Who will save Dawoodi Bohras from themselves?

[Jamali]

A nice Article summing up the current community situation:

Who will save Dawoodi Bohras from themselves?
By Shabbir Hussain Shaikh Badruddin Madraswala●January 29, 2014

The expectation and longing for a Saviour is found among many communities. The Jews still await the Messiah. The Christians expect Christ to come again. The Hindus hope for an avatar of the Lord to destroy adharma and establish dharma. The Bohras also await the reappearance of the Imam in the progeny of lmam Taiyyeb who went into seclusion about eight hundred years ago. It's been a long wait. These yearnings are more articulate in times of acute distress and despair. The Saviour, however, in unlikely to succour a people who have despaired and resigned themselves to their fate.

Majority of even ordinary Bohras are aware that all is not well with their community. They blame all its ills on the kothar (the religious establishment), the Shahzadas(Eminences belonging to the family of His Holiness, Syedna), the local town priests and their jamat committees. It is easy and also comfortable to find fault with others. For a change, should not the Bohras ask themselves how much they are responsible for the mess that is their community? If it is true that a people get a government they deserve, is it then not true that a community deserves a clergy it has? If they want the clergy to change and reform, should not they first change and reform? God, it is said also helps only those who help themselves.

First things first. The Bohras should understand the importance of the extent of their knowledge or ignorance about Islam, their religion. For instance how many of them understand the meaning of The Holy Quran? Is it not the word of God as revealed through the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) as an everlasting guide? (42:52). Is it not a Book of Wisdom (31:2) and is it not a lucid Book (28:2 & 36:69), a perspicuous Book (44:2) as stated in The Holy Quran? Inspite of what the Bohras may have been told or taught, The Holy Quran is magnificent in its simplicity and clear in its statements. (“And easy have We made the Quran for admonition". 54:17, 54:22, 54:32 & 54:40). Though there is always virtue in the recitation of the name and word of God, is it not also necessary that His word be understood? It is a fact that overwhelming majority of Bohras are almost totally ignorant of the meaning of The Holy Quran.

It will not do for the Bohras to entirely blame their clergy for their shortcomings. Besides, they should realise that the clergy has a vested interest in keeping them ignorant. If they do not know Arabic, translations of The Holy Quran with excellent commentaries are available in many languages. They should not worry too much about what the Bohra clergy may say about the inexactitude of the translations or the inadequacy of the commentaries. The Bohra clergy is not known to be modest about its pretentions. The Holy Quran is for all mankind. Is it the contention of the Bohra clergy that everyone should learn Arabic to benefit from The Holy Quran? To state the obvious, would the Arabs have responded to the call of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) if The Holy Quran had been revealed in a non-Arabic language? (41:44, 43:2 & 45:58)

Similarly, the Bohras are almost totally ignorant of the practices (sunna) and the sayings (hadith) of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him), their history and their traditions. Not that all these are not available in translations. If the truth be told, the Bohras, inspite of their apparent religiosity, accord low priority to acquiring knowledge about their religion. Acquisition of wealth rather than knowledge is their principal preoccupation. The clergy also encourages them in the pursuit of wealth as this benefits them. It is a widely accepted axiom that an ignorant community is an oppressed community, an exploited community. An ignorant community is also an easy community to manipulate. If they will, therefore, overwhelmingly continue to minister to their material well-being and neglect to become knowledgeable about their faith, they should not then complain about the ill-health of their community.

Neither is ignorance bliss for the Bohras. For all their supposedly "spiritual" and even social needs, they have become excessively dependent on the clergy and they have become servile. For non-Bohras used to their priestly classes providing them services, it is, perhaps, inconceivable that a community should be made to subserviently serve a clergy. This in fact is the topsy-tuurvy world of Bohras. They have none else to blame. They mortgaged their minds, allowed themselves to be brain-washed and were constrained to surrender their freedom to their clergy. They fear their clergy more than, perhaps, they fear God. To even loosen the clergy's grip, the Bohras have a long and painful haul ahead unless a prayed-for "miracle" intervenes to rescue them.

The situation is, perhaps, not as hopeless as the Bohras imagine. In the small town of Ranala on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, the local Bohras enjoy glasnot and freedom from fear of clergy that would be the envy of the Bohras elsewhere if they knew it. Unlike Udaipur and Aurangabad where large sections of the Bohras have broken with the religious establishment, the Bohras of Ranala are very much part of the recognised faithful. However, they do not allow the clergy, the Aamil (the town priest) or the jamatcommittee to dictate to them or dominate their religious and social life. This is so because the Ranala Bohras do not crawl when they are only asked to bend. Neither do they pander to the caprices of the clergy nor tolerate its nonsense. It is, indeed, a remarkable town, an exception that proves the rule. If the Bohras elsewhere, therefore, will not cultivate virtues necessary to safeguard liberty, and imagine that anybody else is going to "liberate" them, they are then, at best, living in a dream-world.

