Bohra community’s spiritual leader to conduct sermons over nine days

40,000 individuals from over 40 countries likely to attend sermons

KARACHI: The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, will conduct a series of sermons over nine days during his stay in Karachi. The sermons will focus on the themes of justice, sacrifice, brotherhood, forgiveness, kindness and piety, as well as the tragedy of Karbala which led to the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain RA.
He will also speak about issues of contemporary relevance and discuss pertinent issues impacting the community today. The longstanding tradition of Ashara Mubaraka will start today (Friday) and will continue till September 30. Ashara Mubaraka celebrates the Bohra community’s history, evaluates its present and enhances its possibilities for the future. Ashara Mubaraka refers to a period of 10 days at the beginning of the Islamic year, dedicated to the remembrance of the Prophet U(pbuh) and his family, specifically his grandson, Hazrat Imam Hussain RA. The 10th day of Muharram is known as Ashura and marks the day on which Imam Hussain RA was martyred, along with his family members and companions.


In Karachi this year about 40,000 individuals from over 40 countries have registered themselves to attend the sermons. Hotels in Karachi’s commercial centre Saddar, where the Bohra community’s Taheri Masjid is located, are completely booked.
“Many of the community’s residents belonging to Karachi will open their homes to foreign guests, some of whom they’ve never met before,” said Murtaza Abdeali, Dr Saifuddin’s spokesperson. According to him, transport arrangements have been made to ferry attendees from different parts of the city.



“Since this is our largest annual religious congregation, we are mobilising specialised teams to handle accommodation, transport, food, seating arrangements and other facilities to ensure that the community members coming from all over the world are served comfortably,” said Abdeali.
Besides India, Karachi has one of the largest populations of Dawoodi Bohras in the world. It is also home to one of the four campuses of the community’s Arabic academy, Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah. After many years of preparatory work, Karachi was finally chosen as the venue for this year’s Ashara Mubaraka, an honour it has had 12 times in the past, the last, however, being nearly 12 years ago.



Although the late Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin and his father have conducted Ashara here multiple times, this is the first time for Dr Saifuddin.