Bohra issues: archive of eye-opening articles and posts
This website and Forum have many interesting and thought-provoking posts submitted by various members over a period of many years, and which are difficult to locate. We have gathered this material in one place to provide easy access, and a starting point. Do yourself a favour, read this today.
News & Events
- Asghar Ali Engineer passes away
- It is with great sadness and sorrow we report the passing away of Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer. He breathed his last on May 14, 2013 at his suburban home in Mumbai. He was 74. Dr. Engineer had been ill since February. His untimely death is a great loss to the peace and justice loving people around the world. He was a renowned Islamic scholar, Borha reformist leader and a public intellectual who passionately fought for the rights and justice of the downtrodden and of women. He had made it his life’s mission to work for communal harmony and was a staunch opponent of religious obscurantism which, he claimed, politicians exploited to garner votes and power. more
Features
- Zehra Cyclewala: Taking on the high and mighty
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Tell the auto rickshaw driver to drop you off at the Red Tower in Zampa Bazar, that is the only tower in Surat, he will know, she said. Fifteen minutes later I arrived in a busy street swarming with people and traffic, a typical late-morning rush of any mid-sized Indian city. There she was, standing across the street:  A bespectacled middle-age woman wearing a cotton shalwar-kameez. We greeted, and made small talk as we took a short walk to her house through the narrow, claustrophobic lanes.
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Islamic perspective
- Compatibiility of Islam, secularism and modernity
- The Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) of Leiden, Netherlands, recently organised a three-day workshop and seminar series around the theme of Muslim intellectuals and the challenges facing the Muslim world of the present. more
Bohras and Reform
- Udaipur masjid case
- The Udaipur masjid case has been pivotal for reformists to keep their fight alive and relevant against the Kothar. Here's a brief history and background of the landmark case. more
- An Islamic sect reduced to a cult
- The Milli Gazette is a magazine widely read in the Muslim World. In its recent issue of 16-31 October, 2012 it has published an article “The Wizard of Gujarat†by Mr. Yunus Chitalwala. In this article the writer has said that “Bohras do not represent the mainstream Muslim communityâ€. In other words, Dawoodi Bohras have separated themselves from the mainstream Islam. more
Multimedia
- Interviews and talks
- Few people understand what the reform movement is about. They think reformists are against the Dai. This is not true. Check out a series of long-ranging interviews and talks to understand why reformists are fighting and what they are fighting for. more
Your story
- How can we stop Kothar’s juggernaut?
- I was born in 1939 in a Dawoodi Bohra family. Having been brought up in a traditional Bohra household and later having migrated to North America I ensured that my children were raised in the same tradition. I taught them to read, write and recite Arabic, how to perform wudhu and offer prayers, explained Islam and its sects down to what we are as Dawoodi Bohras. more