Ranala has some important lessons for the Bohras. For one thing, there is no substitute for moral courage. The Bohras crawl because they lack courage and they crawl because they are highly self-centered. Their skin is more dearer to them than truth, virtue, honour, self-esteem, friendship and even blood-ties. What is obvious is not often obvious to the Bohras. Even if their clergy or anybody else tells them otherwise, what is right is always so and what is wrong is wrong. As they are dependent on the clergy, to provide them rationalisations and justifications for their attitudes and behaviour and also because their “self”, their "world is too much with them", the Bohras have lost the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood. In the murky world of Bohras, fair has become foul and foul has become fair.

What is courage? The life of the Holy prophet (peace be on him), Hazrat Ali and the sacrifices of lmam Hussain should demonstrate to them what is courage. Isn’t courage the ability to stand up for one’s convictions regardless of consequences, to wage holy war (jihad) against injustice and oppression , to oppose tyrants and bullies, to fight the enemies of Dawat-e-Hadiyah (The True Mission), whoever they may be, wherever they may be ? Is not this the truth of the martydom of lman Hussain? Is it sufficient to shed some tears and forget the lesson? Because the Bohras lack convictions, they lack courage. They lack convictions, because they do not reflect, they do not comprehend, they are not a religious community. As T. S. Eliot said, "There is no community not lived in praise of God". The Bohras only praise their clergy. They have allowed their consciences to be hijacked by the clergy. Unfortunately convictions and courage are not commodities available off the shelves in the mercantile world of the affluent Bohras.

The Bohras of Ranala have also conveyed to the clergy that its place is the mosque and the pulpit. The failure of Bohras elsewhere to keep the clergy in its proper place has allowed the clergy to totally dominate all aspects of their lives. Belatedly they have realised that this domination has stifled them but now they do not know what to do. This domination has proved quite lucrative for the clergy. Having tasted blood, the clergy is in no mood to oblige them and let them off the hook easily. Laziness, and lack of vigilance has cost the Bohras their liberty. If they will not overcome their apathy and laziness, they should not bemoan what has befallen them.

Another important lesson of Ranala is that the Bohras there have not allowed the clergy to divide them and rule. To promote its worldly interests, the Bohra clergy has divided the community into haves and haves-not. It encourages the rich Bohras to purchase from it honorific titles by permitting them limited access to corridors of ecclesiastical- power. Their not-so-fortunate brothers-in-faith are kept at arm’s length and are subjugated to this new "aristocratic bureaucracy". These rich but simpleton Bohras do not seem to have realised that they are as much the victims of the clergy as their poor cousins. As they represent the executive arm of the clergy, all the suppressed wrath of an oppressed community is deflected from the clergy and directed at them. If they will realise the clergy's game, it will be in their interest to unite with their poor brethern in a common cause to end the clergy’s unholy domination of the community. If not, then their "destiny is with God". (2:275)

It will be better if the Bohras also shed their "superstition" that anybody can guarantee them a place in the sun, leave aside a place in heaven. The Holy Quran repeatedly affirms, "no soul shall bear the burden of another". Their deeds only will either make or break them. The Holy Quran also repeatedly exhorts that mere belief not conjoined with "righteous deeds" will not avail the believers. It is unfortunate that after fourteen hundred years, an obvious truth needs to be belaboured. The "righteous deeds" concretize love and compassion, honour and valour, charity, mercy and justice. The Bohras will, perhaps, be the last to deny that these virtues are today conspicous by their absence among them. The Holy Prophet had said, "all communities suffered discord; my community will suffer discord arising out of wealth". Indeed prophetic!

There is a lot more to the Bohra mess than what has been discussed. However, basics will remain basics. The Bohras, therefore, should take a hard look at themselves. May be, they will have to subject themselves to the crucible of self-examination if they want to improve their lot. The Holy Quran again and again exhorts mankind to reflect, to comprehend and addresses itself to "men of understanding and acumen". If the Bohras will not reflect and understand, the noises they make will remain an exercise in futility and self-delusion.

[Being_Bohra]

Nice but how many bohras are goin to have access to these! Most of the people who are part of this forum already are aware of these points. Its time to increase our reach, time to reach common bohris. Time to go beyond this forum!

[Mkenya]

Being_Bohra wrote: Time to go beyond this forum!

