List of Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra
Short history. The Dua't al-Mutlaqin. Al-Malika al-Sayyida (Hurratul-Malika) was instructed and prepared by Imām Mustansir and following Imāms for the second period of "satr". It was going to be on her hands that Imām Taiyab abi al-Qasim would go into seclusion, and she would institute the office of Da'i al-Mutlaq. Syedna Zoeb bin Moosa was first to be instituted to this office, and the line of Taiyabi Dā'ĩs that began in 1132 has passed from one Dā'ī to another, continuing to the present time. One of the  sects which follows these Fatimid Dā'īs is the Dawoodi Bohra dawat. Until the 23rd Dā'ī, the center of the dawat was in Yemen. The 23rd Dā'ī, Syedna Mohammed Ezzuddin designated Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin ibn Sulaiman in Sidhpur, Gujarat, India, as his successor. Upon becoming the 24th Dā'ī, Yusuf Najmuddin ibn Sulaiman stayed in India for a few years before going to Yemen. He died and was buried there. Because of the intense persecutions against the dawat by the Zaydi rulers of Yemen, the 24th Dā'ī designated Syedna Jalal Shamshuddin in India as his successor, and the center of the dawat  then moved permanently to India. The 25th Dā'ī also died in 1567 CE, and is buried in Ahmedabad, India, the first Dā'ī to have his mausoleum in India. Even though his time as Dā'ī was short – only a few months – he was Walī al-Hind under the 24th Dā'ī for 20 years. After breaking with the Fatimid teaching hierarchy, the Tayyibiyah in the Yemen recognized the Sulayhid queen as the hujjah of the concealed imam Al-Tayyib; with her backing, they set up an independent teaching hierarchy headed by a da'i mutlaq ("unrestricted summoner") whose spiritual authority since her death  in 1138 has been supreme. The second da'i mutlaq, Ibrahim Al-Hamidi (1151–1162), became the real founder of the tayyibi esoteric doctrine, which he elaborated especially in his Kitab kanz Al-walad (Book of the child's treasure). The position remained in his family until 1209, when it passed to Ali ibn Muhammad of the Banu Al-Walid Al-Anf family, which held it for more than three centuries with only two interruptions. The political power of the Yemenite da'is reached a peak during the long incumbency of Idris Imad Al-Din ibn Al-Hasan, the nineteenth da'i mutlaq (1428–1468 ). He is also the author of a seven-volume history of the Ismaili imams, Kitab uyun Al-akhbar (Book of choice stories) and of a two-volume history of the Yemenite da'is, Kitab nuzhat Al-akhbar (Book of story and entertainment), as well as works of esoteric doctrine and religious controversy. While the Yemenite da'is had been able to act relatively freely with the backing or protection of various rulers during the early centuries, they usually faced hostility from the Zaydi imams and in the sixteenth century suffered relentless persecution. In 1539 the twenty-third da'i mutlaq appointed an Indian , Yusuf ibn Sulayman, as his successor, evidently in recognition of the growing importance of the Indian tayyibi community. Yusuf came to reside in the Yemen, but after his death in 1566 his successor, also Indian, transferred the headquarters to Gujarat in India. The insignificant Tayyibi communities in Egypt and Syria, known as Amiriyya, are only rarely mentioned in the sources. Toward the end of the 6th/12th century, there is a vague reference to the presence of Amiriyya in Egypt. In Syria a community of Amiriyya is still mentioned about the year 723/1324 in the Baqi'a and Zabud mountains near Safad . These isolated communities probably did not survive much longer. Only in Yemen and India could the Tayyibi da'wa, under the undisputed leadership of the da'i al mutlaq, establish itself permanently. After Ibrahim al-Hamidi the position of da'i mutlaq remained among his descendants until 605/1209, when it passed to 'Ali b. Muhammad of the Banu 'l-Walid al-Anf family, which was named after his ancestor Ibrahim al-Anf, who was a prominent supporter of the Salayhids and a descendant of the Umayyad al-Walid b. 