"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٣‎٨‎٠] (١٢٦٢/٨٩٧)

2380
secession from the Agha Khan, and that these proceedings were counten
anced by the Sultan of ^Oman; enquiry, however, showed tiiat the complaint
referred to the case of one Khojah woman only, who was a subject of
the Sultan, and the matter was dropped. At Gwadar the Khojahs
are said to be still for the most part or altogether Agha Khanis^
that is, Imamiyah; but at Matrah, which is their principal place,
it is reported that nearly all have seceded and have become ordinary
Ithnah-'Ashari Shi^ahs, not Sunnis as at Bombay. The seceders at
Matrah have^preserved some of their ancient social and other usages,
and the term Khojah continues to be applied to them, there and elsewhere,
on account of their antecedents. In ; Oman, as a whole, about 90 per
cent, of the Khojahs are now Ithnah-Asha-riyah. The Agha Khan main
tains regular communication, through agents in the Gulf, with the
Khojahs who have remained faithful to him ; and at one period he paid
a visit to Gwadar every second year in order that they might have a
convenient opportunity of paying him their respects.
Non -Khojah It should be added that the Agha Khan has many thousands of
IsmB'ilis in non-Khojah adherents in Eastern and South-Eastern Persia, who
Uie Persian 0 p en }y profess to be Shi^ahs of the orthodox type but in secret cherish
the Isma/ili doctrines; their conduct in this respect is in accordance
<vith the Isma^ili principle of Takiyah or mental reservation^
under which they are permitted, for the purpose of escaping persecution,
to conceal and even to disguise their religion. Some of these non-
Khojah Isma'iliyah possibly reside in districts of the Gulf littoral ; but
nothing can be stated as to their location and numbers.
The village of Baghu near Bandar ; Abbas is the property of His
Highness the Agha Khan.
Other Muhammadan or quasi-Muhammadan denominations and
sects in tne Persian Gulf region.
Zikrii. There are a few of the sect called Zikri tSjfo in the district
attached to Gwadar town; these are the Baluchis of Nigwar, wbo
number only 600 to 600 souls. The Zikri sect is said to have origin
ated in India about three hundred years ago. The Zikns are
reported to believe that, on the expiration of a thousand yeais
from the Hijrah, the dispensation of Muhammad came to an end an
was superseded by the dispensation of the Mahdi, who appeared a
Attock on the Indus and subsequently vanished somewhere in Makran.
Zikr, from which the Zikris take their name, consists in pronouncing
certain formulas six times in the day instead of saying the regular
Muhammadan prayers, and is believed by them to have been prescribe
by the Mahdi; they read the Quran and call themselves Muhammadan 8 ;
but they reject the Ramazan fast, and they hold that 'Ushr should e
paid at the rate of one-tenth instead of Zakat at the rate of one-fortietn.
The Zikris are most numerous in the eastern parts of Makran, and they
kave at Kaij a place of pilgrimage which they call Koh-i-Murad