AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE PONTIFICAL OFFICE OF DAI-L-MUTLAQ AND ITS Fifty-First Incumbent HIS HOLINESS SARDAR SAIYEDNA TAHER SAIFUDDIN SAHEB by SHAIKH DAWOOD MOULVI, M.A. (ARABIC) Late Educational Inspector to H.E.H. the Nizam's Government
In Commemoration OF THE Silver Jubilee OF His Holiness Sardar Saiyedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb AS Dai-l-Mutlaq
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF His Holiness Sardar Saiyedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb
The High Pontiff of the Dawoodi Bohra Community.
It is not given to many outside the Muslim world intimately to know the noted celebrity in the person of His Holiness Sardar Saiyedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb, the Dai-l-Mutlaq, or the Mullaji Saheb as he is familiarly known, of the Dawoodi Bohra community. While it is impossible to do full justice, in a short biography like this, to the rich and useful life of His Holiness, it is hoped that the details given in the following pages will convey a pen-picture of His Holiness sufficient for the reader to appreciate the greatness of his divine personality.
High Qualities and Attainments of His Holiness
The embodiment of unalloyed piety and sanctity, His Holiness has a heart endowed with the kindest sentiments and tenderest feelings for his followers over whose destinies he presides. As Spiritual and Temporal Head of the community, his love for his people and his solicitude for their welfare are akin to his love for his own children.
His Holiness is the fountain-head of enlightenment and guidance to his people, who do him regal honour and homage. They approach him not only for guidance in matters religious and secular, but in happiness and distress as well. They seek his inspired advice in every aspect of life. Their devotion to him is proverbial and their reverence for him is sublime.
His Holiness a Patron of Education, Arts and Industry
Since his accession to the throne, His Holiness has initiated an active educational policy, establishing a separate department to carry it out efficiently in all its details. Under the control of his Education Department there are at present about 350 Madrasahs, including a number of High Schools, with hostels attached to some of them. At these Madrasahs free education is imparted to the children, according to a well-planned syllabus, in Arabic and religious subjects, as well as in those prescribed by the Universities and Education Departments of the various Provinces.
The Munificence of His Holiness
The charity and benevolence of His Holiness know no bounds and he has always at heart the sympathetic consideration of the wants of the needy who approach him for relief. Amongst his charities for the benefit and comfort of his people, so dearly beloved to him, a palatial rest-house at Mecca and a great mosque in Bombay, viz., El-Mahal-us-Saifi and Ghurrat-ul-Masajid respectively, are striking monuments of his princely generosity.
Delhi and Simla welcome His Holiness
In the year 1930, when His Holiness went to Simla to meet His Excellency the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, he was the recipient of a princely welcome from the public. Many functions were organised in his honour, such as presentation of addresses, At Homes and Tea Parties, which were attended by distinguished personalities present in Simla, including His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, high officers of the Imperial and the Punjab Governments and several Ruling Princes.
His Holiness' Silver Jubilee
The 54th birthday and the Silver Jubilee of His Holiness' accession to the Pontificate were celebrated with great joy on 6th January, 1940, in all the important cities of India. Processions and congregations were organised and mosques and houses everywhere were brilliantly illuminated.
About the Author
SHAIKH Dawood Moulvi, M.A., the author of this booklet, died at the ripe age of 80, just before it was ready for publication. Providence decreed that this short, yet vivid, biography of His Holiness Sardar Saiyedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb should be a posthumous work, hence the proud privilege of fulfilling the last wish of the author to see to its publication has devolved upon me.
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