'Utba b. Abi Sufyan. It remained in this family, with only two interruptions in  the 7th/13th century, until 946/1539. The traditional stronghold of the Isma'ili da'wa in the Yemen was in the Haraz [q.v.] mountains, though there were scattered communities in other parts of the country. The da'is generally enjoyed the support, or at least protection, of the Hamdanids [q.v.], who permitted them to reside in San'a' and later, in the 8th/14th century, in the fortress of Dhu Marmar. Their relations with the Ayyubids and the Rasulids were fair, but the Zaydi imams were mostly hostile. The Zaydi pretender al-Mansur 'Ali b. Salah al-Din expelled them from Dhu Marmar in 829/1426 after  a prolonged siege, and they established their residence in the Haraz mountains. The Zaydi Imam al-Mutahhar b. Sharaf al-Din in the 10th/16th century relentlessly persecuted the Banu 'l-Anf and seems to have practically extirpated the family. The relations with the da'wa in India remained close. There the Tayyibi community grew mostly undisturbed, though in the first half of the 9th/15th century persecution under the Sultanate of Gudjarat resulted in mass conversions to Sunnism. In 946/1539 the position of da'imutlaq passed to an Indian, and after his death in 947/1567 the headquarters were transferred to Gudjarat in India . After the death of Da'ud b. 'Adjabshah, the 26th da'imutlaq, in 999/1591, the succession was disputed. While in India Da'ud Burhan al-Din was established, Da'ud b. Adjabshah's representative in the Yemen, Sulayman b. al-Hasan al-Hindi, claimed to have been designated successor by the deceased da'imutlaq. The dispute was not resolved and led to the permanent schism between the Da'udi and Sulaymani factions which accepted separate lines of da'is. Among the Sulaymanis, whose cause had only few adherents in India, the position of da'imutlaq in 1050/1640 passed to the Yemenite Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. Fahd of the  Makrami [q.v.] family, in which it has remained since with few interruptions. The Makrami da'is established themselves in Nadjran [q.v.], where they were supported by the Banu Yam [q.v.]. Before 1131/1719 they conquered the Haraz region in the Yemen and held it against all attempts of the Zaydi imams to expel them. The Da'i al-Hasan b. Hibat Allah (d. 1189/1775) conquered Hadramawt and unsuccessfully fought the rising Su'udi dynasty in Central Arabia. From Haraz the Makramis were expelled in 1289/1872 by the Ottoman general Ahmad Mu¦htar Pasha, who took their fortress 'Attara and treacherously killed the Da'i  al-Hasan b. Isma'il Al Shibam al-Makrami. The present da'imutlaq of the Sulaymanis is Jamal al-Din 'Ali b. al-Husayn al-Makrami, who succeeded his father in 1939 (see A. A. A. Fyzee, Three Sulaymani Da'is: 1936–1939, in JBBRAS, xvi (1940), 101–4). Besides the Banu Yam in Nadjran, the people of the Jabal Maghariba in Haraz are Sulayma-qnis. In India the Sulaymani da'is are represented by mansubs residing in Baroda. Sulaymanis live mainly in Bombay, Boroda, and Haydarabad, Dekkan. The Da'udi da'is after the split continued to reside in India, where the great majority of their followers  live. The da'wa generally was able to develop freely, though there was another wave of persecution under Awrangzib (1044/1635-1118/1707). Since 1200/1785 the headquarters of the da'is have been in Surat. The present da'imutlaq is Muhammad Burhan al-Din, who succeeded his father Tahir Sayf al-Din in 1966. Da'udi Isma'ilis live chiefly in Gudjarat, Bombay, and Central India. In Yemen there are Da'udis in the Haraz region. (For minor secessions from the Da'udis [see bohoras]). The Tayyibiyah preserved a large portion of the Fatimid religious literature and generally maintained the traditions of Fatimid doctrine more closely than the Nizariyah . Thus the Tayyibi da'is always insisted on the equal importance of the zahir and batin aspects of religion, strict compliance with the religious law and esoteric teaching. Qadi Al-Numan's Da' a'im Al-Islam has remained the authoritative codex of Tayyibi law and ritual to the present. In the esoteric doctrine, however, there were some innovations which gave the Tayyibi gnosis its distinctive character. The Rasa'il Ikhwan Al-Safa'were accepted as the work of one of the pre-Fatimid hidden imams and