Taher Saifuddin

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Taher Saifuddin was the fifty-first Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq and led the Dawoodi Bohras community from 1915 to 1965. He was succeeded by his son, Mohammed Burhanuddin.

Taher Saifuddin was born on 4 August 1888 (27th Zilqad 1305 Hijri) and at the age of twenty eight he succeeded to the leadership of the Dawoodi da‘wah and the associated Bohra community. Under his leadership, the Arabic learning academy Jamia Saifiyah in Surat, India saw growth and development. The community also saw renewed adherence to Islamic tenets and general development and progress. He contributed to the development of many monuments, chief of them being the internal curtains of Ka‘bah and the zarih of ‘Alī and Husain.^{[citation needed]} Several schools and the Saifee Hospital & Saifee Masjid in Mumbai were erected in his era.^{[citation needed]}

Taher Saifuddin was the chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University in India for four consecutive terms.^{[citation needed]}

Taher Saifuddin was an accomplished writer and wrote several books and poetry pertaining to Islamic theology and the Fatimid Imams. He was known to teach twenty-eight religious lessons (also known as sabaq) in a day. He extended the then existing practice of giving religious sermons on Husayn ibn ‘Alī as during the days of Muharram to nine days culminating on ‘Āshūrā. Several of his elegies on Imam Husain are recited by community members to this day.

Taher Saifuddin died at the age of eighty in Matheran, India on 12 November 1965 (19th Rajab 1385 Hijri) the Mausoleum Raudat Tahera in Mumbai is erected in his memory.