3 Bohra Scholars And Their Works In Ismaili Studies

[ghulam muhammed]

Three Bohra Scholars who have contributed greatly towards recent progress in Ismaili studies

Zahid Ali (1888-1958)

Born in Hyderabad, Deccan, to a distinguished family. His father was a learned shaykh and a prominent leader in the community. He received his early education in the Dar al-Ulum madrasa in Hyderabad and later in Saify Daras, Surat.
After obtaining D.Phil. in Arabic from Oxford University he joined Nizam College, Hyderabad, as a professor of Arabic and later became vice- Principal of the College.

He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and English. His access to an extensive range of Ismaili primary sources (in manuscript form) enabled him to produce three widely acclaimed works of research.

1 A critical edition in Arabic with commentary of the Diwan of the famous Fatimid poet Ibn Hani' al-Andalusi (Cairo, 1933).
2 History of the Fatimids in Egypt, written in Urdu (Hyderabad, 1948).
3 The True Nature of Our Ismaili Faith and its Organization, in Urdu (Hyderabad, 1954). It is a compendium of Ismaili doctrines as professed by the Bohras.

Zahid Ali published these works at a time when the Bohra religious establishment ruled with an iron fist and maintained very strict control of doctrinal secrecy from the community. As a result he encountered great hostility and was excommunicated.

Husayn al-Hamdani (1901-1962)

Born in Surat to an illustrious family of scholars whose genealogy goes back two centuries to the renowned scholar Shaykh Ali b. Sa'id al-Hamdani of Haraz, Yemen, who was invited to India by the thirty-ninth da'i Ibrahim Wajih al-Din. Shaykh Ali brought with him from Yemen a large collection of Isma'ili manuscripts.

Since then the family has continuously maintained its scholarly tradition and its private collection of Ismaili manuscripts, one of the finest, has benefited innumerable scholars.

Al-Hamdani received his early education from his father Shaykh Fayz Allah and obtained an MA in Arabic from Bombay University. He then traveled to England and received his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. After his return he joined M. T. B. College in Surat and then was appointed Professor of Arabic at Ismail Yusuf College, Bombay. He taught there from 1932 to 1948. Then, he moved to newly- created Pakistan and was appointed Cultural Attache at the Embassy of Pakistan in Cairo, Egypt.

In 1950 he was appointed Professor of Persian and Semitic philology at the College of Dar al-Ulum in Cairo by the renowned scholar Taha Husayn, then the minister of education. Soon he was appointed Cultural Attache of the Yemen
Embassy in Cairo, and was honored by the then Imam/ruler of Yemen with Yemeni citizenship.

He was fluent in English, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Gujarati, German, and French. Besides those languages he had acquired good knowledge of ancient Semitic languages and pre-Islamic South Arabian script.

His numerous articles, such as "The Life and Times of Queen Sayyeda Arwa," "History of the Ismaili Da'wat and its Literature during the Last Phase of the Fatimid Empire," "Some Unknown Isma'ili Authors and Their Works," "The Letters of al-Mustansir bi'llah," "A Compendium of Isma'ili Esoterics," were pioneering works as they introduced the whole range of secretly preserved Ismaili literature, once thought to have been destroyed, to modern scholarship.

Among his major works is The History of the Sulayhid Dynasty and its Doctrines in Arabic (Cairo, 1955). During the last years of his life he was engaged in preparing a critical edition of Razi's Kitab al-Zina, a dictionary of Arabic-Islamic terms. Before he died he had finished one fourth of it and it was published in two parts (Cairo, 1957-58).

Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee (1899-1981)

Born in Matheran, near Poona, to a well-known Tyabjee family of Sulaymani Bohra. His grandfather Tyabjee, the merchant prince of Bombay, visited Europe in 1853, and was one the first Muslims in Bombay to send his sons to
England for education.

Following the family tradition Fyzee studied at Cambridge University and was then called to the bar. On his return to India in 1926 he practiced law in the Bombay High Court. In 1938 he was appointed the Perry Professor of Islamic
Jurisprudence and Principal of the Government Law College, Bombay.

