Mufaddal Saifuddin

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mufaddal Saifuddin

• Mufaddal Saifuddin belongs to a family of Islamic Spiritual leaders. At the time of birth, he was given the name Aali Qadr Mufaddal by his grandfather. The Abjad value of his birth name i.e. 1365 corresponds to his Islamic birth year.

  

• His kunya, a tekonym derived from the name of his eldest son, is Abu Jafar us Sadiq and his laqab, a nickname, is Saifuddin.

• Mufaddal Saifuddin is a descendent of many renowned Ismaili Dawoodi Bohra saints including Fakhr al-Din Shaheed, Abd al-Qadir Hakimuddin, Khanji Pheer, and Syedi Lukman.

• In 1969, at the age of 22, his father named Mufaddal Saifuddin as his successor by performing nass. He later performed the ritual in 2005 and 2011.

  

• Saifuddin is the 53rd Da’i al-Mutlaq, the most senior spiritual rank and office in Tayyibi Isma’ilism, of the Tayyibi Isma’ili Dawoodi Bohra community. He was appointed by his predecessor and father, Mohammed Burhanuddin II.

  

• In 1970, he was appointed as the Amirul Hajj, a leader of Hajj pilgrims and in 1971, he was given the title of Aqeeq-ul-Yemen by his father.

• He is known as the Haafiz al-Quran as he has memorized the entire religious text of Islam known as the Quran.

• He has led the restoration of various medieval Fatimid architecture in Cairo, Egypt, including Al-Anwar Mosque, Al-Aqmar Mosque, Al-Juyushi Mosque, and Lulua Mosque and also rebuilt shrines of the Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

• During his travels to Yemen, he has led various campaigns to improve the socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants of the Haraaz region, introduced sustainable agricultural systems, improved local infrastructure and provided equal access to education for children.

• In 2014, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin was featured in the annual publication The 500 Most Influential Muslims. In 2024, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin was featured on the list of one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims for the second time.

• In March 2015, he established the Saifee Burhani Medical Association in North America. The purpose of the association is to run free medical clinics, mentor students, and facilitate professional development.

• On 9 November 2015, he was appointed as the chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University for the first time and on 2 December 2018, he was re-elected as the chancellor for the second term.

• In May 2016, Saiffudin initiated the redevelopment project of Bhendi Bazaar in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which was started by his father. The first phase of the project was completed in 2021 under which the trust was able to rehabilitate 610 families and 128 businesses in two towers named ‘Al Saadah’ A and B, spreading over one acre of land, replacing 13 unsafe buildings.

• For the competition of the redevelopment project of Bhendi Bazaar, his father set up a trust known as the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust and Saiffudin is a member of the board of the Trust and overlooks all the phases of the project.

• In October 2016, he donated $53000 to public schools in Tanzania.

  

• To improve the living standards of the people of his community, he started a social upliftment program known as the Rafo Mustawa Machate Mumineen in December 2016.

•  To improve the lives of people who are marginalized, neglected or living in poverty, he has launched a global campaign named Project Rise in collaboration with government bodies and local organizations around the world.

• On 20 April 2017, Mufaddal Saifuddin along with the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, inaugurated the 14-acre Aljamea tus Saifiyah campus, an Arabic academy dedicated to Islamic learning in Nairobi, Kenya, which was built by Saifudin’s father.

• On 30 April 2018, a new species of orchid, a cross-breed between Bangkok Fancy and Adisakdi White, was named Dendrobium HH Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin.

• On 14 March 2023, he was appointed as the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.

• In October 2019, Saifuddin donated 60,000 seed balls to Kenya, and a month later, on the occasion of his 76th birthday as per the Islamic calendar, he donated 76,000 more seed balls to Kenya.

• He inaugurated the Imam Al-Hussein Mosque with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El Sisi on 27 April 2022.

  

• He is a philanthropist and has made large sums of donations in various countries for various issues.

• He has expanded the community kitchen scheme named Faiz al-Mawaid al-Burhaniyah started by his father. He also introduced the motto ‘ek kharaas, ek mithaas, no israaf’ under which he created rules to limit the number of dishes served in any Dawoodi Bohras’ community, social or personal gatherings to reduce food wastage.

• Mufaddal Saifuddin travels extensively around the globe during the entire year to various Dawoodi Bohra community centres to meet his followers, deliver sermons, organise local communities, initiate social projects, and attend various religious functions.

• He has visited various countries including Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt. He has also travelled to various locations in India for pilgrimage including Taherabad in Rajasthan; Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Mandvi, and Delmal in Gujarat; Burhanpur and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

  

• Mufaddal has composed various Risalah, a collection of religious clarifications, including Hikmat al-Ghaybat al-Qudsāniyyat al-Abadiyya (2016), Shukr Ne’am As’hāb al-Barakāt (2017), and Dafīnat Mafākhir āl al-Nabi al-Tuhr (2020).