Mohammad Burhanuddin

Mohammed Burhanuddin (; 18 November 1840 in Surat, India – 21 February 1906), was 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. He was the son of the 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq Abdul Qadir Najmuddin, who belongs to the family lineage of Fakhruddin Shaheed. After the death of the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Abdul Husain Husamuddin the helm of the Dawoodi Bohra sect came into his hands. He led the community out of a period of indebtedness, disorganization and lack of development within the sect.

Being the son of the 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq he had always been closely associated with the members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. For the whole part of his childhood and adolescence until age 40, he served his father. He was educated by his father in all aspects of religion and the world.

He married Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba and settled in Surat.

After the death of his father, he served Abdul Husain Husamuddin with the same respect and dedication that he had for his father.

After he became the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq he devised a time bound plan to bring about a total turnaround in the prospects of the members of the Dawoodi Bohra community. In the first five years he concentrated on paying off the debts of the community. In this effort Abdullah Badruddin lent complete support which resulted in all the debts getting paid off in five years. The next five years he devoted to restructuring the organisational setup and rearranging the work procedures of the community. The following five years after that, he worked towards development and growth of the members of the community in particular and the sect as a whole.

He remained as the Da'i al-Mutlaq until 1906. He appointed, or did nass, upon his nephew Abdullah Badruddin as his successor and died chanting "Ya Ali, Ya Ali" continuously in his last moments. This created great chaos and confusion within the community. His father remained quiet and did not answer his enemies but concentrated on imparting education to the members of the Dawoodi Bohra such that they remain unaffected by those rumors. When asked the reason of not answering the enemies his father said that the fifth Da'i al-Mutlaq from him will answer his enemies.

He married Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba and settled in Surat. His son Taher Saifuddin, was said by Abdul Qadir Najmuddin to be the one who would answer his enemies.

He spend most of his time being with his father and helping his father in performing the religious duties. This was also a time for learning the intricacies of the beliefs, customs and traditions of the Dawoodi Bohra sect from his father.

While he was with his father, Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba always took great care of his children. But just eight years after the birth of Taher Saifuddin, Aaisaheba Amatulla Aaisaheba died, which was a great loss for him.

Life Before Da'i al-Mutlaq

Mohammed Burhanuddin was born in the same year his father became 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra community. He served his father and also served his uncle the 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq Abdul Husain Husamuddin. So Mohammed Burhanuddin had the honor of serving two Da'i al-Mutlaq.

In the year 1904 he, at the age of 64, went to perform Haj. When he arrived in Kaaba, the King of Hijaz welcomed him with great respect and dignity. A ceremonial procession with him seated on a horse-drawn cart, was taken out on the streets of the markets of Mina. All the people were amazed by the radiance emanating from him. The local people showed their respects towards him by kissing his hands and feet. Not knowing who he was the people were so awestruck by his glory that they regarded him to be an angel.

The year 1906 was marked with sadness for the members of the Dawoodi Bohra community as in this year the vallant and far sighted leader of the Dawoodi Bohra sect, Mohammed Burhanuddin became ill. The members of the community prayed for his recovery. But destiny had sorrow written for in 1906. His ailment became very serious. Such that he conferred nass upon Abdullah Badruddin and died. He remained as Da'i al-Mutlaq for a period of 15 years during which he led the Dawoodi Bohra community out of indebtedness to a position self-reliance and growth where each and every member of the Dawoodi Bohra community is happy and prospering.

Achievements

When Mohammed Burhanuddin became the 49th Da'i al-Mutlaq, the Dawoodi Bohra sect was greatly indebted, unorganized and there was lack of development.

Burhanuddin charted out a plan to change the position of the Dawoodi Bohra sect which was as follows:

For the first five years he devoted all his time and efforts to pay off the debts of the sect. He approached the affluent and the prominent members of the community personally to raise the amount to pay off the debts. Such that all the debts were paid off during or by the end of five years. For the next five years he concentrated on restructuring the organisational hierarchy of the Dawoodi Bohra community such that control and responsibility were established. This allowed the smooth functioning of the different departments and solved all the hurdles they had faced earlier. At the end of five years all the organisations of the Dawoodi Bohra community had become very efficient and began functioning effectively, managing the affairs of the community in an orderly manner. The next five years he put in all his efforts towards the development of the community. He worked out ways and means to bring about growth and prosperity in the community. It is because of his efforts that within a period of five years had the Dawoodi Bohra community reached great heights as regards growth and standard of living.

He has built a number of masjids, so as to facilitate the members of the community to perform their prayers and other tenents of the religion.

He set up many madrasas so as to facilitate learning of the religious teachings such that the current generation and the new generations would have a correct and same picture of the religion, its tenets, its beliefs and its culture.

He made many musafirkhanas mostly near the places of the tombs of various Da'i al-Mutlaq and eminent members of Dawoodi Bohra sect so as to facilitate people from far away places to visit these tombs and pay their respects.

He further went ahead and started the custom of making free food arrangements available for the visitors of the musafirkhanas. Such that people of the community members can come and stay at these musafirkhanas, pay their respects to the tombs present there without any worry about their food requirements.

All these brought great prosperity and growth in the community such that during the last moments of his life he was very satisfied with his efforts and chanted the name of Maulana Ali, whose famous last words were "I swear by the God of Khaba, I have won". Mohammed Burhanuddin too had won in his life.