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The term '''Dāˤī al-Mutlaq''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: الداعي المطلق) literally means "the absolute or unrestricted [[caller to Islam|missionary]]". In [[Ismaili|Ismā'īlī]] [[Islam|Islām]], the term ''dāˤī'' has been used to refer to important religious leaders other than the hereditary [[Shi'a Imam|Imām]]s and the [[Dawah|Daˤwa]] or "Mission" is a clerical-style organisation. "The Daˤwa" was a term for the Ismā'īlī faith itself from early on. They are also called Dāˤī Syednas.
According to [[Mustaali|Tayyabī Mustaˤlī]] Ismā'īlī tradition, before the last [[Mustaali]] [[Imam]], [[Taiyab abi al-Qasim]] went into seclusion, his father, the 20th Imām [[Mansur al-Amir Bi-Ahkamillah|al-Amīr]] had instructed Queen [[Al-Hurra Al-Malika]] in [[Yemen]] to anoint a vicegerent after the seclusion - the Dāˤī al-Mutlaq, who as the Imām's vicegerent, has full authority to govern the community in all matters both spiritual and temporal.
This title is also used in the Alavi Mustaˤlī community to refer to their leader (in the Persian form [[H.H. Saiyedna Abu Haatim Taiyeb Ziyauddin Saheb|"Da'i-ye Motlæq"]]) for similar reasons.
These Bohra chieftains have significant power over the Bohra Muslim community which they exploit to their advantage. They collect [[Zakat]] in excess of millions to do with as they please, often to further lavish lifestyles while the common Muslim remains poor. Any Muslim who dares to question a Da'i Syedna's lifestyle or the necessity of the Zakat is denounced by the Syedna and subject to excommunication from Muslim society, together with threats of harassment. The combination of this control over the minds of his followers, as well as of their pocketbooks, makes the Da'i Syedna practically invincible. They routinely use their minority status in India to browbeat their way out of demands for social reform from politicians.<ref name="PUCL">[http://www.pucl.org/from-archives/Religion-communalism/bohra.htm The Dawoodi Bohra's] by Kalpana Sharma</ref>
Over the course of the 20th century, the high priest, in order to increase his financial share of his affluent followers, began inventing new taxes to impose on Bohras and started to interfere in secular affairs to tighten their grip over the people. With the rise in Da'i Syedna oppression came dissent within the Bohra world and clarion calls for reform and demands to abolish (or at least reduce) the Zakat system.<ref name="Engineer"/>. The 50th Da'i Syedna tried to suppress all attempts to reform by imposing rigid reforms and preventing Bohras from education in modern schools so as to keep them in control. Attempts by Bohras to educate the community to this practice resulted in a wave of excommunications. Several Bohras challenged the authority of the Da'i Syedna through litigation in Mumbai courts. Other Da'i Syednas oppressed the community further by marginalising the Bohra [[Ulema]] and concentrated power in their hands. They also invented new doctrines that all properties owned by the Bohras belonged to him and that they were mere munims (account keepers) on their behalf.They were shrewd enough to devise some titles which were awarded to the neo-rich Bohras in search of recognition to earn money as well as their much needed support for the Syednas' increasingly authoritarian ways<ref name="Engineer"/>. The Syednas even adopted rituals that were largely alien to mainstream Islam, such as prostrating (sajda) before them (an act of reverence traditionally reserved only for [[Allah]] in Islam). Syednas declared themselves "ilah al-ard" or "Gods of the Earth" and invented oppressive practices that invited condemnation from the [[ulema]]. The Syedna's oppression had degenerated into absolute slavery by this time. Several members of the Ulema passed [[fatwa]]s against them in sheer disgust.
There has been a struggle for reform within the Dawoodi Bohra community for many years, but efforts are constantly scuttled by the power-hungry Bohra clerics, eager to preserve their wealth accumulated at the expense of ordinary Muslims within the community.<ref name="Engineer">[http://www.csss-isla.com/IIS/archive/2000/june.htm THE REFORMISTS AND THE BOHRA PRIESTHOOD] by Asghar Ali Engineer</ref>The reformists desire a return of the Bohra community to egalitarian Islam and not base their socety on the pretentious claims of the Syedna's. They argue that the Syedna's duty is to provide guidance, not live off of the hard earnings of other people like a social parasite.The reformists have maintained that the Bohra priesthood have been violating the democratic and human rights of Bohras. The reformists are upholders of principles of human rights and civil liberties and respect for human dignity.They also stand for transparency and accountability. The Syedna priesthood, concerned with the resistance from the reforms, frantically reject these principles in a desperate attempt to suppress the people of the Bohra community. They have committed many human-rights violations on the ordinary Bohras in pursuit of their power.<ref name="Engineer"/>
A major attempt for reform among Bohras was made by a commission headed by justice N.P. Nathwani in [[1978]].<ref name="PUCL"/> The commission achieved little success, however, and the Bohra Syednas retain their stranglehold over the community.The conditions have worsened in recent years. The Bohra priesthood continues to be on the offensive to maintain its highly authoritarian grip over the community. The Da'i Syednas, in order to maintain his grip over it, uses a section of the community, to perpetuate violence against the reformists. The Syednas have created a culture of violence in the Bohra community by brainwashing the Bohras to enagge in violence against the reformists.<ref name="Engineer"/>
==Notes==
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==See also==
*[[Guardianship of the jurists (doctrine)]]
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