President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi meets Sultan of the Bohra community: Who are the Bohras and their significance in Egypt?

On Saturday, the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received the Sultan of the Bohra community in India, Mufaddal Saif al-Din, who was with his brother and sons, in the presence of the Chief of General Intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, and the Sultan’s representative in Cairo, Mufaddal Muhammad.

and trade Newspapers AndChannels Al-Sisi’s statements at his meeting with the Sultan, in which he praised the efforts of his sect and his group in the work of restoring the shrine of the Prophet’s family in Egypt.

This is not the first time that the President of Egypt has met the Sultan of the Bohra sect in India, because his name appeared for the first time, in 2016, when he gave donated 10 million pounds to the Long Live Egypt Fund, after which it was announced that the department was participating in the restoration of several Al-Bayt shrines and historic mosques in Egypt.

Who are the Bohras?

according toTheir official websiteThe Dawoodi Bohra Muslims trace their heritage back to the Fatimid Imams, as direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Egypt. In the tenth and twelfth centuries, they ruled large parts of the Islamic world stretching from North Africa in the west to Pakistan in the east.

The word “Bohra” means merchant. The Dawoodi Bohras follow the Shiite Fatimid Ismaili Taybi sect. The religion is based on belief in the People of the House as the legitimate followers of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

In addition to this Shiite majority, who are often from the merchant class, the Bohras include a Sunni minority who are usually peasant farmers.

The Bohras are one of the branches of the Ismaili sect, belonging to Ismail bin Jaafar Al-Sadiq, who came from the lineage of Al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib.

According to EncyclopediaBritannica“The Bohras are Shiite Ismaili Muslims of the Musta’li sect, who live in western India.

She explained that the Mustaali sect, which originally came from Egypt and later moved its religious center to Yemen, gained a foothold in India through missionaries in the eleventh century.

After 1539, by which time the Indian community had grown considerably, the provincial headquarters were moved from Yemen to Saidpur in India.

In the year 1588 there was a split in the Bohra community between the followers of Daoud bin Qutb Shah and Sulaiman, who each claimed leadership of the community. The followers of David and Suleiman have remained the two main Bohra groups ever since, without major doctrinal differences, with the da’i, chief or sultan of the Davidians residing in Bombay, while the leader of the Sulaymanids in Yemen.

Therefore, the “Bohras” are divided into two groups: the “Dawoodi Bohras” whose members are located in India and Pakistan and whose headquarters are in Bombay, and the “Sulaymaniyah Bohras” at are headquartered in Yemen.

The Muslim Dawoodi Bohras are different from the Sunni Muslim Bohras, who share many cultural characteristics with the Dawoodis, according to the website.The DNA of India“.

And he shares Bohra They have the tradition of all Shiite Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was followed by his messenger, Ali bin Abi Talib, who interpreted and explained the revelations received by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, in turn, chose his two sons, Imams Hassan and Hussein, as the first two imams who continued to lead the community of believers, according to the official website of the Dawoodi Bohras.

A fundamental element of the Dawoodi Bohra religion is that the Imam descended from the Prophet through his grandson, Imam Hussein, is always present on Earth to continue his mission of guiding humanity. The imam, like the prophet, is believed to be sinless, infallible, pure and holy, and is considered a source of prophetic knowledge and the ultimate interpreter of the faith, according to the website.Dawoodi Behra“.

Bohras regularly perform Hajj in Mecca and the Prophet’s shrine in Medina, as well as visiting the shrines of the Prophet’s immediate family, which is also part of the Bohra religious tradition.

There are religious shrines and monuments belonging to the Fatimid state in this region, such as the tomb of Hatem al-Hadrat, the Fatimid preacher, buried in the Haraz region west of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the Al-Hakim Mosque bi -Amr Allah. in the capital of Egypt, Cairo.

Where are the Bohras located?

Currently, the Dawoodi Bohras are spread in 40 countries around the world, and their number reaches around one million members. They are led by their leader, nicknamed the “Mutlaq Preacher” or “Unrestrained Evangelist,” who moved his headquarters from Yemen to India about five centuries ago.

Since the fall of the Yemeni state of Sulayhid in 1138 AD, the Bohras were oppressed by successive rulers, and the leadership of the region shifted from Yemen to India.

The main center for the members of the sect is located in the city of Mumbai, and most of the members of the Bohra community live in India. In the Arab world, its members are spread across Yemen, Egypt and the Emirates, especially in Dubai. There are also large concentrations in Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, as well as growing numbers in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Some estimate their number With over a million people worldwide. Their number does not exceed 25 thousand people in Yemen, spread over Haraz, Sana’a, Hodeidah, Ibb, and Aden, which is home to the Bohra Market and the Ali Bhai Mosque.

