Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

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Kaka Akela
Posts: 477
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:01 am

Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#1

Unread post by Kaka Akela » Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:42 pm

Jayanti Tamm.Author, 'Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up in a Cult'

What Is A Cult? Recognizing And Avoiding Unhealthy Groups
Posted: 04/14/11 12:31 PM ET

Who in our over-stimulated, media-saturated, hyper-connected world would ever go and knowingly join a cult? The answer is no one. No one wakes up one morning and decides to join a cult. Even if someone did, good luck trying to look up the address for the nearest local cult, for there isn't a single group that would ever admit to or advertise as being a cult. And why would they? The word 'cult' is explosive, loaded with connotations of brainwashing, lunatics, and mass suicide -- not exactly an ideal marketing strategy. For the most part, cults are keenly and obsessively aware of their public persona and consciously labor to maintain a positive image.

Scrolling through their websites, their mission statements are warmly fuzzy and vague; they promise redemption, renewal, rejuvenation, and reinvention. They offer answers, solutions, and happiness. It's all there, yours for the taking. What isn't included is the reality beneath the surface, the leader's demands for obedience from its members, the psychological pressure, the ability to subordinate all activities to the leader's will.

But most people don't find and join cults through Internet searches. Most people stumble upon them accidentally. A flyer in the laundromat for a free meditation class. A listing in the newspaper for a community service project. A poster at the library for a musical performance. Recruitment is purposefully subtle; the pull is gentle, gradual. Events are welcoming; attention is lavished on the visitor with the intention to create an environment that feels inclusive, nonthreatening, and safe. The visitor is warmly encouraged to return, to step in closer. It is not until later, often much later, that one may look around and, with great surprise, discover the strange terrain upon which one now stands.

Cults, whether they are offshoots of Eastern or Western traditional religions, are surprisingly

similar in their methods and means. The tactics and techniques used to recruit, maintain, and

disown noncompliant members seem pulled from a universal handbook of do's and don'ts.

With all of their rules and restrictions, laws and codes, ultimately cults are about grasping and preserving absolute and unconditional control.

Cults are fueled by and thrive on control. The willingness to surrender control comes from

excessive devotion to the leader and the leader's vision. The leader's personal agenda is

presented as a universal elixir, one that will eradicate both personal and global moral, ethical, and spiritual maladies. The follower's faith becomes both the provider and the enabler.

Faith in the mission, faith in the leader is an agent used to unify a disparate collection of strong individuals from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The loss of the individual is the gain of the group. Individual achievements are discouraged, downplayed and finally eradicated while the group's achievements are encouraged, celebrated and memorialized.

To maintain the unity and cohesion of the cult, there is a clear separation between those 'inside' and 'outside.' Members are holy, special, chosen; outsiders are unholy, ignorant, toxic. Contact with the outside world -- often including family -- is discouraged, and family is redefined as the group itself. In this new family, subjugation and subservience is expected and obedience and control is demanded. From one's sexuality to one's personal hygiene, the leader possesses unquestioned, absolute authority over its members' lives. For a cult leader, it is imperative to seem infallible, to possess the answers, the solutions, the only route to salvation. The leader is fierce in singular righteousness, in the design to hail oneself absolute. A narcissist with insatiable needs for power, control, and, very often fame, the leader seeks affirmation of supreme authority through alignment with public figures and celebrities, achieving large numbers of recruits, and amassing private fiefdoms.

Through the need to please the leader, to ascend the ranks, to work to fulfill the leader's vision, cults dictate followers' actions and thoughts. Obedient members receive exalted status and conformity is enforced through notions of guilt, shame, and failure by both the leader and other members. A system of reporting on members for transgressions creates both an internal police force and opportunities for promotion and rewards for turning in brother and sister members. Those who violate the rules are punished and eventually, to maintain the coherent group unity, expelled. After time, the group assumes all roles -- family, friends, church, home, work, community, and departing, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, after years or even decades, without having a concrete safety net is challenging, and sometimes utterly impossible. The world on the other side appears frightening and overwhelming.

Just who is so easily swept up in the group-think and loss of individuality that are hallmarks of cults? A misconception is that there is a certain 'type' -- usually imbalanced, weak -- that not only finds themselves caught inside a cult but that isn't able to extract themselves from it. The truth is, there isn't one typical profile, 'type.' People with advanced degrees and people without any formal education are both equally likely to find themselves swaddled in orange robes or holed up in a compound. The urge to be a part of something is elemental, raw, and natural. To have a defined goal, a purpose, offers meaning. Most people strive for acceptance within social groups and long for affirmation from others. Be it in an office or country club, adjustments are made to conform, to gain approval and to advance.

In cults, extremism is the norm. When hyper devotion is expected behavior, for acceptance new recruits tend to rapidly thrust themselves into the prescribed lifestyle much to the chagrin of their family and friends on the 'outside.' There is no blame, no fault for having the audacity to plunge into belief, into faith so deeply, so forcefully that critical and analytical red flags, even if they once appeared, are snapped off. Belief and faith are such intoxicants that logical reason and facts become blurry and nonsensical.

