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SALAFI RADICALS IN CLASH WITH
MINISTRY OF AWQAF IN KUWAIT OVER BOHRA MOSQUE PROJECT
Subject: Three articles: Kuwait freezes Bohra
mosque project. Bohras accused of following unislamic
belief system by Sheikh Mohammad Al-Hamoud. Kuwait Times
Few small sects & groups of Islam such as Bohras,
Aghakhani, etc keep themselves isolated from other
Muslims at large. They do not allow other Muslims to
come and pray in their mosques or Jamatkhanas. Many
years back an Afghan family living in neighborhood of a
Bohra mosque in La Puente, Los Angeles, USA, started
joining prayers. Bohras were shocked and amused. No body
welcomed them or talked to them. After few days, somehow
they were told not come. They stopped. My contention is,
if any group of Islam thinks it is on right path, it
should invite outsiders to join them. The word Dawat is
for inviting others to join the right path. Why then
others are not welcomed. I think if we name any building
a mosque, all Muslims should be free to come and
worship.
Bohras and many other sects also prohibit marrying out
side their circle, unless the other party converts. They
do not consider a marriage solomonized by a cleric,
other than Bohra, valid. Bohra clerics emphasize, if a
Bohra’s burial ceremony is solemnized by non-Bohras, the
dead will be denied entrance to heaven because prophet
will be displeased because the Bohra Dai (the high
priest) was displeased.
Kuwait Times
Bohras: Sunni perspective
October 17, 2007
By Ahmad Al-Khaled, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Sunni cleric Sheikh Mohammad Al-Hamoud, who is a
member of the Jamiyat Ahiya Al-Torath, a local Salafist
organization, spoke to Kuwait Times about the Bohra
religion and some of the practices which separate it
from the mainstream Muslim community.
Last week, the Municipality denied a request made by the
government on behalf of local Bohras, who number
somewhere between 25,000 to 50,000, to be allocated
government land to build a house of worship. The request
to build a Bohra place of worship raised a controversy,
with Islamists arguing that the request should be denied
based on the fact that no Kuwaiti nationals were members
of the Bohra sect as well as the fact that residents in
Ardiya opposed the building in their area. The unspoken
reason for the opposition was more than likely based on
the fact that local Muslims do not believe Bohras to be
a legitimate sect of Islam. Bohras (which is
linguistically traced to the Gujarati word meaning 'to
trade') have roots in Gujarat, India where they were
converts to Ismaili Shiism. In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, they broke from the branch following the
Fatimi Tayyibi dawah of Yemen. They then broke into
several offshoots on multiple occasions and came to be
known as Aliyah Bohras, Dawoodi Bohras, Jafari Bohras
and Sulaymani Bohra among others.
Bohras believe in seven pillars of their religion and
not the five pillars of Islam which are mentioned in the
Holy Quran. The first and most important of their seven
pillars is that of walayah, which is love and devotion
for Allah, the Prophets, the Imam, and the da'i.
Sunni Muslims do not believe in the worship of any God
but Allah and do not call on followers to devote
themselves to anyone but Allah. Sheikh Mohammad said the
group has historically brought with it "a lot of
movement that has harmed Islam in the past and present".
"The Ismailia sect, which Muslim scholars believe is a
sect which has strayed, believe in an imam who is
without sin," he said. This belief is contrary to the
belief of Sunni Muslims that only the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
was sinless. "They believe the imam is a descendant of
Imam Ismail bin Jaafar," he added.
Notably, the current da'i or leader of the Dawoodi
Bohras, Sayyedna Mohammad Burhanuddin, is 52nd in a long
line of da'i mutlaqs which can be translated to
'absolute preacher or summoner'. He is revered for his
supposed ancestry and position which is contrary to
Sunni beliefs, which do not allow religious reverence
for anyone but Allah.
Sheikh Mohammad stated that the Bohras believe,
"Whomever does not know the Imam of his time will die as
a non-believer and non-Muslim." This belief flies in the
face of Sunni Muslim beliefs which do not require
reverence for imams or any religious heads as a
prerequisite for being a Muslim. "They do not pray in
Sunni or Shiite mosques (because) either they do not
believe we are Muslims or they do not believe these are
legal mosques," the cleric said.
