Dawoodi Bohras Reformist Vs Orthodox: Community Vs Cult
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:20 am
Dawoodi Bohra is a sect within the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam also known as Tayyabi Mustali Ismaili. In the chain of Imamat, the 21st Imam Al-Tayyab went into occultation (hiding) and his direct descendant is considered as the current Imam and remains in seclusion. While the Imam is in seclusion, the governance of the sect has been entrusted to the Dai. The Dai is treated as a spiritual head in the Dawoodi Bohra community.
With passage of time, worldly ambitions, wealth, fame and power gradually led to corruption in the system. The Kothar, the system or group which runs the Dai system, went on to become so corrupt that gradually different parts of the world began to witness revolts against it.
Udaipur has been the hub of a healthy and palpating reform movement in the Dawoodi Bohra community for the last almost 50 years. This movement stands out for its strong undertone of faith and is based on a foundation of justice and sacrifice. It is laced with emotions and feelings that may remain beyond the comprehension of individuals. But more importantly, the Dawoodi Bohra reform movement has its base in ethical features that go beyond the simple act of overthrowing the clergy.
On a more intense level, the reform movement of the Dawoodi Bohra in Udaipur establishes the difference between cult and community.
Cult and community are English usages for two groups of people. Wikipedia describes cult as a “reference to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal”. In modern usage it implies a group of people with a negative mindset and cut off from the outside world.
On the other hand, a broad meaning of community refers to qualities of positive energy and open mindset.
The purpose of highlighting the difference is to establish the difference between the Kothar-run Dawoodi Bohra group and the Dawoodi Bohra reformists thereby underlining the threat the former issues by enforcing unhealthy ritual, social and economical pressures which have been thoughtfully and very cleverly designed to dominate people’s lives – in all arenas, whether personal or professional.
Cult has two sets of people - producers and consumers. Let us for example talk about a similar mass media entity - television. The audience, which comprises the masses, cannot influence the television programmes whereas the small group of people which creates the programme have the liberty to manipulate the masses. The majority remains a passive audience.
This example can be applied to the Dawoodi Bohra community, too. In its case, the Kothar controls and manipulates the lives of the Dawoodi Bohras.
In a cult, the leader is “God-like”. His is the final word. No questions or doubts are allowed. The community is forced into practises which it is not allowed to question. If you suggest a better way of doing something or raise a doubt about something you are being ordered to do, you stand the risk of being kicked out of the cult.
This same rule applies to the Dawoodi Bohra community where the 51st Dai had made the claim that he is the Ilahul ard (God on this earth) (na aoodhu billah).
The best way to keep people within the cult is to scare them. Terrorise them with fearful consequences. Make them feel guilty. Spread the fear that if they go against what the Dai says then they will invite the wrath of God!
Social boycott has been one of the deadliest tools devised by the Kothar to control the lives of individuals within the Dawoodi Bohra community. The priestly class has been employing this instrument for a very long time now. Those who dared to question the clergy have been socially boycotted. Isolated! Shunned! And this has been the fate of Dawoodi Bohras in Udaipur for a very long time now. The world has been aware of this and equivocally condemned it!
A heart-wrenching and dreadful fallout from such a boycott have been divorces, children being separated from parents, hundreds of families subjected to severe mental tortured. Don’t allow yourself to be befooled by talks of liberalism which the Kothar has come up with now and then, especially whenever it has felt the threat of being exposed and worried about going out of business. This fear of social boycott prevails in the Dawoodi Bohras even today. Community members live in mortal fear all the time of being shunned by the Kothar-provoked society lest they speak up against the diktat of the Kothar.
The constitution of a cult is to give infinite power to the ruler, whereas the constitution of community aims to empower the masses.
Two important inquiry commissions in the past have exposed the malpractices and violation of human rights practised by the Kothar on members of the Dawoodi Bohra community - Justice Nathwani Commission and Justice Tevatia Commission. Justice Nathwani Commission termed the misaaq (oath of allegiance) given by the Dawoodi Bohras to their Dai as a charter of slavery. The world knows that the underlying intention of the misaaq is to make the Dai the master of the soul, mind, body and properties of his followers!
In a cult everybody must be the same. They must dress, talk and behave alike. And all of this is by compulsion. No choice is given. The message is very clear - you violate and you are out! The sword of social boycott is always hanging over your head. Diversity is not tolerated. And Dawoodi Bohras do not observe the laws laid down by Islam. They merely follow the diktat of the Kothar.
A cult will see the rest of the world against it. It will give out the impression that it is in an ideological war with others. It will instil anger in its people towards other. It will feed negative emotions. It will constantly curse other people to keep its member energised. And this is exactly what the orthodox Dawoodi Bohra clergy has been doing for a long time now- initiating curses against the reformist Dawoodi Bohras. All majalises and social gatherings witness their leaders instigating feeling of hatred for the reformists in their followers.
In Surat Al-Baqarah, verse 166 and 167 Allah describes how on the Day of Judgment those who set the trends and standards which others had followed mindlessly would cut themselves off from those who followed them. And those who followed would say if given a second chance, they would cut themselves off from these fake idols.
