Introduction to Dawoodi Bohras

Introduction to Dawoodi Bohra's



Here I would like to go a bit in detail to show how did the Dawoodi Bohra community emerged:


Bohra's in general are Shia muslims, those who follow the religion of ISLAM that was revealed by Allah through Prophet Mohammed (SAW) and through his Vasi and Vali (successor) Imam Ali.

Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone, only God has the prerogative to appoint the successor to his prophet. We believe that God had already chosen Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib to be the successor to Rasulallah. This was also revealed by Prophet Mohammed (SAW) during Eid-e-Gadeer-e-Khumb when he clearly stated that, "Man kunto Maula, Fa-haza, Ali-yun Maula", which means "For those I was a Maula, from now onwards Ali is your Maula". However, after the death of Prophet Mohammed, some people prevented Imam Ali to lead Islam and thus there was a split which is now known as Sunni muslims and Shia muslims.

Sunni Muslims though believe in Ali as not the Vasi and Vali (successor) but the 4th Caliph, whereas Shia Muslims believe that Imam Ali was and is the rightfull Imam after Prophet Mohammed (SAW). It is not strange that Imam Ali did not fight with the unjust to claim his position only due to the the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Once, he said to his beloved wife Maulatena Fatema-tuz-Zahra, that, "If I pick up a sword to fight against them, Rasulallah's name would be forgotten".

Not moving away from the topic much, I will now show the hiearchy of Imam's that are followed by Shia's relating to Mustaliyyah Taiyaabi's (Bohras):

The Mustali Ismaili Muslims are so named because they accept Imam al-Mustali as the nineteeth Fatimid Imam and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir. (In contrast, the Nizāriyya — presently headed by the Aga Khan — believe the rightful nineteeth caliph was Musta‘lī's brother, Nizār.)

The Mustaliyyah are also referred to as the Taiyabi after the last Imam they recognized, Imam Ṭayyib Abi al-Qasim. Originally, there was a distinction between Ṭayabiyah and the Hafiziyyah, who recognized the Fatimid rulers of Egypt between 1130-1169 as legitimate Imams, not Imam Tayyib Abi l-Qasim, however later, hafiziyyah lost all their views and converted to Taiyyabi.

Belief of Mustaliyyah Taiyaabi (Bohra's):

According to Mustaliyyah Taiyaabi's, Imam Taiyab Abi Al-Qasim was sent into seclusion by Imam Aamir and asked the queen of Yemen, al‐Malika al‐ Sayyida (Maulatena Hurratul-Malika) to establish the office of the Dai-Al-Mutlaq as the Imam's vicegerent, with full authority to govern the community in all matters both spiritual and temporal.

Another fundamental belief is that the presence of the secluded Imam (Immamuz-Zaman) is guaranteed by the presence of the Dai-al-Mutlaq and when the Imam re-appears from seclusion, it is the DAI who will help us to identify the Imam. Hence, after Imam Taiyab went into seclusion, Maulatena Hurratul Malika appointed the first Dai in Yemen, under the name of Imam Taiyab. It is also believed that though Allah had appointed Prophet Mohammed to lead mankind and he represented Seal Of The Prophet, however, there will be someone to guide mankind on this earth till the day of judgement from the Ahl al-Bayt (Prophet Mohammed's family) through the linage of Imam Ali who is chosen divinly to lead Islam and the Muslim community. All Imams uptill the 21st Imam and Imam-uz-Zaman (The Imam of the time), are the descendents of the Imam Ali and Prophet Mohammed who are guiding their followers through their Dai-Al-Mutlaq.

Understanding the word Dawoodi Bohra:

The word Bohra is a Gujrati word which means Traders. As majority of the community belonged to and still is a business related community, we are known as Bohra's. However, in 1592 (approx.), Sulaymani Bohra's were formed after the demise of the 26th Dai and claimed their 27th Dai to be different from Syedna Dawoodi bin Qutubshah. Hence, those who follow Syedna Dawood Bin Qutubshah as the 27th Dai are known as DAWOODI BOHRA's.

The list of the 52 Dai's followed by the Dawoodi Bohra's since the time when Imam Taiyab went into seclusion are as follows:

