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of).

219 subcontinent. As has been explored, the Aga Khan was especially concerned that Ismaili children would be exposed to teachings that were essentially anti-Muslim and anti-British by the Hindu majority, which largely controlled the Central Indian Education Committees for all immigrants from India in the territory.435

The Secretary of State for the Colonies felt the question of adopting a less rigid policy when it came to the Ismailis should be explored since he felt the Ismailis "are a good lot of people, and we do not want friction with the Aga Khan." He suggested that it was time "to modify [their] attitude and let the Ismailia qualify with the rest for grants-in- aid."436 In spite of this, the Director of Education felt as though they were giving in to the demands made by the Aga Khan. It seemed to the Director that the Aga Khan was attempting to back him and the government into a corner by threatening to withdraw his funding to the Agakhan schools with comments like, "if the Government grant to the two

institutions is not increased to at least 50 per cent, we may feel compelled to adopt the

alternative of closing down the Boys School and amalgamating it with the Madrassa."437

The Aga Khan continued to say,

Consequently, unless within a reasonable time there are readjustments of policy on the lines I have indicated...I must, though with great reluctance, withdraw the very considerable contributions I have made over a long series of years to the educational expenditure in the East African territories. These contributions amounted in 1933 to £11,322. The education of the Ismailia community must go

435 Government Notes, 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 436 Letter sent to the Aga Khan. November 1935,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 437 Government notes, 21647.

220 on and will then become the direct and unrelieved charge upon the public revenues.438

In response, the Director argued that the Aga Khan was not being considerate of attempts that were being made to improve the educational conditions for immigrants from

India as a whole. Instead, he felt that postponing amalgamation until the intermediate stage of schooling, which fell in between the primary and secondary levels of schooling ensured that the different immigrant communities from the subcontinent had an ample amount of time to instil a high standard of religious education before being exposed to students from other religious backgrounds and faiths. According to the Director of

Education, these arguments seemed to have done little to convince the Aga Khan to reconsider his stance, and he felt "dismissed" as evidenced by the following statement made by the Aga Khan: "the community is not favourably impressed with the suggestion that the middle classes only of the Boys School should be amalgamated."439 The Aga

Khan concluded that at no stage of the schooling system, even at the secondary level, were the Ismailis willing to amalgamate with other immigrant communities from India.

In turn, the government felt the Aga Khan was being uncooperative.440 This view, however, did not take into account the tensions that developed between these communities as a result of events similar to the Khoja Case, discussed in Chapter One.

Once examined in this context, these decisions can be viewed as a response to genuine threats, whether real or perceived.

438 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 30 January 1936,21647. 439 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647. 440 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647.

221 In spite of the Aga Khan's adamant stance, the Director of Education sought yet another way to resolve the issue of education in the region. He interpreted the actions of the Aga Khan as being similar to that of the Pope, who forbade his Catholic followers from sending their children to any school other than Catholic schools. A major distinction was made in that Catholic schools admitted children of other religions and communities, with the exception of boarders, which enabled the government to work with these schools to manage the issue of education. As such, the Director of Education requested the Chief Secretary to approach the Aga Khan to find out if he would support a similar policy, and accept students from the subcontinent that espoused other religious beliefs into his schools, thus enabling the government to work through some of their educational difficulties.441 Once again, the Aga Khan emphasized his eagerness in having the broader issue of education be taken on more directly by the government. Only then did he believe that his community's interests would be safeguarded.

In spite of the repeated requests made by the Aga Khan to improve the conditions of education through increased government centralization, it was not until 1936 that the government started taking a more proactive role in the state of education for immigrants from India in the territory. Qualifying schools received grants-in-aid to cover a portion of their expenditures.442 Education was largely managed and funded, however, by each

441 From the Secretary, 1935 Governor's Conference held in Nairobi to the Chief Secretary, 15 January 1936,21647. 442 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647.

222 community or individuals from within the community.443 Although the government claimed to not have had enough personnel to have taken a more active and direct role in the issue given that this was the era of the Great Depression, 1936 marked the year that it pledged to make more of an effort to ensure that education for immigrants from the subcontinent was organized on a sounder basis and in a more prudent manner.444

The Director of Education acknowledged that until 1933, nearly every Ismaili school in the territory was staffed with Hindu teachers, which seemed to be even more threatening than the presence of Hindu students in their classrooms 445 He argued, however, that the government had always been in favour of religious classes that were offered in places of worship for children in the territory. The Director believed that this was sufficient in ensuring that their communal identity remained secure and that

immigrants from India would not be denied their religious and cultural traditions, histories and values.

Furthermore, the government of Zanzibar pointed out that in the central school, it would have been possible to form separate classes for Ismaili boys. This would limit the degree of interaction between them and boys of other faiths to occasional common lectures and classroom activities that included games and play. This, he argued, was evidence that the government was actively working to avoid forcing the Ismaili

443 Report on Indian Education, 1924, AB 441 (Reports: Tanganyika Territory Education Department Annual Report 1924). 444 Report on Indian Education, 1924, AB 441 (Reports: Tanganyika Territory Education Department Annual Report 1924). 445 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935, 21647. For further insights on this argument, refer to Chapter Six.

223 community to accept a policy of "co-education" with other immigrant communities from

India towards whom they may feel a degree of "antipathy."446

Reactions of Non-Ismaili Immigrants from India to Amalgamation

In addition to these suggestions put forward by the government, members of the immigrant community from the subcontinent attempted to assist in the resolution of the ongoing debate surrounding the issue of amalgamation. The majority of them were in favour of integration and sought to benefit from the grants the government was offering.447 Rather than dividing the funding over multiple schools, if they amalgamated, the one Indian Public School would receive the entire grant. This would enable improved educational standards for all immigrants from India in the region. In the minds of these non-Ismailis, the one obstacle to the realization of this vision was the Ismailis. In 1936, at a Directors of Education meeting, the Hindu members of the Indian Advisory

Committee argued that in many cases when the Ismailis insisted on developing a communal school, "the policy ... was forced on the community from outside;" that is as a result of external pressures applied from people who were not residents of the region.448

In order for the issue to be resolved, they knew that they would have to approach this third party, the Aga Khan, and attempt to sway his opinion by offering a first-hand view of the effect of the current system of separate schools on the larger community.

446 From the Chief Secretary to the Secretary of the Governors' Conference, Nairobi, 6 June 1936,21647. 447 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 26 January 1937,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 448 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 26 January 1937, 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of).

224 Immigrants from India were especially concerned about regions where there only

existed an Agakhan school in which children of other faiths were not granted entry. This

left the government with a situation where it needed to erect an additional school despite

the fact that in many cases their numbers did not warrant the existence of two separate

institutions.449 The Directors commented on the number of attempts they had made to

resolve this issue by trying to convince the entire community of the benefits of

amalgamating the schools. The various Ismaili committees, however, repeatedly resisted

all of the attempts that were made 450 A year later, before members of the Indian

Advisory Board attempted to meet with the Aga Khan, the Chief Secretary emphasized

two conditions to the Director of Education. First, that the Director should ensure that it

was clear that this suggestion was being made by the non-Ismaili members of the Indian

Advisory Committee and not the government and second, that this issue should not be

connected, in any way, with the issue of grants-in-aid.451

Whereas the Indian Advisory Committee attempted to negotiate the entry of other

immigrants from India into the Agakhan schools, in certain towns where there was a

smaller population of Ismailis, it was common to find Ismailis attending the same public

schools as other children. This was the case in Arusha. In 1937, however, as the Ismaili

population increased, so did the community's belief that they should have a separate

educational institution for Ismaili children. According to the President of Arusha's

449 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 26 January 1937, 23761 (Ismaiiia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 450 From the Chief Secretary to the Director of Education, 3 Feb 1937, 23761 (Ismaiiia Schools -Grants-in- Aid of). 451 From the Chief Secretary to the Director of Education, 3 Feb 1937, 23761 (Ismaiiia Schools - Grants-in- Aid of).

225 Indian Public School, the Ismaili community withdrew their students from the central school but eventually re-enrolled them. The President had issue with the fact that the

Agakhan schools operated on a communal basis and if the need arose for the Indian public school to close, non-Ismaili children would not be allowed to attend the Ismaili schools. In contrast, the Indian public schools were open to all, without distinction of caste or creed. The perceived prejudice against all of the other immigrants from India led the President to conclude that the Ismaili community's actions were really attempts made to safeguard the interests of their community alone, with little attention paid to the wellbeing of others around them.452

As a result, the President of the Indian Public School vehemently argued that Mr.

