The Dai Who Was Called Maula
Of all the 53 Dais al-Mutlaqeen of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) is the one whom the greatest number of living Bohras actually saw, heard, and were blessed by in person. He lived to the age of 102, led the community for 50 years, traveled to virtually every Bohra community on earth, and was present — physically, spiritually, and in millions of personal memories — in a way that no previous Dai could have been in the age before air travel and mass communication.
To call him by his title alone barely captures what he means to the community. For most of the 20th and early 21st century, he was simply: Maula.
His full name: al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin ibn Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA). Born in 1333 AH / 1915 CE in Surat (the same birth year as his father, Syedna Taher Saifuddin — they share a birth year because the Bohra calendar counts from the Hijra, and his father was born at the start of 1333 while Syedna Burhanuddin was born later in the same year). He assumed the mantle of the 52nd Dai upon the wafat of his father in 1385 AH / 1965 CE, and served until his own wafat on 17 Safar 1435 AH / 17 January 2014 CE.
He is the son of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) — the 51st Dai — and the father of the current Dai, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS), the 53rd Dai, who received the nass from him before his death.
A Half-Century of Dawat: 1965–2014
When Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) became the 52nd Dai in 1965, the world was very different from the one he would leave in 2014. Air travel was just becoming accessible. Television was new. The Bohra diaspora — in East Africa, North America, UK, the Gulf, Australia — was beginning to grow.
Over 50 years, he transformed the dawat’s reach:
Global travel: Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) traveled to Bohra communities on every continent. He flew to Mumbai and Houston, to Nairobi and London, to Dubai and Sydney. In each city, he would hold mawaid (communal meals), conduct waaz (sermon), perform misaq ceremonies, and bless individual families. For millions of Bohras alive today, the memory of seeing Maula in person — in their city, in their masjid — is among the most treasured of their lives.
The waaz: His weekly waaz Mubarak in Mumbai (at Saifee Masjid) attracted thousands. The depth of his Arabic scholarship, the beauty of his recitation, and the emotional intensity with which he addressed the community made his waaz legendary. Recordings of his waaz are treasured by Bohra families worldwide.
Misaq: He personally administered the covenant (misaq) ceremony — in which a mumin formally acknowledges the chain of Imams and Dais — to millions of Bohras in his 50-year dawat. He was known for taking extraordinary time with this ceremony, ensuring each person felt the weight of the moment.
The Restoration of Fatimid Heritage
One of the defining projects of Syedna Burhanuddin’s (RA) dawat was the restoration of Fatimid monuments — the physical legacy of the Imams and Dais that had been allowed to decay over centuries.
Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo: Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) funded and oversaw a major restoration of Masjid al-Azhar — the mosque founded by the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli in 361 AH/970 CE, just months after the Fatimids entered Egypt. Al-Azhar is the world’s oldest continuously operating university; its mosque is one of the great monuments of Islamic civilization. The restoration work, carried out by Bohra craftsmen and scholars under his direction, returned sections of the mosque to something closer to their original Fatimid state.
Fatimid monuments in Cairo: The Fatimid-era city gates (Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr, Bab Zuwayla), the mosque of al-Hakim, and other Fatimid-era structures in Cairo received attention and support from the dawat under his leadership.
The Prophet’s Mosque, Medina: The dawat under Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) contributed to the care and maintenance of the Rawdah area of Masjid al-Nabawi — the sacred space between the Prophet’s grave and his original minbar, described in hadith as “a garden from the gardens of paradise.”
Jannat al-Baqi: The Bohra community’s grief over the 1925 Wahhabi demolition of the structures over the graves in Jannat al-Baqi — including those of Imam Hasan (AS), Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS), Imam al-Baqir (AS), and Imam al-Sadiq (AS) — found voice through Syedna Burhanuddin (RA), who consistently called for the restoration of these sacred sites.
