54th Dai al-Mutlaq Syedna Taher Fakhruddin
His Holiness Syedna Taher Fakhruddin is the successor to the 53rd Dai al-Mutlaq Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin; he is the 54th Dai al-Mutlaq. According to Dawoodi Bohra faith he is vested with the absolute authority of the Imam who is in seclusion.
Al-Dai al-Ajall al-Fatemi Syedna Taher Fakhruddin TUS succeeds our most beloved and forever remembered Muqaddas Maulana Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin RA, as 54th Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra community. As Moiz Imam said to Syedna Qadi l-Nu’man, “One Maula has passed away, but another Maula remains.” (Maulaka mada wa-maulaka baqiya).
Al-Dai al-Ajall al-Fatemi Syedna Taher Fakhruddin TUS succeeds our most beloved and forever remembered Muqaddas Maulana Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin RA, as 54th Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra community. As Moiz Imam said to Syedna Qadi l-Nu’man, “One Maula has passed away, but another Maula remains.” (Maulaka mada wa-maulaka baqiya). This year on the 27th of Muharram, the Urus Mubarak of Syedi Fakhruddin Shaheed RA in the Poconos, USA, Syedna Qutbuddin performed Nass on Syedna Taher as his successor and granted him the laqab Fakhruddin. Maulana Qutbuddin advised the witnesses to keep the Nass confidential and gave to their safekeeping his handwritten wasiyyat of Nass.
Beloved eldest son of Syedna Qutbuddin, Maulana Taher was born in Mumbai on 26th Rabiul Akhar 1388H (21 July 1968), during the era of the 52nd Dai Muqaddas Maulana Mohammed Burhanuddin RA, who gave him the mubarak name of his revered grandfather Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA. Syedna Burhanuddin bestowed on him many special blessings and honors, including haddiyyat. In his childhood and youth Maulana Taher had the azeem sharaf of taking regular sabaq with Maulana Burhanuddin.
Throughout Maulana Taher’s life, moreover, he received his father Maulana Qutbuddin’s continuous personal and special training in ilm-e Aal-e Mohammed and in the running and siyasat of Dawat affairs. For some years, Maulana Taher lived in Cairo, and studied Arabic and Quran memorization and recitation.
In secular institutions, Maulana Taher obtained an MA in Arabic literature from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and prior to that, he topped the cohort of Bombay University in his Arabic literature B.A.
Like Syedna Ismail Badruddin Bawa RA—on whose Urus mubarak this year Syedna Qutbuddin obtained wafaat and Maulana Taher became Dai— Maulana Taher also possesses acute business acumen, and is especially well versed in agricultural development and finance.
Syedna Fakhruddin performed selfless and tireless khidmat of Syedna Burhanuddin RA and his Mansoos and Mazoon Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin RA.
He delivered Ashara waaz in Thane for the first time at a notice of only three days at the young age of 20. Syedna Burhanuddin personally asked Syedna Fakhruddin three days before Muharram about his readiness to deliver waaz. Syedna Fakhruddin arazed that if it is Maulana’s farmaan I will be prepared. Syedna Fakhruddin also delivered waaz in Mohammadiyya, Ujjain, Rajkot and on the year of Syedna Burhanuddin’s 100th Milad he delivered Ashara waaz in Karbala Mo’alla.
In the two years since Syedna Burhanuddin’s wafaat in 2014, Maulana Taher has been in charge of Syedna Qutbuddin’s Fatemi Dawat’s administration in the United States, and has regularly led namaaz and conducted majlis in his home in Bakersfield, California, which have been internationally broadcast through YouTube. His Muharram waaz in both these past years have also been broadcast online, and thousands listened to the waaz and took from Maulana Taher’s bayaan the barakaat of Zikr Husain SA and Ilme Aale Muhammad SA.
May Allah Ta’ala grant Syedna Qutbuddin the jiwar of Panjetan Paak and Aimmat Fatemiyyeen in Jannaat un naeem, in the saff of the Duaat Mutlaqeen, in the shafeeq saya of Syedna Taher Saifuddin and Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin. May He grant Syedna Qutbuddin afzalul jaza, from us, his humblest servants, and indeed, from the Dawat of Imamuz zaman SA.
May Allah ta’ala grant Maulana Taher, and all of us who will remember Syedna Qutbuddin in every single moment as long we live, sabr-e jameel.
May Allah ta’ala grant Syedna Taher Fakhruddin longest life till qiyamat, and the strength to perform Imamuz zaman khidmat. May Allah grant Syedna Qutbuddin qurratul ayn in his beloved son and successor.