Mulji, an Ismaili leader who had been appointed as a representative of education for immigrants from India in Tanganyika, was an inappropriate representative and requested the government to appoint someone who could more adequately act as a representative of all immigrants from the subcontinent, "in its true sense and spirit."453 The government made it clear that it was not prepared to revoke the appointment because the presence of the Director of Education and the Provincial Commissioner of the Eastern Province as well as other immigrants from India on the Board was enough protection to safeguard against the prejudice to which the President of the Indian school alluded.454

452 From the President of the Arusha Indian Public School to the Director of Education, 12 August 1937, 22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board). 453 From the President of the Arusha Indian Public School to the Director of Education, 12 August 1937, 22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board). 454 Response to the President of the Indian Public School, 22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board).

226 In 1938, immigrants from the subcontinent also voiced concerns over the

allocation of government grants. It appears as though this grievance stemmed from an

awareness of measures that were being taken in the neighbouring colony of Kenya, where

according to local leaders, the immigrant community from India benefitted from higher

numbers of government schools for their children. In Kenya, the government also

expressed their intention to bring an increasing number of schools under their control.

Furthermore, there were facilities that trained women to become principals and vice-

principals in Nairobi. The effects of this would have been felt at the lower levels of

schooling since it would have increased the number of administrators overseeing the state

of education for immigrants from India. Additionally, since these administrators would

be paid at a higher rate than those in the equivalent positions in Dar es Salaam, Kenyan

officials were able to recruit and maintain better qualified professionals than was the case

in Tanganyika.455 Similarly, the advances made by the Kenyan government in

vocational training led many immigrants from the subcontinent to believe that their

counterparts in that colony were better prepared for their futures than were they.

In a number of articles published in the newspapers distributed among the

immigrants from India, such as the Tanganyikan Standard and the Tanganyikan Opinion, concerned members of the community compared the standards of education Tanganyikan students received in comparison to their Kenyan counterparts, and encouraged the government to invest more in their children's educational futures. Whereas these sentiments were not intended to "discourage the Educational Department," many writers

455 Cutting from The Tanganyika Opinion, 27 October 1938, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

227 had hopes of inspiring the leaders within this Department to improve the standards of education. Acknowledging the compassion and sympathy expressed by some of the officials charged with overseeing the progress of education, immigrants from India quickly came to the realization that advancements would have to be "wrenched from the unwilling hands of a grasping, closefisted and partial treasurechest [sic]."456

Articles written with this sort of sentiment were not uncommon during this period.

Eventually, they would be passed on to the Chief Secretary who, at times, would comment on these observations. In response to the issue of funding allocation among the races,457 for example, the Chief Secretary pointed out that there was a failure to recognize the increased cost associated with European education since most of these students attended boarding schools in contrast to the immigrants from India who largely attended day schools 458

The Chief Secretary also addressed concerns about the disparity between the provisions made for immigrants from the subcontinent in Kenya and those available to their counterparts in Tanganyika. This was not the first time the government was made aware of such sentiments. He observed, however, that all of these grievances failed to take into account the fact that their counterparts in Kenya paid an additional education poll tax of twenty shillings. This provided the government with added revenue to invest in the development of education. The Chief Secretary did, however, regrettably admit

456 Cutting from The Tanganyika Opinion, 27 October 1938, 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 457 See Chapter Six for details. 458 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 11 November 1938,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy).

228 and agree with the writer regarding the need for additional locally trained teachers and increased provisions for vocational training for students.459

The Long Road to Amalgamation

In addition to the oversights raised by the immigrants from India, the Aga Khan argued that there were inherent issues with the existing system that, until resolved, would prevent him from amalgamating his denominational schools with the Indian central schools. He acknowledged the concerns officials had with his own education network, revealing that the leaders of his community were actively working towards resolving them. The Aga Khan pointed out however, that he was able to take action on these issues because he had control over the system. With amalgamation, he would lose a great deal of this control, and would be forced to put the welfare of his community in the hands of others, a step he was not ready to take unless he had some security from the government.

These are the issues we will explore in this next section.

In all of the schools for immigrants from India, including the Agakhan educational institutions, there was an acknowledged need for further support and guidance. None of the schools offered any instruction in arts and crafts and the only school to offer official arrangements for sports or exercise was the Agakhan school where the older boys also had the opportunity to participate in the scouts program,460 which was yet another method used throughout the empire to socialize young colonized minds to

459 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 11 November 1938,25545 (Indian Education - General Policy). 460 Letter from the Deputy Director of Education to the Director of Education, 5 May 1925, 7017.

229 western gender roles and value systems.461 Furthermore, the standard of efficiency at all of the schools did not impress the Deputy Director of Education nor did the teachers carry adequate qualifications for their positions other than a few years of elementary education

they received either in India or Mombasa.

Once the Director of Education forwarded his annual list of suggestions to the schools, the Ismailia community took "immediate steps" aimed at resolving many of the concerns raised during the inspection. Many of the concerns raised were identified as

such because they hindered the English colonial effort.462 Nonetheless, within six months after the recommendation was made, the community rallied together and built a

playground for its students on the school compound. The playground was large enough

for cricket, football and many of the other popular sports of the time. In his letter to the

Director of Education, Kivraj Kachra, the Honorary Secretary of the Ismailia Council of

Dar es Salaam, requested the government take the Ismailia school under its supervision in order to ensure that the youth of the community got a sound education and "turn out

faithful citizens of the British Empire."463

Classes on knitting and embroidery work for the female students enrolled at the

Agakhan Girls School were other changes that were made according to the

recommendations made by the Director of Education. Typewriting, bookkeeping and correspondence were added for the higher levelled classes. The Agakhan school's

461 For further reading, refer to Kristine Alexander, "The Girl Guide Movement, Imperialism and Internationalism in Interwar England, Canada and India" Ph.D. dissertation, York University, 2010. 462 Natsoulas and Natsoulas, "Racism," 118. 463 From Ismailia Council (Jivraj Kachra, Honorary Secretary) to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 8 December 1925,7017.

230 Managing Body hired two Parsi mistresses from India to facilitate these classes. The community also established a library, to meet the needs of students enrolled in the higher standards. The library housed books and reference material approved by the government, although the leaders of the community pushed for more literature that would expose their children to "Indian heroes."464 In spite of meeting many financial needs independently, leaders of the Agakhan schools pointed out that despite the grant they received from the

Aga Khan, they would not be able to make the necessary improvements to the building's sanitation as outlined in the recommendations until the government offered them a grant.465

Although schools for immigrants from India struggled during this period, as confirmed by the Provincial Commissioner of Mwanza and the Indian Education Board, given the perceived threat to their identity, many Ismailis believed that they were entitled to separate education facilities and differential treatment from other immigrants from

India 466 The Ismailis argued that sending their children to the Agakhan schools ensured that the Ismaili community had more control over the curriculum being taught by Hindu teachers than what would be the case if the schools amalgamated. In a situation where there was no "neutral" government body overseeing the progress and direction of a central school, a requirement the Aga Khan was adamant about before considering the

464 Extracts from the Proceedings of the Conference of Directors of Education of Kenya, Uganda Zanzibar and Tanganyika, held in Dar es Salaam, June 1933,21792 (Teaching of History in Indian Schools). 465 From Ismailia Council (Jivraj Kachra, Honorary Secretary) to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 8 December 1925,7017. 466 From the Provincial Commissioner, Mwanza to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 7 May 1928, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools); Memorandum on AgaKhan School, Mwanza, 22 June 1927, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools); From Barrister at law to the Director of Education, 21 January 1932, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools).

231 issue of co-education, according to the Ismaili leaders, there was little way of ensuring that the direction and approach taken in regards to the education of immigrants from the subcontinent was fair and equitable.

It would prove to be quite taxing to bridge the gaps between the different immigrant communities from India in Tanganyika in an effort to come to a consensus regarding their educational policies. Take, for example, the towns of Singinda and Seke where the schools were forced to close down in 1935 and 1938 respectively as a result of financial woes. In Seke specifically, the school's grant was reduced because it received an unfavourable report from colonial officials and could not raise the adequate funds to make up for the shortfall.467 In turn, the Ismaili community opened up an Agakhan school two months later, catering to a total of fifteen students. Ismaili leaders were left with little faith in the Managing Body of the Indian Central School, the body assigned the

responsibility to oversee "the management of its school and for the proper accounting of all monies granted from Government funds."468 This instability did not sit well with the

leaders of the Ismaili Council nor did it convince the Aga Khan to amalgamate his schools with the other educational facilities throughout the territory.469

In 1932, tension continued to mount over the amalgamation issue and in response,

on behalf of the Ismailia community, a lawyer wrote to the Director of Education. In the

467 From the Government Inspector of Schools to the Provincial Commissioner, 23 May 1939, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools). "Grants-in-aid to Indian Schools," in The Tanganyika Gazette, 29 January 1937,19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.). Extract from the minutes of the tenth meeting of the Finance Committee of the Indian Education Advisory Board, February 1935,22077 (Indian Reserve Education Tax Fund - Allocations from).

