Tour A Bohra
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Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb greeting AHM Aswer
In case you hadn’t noticed, Colombo has been full of men and women in head to toe cloth, white and colored respectively. Nice hats too. These people are obviously Muslim, but I did a bit of reading and they are part of a Shia sect called the Bohra. Their leader Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb, has arrived in Colombo for a ten day ceremony called the Ashara Mubaraka. This influx has almost single-handedly boosted the Colombo tourism industry, filling hotels and guest houses. I’ve also seen Majestic City and Odel full of these guests.
The Prophet Mohammed’s temporal succession involved many schisms in Islam, the most notable being that between Sunni and Shiite. That division hinges on the 1st successor to Mohammed, while the Bohras emerged from another succession dispute, this involving the 9th caliphate. That group split again, with one branch being the Dawoodi Bohra. They are mostly India based, but many live in Sri Lanka. Those are the Bohra that now walk our streets to gather with their leader, Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb.
He is the Imam’s (descendant of Mohammed) vice regent, and Dawoodi Bohras consult him on all manners, spiritual and temporal. They also pay a significant Zakat, or tax, directly to their leader, which is in turn distributed and funds the restoration of mosques, etc. The Bohras emphasis both secular and religious education and have a high proportion of businessmen and professionals above them. They seem pretty cool.
And that is all I got from Wikipedia. Now, rumour wise, these are things that I heard. If anyone can confirm deny them I’d be interested to know.
- That huge fantastic house across from Colombo University bookstore is a private Bohra residence.
- They had ID cards which they scanned at the airport. The cards matched them to the local Bohra houses they were staying with.
The answer to both your questions is YES. The house is called SAIFI VILLA. A similar house on Galle Road at Bambalapitiya on the land side opposite Holy Family Convent was also once owned by a Bohra Family.
Some of the big businesses of the community are as follows:-
1. Akbar Brothers – the largest exporter of Tea
2. Moosajees
3. Adamjee Lukmanjee Ltd
4. T A J Noorbhai & Co Ltd
5. Jafferjee Brothers
you speak as if they are aliens Indi.
in any case,
“They had ID cards which they scanned at the airport. The cards matched them to the local Bohra houses they were staying with.”
how does this work.. they keep a list of ‘bohra houses’ ? damn.
I totally agree with you Deane.
This conversation has a rather chilling aura about it. Although I believe this is an unintended consequence, it does seem a bit like the way Jews were talked about in pre-WW II Europe, not as to be expected by card-carrying Nazis and Fascists, but by ordinary gentile society. Bohras have been around for ages, and have been model citizens and Sri Lankans. It is however an unfortunate aspect of the human condition that difference in the ‘other’ should give rise to commentary like this.
Without in the least imputing improper motive, what is the Freudian explanation of the seemingly amusing title of a post that concerns an Islamic sect, which rhymes with the name of the mountain range in Waziristan where al Qaeda terrorists are supposed to be hiding?
Would the fact that Saifi Villa was once the Town House residence – Alfred House, and from which the present day Alfred House Gardens derives – of the philanthropist Sir Alfred de Zoysa attract similar attention? Or the fact that Sir Alfred was a notable Karava Anglican? Or that the de Soyzas made their fabulous fortune in plumbago and tavern renting?
These are enduring challenges of multiculturalism.
Surely Sri Lanka has welcomed them much better than how they would be treated in most other countries or how Christians and Muslims get to live in Islamic countries. Imagine priests like these coming in to Australia or the US and hanging out at shopping malls. I still believe that foreign influence on minority communities in Sri Lanka would have negative consequences, but the good thing is that we at least allow them to live in Sri Lanka and practice their culture without any hindrance as long as they don’t disobey the rule of law. Those who lament about the state of multi-culturalism in Sri Lanka should compare us with other real countries in the world, not some sort of a non-existant secular pluralist utopia.
boras are pretty different from muslims actually. they dont regard muhammad as their prophet. and they dont allow non bora muslims come to their mosques. i’m not sure but from some boras i knew they are engaged to someone fom birth. eitherway they marry only within their close circles. their spose is either a couse, neice/nephew, aunt/uncle
Seems that non bora Muslims can visit the bora mosque, but afterwards its completely washed. Well, thats what a non bora Muslim friend told me….. Though the area has been closed off to non boras during the past week coz of the ceremony. Lots of new red CTB buses round bamba, mainly on marine drive… Think its transport for the people visiting the mosque.