In 1949 he was appointed as India's ambassador to Egypt. The last public office held by him was that of vice-chancellor of Jammu and Kashmir University. In recognition of his long and innumerable public services the Indian
government honored him with the title "Padma Bhusan" in 1962.

He started his scholarly career with the publication of Introduction to the Study of Muhammadan Law in 1931. The first edition of his Outlines of Muhammadan Law, published in 1949 and followed by several subsequent editions, still remains the best introduction to the Anglo-Muhammadan law of the Indian subcontinent. However, it should be noted that the first chapter entitled "Introduction to the study of Muhammadan law," is dated as it was written almost half a century ago.

His various articles on Isma'ili law and its founder Qazi Nu'man were pioneering. Da'a'im al-Islam, the most important Isma'ili law book, was edited by him (Cairo, 1951-61). The fruits of his research are summed up in Compendium of
Fatimid Law (Simla, 1969). He was a great advocate of change in Muslim personal and family law.

On reinterpretation of Islam his short volume A Modern Approach to Islam (Bombay, 1963) is quite remarkable. He is considered an eminent scholar of Muslim law in the Indian subcontinent.

Courtesy : Azad.

[badrijanab]

Zahid Ali Hyedrabadi is not Bohra mumin but agent of Nizam. He is liar, he fabricated his personal whims into historical malicious facts. He intentionally mistranslated Arabic original script into Urdu to show Fatimid into bad light. He picked part of sentence and not complete sentence in his references so to derive malicious conclusions that suit his Lord, the Nizam's ego and doing this he has done "baimani".

[Al Fateh]

poor state of community no real scholar left any more.

[Bohra spring]

BJ , what is the basis of your accusation. We're you even born during the time this persons was around. Or are you relaying someone's opinion.

Can you substantiate and provide legitimate reasons for your opinion . Until proven it is a accusation , fortunately for you there is freedom of speech

[badrijanab]

BJ , what is the basis of your accusation. We're you even born during the time this persons was around. Or are you relaying someone's opinion.

Can you substantiate and provide legitimate reasons for your opinion . Until proven it is a accusation , fortunately for you there is freedom of speech

Burhanuddin sahab who do not have any knowledge of Bohra maslaq never dared to counterZahid Hyderabadi.

Al muqqaddas Sheikh Hasan Ali Sarangpur Wala (may Allah bless him) had wrote three volume with four thousand pages in counter and anti-dote and revealed the undeniable and proven correct facts with complete references.

The work of Sheikh Hasan Ali sahab is known as: "Dameghul Buhtan". Agents of Nizam (Hyderabad) and Lucknow school of Ithna Aasheri tried to counter "Dameghul Buhtan" but in vain. Till date no one could counter this 3 volume book!

[Hussain_KSA]

Badri Janab

Did you read any of the books of Dr. Zahid Ali? Have you gone through the book of Shaikh Hasan Saheb Sarangpurwala? Could you please enlighten us what accusation were made and how it was answered?

There are some more books was written for counter allegation but I think you did not come across those books.

[badrijanab]

There are some more books was written for counter allegation but I think you did not come across those books.

Which are those books - name, author and year of publication?

[Hussain_KSA]

All those books which were quoted by Dr. Zahid Ali in his books. That's why I asked if you go through that book and please enlighten us what accusation were made and how it was answered?

[ghulam muhammed]

All those books which were quoted by Dr. Zahid Ali in his books. That's why I asked if you go through that book and please enlighten us what accusation were made and how it was answered?

Bro Hussain,

What a stupid question to ask !! By now you should know that badrijanab doesn't read any books other then the ones written by his guru Shk Ahmed Ali raj.

[humble_servant_us]

If i am not wrong, this is the same Mr. Sarangpurwala who made accusations against Ithna asheris faith, all his doubts were answered and compiled in a book called "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me". this is a urdu book . It is a detailed book of reply. All the accusations made by Sarangpurwala have been refuted in this book. So your claim that till date no one has been able to counter him is false.