232 letter, he argued that his clients were informed that the Indian Public School of Mwanza

was in such deplorable conditions that it was not likely that it would be able to survive

financially. In spite of receiving a 2,000 shilling grant from the government, the teachers

were not being paid their salaries.470 Shortly thereafter, upon receiving additional

financial assistance, the Director of Education confirmed that the finances of the Indian

Public School had once again been put on a sound footing. The fact that its financial

position had been in jeopardy however, had given the Ismaili community justification for

the need for a distinct and separate school to educate their children.471 In turn, the

Ismailis' lawyer argued that if the government was willing to assure his clients that it

would take control of the Indian Public School, the Ismaili community would not hesitate

to amalgamate their school with the government institution.472

As the push for the increased centralization of the education of immigrants from

India became more pronounced, the Aga Khan continued to urge the government to

distinguish his community from others in Tanganyika. In his letter addressed to the

Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey, on 22 June 1934 he wrote: "a fundamental

distinction exists between the Ismailia Khojas and other Indian communities. Most of the

latter still have their roots in the motherland, send their children across the Indian Ocean

for education and return to India later in life."473 Since his community consistently

470 From Barrister at law to the Director of Education, 21 January 1932, N/l (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools). 471 Response by the Director of Education, 30 January 1932, N/l (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools). 472 From Barrister at law to the Director of Education, 21 January 1932, N/l (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools). 473 General Policy of Education, 1924 Report, AB 1 (Tanganyika Annual Report, 1924).

233 exhibited signs of permanency in the region, he argued that they should receive some degree of financial support from the government.

The Aga Khan felt that it would only be "by supervision of the Government that the community schools [would be able to] work in a proper and efficient manner and the children [could] get sound education."474 For example, at his school in Dar es Salaam, the monthly expenses amounted to 2,525 shillings, from which the Aga Khan contributed

1,110 shillings, leaving a deficit of 1,415 shillings. This disparity was often covered by donations and subscriptions made by members of the Ismaili community. Beyond what the school committee felt they could financial bear were expenses that resulted from additional students along with the expenses they incurred while addressing the building recommendations made by the Director of Education. The amount of Ismaili contributions prompted the Aga Khan to call on the government to help meet the needs of the students enrolled at his school, with the aim of making the government an active participant in the future of his community.

The Aga Khan was determined to gain increased government support for his schools,475 especially given the number of students enrolled in them. In 1938, there were a total of 877 students in attendance at both the boys (451) and girls (426) schools in Dar es Salaam. This was in comparison to the 298 children enrolled in the Indian Central

School and the 502 students enrolled in the junior school. Given that the Ismaili students

474 From Ismailia Council (Jivraj Kachra, Honorary Secretary) to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 8 December 1925,7017. 475 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 22 September 1938, 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of).

234 outnumbered the students enrolled in the central school (that catered to all of the other immigrant communities from India in the region), the Aga Khan pushed the government to believe in and invest in the futures of the largest community of immigrants from the subcontinent residing in Dar es Salaam. The Aga Khan argued that the most appropriate manner in which the government could express its confidence in the Ismailis was to invest in their educational futures.

4 Given the amount the Aga Khan spent on education throughout East Africa, he wielded a degree of control and leverage. For example, the Aga Khan repeatedly threatened to withdraw his annual donations to the Agakhan schools throughout the colony. This would cause great strain on the government since it would then be forced to take full responsibility for the maintenance of these institutions or incur the costs associated with the added number of students that would then be enrolled in the Indian

Central School. In this situation, it would be likely that the government would have to increase taxes, in turn having to deal with an unsettled immigrant community. The government responded to the threats with a more forceful tone, emphasizing that public finances would not bear the strain of financing the Aga Khan's schools. If the government conceded, it would mean that it was accepting the responsibility for overseeing the maintenance of an institution that had a "distinctive culture and religious outlook."476 This was a policy the government was unwilling to adopt, especially when it came to the diverse immigrant communities from India.

476 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647.

235 According to the mandate for Tanganyika, the British government was responsible for "promoting] to the utmost the material and moral well-being and the social progress of [Tanganyika's] inhabitants."477 While this progress was generally defined along western lines and used as a means to reproduce the power structure imposed by British administration, which relegated the colonized to second and third class "citizenship," it was nonetheless viewed by many (though not all) as beneficial for their growth. It was also used by the Aga Khan to vie for change in educational policy throughout the territory.

When the Aga Khan threatened to withdraw his funding to the Agakhan Girls

School in Tanganyika, some colonial officials felt as though their hands were tied.

According to government policy, as outlined in the education department's annual report of 1932, "where a school has been erected with the full support of all communities with the aid of public funds and is adequate for the total number of school children of the locality, grants-in-aid have been paid to that school only."478 Since the Agakhan Girls

School was the only educational institution available for girls on the island, his threats to withdraw funding were quite alarming. This was because the burden of overseeing girls' education would then fall squarely on the government's shoulders. As a result, in response to these threats, the Director of Education declared that the school would not operate until the community opted to re-open and finance it. It appeared as though this was the only school Ismaili girls were able to attend on the island. When it came to the

477 Vincent Harlow and E. M. Chilver, ed., History of East Africa, Vol. //(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), 690-695. 478 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647. boys and infant schools, however, there were other options available. The Ismaili community was entitled to enrol their children in these institutions. Since there were more eligible candidates on the island than what the school could accommodate, however, if the Aga Khan suddenly withdrew his contributions, some children would be refused entry as a result of accommodation constraints.479 If, however, the Aga Khan gave the government a sufficient amount of time to prepare for his withdrawal, the

Director of Education had two options to consider. The first included an arrangement between the government and the Ismaili community whereby a yearly grant could be made by the community to help meet the added costs incurred by the increased number of students while the second option involved an education tax imposed on all immigrants from India in the region to help ease the added financial burden.480 An additional option was to have the girls sacrifice their school building to help meet the accommodation needs of the students enrolled in the new school building for boys.

It is unlikely that any of these options would have convinced the Aga Khan to relinquish his position since none of them addressed what he felt was the heart of the issue. In many ways, much of the correspondence between the Aga Khan and the government reveals how important the Aga Khan felt government involvement and investment was in the quality of education for all of its subjects, especially his followers.

This work also illustrates the Aga Khan's belief in the conservative Victorian ideal upon which many of the colonial educational policies were based. If the government was not

479 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647. 480 Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga Khan, 29 November 1935,21647.

237 financially committed to the wellbeing of the Ismaili community, however, the futures of his followers in Tanganyika, in his mind, would be threatened.

Who was Responsible for the Education oflmmigrants from India?

At a Director of Education Conference, held in 1935, the issue of grants awarded to schools for immigrants from India was discussed and it was decided that the following position should be taken:

This Council appreciates the value of voluntary effort in Indian education, and urges that Government should continue to encourage such effort by means of grants from central funds, so far as primary education is concerned; that this council recognizes that certain Indian communities are not capable of making the effort necessary to run efficient schools of their own, and considers that either "public" schools or specially-sided schools should, within the limits set by the availability appreciation, be provided and should while open to all sects, cater chiefly for the pupils of such communities, fees being charged at reasonable rates; that this Council is averse from and deprecates the suggestion that Government should by meeting the full net cost of education at community schools discourage such healthy voluntary effort as already exists or may in the future exist; that this Council favours direct management or close control of secondary education.481

From this decision, we learn that voluntary participation in the education of immigrants from India was encouraged. The Aga Khan was already setting an example for members of his own community to emulate. The following'example reveals how other immigrant groups from the subcontinent viewed their educational responsibilities.

The Bukoba Indian Association submitted a request to the Governor of

Tanganyika, revealing its need for a new central school that would meet the educational requirements of its children who numbered above 100 in 1929. The leaders of the

4SI From the Chief Secretary to the Secretary of the Governors' Conference, Nairobi, 6 June 1936,21647.

