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:

Br Burhan,

Could I have you email please.

P.S. Very Important: You and your team are doing an excellent job.

I have been carefully studying your replies and I must say that you all are  answering the questions supported by the relevent sources. I would like to suggest that when you quote THE Prophet s.a.w.  it would be more complete if you stated the sources [eg. Sahih Bukhari, Muslim etc. – this will further add credibility to your already excellent answers.]

May Allaah SWT reward you and your team with Janatul Firdaus.

I am well pleased that you are following the true path of Islam. I thought perhaps I was the only Bohri that had left both Bohraism and Shiaism. Alhamdulillah, it always feels comforting to know that there are people like you whom Allaah SWT in HIS mercy has guided out of falsehood into HIS Light, Masha Allaah.

(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:

Please quote the Hadiths with the sources

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever 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 Request: Br Burhan, Could I have you email please.

Dear Sister in Islam, you can use this same email

address(q&a@dawoodibohrahelpline.com) and I have immediate access to all the

mails.

Your Statement: P.S. Very Important: You and your team are doing an excellent job.

Jazak Allah Kheir for your kind comments of encouragement for the humble and weak efforts we do in the Cause of Allah. May Allah accept yours and our humble deeds, forgive us our sins, and save us from the torment of the Hell Fire. Our one and only mission is to invite anyone who wants to listen to good caution, to read and understand the Holy Quran and choose the Path that Allah has chosen for the believers. May Allah reward you with the best for your comments of encouragement. It means a lot to all of us. P.S. Normally, all we receive from our Bohra brethren is curses and foul language; most of which are not distributable on the forum! So your kind comments and supplications are a welcome change.

Your Suggestion: I would like to suggest that when you quote THE Prophet s.a.w.  it would be more complete if you stated the sources [eg. Sahih Bukhari, Muslim etc. - this will further add credibility to your already excellent answers.]

Jazak Allah Kheir. Sister, we normally tend to give the sources of the hadiths we quote, unless it is a specific Bohra question….where we don’t quote the narrator or the book source. Simply because, as you know, our Bohra brethren revile some of the companions like Hadrat Abu Bakr (r.a.), Hadrat Umar (r.a.), Hadrat Uthman (r.a.), and even Hadrat Aisha (r.a.), etc. And besides, when they see the names Bukhari and Muslim, they immediately reject the hadiths! Thus, our intention is only that our Bohra Brothers and Sisters understand the guidance from the Messenger of Allah (saws) in those hadiths. Allah is our witness, that is our only intention!

The major issue with our Bohra brethren is the issue of ‘shirk’, and for the issues of ‘shirk’ one need not quote any hadiths! The Glorious Quran is more than enough; and we always give the reference Chapter, Surah and aayah number for all our quotations from the Quran. Our brethren, Alhamdolillah, atleast accept that the Quran is the Book of Allah!, even though they are systematically kept away from its guidance by the hierarchy.

But, we guess you are right, and it would be better and more authentic if we give the chain of narrators and the book sources when quoting the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (saws). May Allah reward you with the best for bringing this to our attention and helping us improve our humble work. May Allah Subhanah accept yours and our deeds and have Mercy on us all.

Your Supplication:  May Allaah SWT reward you and your team with Janatul Firdaus.

Ameen! Thumma Ameen! And may the Merciful Lord reward you with better and more than what you supplicate for us! The truth is sister, the one whom Allah Subhanah saves from the Hell Fire, is the one who is truly successful. May Allah include you and us to be amongst those fortunate people.

Your comment: I am well pleased that you are following the true path of Islam. I thought perhaps I was the only Bohri that had left both Bohraism and Shiaism.

Alhamdulillah, it always feels comforting to know that there are people like you whom Allaah SWT in HIS mercy has guided out of falsehood into HIS Light, Masha Allaah. All Praise is due to Allah Alone, Who has guided us to the Straight Path of Islam! If He had not guided us, and if He did not have Mercy on us; we would have been completely ruined! Of all the infinite ‘nehmahs’ that our Merciful Lord has bestowed upon mankind; the guidance of one to the Straight Path of Islam is the single biggest ‘nehmah’ and Mercy of our Lord! Glorified and Exalted is Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; who has enveloped us all in His Mercy.

