Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

I have so far read 7 of your answers to questions & am impressed with the responses. It has given me additional knowledge. Jazakallah.

I have the following questions/clarifications:

1) In the Question No. 17, what is meant by [t.u.s.]?

2) Is the Aqeedah of the Dawoodi Bohras any different than the Ahle Sunnah wa Jamaat?

The reason I am asking this that I had heard that Bohras are an off shoot of the Shia sect. But so far the answers to the questions that I have seen are from the two sources that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said that he is leaving for the guidance of the Muslims i.e. The Quran & Ahadith.
These would have been the answers given by a scholar of Ahle Sunnah wa Jamaat as well. This makes me really happy that there is no difference

here. I sincerely wish the Muslim community to come together rather than drift apart.

However, it seems from the Question 17 that there are some in the Bohra community whose belief is different than yours, which is generally true of all sects.

3) What is the status of Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin in the Dawoodi Bohra community? Is he like a Khalifa, spiritual leader?
Please enlighten me about the Aqeedah of the Dawoodi Bohras and reply to the above questions so that I can learn more.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Aqeedah of the Bohras

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your question: In the Question No. 17. what is meant by [t.u.s.]?

T.U.S. is the short abbreviation for ‘tawwal-allaho umra-hus shareef (ilaa yaum id-deen)’, meaning ‘may Allah prolong his life until the Day of Judgement’. This is the supplication all Bohras make after taking the name of their leader Syedna Mohamed Burhanudeen.

Your question: Is the Aqeedah of the Dawoodi Bohras any different than the Ahle Sunnah wa Jamaat? The reason I am asking this that I had heard that Bohras are an offshoot of the Shia sect. But so far the answers to the questions that I have seen are from the two sources that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said that he is leaving for the guidance of the Muslims i.e. The Quran & Ahadith.

The honest truth of the matter is that the ‘aqeedah’ of the Dawoodi Bohras is nowhere near the ‘aqeedah’ of the Ahle Sunnah wal Jama’a. The Dawoodi Bohras are indeed an off-shoot of the Shia sect, and their ‘aqeedah’ and belief is very much in line with the Shias, and at times, even further away from the Truth and Guidance of the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

The Dawoodi Bohras believe in the imamite of the progeny of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taalib, and believe all the way upto the 21^st imam. Then they have a system of ‘Dais’, and Syedna Burhanudeen is the 52^nd Dai in succession.

They believe and revere the ‘Dai’, and without realizing, have made him a god! They claim to believe in ‘tawheed’, but are completely involved in ‘shirk’. The single biggest reason for their deviation is that the Syedna and his family do not allow the followers, which number about 1 million in total, to understand the Holy Quran. They are allowed and advocated regularly to recite the Quran in Arabic, but they do not understand a word of it. In my opinion, the Bohras probably recite more Quran, than any other community in Islam, but unfortunately, they do not follow the commandments, simply because they do not understand it, nor are they allowed to understand it.

The administrators of this forum were born into the Dawoodi Bohra sect, but Allah guided us to read and understand the Holy Quran. And now, we have made it our mission, to invite our Bohra brethren to read and understand the Holy Quran once. We are confident, once any intelligent person understands the message of the Glorious Quran, he will be guided to the true deen of Islam.

We request you to supplicate and pray to Allah, that Allah give success to our mission to invite the Bohras and whoever else who wants to be guided, to the true deen of Islam. We request you to supplicate and pray to Allah to accept our humble contribution in His Cause.

Your question: What is the status of Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin in the Dawoodi Bohra community? Is he like a Khalifa, spiritual leader?

In theory, the Syedna is their undisputed spiritual leader. But in reality, he is their god!! (Aoo-dho-billah). The Syedna then appoints people, mostly from his family, in a system, whereby all of them hold very powerful positions in the community and are always above any member of the community. The Syedna and his family and mission are based in Bombay, and run the organization by having a permanent ambassador of theirs in probably every county and city in the world, wherever the Bohras reside! It is a very well organized system, whereby all the zakaah, and all other funds in the names of ‘sabeel’, ‘wajebaat’, ‘khums’, etc. are collected and sent to the treasury of the Syedna and his family. The Syedna and his family are probably billionaires, and they use this wealth, power and influence to subjugate the community. He and his family are the sole authority in running the affairs, and nobody dare ask any questions or raise any objection, for fear of being ostracized by them! The relationship between the common Bohras and the Syedna is that of slaves to a master, and the Bohras pride themselves in being called Abd-Syedna (slaves of Syedna!). They even bow down in ‘sajdah’ (prostration) to the Syedna and to the graves of his ancestors in submission and worship.

The main reasons the common Bohras believe in the Syedna and his family as their spiritual leaders and worship and obey them is:

They believe the Syedna is appointed by the Imam with the authority from Allah Subhanah.

They are not allowed to understand the Holy Quran, which would have made it very clear that there is no god worthy of worship, except Allah Subhanah Alone!

They are made to believe by the Syedna and his cronies, that they have the sole rights to Paradise!

They are made to believe that the Syedna and his ancestors can somehow help them in the Court of Allah on the Day of Judgement.

May Allah guide the whole ummah of Islam to come back to the true deen of Islam as taught by the Messenger of Allah (saws). May Allah guide the whole ummah of Islam to follow the guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran and follow the traditions of the Messenger of Allah (saws). May Allah guide the whole ummah to become one ummah, and unite them to the worship and obedience of Allah Subhanah Alone. May Allah have Mercy on us, May Allah Forgive us our sins, and May Allah grant us victory over the disbelievers.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan