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Dawoodi Bohras - News & Events

Resolutions passed at the conference


Resolution 1: Appeal to the community

The Sayedna's establishment has spread great deal of misunderstandings against the reform movement in general, and the reformists, in particular. The reformists have been portrayed as enemies of the Da'I and the Da'wat. They have also been depicted as anti religion. This is far from true. The reformists are as zealous about their religion as any other faithful Bohra could be. In fact the reformists are true followers of Shi ah-Islam'ili- Musta'lian faith. They believe with all sincerity in all the da'is of Sindh-Hind and Yemen. They accept the chain of da'is from Sayedna Zoeb onwards who was the first da'i in Yemen. The reformists have never raised the question of rightful appointment of any da'I i.e. the question of nass.

They have only raised the question of accountability, raza and misaq. These are, we want to convince our sisters and brothers on the other side of the fence, quit legitimate question. In the whole history of D'awah beginning with the Holy Prophet (PBUH) himself, no one has refused the principle of accountability. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Maulana Ali Ibn Abu Talib have explained to the people on being asked why did they give so much to so and so. Bait al-mal, was always considered by all the Imams and da'is as sacred amanat (trust) and they never misused in for personal purpose or for their family members. They set the highest standards in this respect for others to follow. The reformists are trying to insist on implementation of these highest moral standards in respect of bait-al-mal and nothing more.

Today there is horrible poverty in the community and yet nothing is done to improve their conditions and better their lot. Crores of rupees are collected from the community every year and nothing is spent on the poor. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) is reported to have said that to feed a hungry widow is more meritorious than praying whole night. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) himself often gave away all that he had to help the poor and needy. Also we all know that his most beloved daughter Hazrat Fatima (A.S.) used to grind grains herself and when once she requested for a slave from bait al- mal, Holy Prophet refused thought he loved her so dearly. The reformists want to bring back such high moral standards of accountability and nothing more.

Raza and misaq are far from obligatory as nothing has been mentioned about them in the book of our jurisprudence Da'aim al-Islam which has elaborately discussed all obligatory and non-obligatory matters that all that is farz and all that is sunnat and yet nothing has been mentioned about raza and misaq. Should it not make us seriously think what the Kothar is doing? Misaaq, as Saiyyidna Hamiduddin Kirmani has written is a politico-spiritual oath and nothing more. Saiyyidna Hatim in his Tuhfat al -Qulub also has made it clear that misaq should be taken for Imam and not for da'i. Also the text of misaq as used today, never existed during the time of Imams and previous da'is. The text was created only recently as Saiyyidna Tahir Saiffuddin himself confessed during the cross examination in the Chandabhai Gulla Case in Bombay High Court.

Raza as such never existed. At best it was introduced very recently and that too only as a convenient tool so that programmes do not clash as the local amil will coordinate all the programmes. It has no religious value whatsoever at all. And such a tool of convenience has been reduced to a tool of great coercion today. There is no need for raza for congregational prayer or for Haj or for nikah.

The reformists also believe in keeping with the teaching of the Holy Qur'an in human dignity and human rights. A m'umin is like a precious jewel and should be treated with great honour and dignity. Instead, the Kothar treats him or her with great contempt and humiliates them every and then. Even slaves are treated better by their masters. For salves also the Shari'ah has laid down well-defined rights and obligations. The reformists thus want human dignity be restored and the Kothar should treat all with honour and dignity.

The reformists also believe in democratic principles. A spiritual authority, howsoever great or pre-eminent, should have no right to interfere in the day to day functioning of jamat. The jamaats should be locally elected and given complete autonomy. Also, democracy and human rights go together so also democracy and accountability. It is precisely the reformists insist on democratic functioning.

These are the demands of the reformists. And we appeal to our sisters and brothers in the community to understand us with sympathy and deeply reflect on our demands and on our struggle. In democracy all issues are resolved through dialogue. Hence we request our sister and brothers to adopt dialogical approach rather than boycott us. Boycott is absolutely no solution. It only results in increased misunderstandings and stereotypes in the absence of any interaction. It is vested interests who resort to boycott. The honest people resort to dialogue with a view to resolve the conflict. We hope our sisters and brothers on the other side will sincerely reflect on the issues raised by us and would respond creatively to them.

We hereby resolve to issue this appeal to the community and request them to interact with a view to resolve this problem.