Who are we kidding? One has to only witness the tumultuous gatherings in mosques, on railway platforms, during Ashara, etc. to see the fervour (aquida?) of abdes and amates. To them SMS and all that he conveys is so mesmerizing that they suffer humiliation, pay wajebaat, get force-fed thalis, travel long distances, close their businesess or seek permission from employment. They are 'attal' in their faith and display it openly. Peruse hundreds of videos, photos and media articles to see for yourselves.

The question I put to you is: Who are we trying to convert and with whose army? I see this as a charade to vet our ego and massage our feelings. This forum is a Kabrastan of hundreds of one-person campaigns wherein he/she brags that he/she has given up being a follower and has tried to convince and failed in his/her efforts to have his/her family to do the same. So much for his/her efforts. Multiply that failure and one gets the picture. These Abdes/Amates simply do not want to leave! Who are we to tell them?

They are where they want to be: What gives us the notion that they are distressed and want out? This is our childish assumption. Many of my family members pay incrementally huge sums in Wajebaat and other dues. They are aware where it is destined and yet continue. What 'thaus" arguments can one put to them?

All we see is the SMS circus flattening every two-bit opposition in its wake, gathering ever-more speed and making us envious.

One thing we can do, and is being done in Canada under the aegis of al zulfiqar and like-minded is to compile a dossier of SMS highlighting his misdemeanours re endangered wildlife hunting, human rights violation, money laundering, etc. This can work only in Canada, the US and Europe, Such a dossier, continuously updated can be circulated to law makers and legislators. One major purpose it can serve is to enlighten them and secondly, and most importantly, to align them with us. Thus they will oppose official government welcome, red-carpet treatments, and photo-ops with officialdom.

[New]

Can we have the dossier published as it is being written. The member of this forum can add also and comment on it.

[Mkenya]

New and others:
The following thread -
"Calling on all Canadian PDB's"
will enlighten you with the topic under discussion.

I also suggest you send a message to Al Zufiqar to learn more.

[Al Zulfiqar]

the only people who can save the abde bohras from themselves are the denizens of saifee mahal..!!

lest you ask how can the lion save the lamb, well, this is perfectly in line with the belief that the imam uz zamaan will be revealed by the dai uz zamaan...!!!!!

if theory 2 is possible, then so is theory 1.

[ponga bhori]

The Dawoodi Bohras now have Al Zulfikar from among themselves to save them. They have a saviour who is "free as bird" .......out of the cage. Non paying dues to the Khotar. Rejoice every one.

[think]

The only person that can truthfully answer all the questions of the abdes and once and for all clear up this hog wash of zahir batin is moulana Imam google bhaisaheb. Please ask him any question as you do it anyway for all your other problems in life. He has the answer. Google Imam will open your eyes to all this hog wash that is happening in the bohra deen.

[New]

How do we contact Al Zulfiqar bhai

[Al Zulfiqar]

The Dawoodi Bohras now have Al Zulfikar from among themselves to save them. .

correct! consider me as the hidden imamuzzaman...

[ponga bhori]

.[/quote]

correct! consider me as the hidden imamuzzaman... :D :)[/quote]

A Sunni Imamuzzaman !!! Rejoice we have a saviour. :o :( :D

[ghulam muhammed]

.

correct! consider me as the hidden imamuzzaman... [/quote]

A Sunni Imamuzzaman !!! Rejoice we have a saviour. [/quote]
.
Bohras believe that Imamuzzaman is from the progeny of Prophet (s.a.w.). Now the question is.... Was the Prophet (s.a.w.) a Sunni or Shia ??

[SBM]

Was the Prophet (s.a.w.) a Sunni or Shia ??

He was Mumin aka Dawoodi Bohra

[AgnosticIndian]

To address a problem, one must recognize a problem exists. Most Bohras are comfortable with how their lives are going.

Recognize of a problem comes when you start thinking. That ability has been diminished by years of brainwashing which tells them not to think, not to read material that "Dushmano" write as they are shaitan trying to behkavo you.

Awakening is a long drawn process. Christians took their time. In larger Islamic context, it will take time for all muslims to realize the teachings of Quran need to be put in context of that time & doesn't apply for modern times. Things like killing infidels, apostates etc etc. Unfortunately, a lot of blood will be shed by Islamists till the time reform, awakening happens over the next century or two. At least the Bohras are not spilling blood of others while they are being sucked dry by Saifee Mahal Mafia.

[ponga bhori]

.

correct! consider me as the hidden imamuzzaman... :D :)

A Sunni Imamuzzaman !!! Rejoice we have a saviour. [/quote]
.
Bohras believe that Imamuzzaman is from the progeny of Prophet (s.a.w.). Now the question is.... Was the Prophet (s.a.w.) a Sunni or Shia ??[/quote]

GM Bhai,
Prophet SAW was a SUNNI, he followed the SUNNAT.