Mohammed Burhanuddin I

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin
Da'i al-Mutlaq
49th Da'i al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohra sect
Remained as Da'i al-Mutlaq	15 years
Became Da'i al-Mutlaq	at the age of 52
Predecessor	Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin
Successor	Syedna Abdullah Badruddin
House of Da'i al-Mutlaq	Surat
Born	(1840-11-18)18 November 1840
Died	21 February 1906(1906-02-21) (aged 65) Surat
Burial	Surat
Spouse	Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba
Issue	Syedna Taher Saifuddin
Era dates 1891-1906
Father	Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA) (Arabic: محمد برھان الدین) was born 18th November 1840 AD (24 Ramazan 1256H) at Surat, India and went on to become the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. He was the son of the 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin, who belongs to the famiily linage of Syedi Fakhruddin Shaheed. After the sad demise of the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdullah Badruddin the helm of the Dawoodi Bohra sect came into his hands. He led the community out of a period of indebtedness, lack of organization and regression within the sect.

Being the son of the 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin, he had always been closely associated to the members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. For all of his childhood and adolesense till the age of 40 years his father Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin was the Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. He was educated by his father in all aspects of religion and the world. He got married to Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba and settled down in Surat. All through his childhood and adolesense he always remained at the service of his father. After the sad demise of his father, he served the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin with the same respect and dedication that he had for his father.

After he became the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq he deviced a time bound plan to bring about a total turnaround in the prospects of the members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. In the first five years he concentrated on paying off the debts of the sect. In this effort Syedna Abdullah Badruddin lended complete support which resulted in all the debts getting paid off in five years. The next five years he devoted in perfecting the all the organisational hierarchy and procedures of the community. The next five years he worked towards development of the members of the community and the sect as a whole.

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin remained as the Da'i al-Mutlaq till 1906. When he did nas upon his nephew Syedna Abdullah Badruddin and left for his heavenly abode chanting "Ya Ali, Ya Ali" continously in his last moments.

Early Life

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was born to Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin in Surat, Gujarat, India where the family of Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin had been staying. He spend his childhood and adolasence being raised in the family of Da'i al-Mutlaq being educated by his father. His father Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin was a very brave and intelligent leader who steered the community through testing times, when the enemies of the sect created a upraising among the members of the community stating that nas (the process of appointing a successor) has not been done over Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmudddin by the 46th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Mohammed Badruddin.But the brave Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin remained quiet. Not answering to the enemies saying that the fifth Da'i al-Mutlaq from him will answer his enemies.

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin got married to Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba and settled in Surat. One of the sons of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was Syedna Taher Saifuddin, who as said by Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin would answer his enemies.

Most of the time Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin spend with his father Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin, helping him in performing his religious duties, was also a time for learning the intracities of the beliefs, customs and traditions of the Dawoodi Bohra sect.

While Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was with his father Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba took care of his children. But just eight years after the birth of Syedna Taher Saifuddin, his mother Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba passed away which was a great loss for Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.

Before Da'i al-Mutlaq

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was born in the era of 46th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Mohammed Badruddin, he served his father the 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin and also served his uncle the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin. So Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin had the honor of being born in the era of one Da'i al-Mutlaq and serving two Da'i al-Mutlaq.

At the age of 15 Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was conferred Hadiyat (a title for learned) and the laqab (name to used after the first name) of Burhanuddin by his father Syedna Abdul Qadir Najmuddin. His father also prepared Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin to take up the responsibilities of a Da'i al-Mutlaq and appointed him as the raas ul hudood (a position of esteem in Dawoodi Bohra sect).

After the sad demise of his father Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin served the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin with the same zeal and dedication as he served his father. Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin appointed Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin as Mukasir e Dawat (The third highest position in Dawoodi Bohra sect. He was also the Wali of Mumbai.

When Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin visited Karbala for the ziyarat of Imam Husain accompanied by Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba, he asked Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba to stand very close to the Zari Mubarak of Imam Husain so that the child in her womb can get the blessings of Imam Husain. At that time that child in the womb of Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba was Syedna Taher Saifuddin.

In the year 1891 AD 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin decided to go to Mumbai. At the time of his departure he said, "I am leaving my mansoos (appointed successor by nass) and jaan nasheen Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin behind me." In this way he did nass upon Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin. Syedna Abdul Husain Husamuddin became ill during the journey. When he reached Ahmedabad his ailment became very serious so he again performed nass upon Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin before important post holders of the Dawoodi Bohra community and took a pledge (misaq) from them to uphold the nass and later passed away to his heavenly abode. And Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin became the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra sect.

Achievements

When Syedna Burhanuddin became the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq the Dawoodi Bohra sect was greatly indebted, unorganized and there was lack of development.

Syedna charted out a plan to change the position of the Dawoodi Bohra sect which was as follows:

• For the first five years he devoted all his time and efforts to pay off the debts of the sect. He approached the affluent and the members of the community personally to raise the amount to pay off the debts. Such that all the debts were paid off during or by the end of five years.

• For the next five years he concentrated on restructuring the organisational heirarchy of the Dawoodi Bohra sect such that control and responsibility were established. This allowed the smooth functioning of the different departments and solved all the hurdles they had faced earlier. At the end of five years all the organisations of the Dawoodi Bohra sect had become very efficient and began functioning effectively, managing the affairs of the community in an orderly manner.

• The next five years he put in all his efforts towards the development of the community. He worked out ways and means to bring about growth and prosperity in the community. It is because of his efforts that within a period of five years had the Dawoodi Bohra sect reached great heights as regards growth and standard of living.

• He has built a number of masjids, so as to facilitate the members of the sect to perform their prayers and other tenents of the religion.

• He set up many madresas so as to facilitate learning of the religious teachings such that the current generation and the new generations would have a correct and same picture of the religion, its tenents, its beliefs and its culture.

• He made many musafirkhanas mostly near the places of the tombs of various Da'i al-Mutlaq so as to facilitate people from far away places to visit these tombs and pay their respects.

• He further went ahead and started the custom of making free food arrangements for the visitor of the musafirkhanas. Such that people of the community can come and stay at these musafirkhanas, pay their respects to the tombs present there without any worry about their food requirements.

All these brought great posperity and growth in the community such that when the last moment of his life was upon him he was very satisfied with his efforts and chanted the name of Maulana Ali, whose famous words at the time when the enemy hit him with the sword were "I swear by the God of Khaba, I have won". Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin had also won.

Template:Persondata (Still working on the article please bear with me.)

See Also

See also: List of Dai of Dawoodi Bohra, Raudat Tahera, Shia Islam in India, and List of Shia Muslims

References

• Al Aqmar: A Living Testimony to the Fatemiyeen

By Ja'far us Sadiq Mufaddal Saifuddin

• Al Juyushi: A Vision of the Fatemiyeen

By Ja'far us Sadiq Mufaddal Saifuddin

• Al-Dai Al-Fatemi, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin: An Illustrated Biography

By Mustafa Abdulhussein