Who Are the Bohra, and What Do They Believe?

The Bohra are one of the most well-known Islamic sects associated with Shiism, with a presence in Egypt. They belong to the Ismaili Shiite tradition and supported the imamate of Ahmad al Musta‘li al Fatimi against his brother Nizar al Mustafa li Din Allah, following the death of their father, the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah in 487 AH.

The Bohra are Musta‘li Ismailis. They recognise Imam al Musta‘li, followed by al Amir, then his son al Tayyib. For this reason, they are known as the Tayyibi Ismailis. They are the Ismailis of India and Yemen who withdrew from political activity and turned to trade. Through this path, they reached India, where Hindu converts to Islam mixed with them and became known as the Bohra. The term Bohra is an old Indian word meaning trader.

They hold that Imam al Tayyib entered occultation in the year 525 AH. The concealed imams from his lineage up to the present day are unknown; even their names are not known. Bohra scholars themselves, according to their own admission, do not know of them.

The Bohra are divided into two main branches. The Dawoodi Bohra, named after Qutb Shah Dawud, have been present in India and Pakistan since the tenth Hijri century, with their chief religious authority residing in Mumbai. The Sulaymani Bohra, named after Sulayman ibn Hasan, whose centre remains in Yemen to this day.

According to a number of Sunni sources, the Bohra represent a mixture of various doctrines. They are described as esoteric and are considered part of Ismailism, which itself emerged from Shiite sects. These sources state that they exaggerated the status of their imams to a degree exceeding that attributed to other Shiite groups. Among the beliefs attributed to them are that they do not establish prayer in Muslim mosques. Outwardly, their creed resembles that of other moderate Islamic sects, while inwardly it differs. They pray, but their prayer is directed to the concealed Ismaili imam from the lineage of al Tayyib ibn al Amir. They travel to Mecca like other Muslims, believing they are performing the pilgrimage, yet they claim that the Ka‘bah symbolises the imam and they do not perform the rites of Hajj in the same manner as Muslims. The leader of the sect insists on the principle that followers prostrate to him at least once in their lifetime and requires both men and women to regularly kiss his hand.

Sunni religious authorities have issued rulings prohibiting marriage to Bohra women and forbidding giving Bohra men in marriage, considering them an esoteric sect that contradicts and undermines the foundations of Islam. The Egyptian Dar al Ifta also described them in a separate fatwa as holding beliefs that fall outside orthodox Islamic doctrine.

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