Like the Ismāʿīliyya of Kordofan (see Chapter 9), the Hindiyya began as a localised holy family that, under the impact of the incoming centralised orders like the Sammāniyya and Khatmiyya, sought to formalise its religious status into a ṭarīqa.

The origins of the Hindī family of the Sudan, who claim to be of Sharifian origin, are said to go back to Muḥammad b. Muṣṭafā al-Hindī (b. 913/1507-8), who came to the Sudan from Mecca in 970/ 1562-63. By the eighteenth century, the family seem to have established themselves around al-Qallabāt…