I am a Dawoodi Bohra from Indore, INDIA After reading the comments from my dear ones, i want to clear that we dawoodi bohras (commonly known as bohras) are also muslims. Bohra means a trader or businessman. We bohras are always involved only in the business. Our peace loving community has offered Colombo a chance to boost their tourism industry as Indi has said. We always believe in Universal Brotherhood.
I don’t think this post was racist, and the comparison to Nazi’s is spurious at best. I tried to be respectful to Bohras at all times, and everything can be pretty directly sourced to Wikipedia (as per the internal links). It actually turns out that I know a few Sri Lankan Bohras (and didn’t know that about them). I did refer to them as guests, but most of the pilgrims we see are just that, pilgrims from India. If anything the post was an attempt to understand them better. Saying that they’re involved in business and have some especially wealthy followers in SL isn’t offensive, it’s just a facet of that culture.
The enduring challenge of multi-culturalism isn’t being politically correct all the time, it’s attempting to learn about and understand one another.
Thank you Indi. If you noted in my comment, I was very clear that I was not imputing a particular motive, and certainly did not call your post racist. And I admit that the reference to the Jewish exprience was perhaps disproportionate.
However, the larger point about ‘difference’ in a pluralist context I make remains valid, and if the recent rows (serious) about veil wearing by Muslim women in France and UK, and (less serious) the UK Channel 4 Celebrity Big Brother controversy shows, these are problems facing any society, not just ours.
This seems also the point that JustMal makes, when he says I am talking about a “non-existent, secular, pluralist utopia.” That does not however mean that we should lose sight of ideals, nor that the only questions we ask have to be those based on ‘realism’ or ‘reality’ however unpleasant or unacceptable that may be.
Finally, I am entirely with you on the corrosive effect of political correctness – it tends to discourage enquiry and understanding. You would, I hope, in turn concede that the questions I ask are equally valid ones in such a enquiry.
Fair enough
An interesting post in light of the discussions here – http://www.madrid11.net/forum/multiculturalism300107
I am a Bohra from Bangalore. After reading all the posts, I didn’t find anything racist here, though there were certainly somethings which were not correct due to ignorance.
The comment about us not accepting Prophet Muhammad as a Prohet is absolutely wrong. Infact, during the Ashara Mubaraka observed in Colombo a major part of the prayers were devoted to the Prohepts sayings.
Many Bohras in Colombo, and indeed elsewhere, are rich and do pay a large sum as tax to the community but is there anything wrong.
The Bohras are very secular. The point about non-bohras cannot worship in our mosques is to some extent true, but it is vice versa. The major reason being our prayers are quite different from the other Muslim sects. But in this era of peaceful co-existence this should not be an issue. Infact in a previous Ashara Mubarak, in Mumbai, we had the chief-minister of Mumbai and other ministers visiting the mosque during prayers to greet His Holiness, and the mosque was certainly not washed after their departure as someone claims.
And the card that was scanned at the airport was an e-card that contains all our details. Every Bohra member has this e-card. All the activities regarding travelling, accomodation, seating allocation in the mosque and food are allotted via this card.
Interesting debate on multiculturalism within a British context here – http://www.madrid11.net/article/ukmuslims070207
The reason we carry ID cards is to help us find our alotted accomodation especially in Sri Lanka where at the time there was a shortage of accomodation.
It is the belief of our leader that nobody should be without accomodation or food. That nobody should sleep homeless. So it is for our convience not for oppression as was done to the jews.
