Mombasa Qabrastan

History of Mombasa Qabrastan

In the evolution of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Community,acquisition of grave yard or cemetery as a burial place has been of prime importance. Wherever they settled, members of of the Khoja community have paid special attention to the acquisition of burial place before building a Mosque or Imambara. There is historical background to this outlook. When the Ithna Asheri Khoja separated from the larger Khoja community in order to openly practice their faith as Khoja Ithna Asheri, they were denied right of burial in the ancestral Khoja cemetery.

Until then, all Khoja functioned as united Khoja community with their tripartite set of beliefs overlapping with each other. Regardless, of their leanings towards the Ismaili,Sunni or Ithna-Asheri sects, they would all be buried in the common Khoja cemetery.

In 1862, when the first group branched out to be known as Sunni Khoja and the second group followed suit, a decade later, to be known as Shia Ithna-Asheri Khoja, the separating groups were barred from being buried in the ancestral common cemetery.

In 1873, when a group of Ithna-Asheri Zuwwar visiting Kerbala was persuading Mulla Qadir Husein to to return with them to India to help provide spiritual guidance to the Community. Mulla Qadir Husein expressed his reservations on two counts.

Mulla Qadir Husein feared that if the larger Khoja community denied