The Dai Who Wrote in Three Languages
Among the 53 Dais al-Mutlaqeen of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) stands apart in the sheer breadth of his intellectual and creative output. He composed sacred poetry in Arabic, Urdu, and Lisan ud-Dawat — tens of thousands of verses across his lifetime. He wrote theological treatises. He established institutions that shaped a generation of Bohra scholars. He led the community for 50 years through Ottoman collapse, Partition, post-colonial upheaval, and the early decades of Indian independence.
His full name and title: al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Taher Saifuddin ibn Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin ibn Syedna Abdali Saifuddin (RA). Born in 1333 AH / 1915 CE in Surat, he assumed the mantle of the Dai at the age of approximately 18 upon the wafat of his father, Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin (RA), the 50th Dai. He served as Dai for nearly 50 years until his own wafat in 1385 AH / 1965 CE.
He is the father of Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) — the 52nd Dai — and the grandfather of the current Dai, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS), the 53rd Dai. The current Dai has frequently described his grandfather’s spiritual stature and the deep influence of Syedna Taher Saifuddin’s teachings on his own formation.
A Life of Learning from Earliest Childhood
Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) was immersed in the learning of the dawat from birth. He memorized the Quran in childhood and mastered Arabic, Urdu, and Lisan ud-Dawat with extraordinary depth. He studied the classical texts of Ismaili ta’wil — the works of the Fatimid Dais and the Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa — alongside the sciences of fiqh, hadith, and Arabic literature.
Even as a young Dai, his poetry was recognized as being of exceptional quality — not the devotional verse of a religious leader who also happened to write, but the serious work of a poet who happened to be a Dai. Arabic poetry is one of the most demanding literary forms in the world, with strict metrical constraints, vast expected vocabulary, and 1,400 years of tradition against which new compositions are measured. His Arabic poems were praised by Arab scholars who did not share his theology, purely for their literary quality.
The Founding of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah
Among the most consequential decisions of Syedna Taher Saifuddin’s (RA) dawat was the formal establishment of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah — the Ismaili Arabic Academy — in its modern institutional form in Surat and later Karachi.
Aljamea has ancient roots in the dawat’s tradition of training scholars. But under Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA), it was restructured and expanded: a formal curriculum, a residential institution, a faculty, an Arabic language program of rigorous depth. The goal was to produce scholars of the dawat who could:
- Read and interpret classical Arabic texts of Fatimid theology and ta’wil
- Compose in Arabic and Lisan ud-Dawat
- Serve as aamils (religious leaders) for local Bohra communities
- Represent Bohra learning to the broader Islamic world
Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah today — with campuses in Surat, Mumbai, Karachi, and a newer campus in Nairobi — traces its institutional modern form to the vision of the 51st Dai.
The Sulaymani Split — and the Dai’s Response
The decades of Syedna Taher Saifuddin’s (RA) dawat overlapped with the most serious internal challenge the Bohra community had faced since the split between the Hafizi and Tayyibi lines in the Fatimid period: the Sulaymani dispute.
Following the death of the 46th Dai in 1232 AH/1817 CE, a minority claimed that the Imamate should pass to a different branch of the Dai lineage through a figure named Sulayman. The resulting Sulaymani community (based in Baroda and in Yemen) maintained a separate leadership. This dispute — which had its roots in the 17th century — left a legacy of theological controversy that continued to require defense into the 20th century.
Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) wrote extensively in defense of the Dawoodi Bohra’s claim to succession — theological treatises establishing the legitimacy of the Dawoodi line’s Dais, the valid transmission of nass from Dai to Dai, and the historical record of the community’s leadership. These texts remain part of the scholarly corpus of the dawat.
His Poetry — A Sample
The poetic output of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) spans the full range of Islamic devotional themes: praise of the Prophet, the Ahl al-Bayt, the Imams, and the Dais; the grief of Karbala; the longing for the Imam; reflections on death, judgment, and the afterlife; guidance for the mumin’s daily conduct.
