khoja

/koh"jeuh/, n.

1. a teacher in a Muslim school.

2. (cap.) a member of a subsect of the Muslims in India.

[1615-25; < Pers khwaja]

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▪ Islam

Persian  Khvājeh,  

      caste of Indian Muslims converted from Hinduism to Islām in the 14th century by the Persian pīr (religious leader, or teacher) Saḍr-ud-Dīn and adopted as members of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī sect of the Shīʿites (see Ismāʿīlīte). Forced to feign either Hinduism, Sunnite Islām, or Ithnā ʿAsharīyah in order to preserve themselves from persecution, some Khōjās, in time, became followers of those faiths.

      The term Khōjā is not a religious designation but a purely caste distinction that was carried over from the Hindu background of the group. Thus, there are Sunnite Khōjās and Shīʿite Khōjās. Other Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs share the same beliefs, practices, and even language with the Khōjās; however, one cannot enter the caste except by birth.

      Khōjās live primarily in India and East Africa. Every province with large numbers of them has an Ismāʿīlī council, the decisions of which are recognized as legal by the state. As Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs, Khōjās are followers of the Aga Khan. See also Assassins.

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