A SHORT HISTORY OF Nairobi, Kenya, EXCOMMUNICATION IN TH
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:56 pm
"A SHORT HISTORY OF EXCOMMUNICATION IN THE DAWOODI BOHRA COMMUNITY - Hakim Adamji
Within the last few months I have noticed that there have been number of letters concerning the autocracy of the Bohra Jamaat and the community in general and I feel that I should take this moment to educate the baby boomers and youngsters who are not enlightened in the history of Baraat.
First of all I would like to give a brief history of myself and how the excommunication started.
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya. My family and I were all brought up and raised in a true Dawoodi Bohra Community. We were taught that HIS HOLINESS, THE DAI AL MUTALQ WAS OUR SPIRITUAL LEADER.
Most of my knowledge is from Kenya and all the friction started taking place in my early days of growing up as a young man.
Before my marriage to my beautiful wife of thirty two years, I was engaged to be married to another girl. However when the question of marriage came up, her first condition was that I go and get the RAZAA for Nikah from the Heptulla (now known as Hebatulla).
I had a meeting with Mr. Husein Heptulla and was told that I should separate from my parents and have my own house, only then they would consider my request, and thereafter it would take approximately six months to be accepted into the community. I wrote to the girl that I was not prepared to leave my parents, and she wrote back that she could not leave her parents so we went our separate ways and have never looked back.
Our marriage was the third Kadhi Nikah (performed by non-Bohra priest) to take place in East Africa among the members of the Bohra community.
My understanding is that the friction and later on Schism) between the Community members and the Jamaat had started way back from the early 1920’s.
The Community in those days was run by Managing committee elected by the members of the Community. We had regular annual General Meetings of the community as per the constitution in force at that time. These meetings were conducted in timely and orderly manner. The Amil, the resident priest (periodically sent from Bombay by the Syedna) was an ex-officio member and was only in charge of Razaa and officiating the religious ceremonies, such as leading the prayers, funeral rites, performing Nikahs, Misaqs, burial, Akikas and other rituals. In olden days the razaa was given by Wali-ul-Amar, a religious person appointed by the community. The standard annual dues, mainly the sabils and fitras were collected and generally utilized for the benefit of the local jamaats, social welfare and the upkeep of the Jamaat assets.
The first incident which took place in the Nairobi Jamaat was in the early 1970’s.
During one of these meetings when the time came to elect Office bearers, the community proposed the Late Mr. Ismail Adamali (Master) be elected as the president of the Jamaat. There was some discussion and at that point the Amil of Nairobi Jamaat produced a telegram and informed the members that His Holiness Dr Saydna Taher Saifudin Saheb had directed that the Late
Mr.Fidaali Heptulla be elected the President. Late Mr. Fidaali Heptulla was unanimously elected as the president since we all respected His Holiness Dr. Saydna Taher Saifudin Saheb, and at the same time other highly respected community members were elected as office bearers.
After that the Amil started giving hard times to some of the most prominent members of the community, and finally most of the other committee members had to resign and The Late Mr. Fidaali Heptulla appointed his own cronies. Eventually it was announced that community members could only attend the mosque on invitation basis.
Our family never received an invitation to attend any religious functions nor any other religious or social functions. It was declared that whoever wanted to attend the community functions had to go to Mr. Husein Heptulla and sign some sort of forms (MAFEE, an unconditional apology) and thereafter mishaq was performed, and one was considered part of the community. Some of us had not done any harm to offend the Jamat, we saw no reason why should we bend/bow down and apologize to these local Jamaat cronies, and thus were never allowed inside the mosque.
The few of us, for number of years observed Ramadhan, Mohrum, and other religious functions among ourselves in the family at our own respective homes. At that time meetings were constantly being held between some prominent people of the community and the Jamaat together with Government appointed officials to sort out the problems of the community.
In early 70’s it was alleged that one of the prominent member of the community had uttered some slur against His Holiness, and thus a DAY OF GRIEF was declared by the jamaat. (Here we do not know who was right or wrong as there were only two members of the community present when the alleged incident occurred, and one of them went and reported it to the Committee). The Bohras who were getting invitations to attend the mosque were ordered to close their businesses and the working class was told to take a day off. A DAY OF GRIEF was observed in the mosque. It was something like an Ashura day. What transpired in the mosque that day we do not know for sure, but were told by other members who attended THE DAY OF GRIEF is that they had “matamâ€
Within the last few months I have noticed that there have been number of letters concerning the autocracy of the Bohra Jamaat and the community in general and I feel that I should take this moment to educate the baby boomers and youngsters who are not enlightened in the history of Baraat.
