Juma Ismail or Juma Jan Muhammad traced his descent from a certain Ramal, who lived in the village of
Buara in district Thatta, Sind and died in Jerruk. His son mostly dwelt in
Kutchh and returned to Bhambor in Sind. The Kalhora rulers of Sind were his
deadly enemies, therefore, the son of Ramal came in Karachi, assuming the name,
Bambo. His son was Motiyo, who lived in district Badin. His son Allana, whose
son Vali resided in Tando Bagho, Sind and looked after the shrine of Pir
Tajuddin. Vali married to Jusafa and had two sons, Ismail and Ramzan. Ismail
had three sons, Muhammad, Piru and Juma; and four daughters, Chhatal, Karamsi,
Mama and Fatima. Ismail came in Karachi, where his son Juma or Juma Bhagat was
born.
Juma Bhagat was born in the Lassi area of Karachi in 1868, where he
acquired his early education. He learnt the ginans
at the age of 12 years in the school built by Imam Aga Ali Shah in Karachi. His
service career began since 1883 as a reciter of the ginans, and delivered waez
for the first time in 1891.
He however resided for the most part in the locality of Musa Lane, near
Kharadhar, Karachi in the Seth Kassimbhai Vali Khoja Ismaili Poor House. He
also passed his life in Gwadar, Sind, Bombay, Burma and served in East Africa
for 20 years.
Juma Bhagat was in Karachi when Imam Hasan Ali Shah passed away in
Bombay. About 12 days before the death, Imam Ali Shah had been in Karachi and
after three days, the Imam went to Bombay. During the short visit, Juma Bhagat
was on the port during arrival and departure of the Imam.
Juma Bhagat was a small trader and made his business trip as far as
Zanzibar. He extended his business also to Burma. During his stay in Africa, he
continued to serve the jamat. He was
well-versed in the ginans and he was
also a talented missionary.
During the second visit of East Africa in 1905, Imam Sultan Mohammed
Shah assigned Juma Bhagat for performing waez.
The Imam also appointed six other persons to acquire waez training from him, namely Ghulam Hussain Jaffer, Fazal
Muhammad, Hashim Visram, Abdullah Dhalla, Moledina Alarakhia, Megji Mehr Ali.
He also founded the first Ismaili
Mission Centre in East Africa in 1905. In one of the farmans, the Imam said, "Bhagat
Jumabhai Ismail had rendered great and excellent services to my house. He had
done hard work in Africa to establish the Mission Centre in 1905 and laid the
foundation of the missionaries." (Nairobi: 14/4/1945). In the speech
in the Ismailia Mission Conference held in Dar-es-Salaam on July 20, 1945, Imam
Sultan Mohammed Shah paid rich tribute to him that he was one of the great
missionaries who rendered invaluable services to him. Juma Bhagat executed his
services as a Chief Missionary in East African countries.
During the visit, the Imam emphasized upon the Council to open religious
schools in African countries. The Khoja Imami Ismaili Schools were opened in
Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar and Bagomoyo on November 9, 1905 with the grant of the
Imam. Juma Bhagat was incharge of
holding the examinations of the schools after every six months, whose
report was sent to the Imam through the Councils.
In 1908, Juma Bhagat arrived in
Bombay and took a leading part as a witness in Bombay High Court during the
Haji Bibi Case. He surprised the court while producing old manuscripts of the ginans of some 343 years on August 5,
1908, and another dating 1576 A.D. His ancestors were the custodians of the
shrine of Pir Tajuddin in Sind, and they inherited the oldest manuscripts of
the ginans, which ultimately came into
the possession of Juma Bhagat.
It is to be noted that Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah visited the room of the Panjibhai Club in
Karachi on February 17, 1912. On that occasion, the Imam had a photograph with
four eminent missionaries - Juma Bhagat, Hussaini Pir Muhammad of Karachi,
Sharif Shivji of Kathiawar and Abdul Hussain Talib of Gwadar.
In September, 1924, Juma Bhagat
visited Kenya and Uganda and delivered waez. During his stay at Nairobi, he dispelled the internal
disputes of the jamat through his impressive
waez. In 1925, Juma Bhagat was on
African tour and delivered waez in
different villages. He travelled from Uganda in the same year and went to Egypt
and Sudan to see the Ismailis.
It may be recorded that Ghulam Hussain Varas Vali was the first title
holder of Alijah in Karachi. His
wife, Fatima (d. 1930) was the first Ismaili lady missionary in India among the
women and the sister of Juma Bhagat. The daughter of Fatima was Rehmat, who
married to Chief Missionary Hussaini Pir Muhammad in 1918.
His last tour of waez was in
Junagadh between February 12, 1927 and July 23, 1927 and returned to Bombay on
next day, and he virtually retired from the Recreation Club Institute, Bombay
in 1933.
Juma Bhagat had visited East
Africa again and founded a library inside the Jamatkhana of Nairobi in 1933.
Prince Aly Khan visited the library on February 14, 1951, where Rai A.M.
Sadruddin delivered a speech on the importance of the library and remembered
Juma Bhagat as the founder of the library.
According to the report of the weekly “Ismaili” (Bombay, November 11, 1934, p. 11), the Piru Khalikdina
Dispensary, Karachi was being run on the grant of the Imam, and missionary Juma
Bhagat also provided them free medicines.
He passed his retired life in Sultanabad, Sind since 1933. He was
suffering from diabetes and underwent an operation in Hyderabad, Sind. During
the operation, he disallowed use of chloroform to the doctors.
Missionary Juma Bhagat died on January 31, 1935 at the age of 67 years.
He left behind a son, Bandali. Nurullah Bhagat was the son of Bandali, who was
a missionary in East Africa and died in Karachi.