In the period of the Umayyad Caliph Walid (705-715), his governor Hajjaj bin Yusuf had sent a troop at the command of Muhammad bin Kassim in Sind. It is related that during the preparations of the Muslim forces, Imam Muhammad Bakir (713-733) had told to his dais, or the missionaries to join the force of Muhammad bin Kassim voluntarily to promulgate Islam in India. Nothing is virtually known about these dais who had come in India. The critical examination of the sources suggests that Imam Jafar Sadik (733-765) had also sent few dais in India, who joined with the previous dais and propagated among the Rajput stock of the Hindus. Later on, these new Muslims emerged as the Sumra and Samma in Sind.
The rule of the Sumra came to an end in 1361, making the field open for the Samma. They occupied Sind and raised their chief, called Jam Unar (1351-1367) to the throne. The rule of the Samma also ended in Sind when Shah Beg Arghun (d. 1521) defeated Jam Firuz (1508-1519), the last ruler of the Samma in 1519 and founded the Arghun dynasty in Sind.
Most of the families of Samma and Sumra tribes had embraced Ismailism, and some among them migrated to Bhuj, Lakhpat and Khangar in Kutchh. Due to the paucity of the historical materials, we are unable to find their informations. A glimpse of the Ismailis of Kutchh in 1818 can however be seen from the brief description of Captain James Macmurdo, the resident of Anjar, in his "Bombay Literary Transactions" (2nd vol., p. 232) that, "The Khoja is a Mohammaden cultivator, and frequently make a pilgrimage to a spot eight days march to the north-west of Ispahan, where they worship a living peer or saint (the Imam) to whom they pay an annual tax on their property." Accordingly, a certain Ismaili, called Merali is traced among the visitors of Iran. It appears that Merali started from Kutchh with his elderly relatives in 1818 and reached late due to the sudden death of his uncle in the journey. Merali however reached Mahallat, where he learnt that Imam Hasan Ali Shah had gone to Tehran with his family to perform marriage. He, therefore, prolonged his stay in Mahallat till the arrival of the Imam. He and his uncle got chances on several occasions to see the Imam. During the meeting, the Imam is reported to have told him that, "You quit Kutchh and go to Sind, preferably Jerruk. My mother will come to you in Jerruk and stay in your house. She will need your company as an escort as far as Kutchh, where you make her lodging in your old house in Khangar. As you came here, so will I come to your house in Jerruk . I also consign you a noble service to feed those poor Ismailis in your house in Jerruk, who come from Kutchh, and settle them."
Merali soon embarked at Sind. He visited Jerruk and chose a house for his family and examined the business opportunity. He started for Kutchh, and reached Khangar in 1820. He left Kutchh with his family and arrived in Jerruk, and started his business of matting with his sons
Bibi Sarcar Mata Salamat (1744-1832), the mother of the Aga Khan I had come in India in 1829 from Iran with Mirza Abul Kassim (d. 1880). She had started from Mahallat for Muscat and reached Karachi. With the company of Mukhi Datoo Chandu Varind (1825-1838), she proceeded towards Jerruk and stayed in the house of Merali. She resumed her onwards journey after few days in the company of Merali, while Mukhi Datoo Chandu returned to Karachi. She came in Khangar and stayed few days in the old house of Merali. Soon afterwards, she proceeded to Bombay in the company of the Mukhi of Bhuj, while Merali returned to Jerruk.
Merali was a local producer of mats. exporting in lower Sind. He was besides a great merchant and a banker, enjoyed a good name, and great respect among the local people. Endowed with a soothing and angelic tone of voice, he never failed to enquire after the condition of the people, he met in the most kind and sympathetic manner, which also won him the hearts of the Ismailis. The fragrance of his virtuous and arduous services took air and spread over the whole Sind in a short time.
His sons are said to have ventured into the trade of cotton and rice. Mukhi Vali, Mukhi Datoo, Vesso or Vessar and Essa were his sons. The richest among them were Vesso and Vali, who dominated the business in lower Sind and extended their mercantile activity as far as Karachi and Lus in Baluchistan.
The year 1838 was one of the most unhealthy the people ever experienced in Jerruk, probably the sickness was in a great measure increased due to the scanty of rain for last three years. The disease of cholera broke out in March, 1838, and carried off seventy peoples in the town, including Merali, the great Ismaili hero of Jerruk.
In 1843, Imam Hasan Ali Shah came in Jerruk when Merali was not alive. The Imam however stayed in the house of Merali for some days and then moved to his newly built residence.
We have discussed that Vesso, Vali and Datoo were the first among the martyrs of Jerruk. Soon after the incident, their family members drifted out to Hyderabad and then moved to Karachi in 1920. The following is the genealogical chart of Merali and his family:-