Syedna Fakhruddin TUS Open Letter to Shz Mufaddal Saifuddin

Click here to read the original letter in Arabic from Syedna Taher Fakhruddin TUS, 54^th Dai al-Mutlaq and Head of the Dawoodi Bohra Community to Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin. Click here to read the Dawat ni Zaban translation of the letter. Click here to read the original letter in English - translations in other languages will be uploaded soon.

On the 30^th of Ramadaan 1437H (4^th July 2016) Syedna Taher Fakhruddin TUS sent an open letter to Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin “out of concern for the community”. In the letter Syedna informed Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin that he has filed a “Chamber Summons in the Hon’ble High Court of Bombay to be substituted as plaintiff in the Suit filed by Syedna Qutbuddin to continue the fight for truth and righteousness, which are the hallmarks of our faith.” Syedna also urged Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin to relinquish his false claim, and conveyed to him that the doors of repentance remain open for him.

Syedna also reminded Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin in the letter about the high regard in which Syedna Burhanuddin held Syedna Qutbuddin bestowing upon him the rutba of Mazoon and anointing him as his Mansoos. Syedna pointed out that Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin “prostrated in sajda to Bawajisaheb thereafter for almost 25 years and told people that sajda can only be done to a Dai… addressed him and Syedna Burhanuddin together as ‘Bewe Maula’ (Both Maulas), and prayed for both of them together for their long lives till Qiyamat.”

Syedna Fakhruddin also expressed his shock regarding the deception of the entire community after Syedna Burhanuddin’s stroke in 2011 and the betrayal of Syedna Burhanuddin’s trust.

Syedna also conveyed his shock at the manner in which Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin and his co-conspirators took step after step to fortify their false claim, while taking advantage of Syedna Burhanuddin’s age and ill-health. He added with horror “You, your brothers and Dr. Moiz kept Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin inhumanly and shockingly without food or liquid for an incredible 48 hours (as the medical records indicate) before admitting him to Cromwell Hospital in London on 29th Jumadil Ukhra 1432H (June 1, 2011)…How could any son subject his father, let alone the spiritual father of an entire community, to such abuse?”

Referring to the burning of effigies in presence of his brothers and bursting of fire-crackers in the Jamea-Saifiyah after the passing of Syedna Qutbuddin, Syedna Fakhruddin stated “It is obvious that this inhuman behaviour could not happen without your approval, if not instruction. For someone who claims to be the spiritual fount of a humane and peace-loving community, you did not even consider it necessary to condemn this. You have been drawing the community away from the noble examples of the Imams and Dais, including the 51st Dai Syedna Taher SaifuddinRA and Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, by publicly advocating that girls should not be educated except in home science, that women should stay in a corner of the home, and that husbands should throw their wives out of the house if they do not wear a veil.”

Syedna concluded the letter by posing this question:

How can you even claim to be a Dawoodi Bohra after having submitted in the Hon’ble Bombay High Court statements such as the following:

1. You have said that the nass of an Imam and Dai can be changed. Every mumin (community member) in childhood itself has been taught that the nass of succession is done once with divine inspiration; it can therefore never be changed, and this is the very foundation of the Dawoodi Bohra faith, and the very reason why the community followed Ismail Imam after the 5th Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq.
2. You have gone to the unimaginable extent of suggesting that an Imam appointed his uncle’s son as his successor by performing nass on him. You must at least know the basic principle of the Dawoodi Bohra faith that an Imam only appoints his son as his successor.
3. You have said that the directions of the 51st Dai Syedna Taher Saifuddin to Syedna Burhanuddin that Syedna Qutbuddin become Syedna Burhanuddin’s successor and the 53rd Dai are “irrelevant”.
4. You have argued that even if Syedna Burhanuddin did nass on Syedna Qutbuddin in private, it is not a valid nass. Do you know more than Burhanuddin Maula about how nass can be done?
5. You have suggested that sajda can be done even to a Shehzada (son of a Dai), and is merely a form of greeting, even though you know that sajda can only be done to Allah for worship and to His Prophet, Imam, Dai and Dai-to-be for respect.

I challenge your credentials to be a spiritual leader of our community; I challenge your claim to be a Dawoodi Bohra.

The letter was sent to Shehzada Mufaddal Saifuddin in the original Arabic. The PDF of the Arabic and the Lisan ud Dawat and English language translations are available on FatemiDawat.com.