15th August – India's Independence Day: Syedna’s Message & Doa for the Nation

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

As India celebrates its 69th Independence Day, Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin TUS prays for the nation:

“I extend sincere greetings and felicitations on this 69th Independence Day of India. Our Prophet Mohammad SA has said “Love of your nation is an integral part of faith.” My predecessors the 51st Dai, His Holiness Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA, and the 52nd Dai, His Holiness Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin RA, have for the past century guided the Dawoodi Bohra Community on this path. Today as the 53rd Dai al-Mutlaq and Syedna of the Dawoodi Bohra Community I continue in their tradition and guide my followers, to being good, peace loving, and contributing citizens of our Nation.

Thus, as we celebrate our Independence Day, I am hopeful that in the message of communal harmony, friendship, entrepreneurship and service to the nation, lies the deeper independence of all of India’s citizens; freedom from poverty, hunger, and illiteracy and toward a future of prosperity, social security, and education. Our Prophet SAW has said, “All of creation are the children of God, and the most beloved to God of those children is the one who benefits his children the most.” This has been and remains my guiding ethos.

We face challenging times, but the future is full of promise and possibilities. It is with this positive spirit that we move forward in the face of adversity, striving to uphold our principles of truth, justice, equity and social service and we are confident that we will achieve success in our endeavours because of them.

I pray for peace, happiness and prosperity for all my fellow Indians on the 69th anniversary of our Independence.

I pray that in addition to our political freedom we strive towards freedom and independence from hunger, poverty, hatred, violence and fear. I urge all my fellow Indians to reflect and reaffirm their commitment to the ideals of freedom and free their hearts and actions from hatred and discord. Only when each and every one of us will be at peace and harmony with ourselves and with our neighbours and communities will our Nation be truly Free.

Peace is the foundation of prosperity and development. I pray that as we stay together in peace with each other that India and our neighbours in the world also find lasting peace and security.”