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
- An artist true to himself, true to his soil
- Every morning after breakfast you will find Abbas Batliwala in his studio communing with his canvas. “It’s the best time of day,†he says. A time to reflect on inner universe. From its unknown depths emerges an insistent creative urge that has defined his destiny and given him his true calling. If not for this urge Abbas would have been just another shopkeeper. “I’m no more than a salesman,†he says. Not for him the airs of an artist. He makes light of his talent and fame. more
Islamic perspective
- The Veil and Islam
- A member of the provincial assembly of the NWFP has introduced a resolution requiring that wearing a veil should be made compulsory for every girl above 12 years of age (Dawn, May 2). Without citing any Quranic text in support of the resolution, Pir Muhammad Khan of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal assumes that Islam ordains the veil for women. If God directs women to veil their faces, then Muslims have no option but to abide by this command. But if on the other hand our Benevolent Creator has not imposed any such injunction, no man can impose it. more
Bohras and Reform
- Reform and social change among Bohras - Part 1
- Change is always painful, especially if what involved is faith, intellectual beliefs and traditions. One more aggravating factor is added if the group happens to be closely-knit and dominated by a religious hierarchy with the pretensions of being the sole-interpreter of the tradition and faith. more
- Bohras in Kenya - blessed with special attention
- In the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa, some 3,000 Bohras live - mostly of the orthodox group. In common with the Bohras elsewhere, they are a persecuted lot. However, compared with their counterparts in India, East African Bohras seem to have fallen into the priesthood's trap far more easily. 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