238 Association claimed that efforts were being made to run a private school but the

community lacked a source of permanent funding and efficient management. Thus, the

community found itself in a position where it was unable to maintain satisfactory

conditions to operate the school on a permanent basis.482

Once the government decided to move ahead with its plan to develop an assisted

school after reviewing the Indian Association's request, the Governor suggested that the

Association consult the superintendent of education to collectively develop a plan to

begin construction. The Association, however, protested the suggestion, declaring that

they were "incapable of managing such a school and desired that the whole responsibility

of raising such a school should devolve upon [the] Government."483 In response, the

Governor declared his dissatisfaction with their pessimistic outlook and emphasized the

importance of making more of an effort to manage its own affairs as a community. He

also thought it was ironic that the Indian Association was pushing for increased

representation on the Township Authority (which at the time included one immigrant

from India while the Indian Association was pushing for five) but at the same time, felt

that it was incapable of managing the affairs of an Indian school. Nonetheless, the

Governor informed the Association that if it still felt that the task was beyond their abilities, he was open to the possibility of forming a joint committee to oversee the

482 Letter from President of Indian Association, Bukoba, to His Excellency the Governor 6 June 1929, 198 (Indian Association). 483 Memorandum submitted by the Bukoba Indian Association to His Excellency, 6 June 1929, 198 (Indian Association).

239 management of the school which would include representation from the immigrants from

India as well as the government.484

This approach worked in opposition to the ideals of the Aga Khan. For years, his

community was relatively self-sufficient when it came to caring for their educational

needs. He encouraged his followers to lead the efforts made to improve their quality of

education, according to the standards of efficiency outlined in British educational

policies. Having the other immigrant communities from India express their

unwillingness to take a proactive role in the state of education was, according to the

leaders of the Agakhan schools, another indication of the need for increased government

involvement in managing the state of education throughout the territory.

In the smaller towns, where Ismailis attended educational institutions with other

immigrants from India, there were instances where members of the Ismaili community

believed that the leaders and administrators of the school were not treating all students

fairly. In Mwanza for example, Ismaili students represented 55 percent of the total

number of children enrolled in the school in 1948. This group paid a monthly fee of 104 shillings, whereas the others paid 98 shillings. Furthermore, the following examples were cited by members of the Ismaili community, who argued that the general attitude of the

484 Memorandum submitted by the Bukoba Indian Association to His Excellency, 6 June 1929, 198 (Indian Association).

240 other immigrants from the subcontinent towards them was "too harsh and ridiculous to be

tolerated."485

A general school meeting was held on June 20,1948 to discuss the erection of a

new building for the Indian Public School and to appoint two honorary members assigned

to audit the books. Once these two issues were addressed, the meeting was let out. The

Ismailis, however, alleged that following the meeting, a second meeting was called for

without any prior notice, to which the Ismailis were not invited. At this meeting,

members were appointed by the "general body of the school" as trustees for the new

building that was to be built. Interestingly, of the three members that were appointed, even though most of the Ismaili community was absent from the meeting, one Ismaili was appointed. Nonetheless, members of the Ismaili community launched a written protest against the process; however, no response was received.486 In turn, the Ismailis in

Mwanza turned to their leaders to see that the matter was adequately addressed and that the "safety of [their] rights" was secured.487

As evidenced by this chapter, tensions among the various immigrant communities

from India often surfaced when issues of educational policies were discussed and formulated. Disputes were often settled only after the government got involved, and in some cases, conflicts persisted despite government involvement. The Aga Khan worked

485 From members of the Ismailia Jamat in Misungwi, Mwanza District, to HHTAK Central Council of Education for Africa, Dar es Salaam, 22 November 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza). 486 From the Provincial Commissioner to the Director of Land and Mines, 5 July 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza). 487 From members of the Ismailia Jamat in Misungwi, Mwanza District, to HHTAK Central Council of Education for Africa, Dar es Salaam, 22 November 1948,970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza).

241 to ensure that his community was being treated favourably by the colonial officials, who

viewed the Aga Khan's position as:

sufficiently elevated for him to command acceptance in East Africa.... It's certainly to be hoped that he will receive all courtesy and consideration, as he is very prominent in the Councils of the Empire and at Geneva. Personally he is a charming and cultured gentleman with a cosmopolitan range of cultural and social knowledge.488

The Aga Khan often used his financial and diplomatic position to encourage Tanganyikan colonial officials to consider the welfare of his followers when settling these ongoing disputes among the immigrant communities from the subcontinent, as revealed in the events that took place in Mafia, Dar es Salaam and Bukoba.

Mafia. 1938

In Mafia, the relationships between the immigrants from India became so tenuous that in 1938 the Aga Khan chose to open a separate school in spite of the fact that it catered to only 18 students. Over time, this institution increased in popularity and by the end of 1941, the number of students on the roll at the Agakhan school totalled 41.489

Despite the small number of students enrolled in the school, at the beginning of the

1940s, the school's management body requested an increase in their government grants- in-aid. The school committee, however, did not heed the Provincial Commissioner's recommendation to build a shamba, or a garden for both recreation and profit, and as a result the District Officer opted to ignore the request. The Commissioner argued that the

488 Kaiser, Culture, 22. 489 Foundation Laying Ceremony of HHTAK's School in Mafia to the District Commissioner, E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia); Letter to the Director of Education, Mafia, 26 January 1942, E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia).

242 government could not invest any further in an educational institution that was not

focusing on the areas of growth the government deemed was necessary, because "it [was]

not the policy of Government that schools should turn out boys, of whatever race, who

[were] not prepared to work with their hands as well as with their brains."490

Shortly thereafter, the Indian Public School in Mafia was forced to shut down as a

result of a shortage of funds. This outcome was likely connected to the withdrawal of

Ismaili students and the resultant decrease in the school's revenue from school fees. This

in turn, changed the grants-in-aid situation. Despite multiple attempts to revive the

Central Indian School, the Administrative Officer of the school concluded that after

interviewing the new leader of the local Ismaili community, Mr. Fazal Saleh Alibhai, he

learned that "their objection to the Indian Public School was that no religious instruction

was given to their children."491 The non-Ismaili children, however, were faced with the

following dilemma:

The Public School has ceased to exist, the School master has resigned and has been paid his salary etc in full; the necessary extra money to cover the difference between what was due and the existing balance was found by Fazal Saleh Alibhai out of his own pocket. As there are only two Asiatic sects who have children who are not members of the Ismailia Sect it is useless to contemplate the possibility of the revival of the Public School. I consider therefore that Government should now take steps to put the Ismailia School on a proper footing supported by a small grant and I have reason to believe that the richer members of the Ismailia

490 From the District Officer to HHTAK's School Committee, Mafia, 2 February 1942, E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia). 491 From the Administrative Officer, Mafia to Director of Education, 29 January 1938 E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia).

243 Community are prepared to augment the revenue derived from school fees by relatively handsome subscriptions.492

As a result, in spite of the fact that the Agakhan school was denied an increased grant,

with the closure of the public school, the government was compelled to revisit the issue

because the Agakhan school had become the major educational institution for immigrants

from India in the region.

Dares Salaam. 1938

Another illustration of the Aga Khan pressuring the colonial government to invest

more in the education of his followers occurred in August 1938, when the President of the Ismailia Provincial Council revealed that the community was having problems with its boys' school building in Dar es Salaam and was looking for another suitable space. It had been customary for the Ismaili community to meet their building costs as much as possible on their own, without the assistance of government. In this case, however, it found it necessary to ask for a capital grant.493 The total number of students enrolled in the school was 451 and the 17 class rooms in the existing building could no longer accommodate the students, a fact that was supported by the health official.494 A member of the Ismailia community, Abdulla Shariff who was a resident of Zanzibar, donated a sum of 65,000 shillings to the Aga Khan who then donated it toward the development of a new boys' school building. With the Aga Khan's donation of 65,000 shillings, the

492 From the Administrative Officer, Mafia to Director of Education, 29 January 1938, E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia). 493 Notes from meeting with the Ismaili Provincial Council Representatives at Financial Secretary's Office, 11 October 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 494 From the President of Ismailia Provincial Council to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 23 August 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of).

244 community fell short of meeting the costs required to finance the project by 55,000 shillings. As a result, they requested a total of 65,000 shillings from the government, with hopes of reserving the additional 10,000 shillings for future expansion anticipated in the future.495 The community's leaders argued that the Ismailis had become full citizens of the territory and investing in the Ismaili community would be an investment in the future of Tanganyika. To have the government invest in his followers' futures was one of the main reasons why the Aga Khan chose not to donate the full amount that was required to build a new building for the school. He offered the government an opportunity to show their support and become invested in his community.