Dear Sister, you will be pleased to learn that almost all the brothers and (one) sister who volunteer their time and effort on this forum were born into Bohra families and at various times of their lives, Allah had mercy on them and guided them to read the Glorious Quran with understanding; and Alhamdolillah, they immediately turned to Allah Subhanah. Some of the brothers are facing a lot of trials from their families, and tremendous pressure from the ‘kothaar’… But Alhamdolillah, Allah has honored them and entered ‘imaan’ into their hearts and their flesh and bones. May Allah give them patience to deal with all the trials, and make them steadfast in the deen of Islam. I personally know tens of brothers and sisters who have reverted back to Allah Subhanah from Bohraism! And just a couple of days ago, a very staunch Bohra woman of 80 years of age reverted back to Allah! Allah is indeed Most Merciful, Very Forgiving; and shows His Mercy to His slaves in mysterious ways! I am so happy with the news of this 80 year old woman, who was a staunch Bohri all her life, and spent her whole life in the apparent ‘khidmat’ of the ‘kothaar’; that I had to share this with you! Allah is Great! Allah is indeed the Greatest! He does whatever He Wills, and this incident has made our imaan in His Mercy even stronger! He guides whomever He wants, whenever He wants! Subhan-Allah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 28 Surah Qasas verse 56:You cannot guide whom you love, but Allah guides whomever He Pleases. And He best knows those who would accept guidance.

There are some members of my own immediate family who we have been trying to invite to Islam for the last 10 years… but they absolutely refuse to open and read the Quran! My own mother and my own sisters and one of my brothers are amongst them! One of the brothers, who is probably the main architect of this forum; his own wife refuses to accept his invitation to the Quran! But from the incident of the wonderful 80 year old woman, we are hopeful that Allah will have mercy on them and guide them, Insha Allah, to Islam. We pray for their guidance everyday, and implore you to beseech Allah that He guide them to Islam and save them for the ‘shirk’ that they commit in Bohraism!

And how Allah Subhanah has had mercy on us and blessed this humble effort of ours? We used to write to one another and learn the deen. And in time, we decided to launch this forum and add other Bohra brothers and sisters into the mailing list. We started with 10 or 20 addresses, and today, with the Mercy and Help of Allah, our articles reach 150,000 subscribers! Allah Alone knows how many of these readers forward the articles to their friends and families. And you will also be pleased to learn, that we now receive regular emails from our Bohra brothers and sisters all over the world, who have left the deen of their forefathers and have turned back to Allah and the clear guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran! So much so, that we have now lost count! All Praise is due to Allah Alone who has allowed us and honored us to do this humble work in the propagation of the Truth! May Allah accept our humble and weak efforts, forgive us our sins, have Mercy on us, and save us all from the torment of the Hell Fire.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 66 Surah Tahreem verse 6:O you who have believed, save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel shall be men and stones; over which shall be appointed fierce and stern angels, who never disobey Allah’s Command, and they only do as they are commanded!

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.

P.S. Dear Sister, can I please suggest something. Why don’t you write your story of how Allah guided you to Islam, and allow us to circulate it to our readers. What happens is that there a lot of brothers and sisters in the Bohra deen, who are absolutely fed up with the atrocities and the constant money mongering of the ‘kothaar’! But they do not know a way out and just stay on the borderline of Bohraism, doing the minimum requirements so that they may remain in the community! You cannot believe how close we were to the Syedna and his cronies in our days of ignorance! My late father spent all his life, (and probably most of his wealth) in trying to win the pleasure of the Syedna! The Syedna and his sons were regular visitors to our house (well, not for free though!)… and they know my father and brothers on a first name basis! We used to have our doubts when we met them, that how can someone who loves this world and its wealth so much, be ‘appointed’ by Allah … but because we did not know any way out, we believed in them!

I sincerely think that when we circulate the ‘conversion’ stories of some of our reverted Bohra brothers and sisters, it might be a source of inspiration to a lot of Bohras who are looking for a way out; and maybe some of them might move closer to Islam with the experiences of the other reverts. This is just a suggestion, and if you think it might help some of our brethren to get closer to Islam, then please do write your experiences of how you left the Bohra deen, and turned to Allah Subhanah. Jazak Allah Kheir.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan