Question Syedna's 'Right' To Excommunicate

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 12 October 2022 “Revolution leads to rectification and rectification paves the way for reformation.” - Asghar Ali Engineer, quoting Dr Martin Luther King Jr and addressing a gathering in Indore, 2007 A 5-judge bench of Supreme Court reserved decision on whether it should adjudicate the questions- whether the supreme leader of Dawoodi-Bohra community can excommunicate its members, and whether it's constitutionally protected as a religious practice (TOI, Oct 12). Religious head of Dawoodi Bohra community Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. ---- Now it's time for the SC as well as government agencies to intervene in religious issues of all faiths and take decisions in keeping with the human dignity, and not caring for religious sanctity and supremacy of any damn religion, whether Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or Zoroastrianism. Moreover, the unbridled hegemony of Syedna, the supreme religious head of a plote encome (Dutch for a close-knit religious unit with an authoritarian living religious head) Shia sub-sect must be questioned by the law of the state. Whether it's female circumcision or excommunication, Bohras must challenge such oppressive religious practices that are against the ethics and ethos of an individual's freedom and 'private decorum' (using a rather archaic euphemism for the sanctity of a woman's 'sanctum sanctorum'). Very few social crusaders from the Bohra community have been vocal against Syedna and his whims. Asghar Ali Engineer was beaten and assaulted quite a few times by the followers of this otherwise 'peaceful' community. Niala Encober of Padua University studied the religious practices of Bohras in the early 80s and called it a cult with all the features and facets of an incestuous (clannish, it doesn't always have that ‘meaning’ you're thinking of!) group, suffocatingly controlled and dictated by a religious head. In other words, Bohra community is like one of the Deras scattered across northern India having dubious religious leaders at the helm. How can a religious leader, Syedna, ostracize a member? India is a democratic country. This state within a state phenomenon should be unacceptable to the government and the Supreme Court. The followers of this cult should also realize that enough is enough. They must use their brains and question the dictatorship of Syedna. Are they a bunch of brainless and spineless sheep to be led by one omnipotent religious leader? It's time to ask and raise your voice, provided you've one, regardless of being sibilant or strong. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/question-syedna-excommunicate/d/128162 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism