Badri Mahal in South Mumbai houses the principal office of the al-Dai al-Mutlaq and is the administrative headquarters of the various departments of Dawat-e-Hadiyah.
The Dawoodi Bohra community has been associated with the city of Mumbai since pre-industrial times. Extant records reveal that the Dawoodi Bohras were among the first communities to migrate to the city.
The Fort area in South Mumbai had nearly 150 to 200 Dawoodi Bohra shops in its vicinity in the early 19th century. Records also show that there was a masjid near the kot (Fort) area during the era of the 43rd Dai, Syedna Abdeali Saifuddin (1798–1817), known as kot masjid or Bohra masjid.
In 1839, the 45th Dai, Syedna Mohammed Badruddin, instructed that a residence be built near the kot area, where his successors resided during their frequent visits to Mumbai. The 50th Dai, Syedna Abdullah Badruddin, renovated the masjid and adjacent residence between 1913 and 1914, expanding the original area.
Two floors of this newly constructed building were dedicated as the permanent residence of the Dai. When Syedna Taher Saifuddin transferred the administrative headquarters of Dawat-e-Hadiyah from Surat to Mumbai, he initially resided at Badri Mahal before moving to Saifee Mahal in the Malabar Hill area of Mumbai in 1932.
Syedna Taher Saifuddin brought about a dynamic change in the community by revitalising its administrative structure, with Badri Mahal at the center of this renaissance. He renovated the building, established various additional departments and offices in its precincts and converted the space which served as the Dai’s residence into the Dai’s offices, establishing Badri Mahal as Dawat-e-Hadiyah’s administrative headquarters.
Badri Mahal also holds immense significance within the community as a hallowed religious site where some of the most sacred occasions of the Islamic calendar are presided over by the al-Dai al-Mutlaq in its masjid.
Badri Mahal’s legacy as both an important spiritual and religious centre as well as the seat of the community’s administrative affairs has established it as one of the most well-known landmarks for community members across the world.
