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This is a list of Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra. The Dawoodi Bohra are a sect of Shia Islam, whose leader is the Dai.

According to Fatimid (Taiyabi, Mustali, Ismaili) tradition, after the death of Imām Al-Amir, al-Malika al-Sayyida (Hurratul-Malika) instituted the Da'i al-Mutlaq to run the da'wah from Yemen in the name of Imām Taiyab abi al-Qasim. This article gives short history and the list of the Dawoodi Bohra Dā'īs, their Mawazeen/Mukasir (associates) and The Walī-ul-Hind (Indian Walīs) ("representatives" or "caretakers" when the Dais were seated at Yemen).

Short History

The Dā'īs

Al-Malika al-Sayyida (Hurratul-Malika) was instructed and prepared by Imām Mustansir and following Imāms for the second period of satr. It was going to be on her hands that Imām Taiyab abi al-Qasim would go into seclusion, and she would institute the office of Dā'ĩ al-Mutlaq.

Syedna Zoeb bin Moosa was first to be instituted to this office, and the line of Taiyabi Dā'ĩs that began in 1132. The second da'i mutlaq, Ibrahim Al-Hamidi (1151–1162), became the real founder of the tayyibi esoteric doctrine, which he elaborated especially in his Kitab kanz Al-walad (Book of the child's treasure). The position remained in his family until 1209, when it passed to Ali ibn Muhammad of the Banu Al-Walid Al-Anf family, which held it for more than three centuries with only two interruptions. The political power of the Yemenite da'is reached a peak during the long incumbency of Idris Imad Al-Din ibn Al-Hasan, the nineteenth da'i mutlaq (1428–1468). He is also the author of a seven-volume history of the Ismaili imams, Kitab uyun Al-akhbar (Book of choice stories) and of a two-volume history of the Yemenite da'is, Kitab nuzhat Al-akhbar (Book of story and entertainment), as well as works of esoteric doctrine and religious controversy.

While the Yemenite da'is had been able to act relatively freely with the backing or protection of various rulers during the early centuries, they usually faced hostility from the Zaydi imams and in the sixteenth century suffered relentless persecution. Until the 23rd Dā'ī, the center of the dawat was in Yemen. In 1539 the twenty-third da'i mutlaq appointed an Indian, Yusuf ibn Sulayman, as his successor, evidently in recognition of the growing importance of the Indian tayyibi community. Yusuf came to reside in the Yemen, he died and was buried there.

Because of the intense persecutions against the dawat by the Zaydi rulers of Yemen, the 24th Dā'ī Yusuf designated Jalal Shamshuddin in India as his successor, and the center of the dawat then moved permanently to India. The 25th Dā'ī also died in 1567 CE, and is buried in Ahmedabad, India, the first Dā'ī to have his mausoleum in India.

After the death of Da'ud b. 'Adjabshah, the 26th da'imutlaq, in 999/1591, the succession was disputed. While in India Da'ud Burhan al-Din was established, his followers were called Dawoodi Bohra there after. The Dawoodi da'is continued to reside in India, where the great majority of their followers live. The da'wa generally was able to develop freely. Their present Dai is 53rd and his residence is now in Bombay. The largest concentration of Bohras is found in Gujarat. Outside Gujarat, Daudi Bohoras live in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya pradesh state and, in many of the big cities of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Burma, and the East Africa. In the Yemen the Daudi community is concentrated in the Haraz mountains

The Walī-ul-Hind

Up to the 23rd Dā'ī, the da'wah center was at Yemen; for India, a "Walī al-Hind" (representative/caretaker for India) was designated by the Dā'ī to run the dawat in India.

The Wali- ul -Hind were champions of the Fatimid dawat in India, who were instrumental in maintaining & propagating it on instructions of the Dā'ī at Yemen, and it is because of them that the Fatimid dawat was able to survive the persecutions in Cairo and Yemen.

Moulai Abadullah was the first Walī al-Hind in the era of Imam Mustansir (427–487 AH). Abadullah (originally named Baalam Nath) and Syedi Nuruddin (originally named Roop Nath) went to Cairo, Egypt, to learn, and went to India in 467 AH. Moulai Ahmed was also their companion.

