Sunni Bohra
Encyclopedia
Sunni Bohras or Sunni Vohras, are a Sunni Muslim
community found in the province of Sindh
in Pakistan
and the state of Gujarat in India
. Sharing a large number of cultural similarities with the Dawoodi Bohras, they are often confused with that community. However, they are different in the fact that they are Sunni following the Hanafi
fiqh
. The community in Pakistan uses the surname "Vohra" and not Bohra and are commonly known as Sunni Vohras. A very small number of families use the slightly different spelling of "Vora" as their surname. Another common surname is Patel
. An overwhelming majority of the Gujrati speaking Vohra community of Pakistan
, lives in the port city of Karachi
in Sindh
province. They are well organized and carry out their activities through their own Karachi based Association named Charotar Muslim Anjuman, Charotar being the name of the region in the Indian state of Gujarat where their ancestors are originally from.
Sunni Bohras/Vohras have large communities in the major cities of Gujarat such as Ahmedabad
and Surat
as well as in smaller towns such as Patan
, Himmatnagar, Visnagar
, Bhavnagar
, Mahesana, Kadi
, Kalol
etc. There is a large community also based in Mumbai
. After independence in 1947, many members of the community moved to Pakistan from India and there is a 15,500 strong community in Karachi
. Recently, many Sunni Bohras/Vohras from Ahmedabad, Surat, Karachi and Bombay have migrated to the USA, Canada
, Australia
and the Persian Gulf
countries forming small pockets of communities throughout many cities (numbering upwards of 500 people in Chicago, IL).
In fifteenth century, there was schism
in Bohra community of Patan in Gujarat as large number converted from Mustaali
Ismaili
to Hanafi
Sunni sect. The leader of this conversion movement to Sunni was Jafar. Thus this new group is known as Jafari Bohras and Patani Bohras
. In 1538, Syed Jafar Ahmad Shirazi convinced Patani Bohras to cease social relations with Ismaili Bohras. The cumulative results of these pressures resulted in over one million Bohras conversting from Ismaili
Shia Fiqh
to Sunni Hanafi
Fiqh
.
and Surat
as well as in smaller towns such as Patan
, Himmatnagar, Visnagar
, Bhavnagar
, Mahesana, Kadi
, Kalol],[Anand],[Mahemdavad],[Umreth],[Petlad],[Vadodara],[Borsad etc. There is a large community also based in Mumbai
. After independence in 1947, many members of the community moved to Pakistan
, and there is a 15,500 strong community in Karachi
. Recently, many Sunni Bohras/Vohras from Ahmedabad, Surat, Karachi and Bombay have migrated to the USA, Canada
, Australia
and the Persian Gulf
countries forming small pockets of communities throughout many cities (numbering upwards of 500 people in Chicago,( Harvey,IL), IL
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community found in the province of Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and the state of Gujarat in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Sharing a large number of cultural similarities with the Dawoodi Bohras, they are often confused with that community. However, they are different in the fact that they are Sunni following the Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
. The community in Pakistan uses the surname "Vohra" and not Bohra and are commonly known as Sunni Vohras. A very small number of families use the slightly different spelling of "Vora" as their surname. Another common surname is Patel
Patel
Patel is a surname of Indian origin, originally meaning "headman" or"village chief". Patels are socially, economically and politically the most dominant caste in Gujarat Patels are basically Kurmis or Kunbis and are found in various geographical locations. The Kunbi are an Indian subcaste...
. An overwhelming majority of the Gujrati speaking Vohra community of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, lives in the port city of Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
province. They are well organized and carry out their activities through their own Karachi based Association named Charotar Muslim Anjuman, Charotar being the name of the region in the Indian state of Gujarat where their ancestors are originally from.
History and origin
Traditionally, they have been traders and most of them have the suffix wala in their last name to designate either their ancestral trade or their ancestral village. Many Sunni Bohras/Vohras are educated professionals with a large number of bankers, doctors and engineers among them.Sunni Bohras/Vohras have large communities in the major cities of Gujarat such as Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
as well as in smaller towns such as Patan
Patan, Gujarat
Patan was a capital of Gujarat in medieval times. It is the administrative seat of Patan District in the Indian state of Gujarat and administered by municipality. The city contains many Hindu and Jain temples as well as few mosques, dargahs and rojas...
, Himmatnagar, Visnagar
Visnagar
Visnagar is a city and a municipality in Mehsana district in the Indian state of Gujarat."VISNAGAR" named after its founder king VISHALDEO from Ajmer Dynasty was founded in 953 on the auspicious day of 'Akhatrij'....
, Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar
-Topography:Bhavnagar is a coastal city in the eastern coast of Saurashtra, also known as Kathiawar, located at . It has an average elevation of 24 metres . It occupies area of 53.30 km². General slope dips in the northeasterly direction at the apex of Gulf of Khambhat...
