Bohras meet in Udaipur to press for reforms

Last weekend, the reformist Bohras held their triennial conference at Udaipur. The city has been the nerve centre of the reform movement since it began in the 1970s.

There are around 5 lakh Dawoodi Bohras worldwide, 60% of whom stay in India. Mumbai, which is the home of their spiritual leader, the Syedna, is their headquarters. The community, which is largely into trading and business, is one of the most tightly knit groups in the country, and no event in a member’s life can take place without the knowledge of the religious bureaucracy.

Reformists say that any prospect of rebellion is stifled by using the threat of Baraat (social boycott) and by making every adult Bohra take the Misaq (oath proclaiming allegiance to their spiritual head). Though a national commission headed by Justice Nathwani concluded that there was infringement of civil liberties and human rights in the community, the findings were ignored by the government.

Despite the presence of a significant reform movement, most Bohras have remained faithful to their spiritual head. The reformists, who estimate their numbers to be around 40,000, say that their movement seeks to weaken the stranglehold of the religious bureaucracy.

This month’s conference was the 14th such meeting held by the reformists. Significantly, though they themselves are a splinter group from a small Shia sect, the delegates at Udaipur have created a forum to unite various Muslim denominations split along doctrinal lines.

“According to my understanding of Islam, there was no division in the religion for a long time. Every Muslim believes in Allah, his book, which is the Quran, and his prophet. The Shias emerged during the persecution by the Ummayids [caliphs]. Other sects were created later,” said Saifuddin Insaf, a key member of the reformist community from Mumbai.

The group, called the ‘Commission for intra-faith understanding’, will seek to resolve the strife between Islam’s primary sects, the Shias and Sunnis, and also between Deobandis and Barelvis, two divisions among the Sunnis. The commission, which will be headed by poet and writer Abid Ali Adeeb, has representatives from seven states and will meet every few months to discuss doctrine and other religious literature.

The reformists say that though their movement has been relatively quiet in the past decade, it has not ended. To demonstrate that there was little fear of their religious bureaucracy, women were present in large numbers at Udaipur. On the first day of the meet, nearly 70% of the 700 attendees were women. During the next two days, they formed three-fourths of the crowd.