While the boundary between cults and religion often feels confusing -- the Oxford English Dictionary's definitions differ only slightly with cults being "small" in size and possessing "beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister." Deciding what is strange or sinister certainly depends on the beholder. When accusations of being in a cult appear, members quickly and vehemently deny they are in a cult -- they are part of a 'spiritual path,' a 'special church,' a 'progressive movement' -- other groups are cults, but not theirs. No way.

Perhaps it is more useful to discern what a religious movement is or what a cult is by comparing its impact upon members' lives: does it compliment or control? At their best, healthy religions and organizations compliment rich, full lives by offering balance, community, comfort. At their worst, they lapse into vehicles demanding control. Cults limit lives into narrow, claustrophobic existences whose singular purpose is the cult itself.

Cult leaders, experts in psychological manipulation, prey on both the follower's ability to believe and need to belong. But this type of behavior is hardly limited to cults. After all, the aptitude and capacity to exploit human beings is universal, and, with the right ambitious and charismatic leader, any group easily could morph into a cult. What prevents that from occurring is that most established religions and groups have accountability mechanisms that restrain that from happening; cults, however, are purposefully designed so that the only restraints are the ones placed upon the people who, without even realizing it, have just done what they never thought they would do -- join a cult.

Is it a Cult? The Top Ten Signs the 'Group' You've Joined is Not what It Seems

1.The leader and group are always correct and anything the leader does can be justified.

2.Questions, suggestions, or critical inquiry are forbidden.


3.Members incessantly scramble with cramped schedules and activities full of largely meaningless work based on the leader's agenda


4.Followers are meant to believe that they are never good enough.


5.Required dependency upon the leader and group for even the most basic problem-solving.


6.Reporting on members for disobedient actions or thoughts is mandated and rewarded.


7.Monetary, sexual, or servile labor is expected to gain promotion.


8.The 'outside' world -- often including family and friends -- is presented as rife with impending catastrophe, evil, and temptations.


9.Recruitment of new members is designed to be purposefully upbeat and vague about the actual operations of the leader and group.


10.Former members are shunned and perceived as hostile.

Jayanti Tamm is the author of Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult (Three Rivers Press). She is a Visiting Professor in the MFA Program at Queens College, CUNY.

londonwala
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:42 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#2

Unread post by londonwala » Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:24 am

There is no doubt that we are a cult. Any intelligent, educated person should realise this. Unfortunately those in our community that are educated and intelligent either do not admit that we are a cult because they have been so brainwashed, or else they know that we are a cult but cannot speak out or get out because of family and community pressure.

Smart
Posts: 1388
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#3

Unread post by Smart » Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:54 am

A good topic. The characteristics of this phenomenon has been discussed in this thread here
http://dawoodi-bohras.com/forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=4688

truebohra
Posts: 413
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 5:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#4

Unread post by truebohra » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:22 am

Yes we are cult,
We are cult, we zealots in folowing Ahle Bait & thier Dais,
Yes we are cult following like zealots the sharia of Mohammed (pbuh)
Yes are cult keeping Beard as per sunnah of Mohammed (pbuh)
Yea we are cult parying salah fives times.
Yes we are cult our kalimah is 'La illah illal lah Mohameddun Rasullah Aliyun Waliyullah'
Yes we are cult we wear white dress, which according to Mohammed (puh) us the best dress.
Yes we are cult and we are respected alot by the other 'Religons'.
Yes we are cult we are Fatimi Mustaali Tayyibi Dawoodi Bohras'

What is your probelm???????? Leave us or Join other 'Religions' of your liking & taste........

Smart
Posts: 1388
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#5

Unread post by Smart » Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:47 pm

@truebohra, the problem is that you are foaming at the mouth. You need to go to school and learn your basics like spelling and grammar before you come to this forum and start discussing with grown up people. Logic and reason are too advanced for you.

truebohra
Posts: 413
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 5:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#6

Unread post by truebohra » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:59 am

Smart wrote:@truebohra, the problem is that you are foaming at the mouth. You need to go to school and learn your basics like spelling and grammar before you come to this forum and start discussing with grown up people. Logic and reason are too advanced for you.
Smart, Its clear for everyone where you are heading with personal attack and pointing silly typos. Cannot expect more than that for you. :mrgreen:

Jamali
Posts: 110
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:05 pm

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#7

Unread post by Jamali » Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:03 am

@ true bohra...

Then please announce to the world that you are a cult and are ceasing to be Muslims. Our problem isnt what you are following or believing in...Our problem lies that you continue doing that and also call yourself Muslims. Your practices are contrary to the practices of Islam and you have manipulated even the basic principles or pillars of Islam to suit your practices. You cult has no definition of shirk in its dictionary.