[badrijanab]

If i am not wrong, this is the same Mr. Sarangpurwala who made accusations against Ithna asheris faith, all his doubts were answered and compiled in a book called "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me". this is a urdu book . It is a detailed book of reply. All the accusations made by Sarangpurwala have been refuted in this book. So your claim that till date no one has been able to counter him is false.

"Fiqa Ismaili" was the first book in reference to exposing ills and facts of Ithna Asheri sect written by Al muqaddas Sheikh Hasan Ali sahab Sarangpur Wala.

In unsuccessful refutation of "Fiqa Ismaili", Lucknow school of Ithna Asheri came with loose and unsuccessfully argued guess work with name "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me".

Zahid Ali wrote "Tareeqh Fatimeen Misr" and it was shown truth by book "Dameghul Buhtaan" by Sheikh Hasan Ali sahab Sarangpurwala (may Allah be please with him).

[humble_servant_us]

In unsuccessful refutation of "Fiqa Ismaili", Lucknow school of Ithna Asheri came with loose and unsuccessfully argued guess work with name "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me".

This is your personal view. Let the reader decide after reading this book whether it is a unsuccessful refutation or not.

[badrijanab]

In unsuccessful refutation of "Fiqa Ismaili", Lucknow school of Ithna Asheri came with loose and unsuccessfully argued guess work with name "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me".

This is your personal view. Let the reader decide after reading this book whether it is a unsuccessful refutation or not.

Humble_servant Ji,

Hasan Askari has not done "nass" over his alleged son Mohammed!!! So imaginary Imamat carried by Hasan Askari has not got transferred to next successor i.e. the alleged mysterious son Mohammed (whose original name was Ali and not Mohammed)!

Neither Ithna Asheri's own book nor Sunni historian books, not even one; has never ever endorsed nor acknowledged of "nass" being done by Hasan Askari over his alleged son Mohammed!!!

No nass = no Imamat = Ithna Asheri broken out from Islam = Ithna Asheri maslaq is money making "dukaan" for Ayatullah and Marja.

When Ithna Asheri do not have any news and do not know anything about their 12th Imam then from where this news came that he is still alive???

[level_headed]

badrijanab wrote

Burhanuddin sahab who do not have any knowledge of Bohra maslaq never dared to counterZahid Hyderabadi.

Al muqqaddas Sheikh Hasan Ali Sarangpur Wala (may Allah bless him) had wrote three volume with four thousand pages in counter and anti-dote and revealed the undeniable and proven correct facts with complete references.

What was the year when Sk Hasan Ali wrote the book ? Who was the Daii of that time ? Was'nt he authorized by the Daii of that time to write the book while employed in Jamea Saifiyah ?

You write that Syedna Burhanuddin never dared to counter Zahid Hyderabadi - was he the Daii at the time Zahid Ali was alive. In your blind hatred of the Daii, you forget

[Khadhim Al Mahdi]

In unsuccessful refutation of "Fiqa Ismaili", Lucknow school of Ithna Asheri came with loose and unsuccessfully argued guess work with name "bohra mazhab haqeekat ke aayne me".

This is your personal view. Let the reader decide after reading this book whether it is a unsuccessful refutation or not.

Brother, of course Mr. Badrijanab will only be biased towards his own sheikh & claim any replies made as 'unsuccessful'. It really does make me laugh.

They can write pages & pages of books but they can't even simply prove their doctrine of 100 Imams or their faatimi calender from the Qur'an & traditions of the Prophet (saws) & ahlulbayt (as). I have come across the article by mulla hassan ali sarangpurwala on 'moonsighting' and he really does reply in a roundabout manner; not very concise or to the point. I was hoping for a tradition from the ahlulbayt (as) in regards to their faatimi calender and yet not one tradition was quoted.

It is a established fact in history that Ismail died during the lifetime of Imam Ja'far as-sadiq (as) & that the Imam (as) himself buried Ismail. So how can he be an 'Imam'?