The passing of the 52nd da’i al-mutlaq, Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin in Mumbai on January 17th wasn’t a complete surprise. Members of the one million strong Dawoodi Bohra community had begun to notice the deteriorating health of their da’i more acutely in 2011, when at the age of 100, he suffered a debilitating stroke that made it difficult for him to write or speak. Before this time, he remained publicly active, visiting his followers regularly, both in the Subcontinent and beyond, addressing the community at various religious gatherings, especially those surrounding the auspicious months of Ramadan and Muharram, the latter central to the piety of many Shi’a Muslims. Despite his ill-heath, he remained, of course, at the helm of an intricate hierarchy of Bohra leadership, but had at least not publicly, declared a successor before his centenary.
More The Intricacies of Succession: Two Claimants Emerge for Dawoodi Bohra Leadership | Rizwan Mawani.
Earlier related: The Bohras: Understanding Shi’a Succession in a Muslim Community
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