Resolution 2: Kothar's new strategy

The Kothar has adopted new tactics in view of the fact that all their previous failed completely. The reformists not only stood their ground but also won sympathy of people of other communities, the intellectual elites, the politicians. A section of the Muslim leaders who had earlier supported the Kothar also no longer vocally supports it. The reformists placed their case successfully before them and convinced them that they are not challenging any religious principles. The reformists have also filed a case in the Supreme Court which has made the Kothar quite panicky as it is quite likely to lose the case which will be a great blow to its prestige.

In view of all these developments the Kothar has adopted new tactics to break the reform movement. It is trying to woo the reformists in a very deceptive manner. Pushing the principles to the background the reformists are fighting for, the Kothar wants to lure them into its fold by taking misaq and not insisting on 'apology' it was earlier insisting for. Unfortunately some reformists were deceived by these new tactics and were lured into giving misaq. They completely forgot the principles the reformists have all along fought for. The Kothar without referring to these demands simply insists on giving misaq and there by cleverly its own authority on the reformists. It is highly surprising that some reformists who gave misaq could not understand this simple thing.

This conference, therefore, appeals to all the Bohras in general, and the reformists, in particular, not to be deceived by the new tactics adopted by the Kothar and stand firm for the principles they have fought for so long and made great sacrifices. We the reformists do believe in dialogue and, therefore, would like to appeal to the Kothar to enter into dialogue with the reformists in a systematic manner. The dialogue has to be between property authorized representatives and all that transpires has to be between property authorized representatives and all the transpires has to be recorded most meticulously and either party should not impose its point of view on the other and respect integrity of the viewpoint of the other.

This conference, therefore, resolves to appeal to the community not to be misled by the Kothar and also resolves to appeal to the Kothar to enter into meaningful dialogue with the reformists with a view to resolve this long- standing dispute in a democratic manner. This conference resolves to appeal to the Kothar not to use its sledge-hammer of misaq which will only aggravate the problem but to use the democratic method of dialogue respecting the viewpoint of the others.

Resolution 3: Urging upon the Government of India to recognise the issues in the reform movement

The Bohra reformists have been struggling for secular, democratic reforms in the Bohra community for close to three decades now. They, while accepting the religious authority of the priesthood, are pressing for acceptance of democratic functioning and the attendant principles of accountability and human rights. However, the priesthood, in response to these democratic demands have used the sledge-hammer method of social boycott (baraat) and subjected the reformists to all sorts of suffering. Despite repeated representations and memoranda the state and central governments have not taken the reformists demands seriously while their (i.e. reformists) fundamental rights are being violated with impunity by the priesthood.

This conference therefore urges upon the Union Government of India in particular to protect the fundamental rights of the Bohra reformists and institute an inquiry into financial affairs of the Bohra priestly establishment. The Sayedna's establishment collects crores of rupees every year from the community coercively and no account is submitted either to the community or to the government. Sayedna's Family's properties are worth billions of rupees today and yet no inquiry is being held by the government or the income tax authorities. The members of the Bohra priestly family have properties in countries like the U.K., U.S.A., Canada and also in several other countries but the government has never bothered to inquire how these properties were acquired.

The 10th All World Dawoodi Bohra Conference, therefore, urges upon the Government of India to protect the democratic rights of the Bohras on one hand, and to institute an inquiry preferably by setting up an inquiry commission into the wealth of the Sayedna and his family and properties possessed by them in India and several other countries. This family has been evading tax on huge scale and it is a fact that the Sayedna's political clout has restrained income tax authorities from taking steps to unearth this tax evasion on an unimaginable scale.

Resolution 4: On common situation in Inida

This conference takes note of the deteriorating communal situation in the country. Though it is true that many major riots have not taken place in the country since demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992 and the riots following that in Bombay, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Delhi, the communal situation also has not improved in any perceptible manner. If anything communal situation has worsened in the last couple of years, specially since the BJP led government took over at the Centre.

Absence of communal violence is by itself not a matter of satisfaction for any serious observer of communal situation in the country. Communal violence is engineered whenever politically needed by a party. What is more worrying is constant communal propaganda against minority communities and doubting their loyalty to the country. The way history is being distorted in the school text books is a matter of great concern for all those who care of communal harmony and peace in the country. The minds of young children are being systematically injected with communal poison through these history text books. Tomorrow they will grow into full-fledged citizens of the country with warped ideas about the minorities.