Its also ironical that you follow the dress code of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) but forget his virtues. The prophet lived a simple life so how come the same religious leader who wants you to follow the Prophets dress code lives in Palace surrounded by Gold? He literally sits on a throne. He allows people to do Sajda to him. He allows people to bow down to him and hold both their hands in front of him as if he is being worshipped akin to what you see amongst Hindus. He demands money from his people.I don't think our beloved Prophet pbuh ever practiced such un-islamic acts so hence my question to you...Are you truly Muslims???

Its a sad state of affairs. Another issue of concern is how young minds at a tender age are being manipulated to follow these practices. The current fanatics are a result of their parents manipulating their minds and they are are just passing it on. This is the reason where people like true bohra are told to wear a dress code which reflects the the Prophet (pbuh) but to forget how he lived a SIMPLE LIFE devoid of Palaces made of Gold, how he went out to help individuals who needed him instead of sitting on a throne and allowing people to do Sajda to him?

Liberalguy
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:10 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#8

Unread post by Liberalguy » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:26 am

hi, I am an ex-bohra. I would say its definitely a cult. it has top 10 signs of being a cult. Just match it lil.
1)leader is always right = kalm'asoom. We are the only chosen people who will go to heaven...

2)2.Questions, suggestions, or critical inquiry are
forbidden. = you cannot know what dai can know. Its divine. 'Sallim' ie first accept its true and then ask. (how clever!).

3)3.Members incessantly scramble with cramped
schedules and activities full of largely meaningless
work based on the leader's agenda =
attending all religious functions. Inventing new ritual and practises like ayyamuttabbudaat, attend milad, urus then falana then falana.

4)4.Followers are meant to believe that they are never
good enough. =
we are abda, gunehgaar, cannot understand without dai's guidance

5)5.Required dependency upon the leader and
group for even the most basic problem-solving. =

arzi for asking each and every personal, religious and social matters. Should I go for this academic stream? Should I do operation? Etc etc...

6.Reporting on members for disobedient actions or
thoughts is mandated and rewarded. =
misaq and sharat for reporting any so called munafiq. Not having any connection with anyone, even your own family if they disobey/don't beleive in dai (simply excommunication)

7.Monetary, sexual, or servile labor is expected to
gain promotion. = najwa for mafsuhiyat, hadiyat, nkd, mkd and so on... (though this is obvious, yet bohras are brainwashed to beleive its divine and najwa is not price for such title. A big fat lie)


8.The 'outside' world -- often including family and
friends -- is presented as rife with impending
catastrophe, evil, and temptations. =

any mumin os brother to mumin, but non momin cannot be even if he is biological brother and will not go to heaven even if he is muslim. Barat (excommunication) for offender to dai


9.Recruitment of new members is designed to be
purposefully upbeat and vague about the actual
operations of the leader and group.

In this case, bohras are conservative, but they do have very effective PR and have public image of peaceful and pious people barring outsider as well as lay bohras of sinister internal exploitation and politics.

10.Former members are shunned and perceived as hostile.

Munafiq, yuthda. (offensive of 'Youths' who parted woth bohras.) losers and so on...

Hope you enjoyed it... ;)

fearAllah
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:09 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#9

Unread post by fearAllah » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:17 pm

truebohra wrote: Yes are cult keeping Beard as per sunnah of Mohammed (pbuh)
Abu jehel, Muawiya, yazid, shimar and ibne muljim also had long beards.....look inside bro, dont concentrate on superficial things
truebohra wrote: Yea we are cult parying salah fives times.
See above reply
truebohra wrote: Yes we are cult we wear white dress, which according to Mohammed (puh) us the best dress.
See above reply
truebohra wrote:Yes we are cult and we are respected alot by the other 'Religons'.
Muawiya Abu Sufiyan and Yazid were also respected by other religions because of the money, the Prophet (SAW) and companions had gone through difficult/hard time with other religions to spread Islam

Muslim First
Posts: 6893
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2001 4:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#10

Unread post by Muslim First » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:31 pm

"truebohra wrote:
Yea we are cult parying salah fives times.
No brother you pray five salah in three time periods. and that is why you are different than majority of Muslims.
If there is no reason to club prayers together then you should pray on its time deperately.
Remember Hadith
No prayers should be prayed before its time.
"truebohra wrote:
Yes we are cult our kalimah is 'La illah illal lah Mohameddun Rasullah Aliyun Waliyullah '
Bold and red part of Kalimah is a Shia innovation. Prophet never asked that part while he was alive. Hz Ali did not say that either. You will find Both 'La illah illal lah' and 'Mohameddun Rasullah' in Qur'an but not third one.

SBM
Posts: 6507
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 4:01 am

Re: Read this to see if Dawoodi Bohras are a cult or not????

#11

Unread post by SBM » Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:00 am

Br. MF
Please listen to this video about combining 5 salahs to 3 salahs and the addition in Kalima. This is from Sunni Maulana Ishaq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIpJq19HHiU