The Bombay High Court on April 23 upheld Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin’s position as the religious leader ‘Dai-al-Mutlaq‘ of the Dawoodi Bohra community and dismissed his nephew Taher Fakhruddin’s claim that challenged Mr. Saifuddin’s position as the 53rd religious leader of the community.
Pronouncing judgment on the 10-year-old legal battle, Justice Gautam S. Patel said, “I do not want any upheavals. I have kept the judgment as neutral as possible. I have only decided on the issue of proof and not faith.”
“We are delighted that the case is in our favour but we are waiting to read the judgment copy to understand it clearly. We would be able to comment better after that,” said advocate Abeezar Faizullabhoy.
The Dawoodi Bohra community released a statement after the judgment was announced and said, “The rather unfortunate challenge to Syedna Saifuddin’s appointment and the various falsehoods that it was based on has been conclusively dealt with in the said judgment and the claims of Khuzaima Qutbuddin, the original plaintiff and his son Taher Fakhruddin, the current plaintiff, have been comprehensively rejected. The judgment has firmly dealt with and dismissed the misinterpretation and misleading portrayal by the plaintiffs of the facts and the religious doctrines of the Dawoodi Bohra faith. We have always believed and have had full faith and conviction in the Indian judiciary, which has time and again affirmed the position of the Syedna and the Dawoodi Bohra community’s age-old beliefs, customs, practices and doctrines,” said the statement.
After the death of the 52nd Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin in 2014, his son Mufaddal Saifuddin succeeded as the 53rd Syedna. But this did not go well with Khuzaima Qutbuddin, Syedna Burhanuddin’s half-brother and he challenged Saifuddin’s succession, claiming that Syedna Burhanuddin had secretly conferred ‘nass,’ [the official declaration of succession] upon him in 1965. Mr. Qutbuddin accused Mr. Saifuddin of taking over as the Syedna fraudulently. He further claimed that in 1965 when the late Burhanuddin became the Dai, he had publicly appointed Mr. Qutbuddin as the ‘mazoon’ [second in command] and privately anointed him as his successor performing a secret ‘nass’.
After the death of Qutbuddin in 2016, his son Taher Fakhruddin led the legal battle seeking recognition as the 54th Dai of the community claiming that his father conferred ‘nass‘ on him.
Justice Patel has been hearing the case since 2014. The final hearing of the case started on November 30, 2022.
Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas for Mr. Saifuddin stated that ‘nass‘ could be changed and only the last ‘nass’ is valid which was conferred on Mr. Saifuddin by the 52nd Dai Burhanuddin in the presence of witnesses on June 4, 2011, and was reaffirmed the same year as successor-designate on June 20 in the presence of witnesses. Mr. Dwarkadas also claimed that Mr. Saifuddin was appointed four times, in 1969, 2005, and twice in 2011. To this, advocate Anand Desai presenting Mr. Fakhruddin’s case argued that once a ‘nass‘ is conferred it can never be changed.
