Durban Bohra Community — KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Durban, on the Indian Ocean coast of KwaZulu-Natal, is home to one of South Africa's oldest Dawoodi Bohra communities. Bohras arrived in Durban in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as part of the broader Indian merchant diaspora that transformed Natal's commercial landscape. Durban's Bohra masjid and community structures pre-date the Apartheid era, and the community endured significant hardship under Apartheid's racial classification laws — Indian South Africans faced restrictions on property, movement, and economic activity. Despite these challenges, the Bohra community maintained its religious life, Lisan ud-Dawat education, and connection to the Dawat in Mumbai. The community established itself in what is now known as the Grey Street area (Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street), which remains the heart of Durban's Indian Muslim community. Post-Apartheid South Africa allowed the community to flourish more openly, and Durban remains an important node of the Dawat in southern Africa alongside Johannesburg.