Urdu Paper Exposes Corrupt Bohra Priestly Establishment K.Z. Itarwala

Urdu Paper Exposes Corrupt Bohra Priestly Establishment K.Z. Itarwala While followers of Mohammad Burhanuddin, 52nd dai-e mutlaq ('summoner to the faith with absolute powers) of the Dawoodi Bohra community, celebrate his 100th birthday this week with much fanfare, one man keeps up his valiant struggle to, as he puts it, 'expose the draconian face of the Bohradai'. Moinduddin Ajmeri edits the Mumbai-based Urdu magazine Sirat, which, for almost two years now, has been carrying a regular weekly column highlighting what he calls the 'un-Islamic, exploitative and dictatorial practices' of the Bohra high priest and his religious establishment, the Kothar. In an article revealingly titled 'Oppressive Bohra Dai: The Tricks of the Worshippers of Wealth' (27th January-2nd  February, 2011), Ajmeri writes, 'Ordinary mullahs and maulvis easily fool and rob people in the name of religion, but the Bohras have devised a full-fledged and regular organization for this purpose. Donning white clothes, the mafia gang of the Bohra dai loots their people, though few are aware of this.' And this is how, he alleges, Burhanuddin, 'who was born in a broken-down house in an obscure gulley in Jhaniya Bazar, Surat, now lives in the lavish Saifi Mahal in Malabar Hill [one of the most plush parts of Mumbai], and has become extremely rich, although he has no business of his own.' Ajmeri claims that the secret of this rags-to-riches story of the Bohra high priest lies in his 'looting people in the name of Islam'. He describes Burhanuddin's family as 'heads of a mafia' whose members are spread throughout the world and who work as the family's agents. These agents, he goes on, are engaged in extracting money from the Bohras, and many of them are also involved in 'corrupt deals'. 'The Bohradai and his eight sons have all become old earning money. His sons and their sons and their sons' sons—a total of around one thousand people—are all millionaires, and they still live on the bones thrown by the Bohras. His relatives are generally appointed as his agents (amils) in places where rich Bohras live,' Ajmeri writes. 'The Bohra dai Burhanuddin and his entire family and administration have become entirely dishonest (be-iman) and shameless (be-sharam),' he alleges. 'The Bohra dai earns crores of rupees every year from the Bohras, but does not spend a pie for their welfare,' Ajmeri continues. When some reformist Bohras raised this issue, Ajmeri says, Burhanuddin, 'in order to fool the public', set up the Qarz-e Hasana Trust and began giving loans to some needy Bohras. However, this money was not given to the poor directly, but, instead, through Burhanuddin's local agents or amils. 'The amils often misuse this money for their own purposes,' Ajmeri claims, adding that many amils distribute only a small portion of the money they receive and pocket the rest. Ajmeri provides interesting anecdotes to substantiate his allegations about the rampant corruption in the Bohra dai's massive family, members of which are styled as 'princes' (shahzada) and 'princesses' (shahezadi). One of these is a close relative of Burhanuddin, a certain Syed ul-Khair, amil of the Bohras of Surat, who has been accused by a fellow Bohra, Tahir Husain, a Surat-based trader, of stealing money ostensibly meant for poor Bohras. Tahir Husain alleged that in 2006, 2 crores had been sent to Surat to distribute to poor Bohras, but that Syed ul-Khair had distributed only 20 lakhs and loaned the rest to rich traders, charging them, in return, 25% of their profits, thereby making a fast buck for himself. Ajmeri quotes Tahir Husain as alleging that one of Syed ul-Khair's cronies, a certain Shabbir Amin, was caught stealing money from the Bohra jaamat's office in Surat, but Syed ul-Khair 'forgave him and tried to hush up the controversy'.  Not stopping at this, Syed ul-Khair, Ajmeri writes, was allegedly involved in corruption scandals involving several crore rupees involving transactions for procuring materials for the principal Bohra madrasa, the Jamia Saifia in Surat. Ajmeri accuses Syed ul-Khair of appointing his cronies to administer Bohra religious functions, such as lectures during the mourning month of Muharram, that, he says, 'provide further opportunities to these men to engage in loot'. Ajmeri also notes that Syed ul-Khair has numerous court cases pending against him. In another article about the Syedna's cronies, titled 'The Bohra Dai is Filling His Own Treasury' (Sirat, 10th-16th February, 2011), Ajmeri uncovers other skeletons in the Kothar's cupboard. Burhanuddin, he alleges, following in the footsteps of his father Tahir Saifuddin, the 51st dai-e mutlaq, has occupied vast properties of rich Bohras, including inns, hospitals, jamaat khanas and even the palaces where Burhanuddin and his vast family now reside. Most of these institutions were built between the First and Second World Wars, when some Bohras became exceedingly rich, partly from contracts from the British. Many of these institutions were 'captured', Ajmeri says, by Tahir Saifuddin, who 'appointed himself as their owner'. For instance, he dispossessed the Peerbhoy family of their mansion in Bombay and occupied it (This is the enormous 'Saifi Mahal' where Burhanuddin now lives). Likewise, he took over the sanitarium established by the Peerbhoy family and converted it into the 'Saifi Hospital'. He also rechristened a religious school set up by a certain Abdul Ali as the 'Jamia Saifia'. 'In this way,' Ajmeri remarks, 'the impression was sought to be created that all these institutions were built by Tahir Saifuddin himself. In actual fact, these were all established by [other] members of the community, but are now a source of untold riches for the Bohra dai.' Ajmeri provides interesting details of what he alleges to be rampant corruption in the Jamia Saifia. This madrasa, housed in a massive, plush campus, caters to almost a thousand students. The madrasa's kitchen is located in the ground floor of its main building. Every year, the kitchen gets flooded, and so for several weeks food for the students and staff has to be got from outside. This involves an additional expense of several lakh rupees every year, and also provides, so Ajmeri says, lucrative additional opportunities for corruption. Further, every year a contract involving a large sum of money is given to two Bohra businessmen to drain the kitchen of the accumulated water—again a massive drain on the community's resources, and, so Ajmeri says, yet another opportunity for corrupt financial dealings. Ajmeri estimates that almost two lakh rupees is spent daily on the kitchen expenses of the madrasa, and the amount increases substantially when the Syedna and his huge entourage visit Surat, when special food is cooked for them. Ajmeri claims that the Bohra men who have received the contract to run the kitchen generally cook far more food than what is required and that this is then siphoned off to be sold to hotels, and so, in this way, they have become 'exceedingly rich'. 'The shehzadas of the Syedna are busy looting the funds of the community,' Ajmeri alleges. The most 'notorious' of these, he writes, is one Badr Jamal, of Burhanuddin's many nephews. He worked out a plan with a Mumbai-based firm to install a steam cooking plant in the Jamia Saifia's kitchen. The plant was inaugurated by Burhanuddin himself but it failed and so was shut down. This aborted venture cost the community a whopping 7 ½ crore rupees, and Ajmeri claims that much of this money must have been pocketed by the men involved in this shady venture. Ajmeri's Sirat continues to highlight anecdotes like these (that the 'mainstream' media, either owing to indifference or else to pressure or inducement from the Bohra religious establishment, ignores), exposing Burhanuddin and his henchmen and their alleged shady deals. He insists that they are far from being the pious Muslims they never tire of projecting themselves as. ================================================================ Moinuddin Ajmeri can be contacted on haftrozaseerat@yahoo.co.in --  Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.  --The Buddha