First Dā'ī Zoeb appointed Maulai Yaqoob (after the death of Abadullah), who was the second Walī al-Hind of the Fatimid dawat. Moulai Yaqoob was the first person of Indian origin to receive this honour under the Dā'ī. He was son of Moulai Bharmal, minister of Hindu Solanki King Siddhraja Jaya Singha (Anhalwara,Patan) (487–527 AH/1094–1133 CE). With Minister Moulai Tarmal, they had honoured the Fatimid dawat along with their fellow citizens on the call of Moulai Abdullah. Moulai Fakhruddin, son of Moulai Tarmal, was sent to western Rajasthan, India, and Syedi Nuruddin went to the Deccan (death: Jumadi al-Ula 11 at Don Gaum, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India).

One Dā'ī after another continued until the 23rd Dā'ī in Yemen. Persons were appointed to the position of Walī al-Hind one after another in India. A list of them is also given below along with the relevant Dā'īs.

In the generation of Moulai Yaqoob, Moulai Ishaq, Moulai Ali, Moulai Hasan fir continued one after another as Wali-ul-Hind. Moulai Hasan Fir was fifth Wali in the era of 16th Dai Abadullah (d.809 AH/1406 AD) of Yemen.

Walī -ul-Hind Moulai Jafer, Moulai Abdul Wahab, and Moulai Qasim Khan bin Hasan (11th Walī al-Hind, and who died in 950 AH/1543 CE in Ahmedabad) were last three upto 23 rd Dai. Because of the intense persecutions against the dawat by the Zaydi rulers of Yemen, it was transferred to India from Yemen when the 23rd Dā'ī Syedna Mohammed Ezzuddin designated Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin ibn Sulaiman as his successor (and, thus the 24th Dā'ī) in Sidhpur, Gujarat, India. Yusuf went to reside in the Yemen, he died and was buried there. Before his death 24th Dā'ī Yusuf designated Jalal Shamshuddin as 25th Dai in India as his successor, who was also last Walī -ul-Hind under the 24th Dā'ī Yusuf for 20 years. The center of the dawat then moved permanently to India.

Photo gallery

Wali –ul-Hind

• Roja Moulai Abadullah, Khambhat
• Hasan Pir Shaheed Mazar, Denmaal, gujrat
• Roja Moulai Raj bin Hasan, Moulai hasan bin Moulai adam, Ahmedabad
• Grave Moulai Raj bin Moulai Hasan, Ahmedabad
• Grave Moulai Hasn bin Moulai adam, ahmedabad
• Grave Syedi Qasim bin Hasan, Ahmedabad

List of Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra

Dua't Yemeniyah (1138 – 1539 CE)

Dua't Hindustaniyah (1539 - Present)

Prominent Dai's resting places From Yemen to Mumbai

• Mausoleum Syedna Hatim,Yemen
• Mausoleum Syedna Idris,Yemen
• Mausoleum Syedna Jalal Shamsuddin, ahmedabad
• Mazar e Qutbi, Ahmedabad
• Mazar e Noorani, Mandvi, Gujarat
• Mazar e Najmi in Ujjain
• Mazare Hakimi, Burhanpur
• Mazar e Saifee Surat
• Raudat Tahera, Mumbai

References

1. Ismaili their history and doctrine; Farhad Daftary - 1992 -
2. Mamujee Hassanally, Yusuf (2017). Gems of History: A Brief History of Doat Mutlaqeen. Colombo: Alvazaratus Saifiyah.
3. Enthoven, R. E. (1922). The Tribes and Castes of Bombay. Vol. 1. Asian Educational Services. p. 199. ISBN 81-206-0630-2.
4. The Bohras, By: Asgharali Engineer, Vikas Pub. House, p.109,101
5. ; www.geni.com/people/Maulai-Abdullah.
6. Separation of Sulaymani Bohras, who followed Sulayman bin Hassan as the successor and not Dawood bin Qutubshah.
7. Separation of Alavi Bohras, who followed Ali bin Ibrahim, (grandson of Syedna Sheikh Adam Safiuddin) as the successor and not Abduttayyeb Zakiuddin I.
8. "Bombay high court rejects Dawoodi Bohra succession suit, upholds Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin's claim". 23 April 2024.

Further reading

• Lathan, Young, Religion, Learning and Science
• Bacharach, Joseph W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilisation
• Bin Hasan, Idris, Uyun al-akhbar (Bin Hasan was the 19th Da'i of the Dawoodi Bohra. This volume is a history of the Ismaili community from its origins up to the 12th century CE, the period of the Fatimid caliphs al-Mustansir (d. 487/1094), the time of Musta‘lian rulers including al-Musta‘li (d. 495/1101) and al-Amir (d. 524/1130), and then the Tayyibi Ismaili community in Yemen.)

• Dawoodi Bohra da'is
• Isma'ilism-related lists