(Abu Aly Alibhay) Ismaili Tariqah Part 2, Introduction, 16-18:
"Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah visited Zanzibar for the first time in
1899, arriving there on the twenty eight of June.
He stayed there for more than two months. He personally took part in all the ceremonies and taught the jamat how to practice these ceremonies. These practices have been followed till today by the jamats of Africa.
Today the sthapna of ghatpaat occurs after the first Du'a, before the upstanding tasbeeh.
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah ordered the singing of a ginan, reading of a holy farman or delivering of a sermon to take place before the second Du'a.
"On the sixteenth of September 1899 he told the jamat in Zanzibar that
he had been their Pir for the past fifteen years and he had to remind
them that the changes he made in the customs and ceremonies were made because he was their Pir.
It is the institution of the Piratan appointed by the Holy Imam of the time which is responsible for the practice of religion.
"An eyewitness to the above event of 1899, Count Moloo Allarakhia of
Zanzibar, who died in Dar es Salaam in the late 1960s at the age of
over eighty-five, informed me personally that the Holy Shah-Pir Aga
Sultan Muhammad Shah had made certain changes in our ceremonies, in
this order:
1. Perform the first Du'a
2. Stand for the usual tasbeeh of mushkil asaan (in the event of
ghatpaat, it should be established before the upstanding tasbeeh)
3. The recitation of ginan and the holy farman should be performed or
a wa'z should be delivered
4. The second Du'a may be recited, followed by thaar sufro, mehmani,
naadi. Jamat disperses.
"The old system, which was imported into Africa from India in the
nineteenth century, consisted of items in the following order:
1. First Du'a
2. Ginan or Farman
3. Naadi. In the event of ghatpaat, it was established before the second Du'a.
4. Second Du'a
5. Upstanding tasbeeh
6. Thaar Sufra
"Mowlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah had observed all the ceremonies personally being performed in the jamatkhana and issued instructions accordingly.
Even since, the jamats of Africa have been following the system in the order that the Shah-Pir had introduced in 1899 and 1905.