were frequently quoted and interpreted. The Tayyibiyah in India are commonly known as the Bohoras. There are , however, also Sunni and some Hindu Bohoras; they are mostly engaged in agriculture, while the Ismaili Bohoras are generally merchants. The origins of the Tayyibi community in Gujarat go back to the time before the Tayyibi schism. According to the traditional account an Arab da'i sent from the Yemen arrived in the region of Cambay with two Indian assistants in 1068. The Ismaili community founded by him, though led by local walis, always maintained close commercial as well as religious ties with the Yemen and was controlled by the Yemenite teaching hierarchy. It naturally followed the Yemenite community at the  time of the schism. From Cambay the community spread to other cities, in particular Patan, Sidhpur, and Ahmadabad. In the first half of the fifteenth century the Ismailiyyah were repeatedly exposed to persecution by the Sunni sultans of Gujarat, and after a contested succession to the leadership of the Bohora community, a large section, known as the Jafariyah, seceded and converted to Sunnism. After its transfer from the Yemen in 1566, the residence of the da'i mutlaq remained in India. The succession to the twenty-sixth da'i mutlaq, Daud ibn Ajabshah (d. 1591), was disputed. In India Daud Burhan Al -Din ibn Qut bshah was recognized by the great majority as the twenty-seventh da'i mutlaq. However, Daud ibn Ajabshah's deputy in the Yemen, Sulayman ibn Hasan, a grandson of the first Indian da'i mutlaq Yusuf ibn Sulayman, also claimed to have been the designated successor and after a few years he came to India to press his case. Although he found little support, the dispute was not resolved and resulted in the permanent split of the Daudi and Sulaymani factions recognizing separate lines of da'is. The leadership of the Sulaymaniyah, whose Indian community was small, reverted to the  Yemen with the succession of the thirtieth da'i mutlaq, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Fahd Al-Makrami, in 1677. Since then the position of da'i mutlaq has remained in various branches of the Makrami family except for the time of the forty-sixth da'i, an Indian. The Makrami da'is usually resided in Badr in Najran. With the backing of the tribe of the Banu Yam they ruled Najran independently and at times extended their sway over other parts of the Yemen and Arabia until the incorporation of Najran into Saudi Arabia in 1934. The peak of their power was in the  time of the thirty-third da'i mutlaq, Ismail ibn Hibat Allah (1747–1770), who defeated the Wahhabiyah in Najd and invaded hadramawt. He is also known as the author of an esoteric Qur'an commentary, virtually the only religious work of a Sulaymani author published so far. Since Najran came under Saudi rule, the religious activity of the da'is and their followers has been severely restricted. In the Yemen the Sulaymaniyah are found chiefly in the region of Manakha and the haraz mountains. In India they live mainly in Baroda, Ahmadabad, and Hyderabad and are guided by a representative (mansub) of the  da'i mutlaq residing in Baroda. The da'is of the Daudiyah, who constitute the great majority of the Tayyibiyah in India, have continued to reside there. All of them have been Indians except the thirtieth da'i mutlaq, Ali Shams Al-Din (1621–1631), a descendant of the Yemenite da'i Idris EImad Al-Din. The community was generally allowed to develop freely although there was another wave of persecution under the emperor Awrangzib (1635–1707), who put the thirty-second da'i mutlaq, Qutb Al-Din ibn Daud, to death in 1646 and imprisoned his successor. The residence of the Daudi da'i mutlaq is now  in Bombay, where the largest concentration of Bohoras is found. Outside Gujarat, Daudi Bohoras live in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, in many of the big cities of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Burma, and the East Africa. In the Yemen the Daudi community is concentrated in the Haraz mountains. After the death of the twenty-eighth da'i mutlaq, Adam Safi Al-Din, in 1621, a small faction recognized his grandson Ali ibn Ibrahim as his successor