Secondly it is not true that other muslims our not allowed into our masjids. Anyone can pray there and at Friday prays or in the month of Ramadan we have muslims from other communities in our Masjid in London UK. Also we have visiters such as politians visit us well. We are well intergrated and part of any community we live in anywhere in the world. It is also a lie that the buildings have to be washed if another muslim enters and this rumour was proberly made up by dissidents who are trying to harm the community from within or the Wahhabis who are hate all muslims who are not extremists like themselves.
Lastly we believe in the Prophet Mohammed like everyone else in fact we hold him in higher respect than some other muslims like sulafids and we are not allowed to be engaged at birth as a person isnt born into the faith they must choose at puberty to join or leave and they must choose who they marry. When a Bohra gets married they are asked multiple time if they want to get married as forced marriages are not allowed and this rule is strictly enforced.
All the holy sites in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq are mantained by us and we are currently restoring the holy sites in Iraq. Kerbala, Najaf and Kufa. We own schools and hospitals around the world and run the Saifee ambulance service in Mumbai as well having built the Saifee hospital in India. The tallest building in that area of asia.
The 51st Dai helped pay for the rebuilng of the Kaba in Mecca and made the curtains used inside his name Syedna Taher Saifuddin is also engraved in the Al Aqsa masjid in jerusalam as he had paid for its renovation. He was close friends with Mathama Ghandi along with the present 52nd Dai al Mutlaq and the road used in the salt march against the British empire has been named after him as Ghandi stayed in his house afterwards.
The 52nd Dai Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin is a ambassador of peace and goodwill for the United Nations and been given awards from around the world and the British Parliment have said that the celebration of his birthday will be a annual event in the houses of parliament. The mother of democracy.
There is more I could say but I would like to remind people that the internet is a place where stories and rumours and lies are spread and when bad things are said about people we should ask is this realistic and why it is the person is saying it. The bohra community is no different to any community and we have storys made up about us just like anyone else. People should ask themselves how they would feel if bad thing were being said about them and should look at how we peacefully and patiently live with these lies. We are the only community in the world to have institutionally provided interest free loans and succesfully removed absolute poverty from our community with it. We have 100% litracy rates and in the words of the prime minister Tony Blair “Young muslims are tired of how a small number of vocal extremists hide the voice of true muslims and constantly get media coverage”. This is how we feel about the minority from within our own community who give a bad name by constanly crying wolf and those from sunni muslims who keep making up stories about how we dont believe in Islamic concepts such as we believe in reincarnation or we dont pray correctly. If this was true than why our we allowed to go on the hajj when other groups like the nizari khojas have been banned.They also say things about corruption in community finances but they do not realise that we do not recieve money from the saudi arabian goverment like other muslims and we have expensives costs such as the upkeep of pilgrim houses or food for visitors to our masjids that is why money is collected centrally by one source. This is the easiest method of distribution and everyone is happy with it. These are lies knowingly created by people who are tageting a peaceful community.
A very interesting discussion here… I’m quite impressed with Sri Lankans, pretty much in the same way as Lankans are with Bohras. The emotions on this page are quite colorful – certainly good reading material.
But Wikipedia is not your best source for information, dear indi. Convenient and quick, but not comprehensive. The truth is a lot simpler and a whole lot more complex.
Anyway, if you must know, Dawoodi Bohras that subject themselves to the authority of our spiritual leader have no doubt in their minds that they practice the true religion of God, which we believe is Islam, carefully handed down from the last Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to his true inheritors.
We are thankful to be a part of this community, as we have the best of both worlds – in more ways than can be easily understood by anyone.
Unfortunately, us humans do not easily accept the ways of divinity. For this reason there have always been enemies of Islam. And the worst enemies are those that use the name of Islam itself to wreak havoc and shroud the beauty of Islam.
It is no wonder that those with malice in their heart are naturally repelled by spirituality and piety, while those that God has chosen to have love in their hearts are attracted to it.
Dear indi, a Bohra is a far cry from what you get from a Wiki – or a mountain in Afghanistan.
I live here in Pakistan and i can tell you from personal experience that non-bohras are not allowed into the bohra masjid, the examples that are given above are of ministers and other people of influence visiting. Normal people like me aren’t allowed in.
