1986 Bohra Reformist Trust

16th August 2019

‘DBWS meets the 1986 Trust’ – Written by Shakeel Hirani and Aquil Rajabali

 

The History of the 1986 Trust

At an international reformist conference in Leicester in UK, in 1986 it was decided that a permanent resource, should be created to help the reformist movement worldwide. During the conference, the aims and objectives of the Trust were agreed. Supporting religious education was the primary objective. Supporting and propagating the reformist movement was the secondary most important and supporting any other appropriate charity was the third.

The Trust was designed to be an independent organisation and ensure that it promoted the ideology of the Reformist Dawoodi Bohras worldwide.

The first 5 Trustees were elected by the conference. They were Mr Ahmed Luqmani, Mr Fakhrudin Kaderbhai, Mr Kutub Najmuddin, Mr Onali Anjarwalla, Mr Fazlehussein Kapasi. The trustees were then tasked to draft and have the constitution written and agreed.

The conference agreed that the Trustees were to be permanent members and not subject to elections. The reason for this was that anything that is open to elections, is able to be influenced and thus control can be gained by the Kothar. Any vacancies were to be filled by the other Trustees, and were not subject to elections.

Through resignations and deaths, the Current Committee consists of:

Mr Fazlehusein Kapasi
Mr Kutubudin Najumudin
Mr Fakhrudin Kaderbhai
Mr Saifudin Tayabali
Mr Moiz Rajabali

Initial funds were collected by the attendees of the conference and further fundraising was then done. The 1986 Trust is a registered charity in the UK. The constitution and accounts are available via the Charities Commission website. – click here

The Trust have also become the legal owners of various Properties for use in the Reformist Bohra community. This was done to ensure the safeguarding and protection of the properties to prevent them being usurped by the Kothar, due to various laws which state that anything with the name Dawoodi Bohra in it, can be owned by the Kothar. They are leased out to the Reformist Bohra organisations for their use, at a Peppercorn rent.

 

How does The Trust run?

Meetings are held as and when the need arises for example, if an application for funding comes through, or if there is any business to discuss. Generally speaking, for funding to be approved, a unanimous decisions in sought. The Trust prefers to support organisations as opposed to individuals.

 

What are the criteria for funding?

Ideally a registered organisation. The Trust ensures that the funding goes to mainly Dawoodi Bohra Reformist causes. You would need to supply as much information as possible. The Trust will then scrutinise every application and consider whether they would provide funding, in line with their aims and objectives.

 

Supported Projects

Publications

– Supporting the Bohra Chronicle (India)

– The Jurat Weekly (Urdu publication in Malegoan, India)

– ‘Kitab-us-Salat’ (Namaz handbook)

– ‘Our Way of Life’ (Dawoodi Bohra handbook)

 

Conferences

– in Toronto, Canada in 2001

– in Bhopal, India in 2002

– in Daventry, UK in 2004 

 

Religious Education projects

– Deen-e-Taleem (Udaipur, India) – Religious school for adults and children teaching Dawoodi Bohra practice.

– Maratha Wada Dawoodi Bohra Jamat (Aurangabad, India) –  Supported Madrasa (religious education classes) and IT training for the poor 

 

Reformist Activities

– Support of Bill S-13 in Canada – click for report

– The Udaipur court case – click for report

 

Humanitarian Aid

– The Indian Earthquake Appeal in 2001

 

Acquisition of property to be used by Reformist Dawoodi Bohras

All properties are leased to reformist jamats at peppercorn rents.

– Fatemi Manzil, Gooch Street in Birmingham, UK

– Huseini Manzil, Martin Street in Leicester, UK

– Jamat khana in Hyderabad, India

 

 

A book entitled ‘The Life of a Reformist Bohra’ describes the full detailed history of the 1986 Bohra Reformist Trust and the Dawoodi Bohra Reform in Uganda and in the UK and is available to buy here

– YouTube clip about the production of the book