{"id":2170,"date":"2014-01-28T11:15:45","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T16:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?p=2170"},"modified":"2014-01-28T11:35:07","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T16:35:07","slug":"farewell-to-syedna-mohammed-burhanuddin-ra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/01\/farewell-to-syedna-mohammed-burhanuddin-ra.html","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Syedna<\/a>
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Friday, January 17th, his holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA<\/a> passed away in Mumbai. Syedna Burhanuddin RA was a visionary intellect and pious guardian of the Deen of his followers, the Dawoodi Bohra community<\/a>, to which I proudly belong. In his time, he renovated great architectural landmarks like Al Jamea Al Anwar masjid<\/a> in Cairo, renewed the institution of Al Jamea tus Saifiyah<\/a>, inaugurated the magnificent Saifee Hospital in Mumbai<\/a>, and was the first officeholder of al Dai al Mutlaq to visit Europe and the West, starting in 1978 when he resided at my parents home near Chicago and culminating in the Ashara sermons in Houston in 2001. But by far his most lasting legacy will be we, his Mumineen<\/a>, whose religious values he cultivated and strengthened immeasurably, even as he encouraged and promoted modernity, education and literacy. The Bohra community’s reputation as enlightened and modern, yet pious and orthodox, is owed entirely to Moula Burhanuddin’s RA leadership and wisdom. The book Mullahs on the Mainframe<\/a>\"\" by Jonah Blank portrays in detail that balance of deen<\/em> and dunya<\/em> which Burhanuddin Moula RA so carefully fostered.<\/p>\n

For anyone under the age of 50, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA was the only Dai we ever knew. <\/p>\n

Last week, Aqa Moula Burhanuddin RA was laid to rest in the breathtaking Raudat Tahera mausoleum, the only structure in the world with the entirety of the Qur’an inscribed inside, in gold leaf. He will rest for the ages alongside his own father, Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA. I was privileged to travel to Mumbai last week and pay my last respects. <\/p>\n

\"Syedna<\/a>
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA with his designated successor and mansoos, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s RA rightful successor, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS, is no less a visionary than his father. In just the few short years since being named Syedna Burhanuddin’s RA mansoos<\/em>, he has pushed new and groundbreaking initiatives like the thaali<\/em> program<\/a> which provides healthy meals to every Bohra family worldwide, which has relieved tens of thousands of women of the daily burden<\/a> of worry about what to feed their families and reducing the physical labor of cooking. And it will fall upon Syedna Saifuddin TUS to continue the work of upliftment that Syedna Burhanuddin RA began, most notably in the Bhindi Bazaar redevelopment project in Mumbai<\/a>, which will transform an aging and decrepit, overcrowded section of the city into an oasis of modern apartments and retail. This project will greatly lift the standard of living for thousands of residents<\/a> of Mumbai, Bohra and non-Bohra alike, and revitalize the economic center of Mumbai.<\/p>\n

\"Syedna<\/a>
Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I cannot express how much I will miss my Burhanuddin Moula RA. But even as I mourn along with the rest of my community, we are grateful that we have Saifuddin Moula TUS to show us the way forward. Now as ever, I am proud to call myself abde Syedna TUS<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\"Syedna<\/a>
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s RA janaza procession, with the casket draped with the Indian Flag, surrounded by thousands of his beloved followers and accompanied by his successor, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Related: The Syedna was a “beautiful contradiction”<\/a> (Mumbai Mirror)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, January 17th, his holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA passed away in Mumbai. Syedna Burhanuddin RA was a visionary intellect and pious guardian of the Deen of his followers, the Dawoodi Bohra community, to which I proudly belong. In his time, he renovated great architectural landmarks like Al Jamea Al Anwar masjid in Cairo,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14],"tags":[455,454,138,24,343,452,453],"class_list":["post-2170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identify-yourself","category-the-pillars-of-faith","tag-bohras","tag-dawoodi-bohras","tag-india","tag-islam","tag-mumbai","tag-syedna-mohammed-burhanuddin-ra","tag-syedna-mufaddal-saifuddin-tus"],"yoast_head":"\nFarewell to Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA) - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Farewell to Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA) - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Friday, January 17th, his holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA passed away in Mumbai. Syedna Burhanuddin RA was a visionary intellect and pious guardian of the Deen of his followers, the Dawoodi Bohra community, to which I proudly belong. 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2170"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2185,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170\/revisions\/2185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}