DR. SYEDNA MOHAMMED BURHANUDDIN SAHEB
An inspirational spiritual leader (1915-2014)
As the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq, His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb stood for peace and prosperity for the Dawoodi Bohra community. He was held in great respect by leaders the from world over and was honoured with awards and rewards for his knowledge and tremendous work towards the Bohra community, thus building a legacy of goodwill for his followers who had entrusted him as a leader.
Born in 1915, Syedna received religious and administrative training from his father and predecessor, Syedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb. He succeeded his father in 1965 after his demise, and Syedna’s role as the Dai got instantly recognised because he took over the role of the leader with a fresh outlook towards the community’s upliftment and infused new dimensions towards its growth. In 2011 he became the first Dai al-Mutlaq to complete 100 years of age.
His beliefs were quite straightforward; adhere to the Islamic teachings at the same time weld into the modern world changes. One of them was emphasising on following Islamic business ethics and adopting the Quranic concept of interestfree transactions. He thus initiated an interest-free loan scheme called “Karz-e Hasanat” for the community’s financial needs.
He consistently stressed on the economic upliftment and welfare of the Dawoodi Bohra Community by motivating them to indulge in business and self employment. The Burhaniyah Business Counseling Centre (BBCC) was therefore established in 2007 for the same purpose. He also established the Burhani Foundation in 2011, whose core message was to address the environmental problems in India and around the world in a more structured and scientific way. One of their core projects was the Guinness World Record breaking distribution of 52,000 sparrow feeders across the world for “Save Our Sparrows” project. This project was undertaken on Syedna’s 100th birthday.
Some of his other initiatives included, continuing his father’s tradition of mass marriages to curb expenditure of individual marriages, also called “Rasme Saifee”, community kitchens all over the world where the Dawoodi Bohra Community can avail hygienic cooked meals at their homes, the Saifee Hospital at Charni Road, Mumbai for medical needs of the common man, and lastly the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust project of redevelopment of the crowded Bhendi Bazaar locality in Mumbai with better living facilities for the existing residents.
Sydena was also an heir to a remarkable tradition of learning and education. He was keenly interested in the educational advancement of the community, and also for all those who had a thirst for knowledge and learning. He personally supervised the curriculum of the Arabic academy “Al Jamea Tus Saifiyah” in Surat. This academy was founded in 1814 AD by the 43rd Dai Syedna Abdeali Saifuddin with an objective to provide integrated education in an Islamic atmosphere. This academy was constantly reoriented by its successors, and Syedna too expanded it by founding its counter parts in Karachi in 1984, Nairobi in 2012 and Marol, Mumbai in 2013.
Besides promoting the blending of secular and religious studies of Islam-oriented schools in different parts of the world, he also undertook the restoration of Fatimid relics and promoted Fatimid architecture and design. He constructed a large number of mosques, mausoleums and other public buildings all over the world. The most memorable of such works has been the restoration in 1980 of Al-Jame Al- Anwar, the grand mosque in Cairo built by the Fatimid Gawhar Al-Siqilli. The other has been the renovation of The Grand Mosque of Kufa, one of the earliest mosques of the world.
While preparations were going on in full gusto for his 103rd birthday celebrations as per the Islamic Hijri year on 17 January 2014, the community was shocked with the sudden news of his demise. Thousands gathered from all over the world to pay their last respects. With the tremendous effort with which the Syedna lead the Dawoodi Bohras, there is no denying to the fact that he will always be known as the one who kept his community as a close knit family.