Notably, among differences in Islam and Bohra beliefs is
their belief in reincarnation. On Bohra beliefs on
reincarnation, Sheikh Mohammad said, "If someone is
righteous and he dies, Bohras believes his spirit will
live on in another person." As to the possibility of
Bohra building a place of worship in Kuwait, Sheikh
Mohammad summed up the issue stating: "If these are
their beliefs, then we should not help them build a
temple because this is opposite to Islam and there are
fatwas forbidding this." Specifically, he noted that a
fatwa was issued by a religious committee in Saudi
Arabia. "Their belief is a mixture of philosophy,
interpretations, and Shiite practices," he said.
Huthayif Yusef, a spokesman of the local Bohra
community, refused to comment on any of the topics
discussed in this article.
Headline News
Kuwait Times
Islamists step up drive against Bohra mosque
October 17, 2007
By B Izzak, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Islamist MPs and activists yesterday continued
their campaign against government plans to build a
mosque for the Bohra community in the country as another
minister came under fire. A day after Salafist MP Waleed
Al-Tabtabae threatened to quiz Minister of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs Abdullah Al-Maatouq over making the
request to build the mosque, another Islamist MP
yesterday threatened to grill Minister of Public Works
and Municipality Affairs Mousa Al-Sarraf.
MP Khudair Al-Enezi, a member of the Islamic
Constitutional Movement (ICM) or Muslim Brotherhood,
warned that Sarraf will be questioned if he approves a
plan to build the mosque. The technical committee of the
municipality last week rejected the Awqaf ministry's
request for the mosque but Sarraf later kept the door
open for a fresh attempt to get the request approved.
Maatouq explained that his ministry made the request for
the allocation of government land for the proposed
mosque on behalf of the government, which recently
adopted a decision in this regard.
A hardline Salafist group meanwhile launched the
strongest attack yet on the Bohras, describing them as
not Muslims. The Ummah Principles Alliance said in a
statement yesterday that Bohras were in fact enemies of
Islam who do not believe in the main principles of the
religion. Liberals led by the Kuwait Human Rights
Association meanwhile came to the defense of Bohras,
saying they are a recognized sect of Islam and they
should be allowed to freely practice their religious
rites.
The association also said that Bohras in some Gulf
countries like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have
their own mosques. The association also appealed to the
prime minister to intervene and allow Bohras to build
their mosque.
Awqaf freezes Bohra mosque project after furore
Published Date: October 22, 2007
By A Saleh and B Izzak, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: The government yesterday succeeded in defusing a
fierce confrontation with lawmakers today after the
Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs asked the
Municipality to freeze its earlier request to allocate a
plot of land for Bohras in Kuwait to build a mosque
until proper measures have been set to regulate the
matter.
According to informed sources, Minister of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs Abdullah Al-Maatouq, who has been
threatened with a grilling over the issue, called the
Chairman of the Municipality Abdurrahman Al-Humaidan and
requested that the topic be excluded from the Cabinet's
agenda until further notice and that a formal letter on
the same issue be circulated.
The 16-member Cabinet was to vote yesterday on a
recommendation by its technical committee two weeks ago
to reject a request by Maatouq for the Cabinet to
allocate 6,500 sq m of government land in Ardhiya for
the Bohra mosque. Maatouq, who has been under fire since
then, has said that he submitted the request on behalf
of the Cabinet, which approved the Bohra mosque.
Islamist MPs earlier yesterday had issued a stern
warning to the government on the eve of decisive vote by
the Municipal Council on allowing the Bohra community to
build a mosque on government land. Islamist MP Faisal
Al-Muslim earlier said the government and the Ministry
of Awqaf must withdraw the request and the initial
approval otherwise MPs will exercise their duty without
sparing the awqaf minister from responsibility. Muslim
said the government has created a crisis out of nothing
by handling the issue the way it did. The lawmaker said
that there are hundreds of mosques in the country and
are open to all Muslims for worship.
Opening a special mosque for the Bohras will "land us in
a major problem because dozens of similar communities
will make similar demands", he said. Muslim called on
members of the municipality to insist on rejecting the
request by approving the technical committee
recommendation.
Another Islamist MP Jaber Al-Muhailbi said that opening
a mosque for the Bohras in Kuwait clearly violates the
country's laws, adding that the government should close
the door for those trying to create a crisis in Kuwait.
MP Hussein Muzyed warned Municipality Affairs Minister
Mousa Al-Sarraf of interfering in the internal affairs
of the municipality and trying to negate its decisions
by the Cabinet. Muzyed warned that Sarraf will be
grilled if he took any action against the municipality's
resolutions.
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