After reviewing the situation, the Director of Education recommended to the

Chief Secretary that the government should donate the requested 65,000 shillings the

Provincial Ismailia Council requested.496 The government, however, was not in favour of granting the full amount but instead, officials agreed to cover the capital cost of a new school building. Thus, the grant was limited to a total of 55,000 shillings because the government chose to deal with the amount the community requested for expansion when the need arose.497

According to the representatives of the Ismaili Provincial Council, the government appeared to drag their feet when it came to honouring their donation.

495 From the President of Ismailia Provincial Council to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 23 August 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 496 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 22 September 1938, 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 497 From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 22 September 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of).

245 Consequently, Abdulla Shariff, the Zanzibar resident who made the initial donation to the

Aga Khan in the late 1930s, threatened to withdraw his contribution at the end of the year. Shariff explained that because he was more advanced in years, he was eager to see

his benefaction take place during his lifetime.498 In response, the financial secretary

replied that the project would be considered when they examined the budget for the

following year.

Bukoba. 1939

As the leaders of the Agakhan school in Dar es Salaam worked to obtain an

increased grant from the government in 1939, the leaders of the Bukoba Ismaili Council approached their local authorities with a similar request. On the fourth of March 1939 these Ismaili leaders wrote to the educational inspector for the town, informing him that they had made attempts to raise the necessary funds to establish their own school for the

previous three years. They had now received a grant from their Imam and were seeking an equivalent grant from the government to help them achieve their goal to establish a school on a "very modern basis."499 The community argued that at the Indian Public

School children were forced to attend insufficiently staffed classes with personnel that were not adequately trained. As a result, many of their children had to seek more suitable training for higher studies at educational institutions in Kampala and Mombasa. This was burdensome because more than forty-five percent of the students enrolled at the Indian

Public school were Ismailis, a figure that would increase to sixty percent if the students

498 Notes from meeting with the Ismaili Provincial Council Representatives at Financial Secretary's Office, 11 October 1938,23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of). 499 From the Ismailia Jamat, Bukoba to the Educational Inspector, Dodoma, 4 March 1939, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools).

246 studying in neighbouring colonies returned to Tanganyika. As a result, the Ismaili

community argued that it was entitled to receive government grants-in-aid to establish its

own communal school.500

While these examples represent only a few of the instances the Aga Khan fought

for increased government involvement in his schools, they are reflective of the range of

approaches he took to apply pressure to the government to enact change and create better

opportunities for his community. As tensions mounted between immigrants from India in

one British colony, the Aga Khan used these experiences to enact change in other parts of

the Empire. While his actions caused some frustration for colonial officials, the

relationships he forged with members of the colonial administration, the status accorded to him by the Crown, namely that of an Indian prince, and his financial contributions throughout the Empire provided him with the leverage needed to negotiate for change without jeopardizing both his and his community's somewhat privileged position within the British Empire.

500 From the Ismailia Jamat, Bukoba to the Educational Inspector, Dodoma, 4 March 1939, N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools).

247 Conclusion

On 11 July 1957, Aga Khan III passed away at the age of eighty-two in Geneva,

Switzerland. His will announced the process of succession to the seat of Imamate,

ultimately revealing who would be declared the forty-ninth Imam of the Shia Imami

Ismaili Muslims:

Ever since the time of my ancestor Aly the fist Imam - that is to say over a period of some 1.300 years - it has always been the tradition that each Imam chooses his successor at his absolute and unfettered discretion from among sons or remoter male issue, and in these circumstances and in view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world in very recent years due to the great changes which have taken place, including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the interest of the Shia Muslim Ismaili community that I should be succeeded by a young man who has been brought up and developed during recent years and in the midst of the new age and who brings a new outlook on life to his office as Imam.501

He declared his grandson Karim, the son of his son Aly Solomone Khan, as the Imam of the Ismaili community. Prior to his passing, he went through great measures to ensure that his grandson would be granted permission to carry the title "His Highness," a process detailed in van Grondelle's recent work. In 1955, Aga Khan III dictated the following to his legal advisor, Sir George Allan, highlighting the preparations he was making for his succession:

In case of my death, what I would seriously advise in the interest of Her Majesty's Government, (who will always have in some part of the Empire, a great deal many Ismailis as well as Ismailis in the Middle East, such as Syria, Irak [sic],

501 "From the 'Will' of the late Imam, Hazrat Sultan Mohamed Shah," Africa Ismaili: Imamat Day Number (East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia Association, 1 August 1969), 29.

248 Iran, Afghanistan, Chinese Turkestan), the title of "His Highness" should be conferred as a personal distinction but without pension, on my successor for his life time. This as far as we can reasonably look forward, all of the benefits of the present association of the Imam with the British Government will continue yet no permanent ties will have been established which might be of disadvantage later on in the distant future for the British authorities.502

In turn, Aga Khan III laid the foundation for a continued bond between his successor as

the leader of the Ismaili community and the British Crown, in turn ensuring his

community's continued loyalty to the Empire. This partnership would later set off a

chain of negotiations between Aga Khan IV and a number of international political

leaders, efforts taken to expound on the work carried out by his grandfather, on a much

larger scale. It was within this spirit that alliances were forged between the Canadian government and Aga Khan IV. It was in this context that the vision for the Global Centre

for Pluralism was rooted, a vision "dedicated to the promotion of ethnic, cultural, and religious interchange, education and harmony."503 Thus, while Aga Khan III went through great measures to oppose amalgamation in Tanganyika in turn building a wall that seemingly divided communities, his grandson and successor endeavoured to build bridges to unite society.

While there may be a seeming disconnect between the approach taken by Aga

Khan III and the projects initiated by his grandson,504 I argue that the struggles endured

502 Van Grondelle, Ismailis in the Colonial Era, 79-80. 503 Speech by the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minster of Canada at the Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre, Toronto, The Aga Khan Museum and their Park, 28 May 2010. 504 An excerpt of the speech made by Aga Khan IV at the Foundation Stone Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 30 August 2003 reflects a component of his vision: "... the Ismaili Centre in Dushanbe will... bring down walls that divide and build bridges that unite". www.akdn.org/Content/592

249 throughout the twentieth century were necessary precursors for the work carried out by

Aga Khan IV. Throughout the struggles waged between Aga Khan III and the Crown, explored here through the lens of education, the Aga Khan's goal was to develop a strong spirit of Ismaili communal identity. This was an objective that could only be achieved, in the Aga Khan's mind, through increased government involvement and participation in the growth and development of society. In Tanganyika, the Aga Khan viewed the government as a neutral body and a potential ally of his followers. Having such a powerful partner offered a degree of communal security and ensured that change and

"progress" occurred along imperial lines and in a manner that complemented the goals of the Empire, in turn securing for the Ismailis positions within a system in which many prospered.

Similarly, on the issue of amalgamation, once a safe and regulated environment was created, the Aga Khan amended his position on the issue, revealing that it was not amalgamation itself that he had issue with but rather, the context in which it was carried out. Once the government increased its involvement in the state of education and after the Ismailis had developed a strong religious education curriculum, co-education was not as threatening to the community's identity. Thus, the activities of Aga Khan III and IV should not be viewed as separate initiatives and approaches. Rather, I argue that one was a necessary component of the other.

This has often been cited to contrast the actions of his grandfather who, as revealed in this study, divided members of the Indian community in Tanganyika. Instead, I propose that Aga Khan Ill's actions could be viewed as necessary measures in the construction of a solid foundation upon which these bridges, developed by Aga Khan IV, could be erected.

250 Considering that Aga Khan III was not a head of state and garnished relatively

minimal political power, this study reveals how he was able to capitalize on what the

British colonial system was willing to offer him and his followers. Even though the extent of his influence within the colonial system, which resembled the status accorded to

Indian princes, was arguably minimal, rather than attempting to silence this "irritant,"505 some officials were instructed to show him "courtesy and consideration,"506 revealing a

"definite feeling of goodwill on the part of the Government towards [the Aga Khan's]

Community."507

The Aga Khan's admiration for and loyalty to the British and their system of governance was vividly apparent even as he fought for part of Germany's ex-colonies to be mandated a colony for India. His vision continued to promote imperial values, laced with a paternalistic concern for the African. Thus, his suggestion did not call for a complete overhaul of the imperial structure. Rather his suggestion called for the Indian, rather than the European to be at the helm of this common initiative.

