Women in the Bohra Dawat

The Summit: Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra (AS)

Any understanding of women in the Bohra tradition begins and ends with Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra (AS) — the Prophet’s daughter, Imam Ali’s wife, and the mother of the Imams. Her station in Bohra theology is not marginal but foundational.

The Quran addresses the Ahl al-Bayt directly in Ayat al-Tathir (33:33), declaring their divine purification from error. Sayyida Fatima (AS) is among the five of the Khamsa-e-Ahl al-Kisa’ — the group under the Prophet’s cloak upon whom he prayed for Allah’s purification and blessing. This is not symbolic language: the Ismaili theology understands Sayyida Fatima (AS) as divinely purified and infallible in her religious understanding, her testimony, and her example.

In the ta’wil of the Dawat, Sayyida Fatima (AS) occupies the station of Hujjah — the divine proof that mediates between the Natiq (Prophet) and the Asas (Imam Ali). Her unique position bridges the prophetic and Imamic dimensions of the Dawat. The Imams are Imams because they are her children — her womb is the source of the Imamic bloodline that continues to the 21st Imam al-Tayyib (AS). Without Sayyida Fatima, there is no chain of Imams. She is, therefore, not peripheral to the Dawat but constitutive of it.

The Prophet (SAW) said: “Fatima is part of me; whoever angers her angers me.” He also said: “Fatima is Sayyidat Nisa’ al-‘Alamin” — the Lady of Women of All the Worlds. This is a cosmic title: not merely the best woman of her time but the archetype of the perfected woman across all of human history.

The Female Dai: Sayyida Arwa al-Sulayhi (RA)

The history of the Dawat includes one of the most extraordinary examples of female religious authority in the entire Islamic world: Sayyida Arwa bint Ahmad al-Sulayhi (RA) — al-Malika al-Hurra (the Free Queen) — who held the rank of Hujjah (proof) of the Imam and effectively functioned as the chief Dai of the Dawat in Yemen for nearly fifty years (circa 1084–1138 CE).

Sayyida Arwa received the ‘ahd (covenant of authority) from Imam al-Mustansir Billah (AS) himself — the highest possible delegation of religious authority in the Dawat. She was not a figure-head queen but an active religious scholar who:

Dispatched dais to India to spread the Dawat to Gujarat
Maintained the esoteric chain of ‘ilm during a politically turbulent period
Continued the waaz tradition in Yemen
Governed the state of Sulayhid Yemen alongside her religious role

It was Sayyida Arwa who sent Dai Syedna Nur Muhammad al-Maliki to India — beginning the Dawat’s transplantation from Yemen to the Indian subcontinent that eventually created the Bohra community in Gujarat. In a very real sense, the Bohra community in India exists because of a woman’s decision.

The Bohra tradition remembers Sayyida Arwa (RA) not as an anomaly but as a confirmation that in the Dawat, spiritual station depends on ‘ilm and walayah, not gender.

The Quran and Women

The Islamic understanding of women begins with the Quran’s affirmation of their equal spiritual standing:

مَن عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِن ذَكَرٍ أَو أُنثَى وَهُوَ مُؤمِنٌ فَلَنُحيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَة “Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer — We will surely cause him to live a good life.” (Quran 16:97)

The Quran consistently addresses the community as both male and female:

إِنَّ المُسلِمِينَ وَالمُسلِمَاتِ وَالمُؤمِنِينَ وَالمُؤمِنَات… “Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women…” (Quran 33:35)

The explicit pairing — Muslim men and Muslim women, believing men and believing women — reflects the Quran’s insistence that both genders are equally addressed by and responsible to divine command.

Women in Bohra Community Life

Attendance at the Masjid

Bohra women attend the masjid for all major programs — Jumu’ah, Ashara Mubaraka, Ramadan waaz, wiladat celebrations, and special programs. The zanana (women’s section) is a fully equipped part of the masjid, not a marginalised afterthought. During Ashara Mubaraka, the zanana is filled to capacity, and the women’s collective bukaa (weeping for Imam Husain) is an integral part of the community’s mourning.

The Bohra Rida

The rida — the distinctive two-piece garment consisting of an abaya with an attached head-covering — is not merely a dress code but a symbol of Bohra female identity, community belonging, and religious commitment. Women who wear the rida are immediately recognisable as Bohras, making the garment both a personal spiritual statement and a public expression of community identity.

Unlike the all-black garments associated with more restrictive interpretations of Islamic dress, the Bohra rida is worn in a wide variety of colours and patterns. The rida also has a practical design that allows the face to be easily uncovered while maintaining modesty — a design that reflects the Dawat’s balance between the letter and spirit of Islamic dress.

