The Dawoodi Bohras are renowned throughout the world for its community service. Project Rise is a global Dawoodi Bohra initiative working in partnership with government bodies and local organisations to help alleviate hunger, raise health and hygiene levels among children and families, improve water and sanitation, and preserve and protect the environment.It endeavours to bring about an uplift in people’s lives so that they may live in comfort and with dignity.
Helping the homeless
Showing kindness to the less fortunate and helping people in need are attributes that Dawoodi Bohras try to exemplify daily. Throughout history, the leaders of the community have taught each Dawoodi Bohra person that they has a responsibility to love the countries in which we live and care for all people that dwell there. With the guidance of the current Leader, Da’i al-Mutlaq, His Holiness Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, Dawoodi Bohras throughout the UK actively seek opportunities to enrich the local society and help its most vulnerable members. We do this by conducting monthly food drives and providing aid packages for refugees.
Protecting the natural environment
Dawoodi Bohras of the United Kingdom work hard to “reduce, reuse and recycle” by regularly spearheading projects to protect and enhance nature in the local communities and beyond.
Nazafat (cleanliness) is an integral component of Islamic faith, and His Holiness urges community members to engage in clean-up drives, tree planting and other green initiatives to foster and promote a clean living environment wherever they reside.
In addition to leading local clean up initiatives, Dawoodi Bohras pride themselves on living sustainably by avoiding wastage and pollution, recycling, nurturing nature and being kind to all forms of life.
But this is not a newly held conviction for the Dawoodi Bohra community. In 1992, the community leader at the time – Late Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, established the Burhani Foundation, a charitable trust based in India. This trust is dedicated to making the preservation of the environment a priority for each citizen and to spreading awareness of the relationship between environmental health and the health of people. In 2017, His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin initiated a worldwide program to plant 200,000 saplings as a means of conserving the environment and raising awareness of environmental issues. We planted 500 trees across the United Kingdom.
Dawoodi Bohras aspire to be a zero-food waste community, by ensuring that not even a single ‘dana’ (grain of rice) is wasted. The UN has included responsible consumption and production as one of the United Nations sustainable development goals. Dawoodi Bohras support the UN goal by having a ‘Dana Committee’ in each community. Members of this committee are responsible for ensuring no food is wasted at any community events.
Women’s Empowerment
Women in the Bohra community are encouraged to pursue higher education, raise families, and have successful careers in a range of professional industries including healthcare, teaching, IT, finance, and business. Bohra women are often highly noticeable in society, wearing their vibrant and colourful patterned ridas – whether it’s in the office, on the school run, or attending lectures at university.
His Holiness has made it clear that women are important and vital members of the community who play key roles in both the home and society. With prominent female figures in Islam’s history, women of the Dawoodi Bohra community aspire to be strong, diligent, and business-minded individuals.
Turning the Tide
The Dawoodi Bohra’s Turning the Tide initiative is a global drive to eliminate single-use plastic and rid water bodies of plastic pollution.