Following the 1857 Indian Rebellion, tensions continued to mount between the different Indian communities in the subcontinent as the British sought to categorize them along new fixed and monolithic religious markers as a means to increase their control over their Indian subjects. Recognizing that incidents in one colony had an impact on another, the Aga Khan sought to protect his followers throughout the Empire from any

505 Van Grondelle, Ismailis in the Colonial Era, 59. 506 Kaiser, Culture, 22. 507 From the Chief Secretary to the Secretary of the Governors' Conference, Nairobi, 6 June 1936,21647.

251 perceived threats to their religious, economic, social and political interests, especially

during these tenuous periods.

Following the Second World War, when Aga Khan III returned to India in 1946,

he witnessed the subcontinent firmly set on the prospect of total independence.508

Britain, weakened by the expenses incurred during the War, was financially too weak to

hold the nation against its will. According to the Aga Khan, Britain had secured its

victory in the War, "but at the price of world leadership lost."509 Yet, the Aga Khan held out hope for a united nation. This, however, would not be the case:

I for my part still cherished some hopes that the full and final amputation could be avoided, if something on the lines of the constitution proposed by the last British Cabinet Mission could have been acceptable. Now I see clearly that I was wrong; amputation was the only remedy. 10

He described how deep hostilities towards the British ran, how entrenched they were in society:

The struggle would be real, immediate, and bloody unless self-government were granted, not in the future and on terms laid down by Britain, but on conditions largely imposed by the people of India themselves.... The most obvious symptom of the depth and magnitude of this feeling,... was the hostility that had developed, not simply to Britain's political suzerainty, but to everything British.511

In this context, hope for having Britain guide the leaders of the subcontinent down their path to independence was lost. The lingering issue was whether or not there would be a

508 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 296. 505 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 291. 5,0 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 225. 511 Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 290. united India. While the Aga Khan initially supported efforts to keep the nation united, he eventually abandoned hope, in turn actively advocating for partition.512

The opinions the Aga Khan had on the partition of the subcontinent and the

manner in which his position fluctuated when it was realized that the nation would not be able to govern itself as a whole illustrate the weight he placed on sound governance. A truly united nation would only develop if all of the groups involved had a strong sense of communal identity and if they held a shared set of goals they could all work towards achieving. If there was no consensus within the government on the lines along which the

nation should evolve, how could positive growth truly occur? Real progress was heavily dependent on government involvement. If a governing body could not agree on basic goals, the efforts necessary to achieve them would never be adequately assessed and executed.

While faith in the British was shattered in the subcontinent leading up to 1947,

Britain's position in Tanganyika remained a bit more secure. Thus, in response to what was perceived to be potential minefields in Tanganyika, Aga Khan III battled for

increased British involvement in the state of education. Without active participation from the state, in his mind, not only was his community vulnerable during these periods of

political transition, genuine "progress" was doomed. Good governance was defined differently from one colony to another. Following the partition of India, the Aga Khan's hopes rested on the leaders of the newly independent states in the subcontinent while in

512 For more details on this, see Aga Khan III, Memoirs, 297.

253 East Africa, he continued to call for increased British involvement in the affairs of the state and his community.

Pluralism does not mean losing your distinct identity or succumbing to the whims and demands of the majority. Rather, in order for a truly plural community to manifest itself, strong communal bonds in individual communities were an integral component, a necessity, some might argue. The institutional network established by the Aga Khan in colonial Tanganyika actively worked towards solidifying an Ismaili communal identity.

These measures could not have been taken, from the Aga Khan's view, in an amalgamated system in which there was minimal government involvement and interest.

Until this condition was met, there would be no central authority to oversee, for instance, the shaping of curriculum or the management of the financial affairs of these institutions.

This was a particularly sensitive issue since education was largely perceived as a means for social and economic growth, but it could also be viewed as a weapon. The youth of any community are perhaps the most vulnerable, given how impressionable they are. Establishing separate Agakhan schools enabled his followers to gain control over their curriculum while ensuring their students had a sound religious basis upon which they could build their futures. It also enabled the community to transmit the unique values and traditions central to their interpretation of Islam, which the Aga Khan believed was essential for genuine progress. In turn, these teachings would bolster a strong communal sense of identity.

254 Even after the government agreed to accept the responsibility of overseeing the development and management of the education for immigrants from India, the Aga

Khan's institutions continued to hold religious classes on a regular basis in addition to the religious courses offered at their educational intuitions, illustrating the weight Aga Khan

III attached to these ideologies. It was within the walls of these classes that his followers were advised on a range of issues that spoke to their spiritual and material growth. This was a cause to which Aga Khan III dedicated his life, a cause his successor committed to as well, "my aim in the future will be to continue the vast work of my grandfather... I will do everything possible for your worldly and spiritual upliftment."513

This thesis demonstrates that the immigrant communities from India were not unified by exploring the institutions developed by the Aga Khan specifically for his followers, which in turn segmented them from their counterparts from the subcontinent.

These structures that developed among the Ismaili communities in East Africa have received very little scholarly attention. This study, as a result, does not rely heavily on the work of others and is thus pioneering in that it opens up many fertile areas for further research. This dissertation is also significant because it explores the ways in which colonial policy impacted women and children, groups which are often neglected in colonial histories.

515 Kjellberg, "History of the Ismaili Community," 16.

255 Appendix A: Events in the Life of H. H. Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah

Aga Khan III (1877-1957)514

1877 - Birth in Karachi on 2nd November

1885 - Installed on the Gadi (throne) of Imamate on 17th August at Bombay

1866 - Honoured with the title of His Highness from British Government

1897 - Assisted Professor Haffkine to prepare anti-plague serum and educated the public

about the benefits and harmlessness of inoculation

1897 - Visited Simla to present to the Viceroy, Lord Elgin, an address of loyalty and

congratulations to Her Majesty on the eve of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

1898 - Undertook first European tour and was invited as Guest of Honour to dine to

Windsor Place with Her Majesty Queen Victoria who conferred the title of Knight

Commander of the Indian Empire.

1898 - Visited Africa and Middle East for the first time. Sultan of Zanzibar bestowed the

title, "Brilliant Star of Zanzibar." Shah of Iran, Ahmad Shah Kajar, presented the

title, "Star of Iran." Sultan of Turkey, Caliph Abdul Hamid, awarded the title,

"Star of Turkey."

514 "80 Eventful Years of Illustrious Life of H. R. H. Sir Sultan Mohammad Shah Aga Khan III (1877- 1957)," Ismaili Mirror: Special Birth Centenary Issue, H. R. H. Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan (Pakistan: PAK Ismailia Publications Ltd., November 1977): 7-9.

256 1900 - Met with Emperor William Kaiser of Germany who later presented title, "Royal

Prussian order of the Crown (First Class)." First Asian to receive this title.

1902 - Attended Coronation ceremony of King Edward VII as Royal Guest and was

advanced to the rank of Grand Cross of the Indian Empire.

1903 - Presided All India Muslims Education Conference

1906 - Led the Muslim delegation to then Viceroy, Lord-Minto, of India.

1907 - Elected the President of All India Muslim League and remained as such until

1912.

1911 - King George V of England conferred the title of Grand Commander of the order

of Star of India.

1911 - Collected the contributions of 20 lacs rupees to establish Aligarh University.

1913 - Presided the gathering of Indian leaders at Town Hall of Bombay to consider the

problems of Indian settlers in South Africa.

1914 - Advised Turkish Government to maintain neutrality during First World War.

1918 - Wrote "India in Transition"

1918 - Oxford University conferred the honorary degree of LL.D.

1923 - King George V and Queen Mary granted audience and conferred the tile of Grand

Commander of Victorian order.

257 1928 - Presided All India All Parties Muslim Conference.

1930 - Participated in First Round Table Conference of Indian leaders with British

authorities.

1931 - Participated in Second Round table Conference and negotiated with Mahatma

Gandhi to work out Hindu Muslim unity.

1932 - Appointed a member of Indian delegation to Disarmament conference and chief

representative of Indian delegation to the assemblage of League of Nations and

remained as such until 1938.

1934 - Appointed a member of Privy Council by British Government.

1935-50 years as Imam of Ismaili sect completed on 17th August.

1936 - Was weighed against gold on 19th January at Hasanabad, Bombay, on the eve of

Golden Jubilee. Bestowed the entire value of gold upon Ismaili community for

the education of their children.

1937 - Was weighed second time against gold on 1st March at Nairobi and gifted the

entire value to Ismaili community for educational purposes.

1937 - Elected President of League of Nations and remained as such until 1938.

1945 - Wrote Glimpses of Islam, co-authored by Dr. Zaki Ali.

