Bohra issues: archive of eye-opening articles and posts
This website and Forum have many interesting and thought-provoking posts submitted by various members over a period of many years, and which are difficult to locate. We have gathered this material in one place to provide easy access, and a starting point. Do yourself a favour, read this today.
News & Events
- Asghar Ali Engineer passes away
- It is with great sadness and sorrow we report the passing away of Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer. He breathed his last on May 14, 2013 at his suburban home in Mumbai. He was 74. Dr. Engineer had been ill since February. His untimely death is a great loss to the peace and justice loving people around the world. He was a renowned Islamic scholar, Borha reformist leader and a public intellectual who passionately fought for the rights and justice of the downtrodden and of women. He had made it his life’s mission to work for communal harmony and was a staunch opponent of religious obscurantism which, he claimed, politicians exploited to garner votes and power. more
Features
- Fearless intellectual activist like no other
- I vividly remember the day, some 30 years ago, when the cover story by Asghar Ali Engineer was published in the Illustrated Weekly of India. With Sayedna Moahammed Burhanuddin’s picture on the cover and the title “A Law Unto Himselfâ€, the article created a sensation. Nobody had dared to challenge Sayedna Saheb so openly so publicly before. It gave us young Turks a new sense of mission and energy. Instinctively, we knew this man was on to something. Bohras, who are generally meek and tend to mind their own business, are not quite used to this kind of dynamic personality rising in their midst. more
Islamic perspective
- Composite culture: celebration of Indian unity
- Composite culture is celebrated by some and denounced by others. The purists of all religions denounce the concept of composite culture. They accept nothing short of 'pure Hindu' or 'pure Islamic' culture. The pure culture, needless to say, divides while composite culture unites the people of a country. more
Bohras and Reform
- Sayedna Taher Saifuddin in court: recollections
- The longest case with which I was ever connected was a suit filed by me as Advocate-General against the Mullaji, or High Priest of the Dawoodi Borah Community, and certain of his followers. more
- On the Dawoodi Bohra Reformist Struggle: Interview with Abid Adeeb
- The Dawoodi Bohras, ethnic Gujaratis, are a roughly million strong group of the Mustalian branch of the Ismaili Shia Muslims. They are controlled by an elaborate hierarchy of priests, headed by the dai-e mutlaq, who claims to be the representative of the 21st imam of the community, who is believe to have gone into seclusion or ghayba in the eleventh century. Faced with stern Sunni opposition, the 24th dai of the community shifted to Gujarat in the twelfth century. The present dai, Syedna Burhanuddin, is the 52nd dai of the community, and this year he will celebrate his 100th birthday. more
Multimedia
- Interviews and talks
- Few people understand what the reform movement is about. They think reformists are against the Dai. This is not true. Check out a series of long-ranging interviews and talks to understand why reformists are fighting and what they are fighting for. more
Your story
- Victim of Sayedna's diktat
- As kids we were subjected to some sort of confusion at home... there was my Mom telling us to do sajdah and kiss the feet of the Sayedna whenever he was in town and on the other hand, my Dad scoffed at even the thought and reprimanded us for having done so. We wondered why the disparity in thoughts when all we could see around us was an insane sort of worshiping for the High Priest. more