Dawat-e-Hadiyah, according to the Dawoodi Bohra faith, is Allah’s ﷾ mission entrusted to the Fatimi Imam, a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed ﵌.
A core belief of the Dawoodi Bohras is that Allah ﷾, the Creator of the Universe, appointed the first prophet, Adam ﵇, as His representative to head Dawat-e-Hadiyah, directing him to call humankind towards His faith. Throughout the ages, Allah ﷾ sent a succession of prophets from the progeny of Adam ﵇ to head Dawat-e-Hadiyah and call the people of their eras towards Him. In this manner, the ages passed until Allah ﷾ sent the Prophet Mohammed ﵌ as His Messenger and final Prophet to humankind with the religion of Islam. He completed the messages conveyed by his predecessors with the revelation of the Holy Quran, which reaffirmed and supplemented all previous divine revelations. The Prophet Mohammed ﵌ was succeeded by his legatee, Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, who is the consort of his daughter, Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra.
Imam Hasan, the son of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib and Sayyida Fatima was appointed by his father as the first Imam in the succession of the imamate. He in turn was succeeded by his brother, Imam Husain, through whose direct descendants the imamate has continued and will continue until the Day of Judgement.
Belief in the succession of Imams is foundational to the Dawoodi Bohra faith. Each Imam appoints his successor by conferring nass, son succeeding father. The Imam, being the direct descendant of Sayyida Fatima, is known as the Fatimi Imam; his Dawat, Dawat-e-Hadiyah, is thus also known as the Fatimi Dawat. The Dawat’s philosophy, literature, tradition and culture are also termed ‘Fatimi’ by the community.
The era of zuhur (manifestation of the Imam), when the Imams ruled over the Fatimid State, lasted for over two centuries, spanning the reigns of the 11th to the 20th Fatimi Imams. During this era, beginning in the year 909 CE, they ruled initially from Ifriqiya (today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and western Libya) before going on to establish the city of Cairo in 969, from where they ruled over a vast empire spanning from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east.
The 20th Imam al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah and his predecessors had meticulously planned for the satr (seclusion) of the 21st Imam al-Tayyib, which entailed his complete withdrawal from public view. The 20th Imam invested his son, Imam Tayyib, with the imamate and commissioned his hujjat (high-ranking spiritual emissary) al-Hurra al-Malika, the Sulayhi queen of Yemen, to establish the Dawat in Yemen, Hind* and Sind** on behalf of and in the name of the 21st Imam. He further directed her to institute the office of al-Dai al-Mutlaq to head the Imam’s Dawat as his representative and vicegerent during the period of seclusion.
To know more about the Office of al-Dai al-Mutlaq, click here.
* A region including present-day India
** A region including present-day Pakistan