First of all I would like to give a brief history of myself and how the excommunication started.
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya. My family and I were all brought up and raised in a true Dawoodi Bohra Community. We were taught that HIS HOLINESS, THE DAI AL MUTALQ WAS OUR SPIRITUAL LEADER.
Most of my knowledge is from Kenya and all the friction started taking place in my early days of growing up as a young man.
Before my marriage to my beautiful wife of thirty two years, I was engaged to be married to another girl. However when the question of marriage came up, her first condition was that I go and get the RAZAA for Nikah from the Heptulla (now known as Hebatulla).
I had a meeting with Mr. Husein Heptulla and was told that I should separate from my parents and have my own house, only then they would consider my request, and thereafter it would take approximately six months to be accepted into the community. I wrote to the girl that I was not prepared to leave my parents, and she wrote back that she could not leave her parents so we went our separate ways and have never looked back.
Our marriage was the third Kadhi Nikah (performed by non-Bohra priest) to take place in East Africa among the members of the Bohra community.
My understanding is that the friction and later on Schism) between the Community members and the Jamaat had started way back from the early 1920’s.
The Community in those days was run by Managing committee elected by the members of the Community. We had regular annual General Meetings of the community as per the constitution in force at that time. These meetings were conducted in timely and orderly manner. The Amil, the resident priest (periodically sent from Bombay by the Syedna) was an ex-officio member and was only in charge of Razaa and officiating the religious ceremonies, such as leading the prayers, funeral rites, performing Nikahs, Misaqs, burial, Akikas and other rituals. In olden days the razaa was given by Wali-ul-Amar, a religious person appointed by the community. The standard annual dues, mainly the sabils and fitras were collected and generally utilized for the benefit of the local jamaats, social welfare and the upkeep of the Jamaat assets.
The first incident which took place in the Nairobi Jamaat was in the early 1970’s.
During one of these meetings when the time came to elect Office bearers, the community proposed the Late Mr. Ismail Adamali (Master) be elected as the president of the Jamaat. There was some discussion and at that point the Amil of Nairobi Jamaat produced a telegram and informed the members that His Holiness Dr Saydna Taher Saifudin Saheb had directed that the Late
Mr.Fidaali Heptulla be elected the President. Late Mr. Fidaali Heptulla was unanimously elected as the president since we all respected His Holiness Dr. Saydna Taher Saifudin Saheb, and at the same time other highly respected community members were elected as office bearers.
After that the Amil started giving hard times to some of the most prominent members of the community, and finally most of the other committee members had to resign and The Late Mr. Fidaali Heptulla appointed his own cronies. Eventually it was announced that community members could only attend the mosque on invitation basis.
Our family never received an invitation to attend any religious functions nor any other religious or social functions. It was declared that whoever wanted to attend the community functions had to go to Mr. Husein Heptulla and sign some sort of forms (MAFEE, an unconditional apology) and thereafter mishaq was performed, and one was considered part of the community. Some of us had not done any harm to offend the Jamat, we saw no reason why should we bend/bow down and apologize to these local Jamaat cronies, and thus were never allowed inside the mosque.
The few of us, for number of years observed Ramadhan, Mohrum, and other religious functions among ourselves in the family at our own respective homes. At that time meetings were constantly being held between some prominent people of the community and the Jamaat together with Government appointed officials to sort out the problems of the community.
In early 70’s it was alleged that one of the prominent member of the community had uttered some slur against His Holiness, and thus a DAY OF GRIEF was declared by the jamaat. (Here we do not know who was right or wrong as there were only two members of the community present when the alleged incident occurred, and one of them went and reported it to the Committee). The Bohras who were getting invitations to attend the mosque were ordered to close their businesses and the working class was told to take a day off. A DAY OF GRIEF was observed in the mosque. It was something like an Ashura day. What transpired in the mosque that day we do not know for sure, but were told by other members who attended THE DAY OF GRIEF is that they had “matamâ€
