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Sultan Mofaddal Seif El-Din, Sultan of the Bohra sect in India, participated in the celebration of the opening of the Al-Hussein Mosque, following the comprehensive renovation of the mosque, which followed a fire near its courtyard on the 30th of last January.
The official spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic issued a statement saying that the Sultan of Bohra has appreciated efforts in restoring and renovating the shrines of Aal al-Bayt and a number of historical Egyptian mosques, including the shrines of Sayyida Nafisa, Sayyida Zainab, and the Hussein Mosque, as well as the various other charitable activities of the Bohra sect in Egypt, in addition to Support the “Long Live Egypt” fund.
Who is Sultan Mufaddal Saif al-Din?
Mufaddal Seif al-Din is the current Sultan of Bohra, and the second son of the late Sultan of Bohra Dr. Muhammad Burhan al-Din.
Mufaddal Saifuddin was born in the Indian city of Surat on August 20, 1946, and belongs to a family that inherited the leadership of the Bohra sect for a long time and embraced Islam since the dawn of the sun in the Indian subcontinent. He was raised and educated by his father, the late Sultan Dr. Muhammad Burhan al-Din, and he has five sons, three of whom are males, the first of whom are Prince Jaafar al-Sadiq, then Prince Taha, then Prince Hussein, and two daughters.
According to what the members of the Bohra sect believe and stipulated in their books, a new sultan does not assume their leadership without a text and appointment from the previous sultan. Therefore, the late Sultan of Bohra, Dr. Muhammad Burhan al-Din, appointed his son Mufaddal Saif al-Din as his successor (Crown Prince) two years before his death in 2011 in the city of Mumbai in front of hundreds of thousands of people of the sect.
The University of Karachi, Pakistan, awarded Mufaddal Saifuddin a Ph.D. in Arts on the eighth of September 2015, in recognition of his charitable efforts in working to strengthen the honorable ties between Muslims.
India also awarded him the International Peace Prize on September 23, 2015, in recognition of what it described as his valuable endeavors and his keenness to advance human freedoms and achieve social justice, and his efforts in establishing a food distribution and security project all over the world (the abundance of demonstrative tables), and his endeavors to enhance the social role of women and economical.
picture released, PRESIDENCY.EG
The Egyptian presidential spokesman said that Sultan Al-Bohra has appreciated efforts in restoring and renovating a number of historical Egyptian mosques, including Al-Hussein Mosque
Bohra sect
The word “Bohra” means trade in Hindi, and symbolizes one of the most famous Islamic sects belonging to the Shiites, which won the Imamate of Ahmad al-Musta’li the Fatimid once morest his brother Nizar al-Mustafa for the religion of God, following the death of their father, Caliph al-Mustansir Billah al-Fatimi in 1094, who chose his son al-Musta’li to be governor, and a dispute arose between The two brothers ended in favor of the Musta’li sect, which was defeated by the defeat of the Fatimid state at the hands of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, who established the Ayyubid state and defeated the Fatimids and expelled them from Egypt in 1174, to set off the Bohra to many countries of the world.
The Bohras are divided into two groups: “The Dawoodi Bohra” following Dawood Burhan al-Din bin Qutb Shah, and they have spread in India and Pakistan since the tenth century AH, while their preacher resides in Mumbai; As for the second group, it is in Yemen, and it is called “Al-Bohra Al-Sulaymaniyah” following Suleiman bin Al-Hassan.
The Bohra moved to Egypt during the sixties of the last century, and the Mosque of Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah Al-Fatimi is the main Qibla to which they go to perform their rituals. Unofficial estimates indicate that their number in Egypt is regarding 15,000.
Al-Bohra works to revive everything related to the Fatimids from their graves and mosques, and they are paying huge sums of money to restore them, as their sultan contributed with appreciated efforts in the restoration and renewal of the shrines of Aal al-Bayt in Egypt, and a number of historical Egyptian mosques, including the shrines of Sayyida Nafisa, Sayyida Zainab, and Hussein, and charitable activities in Egypt.
The Bohra sect was the reason for reviving the Al-Hakim Mosque following long periods of deterioration. It also had an important role recently in the renovation of heritage and archaeological buildings from the shrines of the Ahl al-Bayt and mosques related to their beliefs, such as the mosques of Al-Aqmar, Sayyida Zainab and Sayyida Ruqayyah.
Most of the Bohras in Egypt work in trade and have many charitable activities, and the past years have witnessed the sect’s support for the “Long Live Egypt” fund.
The Bohra uses an Islamic lunar calendar in a special format, which was developed since the time of the Fatimids and relies on astronomical calculations to determine the beginning of the months, so it is fixed and differs by a day or two from the usual Islamic date.
Bohra has two feasts every year, the first of which is celebrated on the 18th of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, and it has special rituals, as they fast on this day and pray two units of prayer at sunset; The second Eid continues during the first ten days of the month of Muharram, in commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, and they celebrate it in the mosques of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Al-Juyoushi, and Al-Hussein.
The Bohras in Egypt celebrate the birth of their leader, Muhammad Burhan Al-Din Sultan, on March 11 of each year. The celebrations take place over a whole week inside the Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah mosques and the Al-Aqmar Mosque. At the time of the celebration, the Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah mosque is crowded following dawn prayers in Bohra wearing their distinctive uniforms.
