How Dawoodi Bohras came to be seen as model migrants in Sri Lanka
The community has thrived financially on the island since the colonial era.
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This month, more than 15,000 members of the Dawoodi Bohra community went to Colombo to mark Ashara Mubaraka, a period of 10 days at the beginning of the Islamic New Year. The Sri Lankan capital had been chosen by the spiritual leader of the community, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, as the venue from where to watch the live broadcast of the congregations conducted in Karachi.
The sight of groups of men in white kurtas, loose trousers and a white topi with a crocheted gold design, and women in bright and colourful ridas was hardly unusual in a country that has had a Bohra minority for centuries.
It was in the early 19th century that this close-knit Shia Ismaili community began emigrating from Gujarat. “Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the guidance and encouragement of the dais (spiritual leaders), Bohras migrated to many regions across the globe, including East and Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, and the Horn of Africa,” according to a community website. “These pioneering Bohras often engaged in trading and entrepreneurship, in keeping with the community’s long-standing tradition of trade and enterprise.”
The community’s history on the island began thanks to a twist of fate.
“The very first Bohra who set foot on Lankan...