Islam is based on one thing only: Taqwa which is consciousness of Allah and an unequivocal belief in His oneness. When we create fake uniforms, we place unreasonable pressures on ourselves and our social circles and end up losing members of our community, perhaps irreversibly.
The time is NOW to leave the cult and join the community!
On the Occasion of 1st March black day in the history of Dawoodi Bohra.
With passage of time, worldly ambitions, wealth, fame and power gradually led to corruption in the system. The Kothar, the system or group which runs the Dai system, went on to become so corrupt that gradually different parts of the world began to witness revolts against it.
Udaipur has been the hub of a healthy and palpating reform movement in the Dawoodi Bohra community for the last almost 50 years. This movement stands out for its strong undertone of faith and is based on a foundation of justice and sacrifice. It is laced with emotions and feelings that may remain beyond the comprehension of individuals. But more importantly, the Dawoodi Bohra reform movement has its base in ethical features that go beyond the simple act of overthrowing the clergy.
On a more intense level, the reform movement of the Dawoodi Bohra in Udaipur establishes the difference between cult and community.
Cult and community are English usages for two groups of people. Wikipedia describes cult as a “reference to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal”. In modern usage it implies a group of people with a negative mindset and cut off from the outside world.
On the other hand, a broad meaning of community refers to qualities of positive energy and open mindset.
The purpose of highlighting the difference is to establish the difference between the Kothar-run Dawoodi Bohra group and the Dawoodi Bohra reformists thereby underlining the threat the former issues by enforcing unhealthy ritual, social and economical pressures which have been thoughtfully and very cleverly designed to dominate people’s lives – in all arenas, whether personal or professional.
Cult has two sets of people - producers and consumers. Let us for example talk about a similar mass media entity - television. The audience, which comprises the masses, cannot influence the television programmes whereas the small group of people which creates the programme have the liberty to manipulate the masses. The majority remains a passive audience.
This example can be applied to the Dawoodi Bohra community, too. In its case, the Kothar controls and manipulates the lives of the Dawoodi Bohras.
In a cult, the leader is “God-like”. His is the final word. No questions or doubts are allowed. The community is forced into practises which it is not allowed to question. If you suggest a better way of doing something or raise a doubt about something you are being ordered to do, you stand the risk of being kicked out of the cult.
This same rule applies to the Dawoodi Bohra community where the 51st Dai had made the claim that he is the Ilahul ard (God on this earth) (na aoodhu billah).
The best way to keep people within the cult is to scare them. Terrorise them with fearful consequences. Make them feel guilty. Spread the fear that if they go against what the Dai says then they will invite the wrath of God!
Social boycott has been one of the deadliest tools devised by the Kothar to control the lives of individuals within the Dawoodi Bohra community. The priestly class has been employing this instrument for a very long time now. Those who dared to question the clergy have been socially boycotted. Isolated! Shunned! And this has been the fate of Dawoodi Bohras in Udaipur for a very long time now. The world has been aware of this and equivocally condemned it!
A heart-wrenching and dreadful fallout from such a boycott have been divorces, children being separated from parents, hundreds of families subjected to severe mental tortured. Don’t allow yourself to be befooled by talks of liberalism which the Kothar has come up with now and then, especially whenever it has felt the threat of being exposed and worried about going out of business. This fear of social boycott prevails in the Dawoodi Bohras even today. Community members live in mortal fear all the time of being shunned by the Kothar-provoked society lest they speak up against the diktat of the Kothar.
The constitution of a cult is to give infinite power to the ruler, whereas the constitution of community aims to empower the masses.
Two important inquiry commissions in the past have exposed the malpractices and violation of human rights practised by the Kothar on members of the Dawoodi Bohra community - Justice Nathwani Commission and Justice Tevatia Commission. Justice Nathwani Commission termed the misaaq (oath of allegiance) given by the Dawoodi Bohras to their Dai as a charter of slavery. The world knows that the underlying intention of the misaaq is to make the Dai the master of the soul, mind, body and properties of his followers!
In a cult everybody must be the same. They must dress, talk and behave alike. And all of this is by compulsion. No choice is given. The message is very clear - you violate and you are out! The sword of social boycott is always hanging over your head. Diversity is not tolerated. And Dawoodi Bohras do not observe the laws laid down by Islam. They merely follow the diktat of the Kothar.
A cult will see the rest of the world against it. It will give out the impression that it is in an ideological war with others. It will instil anger in its people towards other. It will feed negative emotions. It will constantly curse other people to keep its member energised. And this is exactly what the orthodox Dawoodi Bohra clergy has been doing for a long time now- initiating curses against the reformist Dawoodi Bohras. All majalises and social gatherings witness their leaders instigating feeling of hatred for the reformists in their followers.
In Surat Al-Baqarah, verse 166 and 167 Allah describes how on the Day of Judgment those who set the trends and standards which others had followed mindlessly would cut themselves off from those who followed them. And those who followed would say if given a second chance, they would cut themselves off from these fake idols.
Islam is based on one thing only: Taqwa which is consciousness of Allah and an unequivocal belief in His oneness. When we create fake uniforms, we place unreasonable pressures on ourselves and our social circles and end up losing members of our community, perhaps irreversibly.
The time is NOW to leave the cult and join the community!
On the Occasion of 1st March black day in the history of Dawoodi Bohra.