1946 - Was weighed against diamonds at Bombay on 10th March on the occasion of

Diamond Jubilee. Again weighed against diamonds at Dar-es-Salaam on 10th

258 August. Bestowed the entire value of diamonds for the welfare of Ismaili

community.

1949 - Government of Iran awarded the title of His Royal Highness as well as the

citizenship of Iran.

1951 - Visited Syria and received the title, "Order of Ommeyad" from the Government

of Syria.

1954 - Was weighed against platinum at Karachi on 3rd February and bestowed the entire

value to establish Investment Society for Ismaili community.

1954 - Published The Memoirs ofAga Khan.

1955 - Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title of Grand Cross of the Saint Michael and

Saint George.

1955 - Ismailis of Africa celebrated token Platinum Jubilee on 20th February.

1957 - Passed away on 11th July at Barakat Villa of Geneva. Laid in the burial place at

the residence in Aswan (Egypt) on 19th July.

259 Appendix B: Executive and Committee Members of the Ismailia

Political Body (1954)

Executive Committee:

President: Rai Popat Versi Rajani

Honorary Secretary: Rai Pirbhai Jiwa Bharwani

Member Countess Nurbanu V. M. Nazarali

Member Vizier Janmohmed M. S. Kanji

Member Vizier Dhanji Jadavji Bhatia

Members:

Vizier Husein Naser Sharif, President of Ismailia Association for Tanganyika

Mr. Alnoor Kassam Sunderji Samji, Member for Education of Tanganyika

Mrs. Sherbanu Aziz Fazal Jamal, Dar es Salaam

Mrs. Jenabai Hasham Jivraj, Mwanza

Rai Hassanali Kassam Sunderji Samji, President of Dar es Salaam Provincial Council

Alijah Habib Alii Meghji, Dar es Salaam

Rai Mohamedali Nazzer Damji, President of Dodoma Provincial Council

Vizier Abdulla Jivraj Bhojani, Dodoma

Vizier Ladha Sumar, President of Tabora Provincial Council

Vizier Gulamhusein Rajpar Ladak, Kigoma, Tabora District

Rai Janmohamed Shamji, President of Mwanza Provincial Council

Alijah Alloudin Alibhai, Mwanza

260 Alijah Fatehali Habib Poonja, Dar es Salaam

Alijah Hussein Fazal Bhanji, President of Tanga Provincial Council

Huzurmukhi Abdulla Count Ismail Jetha, Tanga

Vizier Hassanali Kassam Virani, Moshi, President of Provincial Council

Vizier Merali Hirji, Moshi

Alijah Rahemtula Karim Manji, President of Mbeya Council

Huzurmukhi Fazal Manji, Mbeya

Out of a total of 24 Committee members, three were women, one of which served on the

Executive Committee.515

515 From the Honorary Secretary of HHAK's Ismailia Supreme Council for Tanganyika to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tanganyika, 9 November 1954, AB 45/01.

261 Appendix C: A Message to Ismaili Men and Women (1952)

Picture sent by Aga Khan III, instructing his followers to adopt western styles of dress, as evidenced in his hand-written caption: "I give my best paternal blessings to all who adopt simple colonial dress."

262 Appendix D: Conditions for Grants-in-aid, 1937516

A school may, with the approval of the Director of Education, be placed on the list of schools qualifying for grants if the following conditions have been fulfilled:

a) The children of Indian parentage are admitted to the school without distinction of

caste or creed except when the Director of Education is satisfied that the existence

of a communal school in the locality is justified by the educational needs of the

community or area. Such communal schools may, however, qualify for grants-in-

aid.

b) That children of both sexes shall be admitted.

c) That no pupil shall be compelled to attend religious instruction if his parent or

guardian objects.

d) That the school buildings are maintained in a satisfactory state of repair and in

good sanitary condition.

e) That sufficient and suitable furniture and apparatus for the instruction of the

pupils are provided.

f) That the requirements of the Director of Education as regards the construction of

the buildings, floor space, lighting and ventilation are fulfilled, and that the space

and arrangements for games and recreation are adequate.

516 "Grants-in-aid to Indian Schools," in The Tanganyika Gazette, 29 January 1937,19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.).

263 g) That the income of the school, including any Government grant, is used

exclusively for the purpose of education in that school and no part of any grant-in-

aid shall be used for any purpose other than the one for which it is allocated. h) That the standard of attendance...is maintained. i) That all returns called for by the Director of Education are submitted as required, j) That the school shall attain the standard of conduct and efficiency required by the

Director of Education. k) That the Director of Education may forbid the use in any assisted school of any

text-book or other material intended for secular instruction which, in his opinion,

is unsuitable by reason of inferior academic standard provided that the Governor

may by order in writing, prohibit the use of any book or material in any school.

264 Bibliography

Archival Sources

Tanzania National Archives (Dar es Salaam)

District Files:

A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Community): From the Indian Association, Dodoma to

the President of the Nationals of India, 26 March 1951.

A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Communities, etc.) Letter sent from D. K. Patel, the

President of the Indian Association to the Acting Chief Secretary to the

Government, 9 April 1951.

A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Community): From the Association of the Nationals of

India in Dodoma to the Provincial Commissioner, Dodoma, 29 August 1951.

A 6/4 (Administration of Indian Community): From Acting Chief Secretary to all heads

of departments and Provincial Commissioners, 29 November 1952.

AB 1 (Tanganyika Annual Report, 1924): General Policy of Education, 1924 Report.

AB 1 (Tanganyika Annual Report 1924): Report on the Mandated Territory of

Tanganyika for the year 1924.

AB 13: Annual Report Tanganyika Territory, 1925.

265 AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council): From the Ismailia Political Committee for

Tanganyika to the Acting Chief Secretary, 11 October 1952.

AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council): From the President, HHTAK Federal Council

for Africa, Mombasa, to the Chief Secretary of Tanganyika, 15 November 1954.

AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council): From the Ismailia Political Committee for

Tanganyika, Dar es Salaam to the Acting Chief Secretary, 10 Dec 1954.

AB 45/01: Provincial Commissioner responds to Chief Secretary 2 October 1936.

AB 45/01: Shia Imami Ismailia Council: "Aga Khan dissolves Political Committee,"

Sunday News, 22/6/58.

AB 45/01 (Shia Imami Ismailia Council): Extract from Sunday News 22 June 1958.

AB 441 (Reports: Tanganyika Territory Education Department Annual Report 1924):

Report on Indian Education, 1924.

ABJ 10 (Asian Association): Asian Association Weekly, 15 July 1957.

ABJ 52: Constitution, Rules and Regulation of the Central Society of Tanganyika

Muslims, 7/5/56.

ABJ 52: Government notes regarding The Central Society of Tanganyika Muslims,

21/5/1956.

E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): From the Administrative Officer, Mafia to

Director of Education, 29 January 1938.

266 E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): From the Acting Director of Education to the

Honorary Secretary of the Agakhan Provincial Education Board, Dar es Salaam, 6

May 1938.

E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): From the Agakhan's School Committee, Mafia

to the Acting Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 10 June 1938.

E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): Foundation Laying Ceremony of HTAK's

School in Mafia to the District Commissioner.

E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): Letter to the Director of Education, Mafia, 26

January 1942.

E 1/8 (Education Indian School - Mafia): From the District Officer to HHTAK's School

Committee, Mafia, 2 February 1942.

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Sanitary Services, 5 October 1931.

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N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): Memorandum on Agakhan

School, Mwanza, 22 June 1927.

N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): From the Provincial

Commissioner, Mwanza to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 7 May 1928.

267 N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): From Barrister at law to the

Director of Education, 21 January 1932.

N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): Response by the Director of

Education, 30 January 1932.

N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): From the Ismailia Jamat,

Bukoba to the Educational Inspector, Dodoma, 4 March 1939.

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Education to the President of the Ismailia Jamat, Bukoba, 21 March 1939.

N/1 (H. H. The Agakhan Ismailia Dispensary and Schools): From the Government

Inspector of Schools to the Provincial Commissioner, 23 May 1939.

UW 83413/22 (DSM Municipality - Rating - Application for Exemption - H. H. Aga

Khan Land Residential Block "B" Changombe): Memorandum in support of an

application by HHTAK for exemption of residential block "B" situated at

Changombe, 24 April 1957.

UW 83471/2 (Iringa Town Council Rating - Application for Exemption - H. H. Agakhan

Provincial Council, Iringa): Application for exemption by HHTAK Provincial

Council, Mbeya, 1960.