Yes i know that many of the other sects here also have issues with followers of other faiths entering their mosques but still doesn’t make it right.
Another thing (and this really hurts cause it was personal) is that the bohras don’t marry outside, there are an increasing number of outside the community marriages but they still face tremendous opposition from the family and most all the community (four people i know married outside so i know what they have to go through).
Now why do i know so many people like that and why’d i try to go into the bohra places? Well it’s cause i love this girl and really want to marry her but la de dah she’s a bohri and her daddy is like hitler reborn. I have nothing against the bohri people, I’m completely secular and open minded and so it really hurts when i’m faced with stuff like this.
~:[
oh and I’m pretty ok in every aspect, my being a sunni the only hitch (preemptive strike against any “maybe it’s cause you’re ugly!” comment)
To all who have contributed to this blog with their curiosity insights, opinions & information.
I AM A BOHRA FROM SRI LANKA.
I studied in Colombo Internation School.
(I think i’m the first Bohra from Sri Lanka to be writing on this, so maybe it will be easier for most to comprehend)
1. [indi] Thankyou for starting this conversation. Wikipedia is definitely not the most authentic of sources, and i’m sure [Mustafa UK] got that across. I am also thankful to [Mustafa UK] for his detailed answer, as it corrects some of the information that was “misunderstood”.
HOWEVER, one matter that [indi] mentioned is not correct, and was not mentioned by [Mustafa UK]. [indi] said :
“He is the Imam’s (descendant of Mohammed) viceregent…”
This is INCORRECT. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (The Head of the Bohra Community) is NOT the descendant of the Imam. He is a DAI al MUTHLAQ ie the VICEGERENT (not vice regent) of the Imam in seclusion.
If anyone is interested on reading about His Holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, you can read this “authentic” biography:
Al-Dai al-Fatimi, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin: An Illustrated Biography
It is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/Al-Dai-al-Fatimi-Syedna-Mohammed-Burhanuddin/dp/0953625605
2. Regarding the part that Bohras do not allow other Muslim sects to enter their Masjid (Mosque). This is also INCORRECT. A Masjid is a place of worship open to all Muslims. Sadly this has been one topic that many enemies of this community have tried to fire-up to erupt hostility and animosity between our community and other Muslims sects.
[II] from Pakistan denies this. I truly feel that [II] has never even tried to enter our Masjid, rather he has just heard such news from others and is latching on to that.
3. Inter Community Marriage is more valued & preferred as it is very important to keep our community strong and united.
Even Parsi’s in India do this.
4. Since I am a Bohra residing in Sri Lanka, I can proudly say, that I know that Sri Lanka is one of the best examples as a country that allows the practice of religion freely. The Sri Lankan people and most importantly the government has always supported the cause of the Dawoodi Bohra s in Sri Lanka. And we do not experience any ill treatment of any kind from the Sri Lankans, rather they have been most accommodating to the community. Sometimes it feels that Sri Lanka gives more flexibility to our community than even Islamic countries!
I hope my contribution to this is found to be helpful.
A new masjid has been recently built in Manchester (UK), paid for entirely by the mumin (ie,bohra) of Manchester. No outside donations were asked for or received. The masjid was inaugurated by Syedna on 4th of July 2008.
there were steady streams of local muslims (ie,non-bohras) who came to the masjid in order to pray. They were never turned away, instead they were invited to pray with us.
However, there was not one occasion where they returned a 2nd time!
The reason was NOT that we were hostile and aggresive towards them, but the simple fact was that we pray in a slightly different manner to most other muslims.
We have greater emphasis on tahaarat (cleanliness of body and clothes) than other muslims. Where most muslims go to pray in their normal everyday attire, we do not. We have to change our clothes and wear pak (clean) clothes. This seemed to make most visitors uncomfortable : seeing a whole masjid full of people wearing the same type of clothing when they were wearing jeans and t-shirt and without covering their heads.
Very often, they would decide to pray the 2nd faraz separately to us in one corner of the masjid.
A masjid is a House of God and all are welcome.