A famous Arabic verse on the wisdom of walayat:
وَلَايَةُ الإِمَامِ لُبُّ الدِّينِ وَفِيهَا كُلُّ خَيرٍ لِلمُؤمِنِين
The walayat of the Imam is the core of the faith. In it lies every good for the believers.
From his Urdu poetry (translated):
“The love of Mawla is the water of life — whoever drinks it lives forever; the heart that holds his name is never truly empty.”
His Lisan ud-Dawat qasidas are recited in Bohra households and majalis across the world — at milad celebrations, at the close of Ashara majalis, at the graveside. They are part of the living oral tradition of the Bohra community in a way that crosses generations and geographies.
Raudat Tahera — Built in His Own Name
The most visible legacy of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) visible to any visitor to Surat today is Raudat Tahera — one of the most beautiful Islamic buildings in 20th-century India.
Raudat Tahera was conceived, designed, and built under the direct supervision of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) as a mausoleum for the Dais of the dawat. The name itself — Raudat Tahera — means “The Pure Garden,” echoing the name of Sayyida Fatema al-Zahra (AS), whose own resting place is called Raudat al-Baqi in the Bohra tradition.
Location: Bhendi Bazaar area of Surat, Gujarat.
Architecture: The mausoleum is a masterwork of marble and pietra dura — inlay work using colored stone — similar in technique to the craftsmanship of the Taj Mahal. The Bohra artisans who executed it were trained in the tradition of this ancient art form. The interior is lined with verses from the Quran and from the poetry of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) himself, inlaid in colored marble.
Who rests there: Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) himself is interred in Raudat Tahera. His son and successor, Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) — the 52nd Dai — rests there as well, following his wafat in 1435 AH / 2014 CE.
Every Bohra pilgrim visiting Surat performs the ziyarat at Raudat Tahera. It is among the most revered sites in Bohra religious life after the shrines of the Imams and the Masumeen. Performing the urus (annual commemoration) of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) is one of the major wajebat observed by the community.
His Wafat — 14 Rajab 1385 AH
Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) passed away on 14 Rajab 1385 AH (1965 CE) in Surat. He was 72 years old. Before his wafat, he designated his son Syedna Burhanuddin (RA) as the 52nd Dai — completing the chain of nass from Dai to Dai that has preserved the dawat since the ghaybat of Imam al-Tayyib in 526 AH.
The urus of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) — 14 Rajab — is observed with great reverence throughout the Bohra world: majalis, qasidas, ziyarat, and sadaqah in his name. At Raudat Tahera in Surat, thousands gather.
His salawat, recited in majalis and at his shrine:
السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا مَولَانَا طَاهِرَ سَيفُ الدِّينِ السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا دَاعِيَ اللَّهِ وَخَلِيفَتَهُ السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا شَاعِرَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَلِسَانَهُم
Peace be upon you, O our Master Taher Saifuddin. Peace be upon you, O Caller to Allah and His Vicegerent. Peace be upon you, O poet of the family of Muhammad and their tongue.
His Significance in the Bohra Chain
Among the 53 Dais, Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA) is one of the most towering. The reasons:
The poet Dai: The Arabic literary tradition places enormous importance on poetry as a vehicle of spiritual truth. A Dai who could compose at this level was not merely a religious leader but a bearer of the haqiqa (inner truth) in the most refined human form — language elevated to its utmost capacity.
The institution builder: Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in its modern form is his legacy. Every Bohra aamil saheb trained in the last 80 years received their formation through an institution he built.
The builder of sacred space: Raudat Tahera is his contribution to the physical sacred landscape of the Bohra community — a place of ziarat that the community will visit for generations.
The bridge: He bridges the 19th-century dawat (his predecessors in Surat who faced the challenges of colonial India) and the 20th-century global dawat represented by his son Syedna Burhanuddin (RA), who traveled the world and presided over the global expansion of the Bohra community. Syedna Taher Saifuddin built the institutions and produced the scholarship that made that expansion possible.
اللَّهُمَّ ارحَم مَولَانَا طَاهِرَ سَيفُ الدِّينِ وَارزُقنَا شَفَاعَتَهُ O Allah, have mercy on our Master Taher Saifuddin and grant us his intercession.