, Mahesana, Kadi
Kadi
Kadi may refer to:*Kadi, Gujarat, a city and municipality in Mehsana district, Gujarat, India*Kadhi, an Indian dish*Kadı, an official in the Ottoman empire*Qadi or kadi, Islamic judge*Al-Qadi, an Arabic surname*Quadi, an ancient Germanic tribe...
, Kalol
Kalol
Kalol is a city and a municipality in Panchmahal district in the Indian state of Gujarat.- Geography :Kalol is located at . It has an average elevation of 100 metres .It is famous for its oil field.- Industry :...
etc. There is a large community also based in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. After independence in 1947, many members of the community moved to Pakistan from India and there is a 15,500 strong community in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
. Recently, many Sunni Bohras/Vohras from Ahmedabad, Surat, Karachi and Bombay have migrated to the USA, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
countries forming small pockets of communities throughout many cities (numbering upwards of 500 people in Chicago, IL).
In fifteenth century, there was schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
in Bohra community of Patan in Gujarat as large number converted from Mustaali
Mustaali
The Musta‘lī Ismā'īlī Muslims are so named because they accept Al-Musta'li as the nineteenth Fatimid caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir...
Ismaili
Ismaili
' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...
to Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
Sunni sect. The leader of this conversion movement to Sunni was Jafar. Thus this new group is known as Jafari Bohras and Patani Bohras
Patani Bohras
Patani Bohras are Bohras that follow Sunni Hanafi fiqh. Most other factions of the Bohras community follow Mustaali Ismaili Shia fiqh.- History :...
. In 1538, Syed Jafar Ahmad Shirazi convinced Patani Bohras to cease social relations with Ismaili Bohras. The cumulative results of these pressures resulted in over one million Bohras conversting from Ismaili
Ismaili
' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...
Shia Fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
to Sunni Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
Fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
.
Distribution
Sunni Bohras/Vohras have large communities in the major cities of Gujarat such as AhmedabadAhmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
as well as in smaller towns such as Patan
Patan, Gujarat
Patan was a capital of Gujarat in medieval times. It is the administrative seat of Patan District in the Indian state of Gujarat and administered by municipality. The city contains many Hindu and Jain temples as well as few mosques, dargahs and rojas...
, Himmatnagar, Visnagar
Visnagar
Visnagar is a city and a municipality in Mehsana district in the Indian state of Gujarat."VISNAGAR" named after its founder king VISHALDEO from Ajmer Dynasty was founded in 953 on the auspicious day of 'Akhatrij'....
, Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar
-Topography:Bhavnagar is a coastal city in the eastern coast of Saurashtra, also known as Kathiawar, located at . It has an average elevation of 24 metres . It occupies area of 53.30 km². General slope dips in the northeasterly direction at the apex of Gulf of Khambhat...
, Mahesana, Kadi
Kadi
Kadi may refer to:*Kadi, Gujarat, a city and municipality in Mehsana district, Gujarat, India*Kadhi, an Indian dish*Kadı, an official in the Ottoman empire*Qadi or kadi, Islamic judge*Al-Qadi, an Arabic surname*Quadi, an ancient Germanic tribe...
, Kalol],[Anand],[Mahemdavad],[Umreth],[Petlad],[Vadodara],[Borsad etc. There is a large community also based in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. After independence in 1947, many members of the community moved to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and there is a 15,500 strong community in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
. Recently, many Sunni Bohras/Vohras from Ahmedabad, Surat, Karachi and Bombay have migrated to the USA, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
countries forming small pockets of communities throughout many cities (numbering upwards of 500 people in Chicago,( Harvey,IL), IL
Organizations
- Sunnat Jamaat Quam-e-Bawahir (SJKB), Ahmedabad
- Jamaat-e-Gujrati Saudagaran Pakistan
- Patni Sunnat Jamaat, Surat
- Patni Sunni Jamaat Quam-e-Bawahir ,Himmatnagar
- Charotar Muslim Anjuman, Karachi
- Charotar Sunni Vahora Community , Anand,Mahemdavad,Petlad,Umreth,Chicago,New Jersey,London,Sydney
See also
- Gujarati MuslimGujarati MuslimThe term Gujarati Muslims is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the State of Gujarat in west India, who speaks the Gujarati Language as a mother-tongue and follows certain customs different from the rest of Indian Muslims...
s - Sunni
- HanafiHanafiThe Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
- Patani BohrasPatani BohrasPatani Bohras are Bohras that follow Sunni Hanafi fiqh. Most other factions of the Bohras community follow Mustaali Ismaili Shia fiqh.- History :...
- Dawoodi Bohras
- Vora PatelVora patelVohra Patel or Vora Patel is a community of Sunni Muslim belonging to the Patel family, originally from Gujarat, India, particularly from the Surat and Bharuch Districts...
External links and references
- Patni Jamaat
- List of Sunni Bohra Jamaats
- Jamaat-e-Gujrati Saudagaran Pakistan
- [Charotar Sunni Vahora Community,Gujarat,INDIA]