268 Secretariat Files:

198 (Indian Association): Bukoba Indian Association memorandum to Sir Samuel Wilson

on the occasion of his visit 14 May 1929.

198 (Indian Association): Letter from President of Indian Association, Bukoba, to His

Excellency the Governor 6 June 1929.

745 (Population Census): Non-Native Population Census as at 25 February 1948.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): Extracts of the minutes of the Provincial

Development Committee, Lake Province, 11/3/1939.

970 (Education Indian Schools Mwanza): Application for land for school (AK), Mwanza,

from District Commissioner, 11 April 1946.

970 (Education Indian Schools Mwanza): To Hon Sec, HHTAK Ismailia Provincial

Council, Mwanza, from District Commissioner, 2 Oct 1946.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the Government inspector of Indian

Schools, 1947.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the Director of Education to the

President of the Managing Board of the Indian Public School, Mwanza, 2 January

1948.

269 970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the Honorary Secretary of the Musoma

Indian Public School's Managing Board to the Director of Education, Dar es

Salaam, 21 January 1948.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the District Commissioner to the

Director of Education, 5 February 1948.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the Provincial Commissioner to the

Director of Land and Mines, 5 July 1948.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From the Provincial Commissioner to the

Director of Education, 18 October 1948.

970 (Education - Indian Schools, Mwanza): From members of the Ismailia Jamat in

Misungwi, Mwanza District, to HHTAK Central Council of Education for Africa,

Dar es Salaam, 22 November 1948.

7017: Letter from the Deputy Director of Education to the Director of Education, 5 May

1925.

7017: From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 16 June 1925.

7017: From Ismailia Council (Jivraj Kachra, Honorary Secretary) to the Director of

Education, Dar es Salaam, 8 December 1925.

7682: From the Honorary Secretary of The Indian Educational Society to the Chief

Secretary, Dar es Salaam, 12 March 1925.

270 11558 Vol. II (Recruitment of Indian Teachers for Indian Schools): Letter from the

Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 13 Mar 1931.

12915: From the Commissioner of Police to the Chief Secretary, 8 October 1936.

12915: Honorary Secretary for HHTAK's Provincial Council for Moshi to Chief

Secretary, 6 August 1955 re: Mr. Abdulsultan Maherali of Arusha.

19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.):

Report of Syllabus Committee.

19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.):

"Grants-in-aid to Indian Schools," The Tanganyika Gazette, 29 January 1937.

19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.):

Directors of the four East African Territories at their meeting in Nairobi, 12-17

January 1935.

19520 (Regulations governing the award of Grants-in-aid to Schools for Indians in T. T.):

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the Office of the Director of Education, 28 June 1935.

20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam): Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 29

April 1948.

20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam): Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 5

May 1948.

271 20543 (Indian Junior School, Dar es Salaam): Cutting from The Tanganyika Herald, 6

May 1948.

21647: Government notes.

21647: Memo from the Governor of Tanganyika, J. L. Maffey to His Highness the Aga

Khan, 29 November 1935.

21647: From the Secretary, Governors' Conference to the Chief Secretary, Dar es

Salaam, 7 Jan 1936.

21647: From the Secretary, 1935 Governor's Conference held in Nairobi to the Chief

Secretary, 15 January 1936.

21647: From the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary, 30 January 1936.

21647: Minutes from the Director of Education, 6 Feb 1936.

21647: From the Chief Secretary to the Secretary of the Governors' Conference, Nairobi,

6 June 1936.

21792 (Teaching of History in Indian Schools): Extracts from the Proceedings of the

Conference of Directors of Education of Kenya, Uganda Zanzibar and

Tanganyika, held in Dar es Salaam, June 1933.

21792 (Teaching of History in Indian Schools): From the Director of Education to the

Chief Secretary, 20 March 1934.

272 22077 (Indian Reserve Education Tax Fund - Allocations from): Extract from the

minutes of the tenth meeting of the Finance Committee of the Indian Education

Advisory Board, February 1935.

22227: From the Information Officer, H. C. Baxter to the Chief Secretary, Dar es Salaam,

29 October 1946.

22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board): Extract from Newsletter No. 21 of 1936

relating to affairs in India, 22 December 1936.

22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board): From the President of the Arusha Indian

Public School to the Director of Education, 12 August 1937.

22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board): Response to the President of the Indian Public

School.

22318 (Indian Education Advisory Board): cutting from The Tanganyika Standard, Dar

es Salaam, 18 Oct 1941.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): Government Notes.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): Letter sent to the Aga Khan, November

1935.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): From the Director of Education to the Chief

Secretary, 26 January 1937.

273 23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): From the Chief Secretary to the Director of

Education, 3 Feb 1937.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): Government notes, 1938.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): From the President of Ismailia Provincial

Council to the Director of Education, Dar es Salaam, 23 August 1938.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): From the Director of Education to the Chief

Secretary, 22 September 1938.

23761 (Ismailia Schools - Grants-in-Aid of): Notes from meeting with the Ismaili

Provincial Council Representatives at Financial Secretary's Office, 11 October

1938.

24612 (Visit of H. H. Aga Khan): Correspondence from A. H. Maddocks, Chief

Secretary to the Government to the Honorary Secretary of the Shia Ismaili

Council, Dar es Salaam on 11 January 1937.

24612/60: From Acting Provincial Commissioner re: HHTAK's visit, 16 September

1937.

24612, Volume II (Visit of H. H. The Aga Khan): "Aga Khan's Views on World

Affairs," The Tanganyika Standard, 4 April 1945.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Government Notes.

274 25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Extracts from draft notes of Standing

Finance Committee Meeting at the Budget Sessions, 1937.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Extract from Report of the Commission

appointed by the Secretary of State on Higher Education in East Africa,

September 1937.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Government Notes, 24 January 1938.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Extract from the Proceedings of Conference

of Directors of Education of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, May

1938.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): Cutting from The Tanganyika Opinion, 27

October 1938.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): From the Director of Education to the Chief

Secretary, 11 November 1938.

25545 (Indian Education - General Policy): From the Director of Education to the Chief

Secretary, 30 January 1939.

25871 (Indian School Mwanza): from the Director of Education to the Chief Secretary,

25 July 1938.

32497: Government notes.

32497: "Ismaili Education," The Tanganyika Standard, 12 November 1945.

275 32497: From H. H. the Agakhan's Executive Council, Zanzibar to the Chief Secretary, 12

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32497: From The Ismailia Political Committee for Tanganyika to Acting Chief Secretary,

11 October 1952.

32497: Letter from the Chief Secretary to the Heads of Departments and Provincial

Commissioners, 29 Oct 1952.

32497: From the Chief Secretary to all Heads of Departments and Provincial

Commissioners, 29 November 1952.

36096 (Commercial Education in Indian Schools): From the Director of Education to the

Chief Secretary in response to letter dated 26 May 1947.

36096 (Commercial Education in Indian Schools): From the Chief Secretary to the

Tanganyika Indian Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, 3 July 1947.

Report by His Britannic Majesty's Government to the Council of the League of Nations

on the Administration of Tanganyika Territory for the year 1925.

Colonial Office:

CO 42483/46: Government notes.

276 The National Archives, London, UK

Colonial Office:

CO 691/192 (The Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, 1946): 10 April 1946.

CO 691/192 (The Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, 1946): 28 April 1946.

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1932.

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the Aga Khan): correspondence sent to Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister from Samuel Hoare

on 9 December 1932.

District Files:

23538 (Uganda): Government notes, 26 February 1934.

23538 (Uganda): Government notes.

23538 (Uganda): From the Governor of Uganda.

23538 (Uganda): Bourdillon replies to Bottomley on 23 June 1934.

23538 (Uganda): From Bottomley to Bourdillon, 21 June 1934.

23538 (Uganda): Draft letter from Bottomley to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, 13 March 1934.

23538 (Uganda): From the Deputy to the Governor, E.S. Scott, 2 February 1934.

277 42483 (The Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations - 1946): letter from Cohen in the

Colonial Office to Sir William Battershill on 9 May 1946.

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Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan. Pakistan: PAK Ismailia Publications Ltd.,

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Salaam, 10 August 1946.1.

Aga Khan III. "H.H. The Aga Khan on the Future of Tanganyika." Platinum Imam Day

Souvenir. East Africa: H.H.T.A.K. Ismailia Council. 7-8.

Aga Khan IV. "British Commonwealth of Nations and its Essentially Multi-Racial

Character." The Ismaili: Imamat Day Number. East Africa: H.H. T. A.K. Ismailia

Association, 13 August 1961. 3-4.

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