01. Syedna Zoeb Bin Moosa

02. Syedna Ibrahim Bin Husain

03. Syedna Hatim Bin Syedna Ibrahim

04. Syedna Ali Bin Syedna Hatim

05. Syedna Ali Bin Al Waleed

06. Syedna Ali Bin Hanjala

07. Syedna Ahmed Bin Mubarak

08. Syedna Husain Bin Syedna Ali

09. Syedna Ali Bin Syedna Husain

10. Syedna Ali Bin Syedna Husain

11. Syedna Ibrahim Bin Syedna Husain

12. Syedna Mohd Bin Sayedi Hatim

13. Syedna Ali Shamshuddin

14. Syedna Abdul Muttalib

15. Syedna Abbas Bin Syedna Mohd.

16. Syedna Abdullah Fakhruddin

17. Syedna Hasan Badruddin

18. Syedna Ali Shamshuddin

19. Syedna Idrees Imaduddin

20. Syedna Hasan Badruddin

21. Syedna Husain Husamuddin

22. Syedna Ali Shamshuddin

23. Syedna Mohd. Ezzuddin

24. Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin

25. Syedna Jalal Shamshuddin

26. Syedna Dawood Bin Ajabshah ---> In 1592, Sulaymani Bohra's were formed after the demise of this Dai claiming their 27th Dai to be different from Syedna Dawoodi bin Qutubshah. Hence, those who follow Syedna Dawood Bin Qutubshah as the 27th Dai are known as DAWOODI BOHRA's.

27. Syedna Dawood Bin Qutubshah

28. Syedna Sheikh Aadam Safiuddin ---> In 1625, Alavi Bohra's sect was formed after the demise of this Dai claiming their 29th Dai to be different.

29. Syedna Abduttayyeb Zakiuddin

30. Syedna Ali Shamshuddin

31. Syedna Kasimkhan Zainuddin

32. Syedna Qutubkhan Qutubuddin Shaheed - He was martyed and layed his life for the truth against the unjust of the Mughal Emperor - Aurangzeb (L.A.)

33. Syedna Feerkhan Shujauddin

34. Syedna Ismail Badruddin Bin Molai Raj Saheb

35. Syedna Abduttayyeb Zakiuddin

36. Syedna Musa Kalimuddin

37. Syedna Noor Mohd. Nuruddin

38. Syedna Ismail Badruddin Bin Sayyedi Sheikh Aadam

39. Syedna Ibrahim Wajiuddin

40. Syedna Hibtullah Al-Moayyad fiddin

41. Syedna Abduttayyeb Zakiuddin

42. Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin

43. Syedna Abdeali Saifuddin

44. Syedna Mohd. Ezzuddin

45. Syedna Tayyeb Zainuddin

46. Syedna Mohd. Badruddin

47. Syedna Abdulqader Najmuddin

48. Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin

49. Syedna Mohd. Burhanuddin

50. Syedna Abdullah Badruddin

51. Syedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb

52. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin T.U.S.(Current Dai-Al-Mutlaq)

Today, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) is the legitimate Dai-Al-Mutlaq to guide the followers of Imam Taiyab and Immamuz-Zaman on the right path of Deen, Duniya and Aakherat (Religion, World and thereafter) and each and every aspect and actions of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin exhibits the same.

Introduction to ISLAM

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF ISLAM

The word Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m, and is derived from the Arabic verb Aslama, which means "to accept, surrender or submit." Thus, Islam means acceptance of and submission to ALLAH, and believers must demonstrate this by worshipping him, following his commands, and avoiding polytheism. Hence, worshipping of IDOLS and any other GOD except ALLAH is prohibitted in Islam. Islam is also known as the Religion Of Peace. The person following Islam as his religion is known as a MUSLIM, which means "one who submits (to Allah)". Islam is a completed version of the same monotheistic faith that was revealed to all other prophets that are Adam (A.S), Nuh (A.S), Ibrahim (A.S), Musa (A.S) and Isa (A.S) before Rasulallah. Hence, Rasulallah is also known as the Seal Of the Prophets which means, HE is the last Prophet of ALLAH to lead mankind.

Before the revelations of the Quran, Rasulallah was a merchant and was involved in trade. It was when Prophet Mohammed's age was 40, when, the first Quranic revelation was revealed to him by Jibrael, Allah's angel at Mount Hira. He asked Rasulallah to say the following:

"Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not."(Qur'an 96:1-5)

The first male person to bring Islam on the hands of Rasulallah was his cousin brother Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib who later married Maulatena Fatema-tuz-Zahra, the beloved daughter of Rasulallah. The first female to bring Islam was Prophet Mohammed's wife, Maulatena Khadija. While writing this I remember the word's of our beloved Aqa Maula, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, wherein he explained that there were people who said that Imam Ali cannot be the first person to accept Islam because he was a child, but then, were they greater than Rasulallah to comment on whether Ali's Islam is accepted or not??

Pillar's of Islam:

There are Seven Pillars of Islam:

1. Walayah - Love and devotion for ALLAH, His Prophets, The Imam's and the DAI's.

2. Taharah - This means purity and cleanliness of one's self.

3. Salat - Salat means prayers or in better words NAMAZ. It is mandatory for a muslim to pray Namaz 5 times a day.

4. Zakat - It means charity and purifying religious dues.

5. Sawm - Sawn relates to fasting or Roza. Fasting is an important pillar of Islam as it helps to purify one's soul from all the sins.

6. Hajj - It refers to pilgrimage to MECCA.

7. Jihad - It means holy war.