His Scholarship and Arabic Poetry
Like his father Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA), Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) was a poet of exceptional quality in Arabic. He composed qasidas (odes) that were recited at majalis, at Ashara, at milad celebrations. His Arabic verses on the love of the Imam, the grief of Karbala, and the beauty of the Prophet are part of the living oral tradition of the community.
He also wrote theological treatises and responsa (masail) — answers to religious questions — that continue to be consulted by Bohra scholars.
His knowledge of Quranic recitation (tajwid) was at the level of a master reciter. His recitation of Quranic passages during waaz — with the full precision of the maqamat (melodic modes) — was among the most listened-to recordings in the community. The sound of his voice reciting Quran is one of the defining sounds of 20th-century Bohra religious life.
The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust
One of the most distinctive humanitarian initiatives associated with Syedna Burhanuddin’s (RA) dawat was the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust — a large-scale urban redevelopment project in Bhendi Bazaar, Mumbai.
Bhendi Bazaar — a dense, historic neighborhood in South Mumbai — is home to a large Bohra population and is the location of Saifee Masjid (one of the most important Bohra mosques in Mumbai). Over decades, the neighborhood’s buildings had aged into disrepair. Under the Upliftment Trust initiative (which began serious work after Syedna Burhanuddin’s (RA) blessing and has continued under Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS), 250+ old buildings are being replaced with modern high-rises — with priority given to current residents. It is one of the largest urban renewal projects in Indian history, carried out by a religious community for its own neighborhood.
His Final Years and Wafat
Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) remained active in the dawat into his late 90s and early 100s. His health declined in the final years, but his presence — even when confined to Saifee Masjid or Raudat Tahera — remained a source of immense barakah for the community.
He passed away on 17 Safar 1435 AH / 17 January 2014 CE in Mumbai. He was 102 years old. His wafat was mourned by the entire Bohra world. Thousands came to pay their respects in Mumbai before his body was transported to Surat.
He was interred in Raudat Tahera in Surat — the mausoleum his father Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) had built — where his father also rests. The sight of the two Dais resting side by side in the luminous marble chamber of Raudat Tahera — father and son, 51st and 52nd Dai — is among the most moving in the Bohra world.
Before his wafat, he had designated his son Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS) as the 53rd Dai — completing the chain of nass that has preserved the Dawat since 526 AH.
The urus (annual commemoration) of Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) — 17 Safar — is observed with great devotion: majalis, waaz, qasidas, and ziyarat at Raudat Tahera.
What He Means to Living Bohras
Every Bohra alive today who is above the age of approximately 10 has a personal memory of Syedna Burhanuddin (RA). He is not a figure from history — he is a figure from within living memory. Parents remember taking their children for the Dai’s blessing. Young adults remember the waaz they attended. Older Bohras remember receiving misaq from his own hands.
This living-memory connection makes him different from earlier Dais — whose significance is acknowledged but whose presence must be imagined. Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) is remembered. His voice is on recordings. His words are on video. His handwriting is on letters preserved in family collections. His smiling face is in photographs displayed in millions of Bohra homes.
The saying in the community: “If you miss him, listen to his waaz.” The recordings of his Quran recitation, his khutba, his waaz — these are not merely historical documents. They are sources of spiritual sustenance for the community he led.
His Salawat
السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا مَولَانَا مُحَمَّدَ بُرهَانَ الدِّين السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا دَاعِيَ اللَّهِ وَخَلِيفَتَهُ المَأمُون السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا مَن جَمَعَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ عِلمَ الأَوَّلِينَ وَالآخِرِين
Peace be upon you, O our Master Muhammad Burhanuddin. Peace be upon you, O Caller to Allah and His trusted Vicegerent. Peace be upon you, O one in whom Allah gathered the knowledge of the first and the last.
اللَّهُمَّ ارحَم مَولَانَا مُحَمَّدَ بُرهَانَ الدِّينِ وَارزُقنَا شَفَاعَتَهُ وَزِيَارَتَهُ وَبَرَكَتَهُ O Allah, have mercy on our Master Muhammad Burhanuddin, and grant us his intercession, his ziyarat, and his blessing.