Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Dawoodi Bohra
Summary
The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. The majority are in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South East Asia, and Australia. The worldwide population is about one million.
The Dawoodi Bohras are a close-knit community who follow the tenets of Islam. Whilst adherence to traditional values is important for the community, they are also known for their mercantilism and having a modernist approach to their lifestyles.
Their cultural heritage is in the traditions of the Fatimid imams; direct descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima. The Fatimids ruled over North Africa between 10th and 11th century CE.
Mostly self-reliant, the Bohras are typically traders, businesspersons, and entrepreneurs. The word "Bohra" comes from the Gujarati word vohrvu or vyavahar, meaning "to trade".
Dawoodi Bohras are a subset of the Taiyebi sect of the Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, itself a branch of Shia Islam. The Bohras trace their heritage to the Fatimid Caliphate, named after Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, so veneration of the Fatimid Imams and Muhammad's family is central to their faith.
The Fatimids, from the lineage of the Hashimites of Mecca, ruled over North Africa and Egypt, Hejaz, and Levant between the 10th and 11th centuries. They flourished during what Maurice Lombard called the Golden Age of Islam, and were patrons of arts, learning, and scientific discovery. The 14th Imam, al-Mui’zz, founded the modern-day city of Cairo and established Al-Azhar University, one of the oldest universities in the world.
Before the empire's decline, Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah, the 20th Fatimid imam, directed his grand emissary, Arwa bint Ahmad, the Sulayhid queen of Yemen, to establish the office of the Da'i al-Mutlaq (unrestricted missionary) to act as vicegerent of his son, the 21st Imam At-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim while he was in occultation, and to lead al-Da'wah al-Hadiyah.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.