It is again a matter of great concern that the BJP ruled state like U.P. has made Saraswati Vandana and singing of Vande Mataram compulsory for all including minority children in schools. In a pluralist society like that of India it is uncalled for to impose anything on minorities by numerical religious majority. It is a serious violation of fundamental rights of minority community as guaranteed by the Constitution. No citizen can be compelled for Saraswati Vandana and singing of Vande Mataram. The Supreme Court has even upheld the right of the Jehova's Witness not to sing Janagana Mana which is a national anthem. How can then the U.P. Government make it compulsory minority children to sing Vande Mataram which is not even a national anthem.

We would like to make it quite clear here that we have great respect for Vande Mataram which is a patriotic song but since the Muslims feel that it is against the tenets of their religion, they cannot be compelled to sing it. Not singing it should not be construed as lack of patriotism. Muslims have made great sacrifices in the freedom struggle and would not hesitate to lay down their lives for the defence of their country even today if attacked by any other country. Similarly Muslims have nothing against Sarasvati Vandana at all.

This conference, therefore, urges upon the Union Government to protect the fundamental rights of all citizens including the minorities in order to protect the pluralistic model of our society and secularism of our Constitution.

Resolution 5: Appeal to the Muslim Umman

A section of Muslims in India, particularly its leadership seriously misunderstood the purpose of the Bohra reformist movement. These Muslims were convinced by the Bohra priesthood that the reformists are bent upon reforming Islam and that they refuse to follow the tenets of Islam. In some extreme cases it was also said that the reformists and their leaders are Israeli or RSS agents to destroy Islam from within. These were of course fantastic charges which no longer convince any serious Muslim intellectual. We are also grateful to some Muslim intellectuals and writers who unflinchingly stood by our cause and resisted all allurements or intimidation's from the Bohra priesthood.

It must also be said that it is a vindication of the Bohra reformists cause that even those Muslim leaders who at one time vocally supported the Sayedna either out of misunderstanding or allurement, are no longer vocal in support of the Sayedna. They have either fallen silent or have understood the objectives of the Bohra reform movement.

We would like to convince our Muslim sisters and brothers that the reformist Bohras are sincere adherents of Islamic tenets and in fact, are fighting for restoration of true Islamic principles as the Sayedna and his followers have deviated from these principles.

The Sayedna and his supporters claim that kissing his feet is more meritorious than kissing the holy Ka'ba or that circumambulating his place is of greater merit than circumambulating the Ka'ba. The Sayedna also compels his followers to perform sajda before him and those who do not are excommunicated. Also , he ascribes to himself the attributes of Allah and describes himself as Kabatul Muslim or Qazi-ul-hajat etc. It is obviously shrik-e-jali which no Muslim would ever tolerate.

His followers even published a calender on whose cover page they printed the photograph of the Sayedna after Allah and then printed the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. One can very well understand to what extent the Sayedna and his followers have gone. The Holy Prophet did not permit sajda before him. He did not allow his followers to stand up when he entered into their midst. But the Bohra da'i violates all the principles of Islam and lives a life of luxury and describes his residence as 'palace' and himself as sultan and his children describe themselves as princes and princesses. They refuse to account for zakat amount collected every year from the Bohras under threat and live a life of luxury with the zakat money. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) considered zakat money haram for himself and for the members of his family.

The reformists are fighting against such distortion of Islam and Islamic teachings. For this they are facing social persecution and are suffering greatly. We therefore request our Muslim brethren to study our movement with impartiality and not to accept the misinformation campaign launched by the Sayedna and his followers.

We would also like to request the Muslim Personal Law Board not to take Sayedna's representatives on the board or not to accept finance from them. It is tainted money and nothing but an attempt to bribe the Board. We also urge upon the Haj Committee not to take Sayedna's representative on the Committee as the Sayedna's establishment persecute those Bohra Hajis who do not submit to its dictates and who refuse to hand over entire foreign exchange to it for illegal transfer of money. Also, those Bohras who do not offer huge sums of money demanded by the Sayedna's establishment, are thrown out of the Bohra Rabat in Mecca and Madina.

We also request all Muslim sisters and brothers not to associate themselves with the Sayedna and his followers. The Sayedna even provoked Shiah-Sunni riots in Bombay in 1988 by pronouncing tabarrah against the first three Caliphs. The reformists have always stood for communal harmony and have fought against all forms of communal conflict in the Indian society, we fervently hope our Muslim brothers would deeply reflect on our entreaties and stand by the principles for which the Bohra reformists are fighting for.