In the ta’wil: the rida wraps the outward (zahir) in beauty and modesty, reflecting the inner (batin) spiritual garment of walayah that wraps the soul in the Imam’s protection.

See also: Bohra Dress Code

The Misaq for Women

Women take the misaq (covenant of walayah) at the age of puberty, just as men do. The misaq is the formal entry into the Dawat — the act by which a believer is placed inside the chain connecting them to the Imam through the Dai. There is no gender distinction in the misaq: the spiritual covenant is identical for men and women.

Women’s Religious Education

Al-Jamea-tus-Saifiyah — the Fatimid Academy, the Dawat’s highest educational institution — accepts female students in its women’s division. Women study Arabic, Lisan ud-Dawat, Quranic sciences, Ismaili theology, and Islamic history at the same rigorous level as men. Al-Jamea graduates who are women often become teachers in the community’s maktabs, religious educators, and community leaders.

The Bohra tradition has also maintained strong community education programs for women throughout its history — in contrast to the broader historical trend in many Muslim communities where women’s religious education was severely limited.

Women Scholars in Bohra History

Sayyida Zainab (AS) — The Voice of Karbala

Sayyida Zainab bint Ali (AS) — the granddaughter of the Prophet (SAW), daughter of Imam Ali (AS) and Sayyida Fatima (AS), and sister of Imam Husain (AS) — is one of the most revered women in all of Islam, and in the Bohra tradition specifically.

After the massacre at Karbala, it was Sayyida Zainab (AS) who:

Ensured the survival of Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS) — the sole surviving male of the Imami lineage — by shielding him from Yazid’s forces
Delivered a powerful khutbah (public oration) before Yazid’s court in Damascus, indicting him before all present with the eloquence of her father Imam Ali
Preserved and transmitted the account of Karbala to subsequent generations

Without Sayyida Zainab’s courage, the Imamate chain would have been broken at Karbala, and the Bohra Dawat would not exist. She is the lisan al-Husain — the tongue of Imam Husain — who made his message heard across history.

Sayyida Hajar (AS) — The Mother of Ishmael

Sayyida Hajar (AS) — Ibrahim’s (AS) wife and the mother of Ismail (AS) — is the woman whose sa’i between Safa and Marwah became one of the five pillars of Hajj. Every Muslim who performs the sa’i is reenacting the imán of a woman. The Ka’ba’s water supply — Zamzam — emerged because of a woman’s dua and Allah’s answer to it.

This is not accidental: the physical centre of Islamic worship contains within it the permanent commemoration of a woman’s faith.

See also: Sayyida Hajar, Sa I Safa Marwah

Contemporary Bohra Women

The contemporary Bohra woman embodies a distinctive combination:

Professional excellence — Bohra women participate in professional life at unusually high rates for a traditional Muslim community. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs, and technology professionals are common in the Bohra female community. This is not an accident: the Dawat’s emphasis on education (ilm) as a religious obligation applies equally to women.

Religious depth — Bohra women attend the Ashara waaz, perform salah, recite du’as, and maintain the Dawat’s traditions with at least as much commitment as men. The community’s religious culture is transmitted largely through women — it is mothers who teach children their first Quranic surahs, who maintain the tradition of Fatiha on Thursday nights, who prepare niyaz for the masjid.

Community leadership — Bohra women lead the women’s wing of their local jamat, teach in the maktab, coordinate charitable programs, and serve on community committees. The Dawat’s model of female participation is active engagement, not passive attendance.

The rida as choice — For contemporary Bohra women, the rida is increasingly understood and worn as a choice — an expression of community identity and spiritual commitment — rather than merely a social obligation. Young Bohra women in cosmopolitan cities (Mumbai, London, Dubai, Chicago) wear the rida professionally, in university, and in daily life, as a proud statement of who they are.

The Ta’wil of Women in the Dawat

In the Ismaili esoteric tradition, the feminine is associated with the batin (inner, hidden, spiritual) dimension — just as the masculine is associated with the zahir (outer, manifest, structural) dimension. The Prophet is natiq (the speaker); the Imam is asas (the foundation). Sayyida Fatima (AS) as hujjah mediates between these two dimensions — she is the spiritual womb from which the Imams emerge.

This theology does not diminish either gender but assigns them complementary cosmic functions. The feminine principle in the Dawat’s cosmology is not passive but preservative — like the seed that holds the entire future tree within itself, the feminine in the Dawat preserves the batin of the ‘ilm.

The Bohra woman’s central role in transmitting the Dawat’s traditions across generations is thus not just cultural habit but cosmological function: she is the keeper of the batin within the jamat.

Women in the Bohra Dawat — History, Faith, and Contemporary Life