The current leader of the Dawoodi Bohras is Mufaddal Saif al-Din, who is third in line. continued from father to son.

What is the Bohra language?

A distinctive cultural feature of the Dawoodi Bohra community around the world is its unique language, known as the Duat language. This language combines elements of Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Gujarati, which began to appear about a thousand years ago, when a mission called Duat came to the state of Gujarat in India through Fatimid missionaries. Imams, according to the website.Dawoodi Bohras“.

The Dawat language is based in its basic structure and structure on the Gujarati language, but the texts and a large part of its vocabulary includes Arabic words.

What are the most prominent Bohra customs?

The Bohras, in general, are a closed society that relies on mediation in managing the affairs of life. Outsiders think they are an extremely rich and well-ordered society, but this is not true. There is a lot of poverty among Bohras, especially in India but not abroad. Control is also more coercive and comes at a high price, as there is no internal freedom and it is centrally controlled.Brogrisif Davoudi Behra“.

The Bohras follow their own traditions in marriage and death, as it is the responsibility of a group of people to collect the tithes from Bohra members, especially on the 23rd of Ramadan, and these taxes are collected for marriages and funerals, according to the “Bohras” website. .Brogrisif Davoudi Behra“.

In the centrally controlled Bohra community, marriage or funeral ceremonies cannot be performed without the permission of the sheikh group, i.e. the permission or (permission) of the local sheikh is required to marry or bury relatives.

Bohra men are forbidden to marry non-Bohra women, but when they do, they convert her to the Bohra religion and swear fidelity at the time of conversion, and the nikah (marriage ceremony) can only be performed from after its change. Generally, it is not permissible for a Bohra man or woman to marry a Sunni or Twelver Shiite man or woman, except on a state of conversion, according to the website.Brogrisif Davoudi Behra“.

Apart from the nikah, all other marriage-related ceremonies are of Gujarati origin, which have less to do with Islam than with the local Gujarati culture to which the Bohras adhere.

The Dawoodi Bohras maintain a special type of community dress called the Anwar dress. Clergy traditionally wear a three-piece white dress and a hat with golden designs called a topi. Women wear a two-piece dress, the “dress”, which can be distinguished from other types of hijab by its bright colors, decorative patterns and lace, according to the website.David Behra“.

What is the nature of the Bohra relationship with Egypt?

The Bohras are interested in developing Fatimid heritage, be it mosques or tombs, and they allocate large sums of money to this work.

And I mentioned local Egyptian newspapers During the late President Muhammad Anwar Sadat, the Dawoodi Bohra sect came from India to revive Fatimid architecture and restore its monuments in Egypt, and submitted a request to the government Egypt To restore the Al-Hakim Mosque by God’s command, the fourth oldest surviving university mosque in Egypt, and the second largest mosque in Cairo in size after the Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque It was approved by Sadat, who was invited to the opening and to pray with him.

The Bohras have a good relationship with the current Egyptian regime, as Sultan Al-Bohra, when he visited Egypt in 2016, contributed to the Long Live Egypt Fund estimated at 10 million pounds, according to statement. Local newspapers.

The official spokesman of the Presidency of the Republic at the time, Ambassador Alaa Youssef, said that Al-Sisi welcomed the Bohra Sultan, praising the efforts made by the Bohra sect to restore an ancient mosque in Egypt, including Al-Hakim Mosque, Bi-Amr Allah, Al-Aqmar Mosque, Al-Jayoushi Mosque, and the Pearl Mosque.

On April 27, 2022, Al-Sisi, in the presence of the Sultan of the Bohra community in India, Mufaddal Saif Al-Din, inaugurated the development and renovation of the Al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo, which cost approximately 150 million pounds It continued for almost a month, with the cooperation of the Dawoodi Bohra sect, according to Local newspapers.

In March 2023, the Egyptian Minister of Endowments, Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa, and the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, opened the Allah Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah Mosque on Al-Mu’izz Lidin Allah Al- Fatimi in the historical record. Cairo area, after completing its renovation and revival project in collaboration with the Dawoodi Bohra sect.

Mufaddal Saif al-Din, the “Sultan” or preacher of the Bohra sect in India, participated in the opening of the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque after its renovation work, and Sisi gave him the “Scarf of the Nile” as an understanding of the -his continuous efforts. to support Egypt on cultural, charitable and social levels, according to a statement by the official spokesman of the Presidency of the Republic.