Moiz Dhansura

Traditionally, in common with many other Muslims, the Dawoodi Bohra community spends the initial days of the Islamic year in commemoration of the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammed’s SAW grandson, Maulana al-Imam al-Husain AS. His Holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA wished to avail the use of the newly-restored al-Jami al-Anwar, providentially completed in time, to honour these revered days of remembrance at the start of the year 1401. During Fatimi times, and later carrying on into the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods as well, al-Jami al-Anwar was a seat of learning where scholars from different schools of thought held sessions of teaching. In keeping with this Fatimi tradition, al-Dai al-Fatimi Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA delivered sermons over a period of nine days expounding on topics of Islamic thought and philosophy and recounting the virtues of the Prophet Mohammed SAW and his Ahle Bayt AS, particularly Imam Husain AS, whose remembrance is of prime importance during these days. This was the start not only of the new Islamic year, but a new phase in the history of al-Jami al-Anwar and the Dawoodi Bohra community. As invocations of Allah’s name and verses of the Holy Quran echoed throughout the masjid during prayer time and Syedna Burhanuddin’s RA discourse filled the air resonating against the broad piers and walls, the Luminous Masjid was beaming, for it was alive and alight once again. The long awaited moment, twenty-seven months if not centuries in the making, had finally arrived. . Excerpt extracted with minor edits from ‘al-Jami al-Anwar-The Luminous Masjid’