and seceded from the majority recognizing Abd Al-Tayyib Zaki Al-Din. The minority became known as Alia Bohoras and have followed a separate line of  da'is residing in Baroda. Holding that the era of the prophet Muhammad had come to an end, a group of Alias seceded in 1204/1789. Because of their abstention from eating meat they are called Nagoshias (not meat eaters). In 1761 a distinguished Daudi scholar, Hibat Allah ibn Ismail, claimed that he was in contact with the hidden imam, who had appointed him his hujjah and thus made his rank superior to that of da'i mutlaq. He and his followers, known as Hibtias, were excommunicated and persecuted by the Daudiyah. Only a few Hibtia families are left in Ujjain. Since the  turn of the century a Bohora reform movement has been active. While recognizing the spiritual authority of the da'i mutlaq it has sought through court action to restrict his powers of excommunication and his absolute control over community endowments and alms. All of these groups are numerically insignificant. During testimony of 51st Dai Syedna Taher Saifuddin, he clarified about knowledge classes of 'Zahir', 'Tawil' and, 'Haqiqat' present in community. First two are known to many but the third one namely 'Hakikat' content some religious truths known to very few. Some of which are known to only 2 or 3 persons  in community, and there is also knowledge which is available with Dai only, and he gets it from his predecessor Dai. The Walī-ul-Hind. Up to the 23rd Dā'ī, the center was at Yemen; for India, a "Walī al-Hind" (representative/caretaker for India) was designated by the Dā'ī to run the dawat in India. Moulai Abdullah was the first Walī al-Hind in the era of Imam Mustansir (427–487 AH). Moulai Abadullah (originally named Baalam Nath) and Moulai Nuruddin (originally named Roop Nath) went to Cairo, Egypt, to learn, and went to India in 467 AH. Moulai Ahmed  was also their companion. Dā'ī Zoeb appointed Maulai Yaqoob (after the death of Maulai Abadullah), who was the second Walī al-Hind of the Fatimid dawat. Moulai Yaqoob was the first person of Indian origin to receive this honour under the Dā'ī. He was son of Moulai Bharmal, minister of Hindu Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja (Anhalwara,Patan) (487–527 AH/1094–1133 CE). With Minister Moulai Tarmal, they had honoured the Fatimid dawat along with their fellow citizens on the call of Moulai Abdullah. Moulai Fakhruddin, son of Moulai Tarmal, was sent to western Rajasthan, India, and Syedi Nuruddin went to the Deccan  (death: Jumadi al-Ula 11 at Don Gaum, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India). One Dā'ī after another continued until the 23rd Dā'ī in Yemen. Persons were appointed to the position of Walī al-Hind one after another up to Walī al-Hind Moulai Jafer, Moulai Abdul Wahab, and Moulai Qasim Khan bin Hasan (the last one being the 11th Walī al-Hind, and who died in 950 AH/1543 CE in Ahmedabad). The Awliya al-Hind were champions of the Fatimid dawat in India, who were instrumental in maintaining & propagating it on instructions of the Dā'ī at Yemen, and it is because of  them that the Fatimid dawat was able to survive the persecutions in Cairo and Yemen. A list of them is also given below along with the relevant Dā'īs. The dawat was transferred to India from Yemen when the 23rd Dā'ī Syedna Mohammed Ezzuddin designated as his successor (and, thus the 24th Dā'ī) Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin ibn Sulaiman in Sidhpur, Gujarat, India. In the generation of Moulai Yaqoob, Moulai Ishaq, Moulai Ali, Syedi Hasan Feer continued one after another as Wali-ul-Hind. Syedi Hasan Feer was fifth Wali in the era of 16th Dai Abadullah (d.809 AH/1406 AD) of Yemen . Names of Wali al-hind are also given along with concerned Dai below. Dua't al-Mutlaqeen. The following is a list of the Da'i al-Mutlaq. 53. Syedna Aali Qadr Mufaddal Saifuddin bin Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin II. Mazoon: Syedi Husain Bhaisaheb Husamuddin, Syedi Qasim Bhaisaheb Hakimuddin, Syedi Ali Asghar Bhaisaheb Kalimuddin Mukasir: Syedi Qasim Bhaisaheb Hakimuddin, Syedi Ali Asghar Bhaisaheb Kalimuddin, Syedi Qaid Johar Ezzuddin