ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the earliest available evidence directly attesting to the presence of the Isma'ili da 'wa in the Pamiri districts, focusing particularly on the Shughnan region. It explores a series of developments that occurred between the 17th and 19th centuries that enabled a dramatic expansion of the da 'wa in the Shughnan region and in the neighbouring Pamiri districts. Many of the leading families of religious officials in the Shughnan region trace their origins to towns in Afghan Badakhshan. The chapter discusses the process of institutionalisation was accompanied by a shift in the narrative traditions associated with Shah Khamush and his companions that discursively transformed them and their historical role in the introduction of Isma'ilism in the region. Subsequent incursions by Afghans, Bukharans and others further facilitated the flight and resettlement of Isma'ili populations from the southern regions of Badakhshan into northern highland areas in the Pamirs.
