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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Examining the Ismaili Imams & the Bohras Problems with Fiqh- Jurisprudence Following the right chain is very important otherwise the followers of the wrong imam are bound to go astray. It will have an effect on their deeds. The Ismailis, mostly Bohras follow the book of Da’aimul Islam written by Qadi al-Nu’man, and use it as their guide for jurisprudence.

Qadi al- Nu’man served four of the Ismaili/Fatimid Imams and was in their service for 50 years yet this book has no sayings of the Ismaili/Fatimid Imams. Why? The divine Imams are supposed to be full of knowledge and wisdom then how come Qadi al-Nu’man did not record any of the sayings of the Ismaili/Fatimid Imams in his famous book Da’aimul Islam?

It took Qadi al Nu’man thirty years to complete this book yet in these thirty years he found nothing worth recording about the Ismaili/Fatimid Imams in this book? Moreover, the book has traditions of the Holy Prophet (sawa) and the Imams up to Imam al-Sadiq (as), but has no chain of narrators, and the chain of narrators is very important in determining if the tradition is authentic or not, especially when the content of the tradition is unusual and does not match the norm.

Like mentioned earlier, following the right chain is very important otherwise the followers of the wrong imam are going to perform the deeds that are not accurate and questionable. As an example, I’d like to examine the Bohra Calendar. The Bohras take pride that they follow a fixed calendar; therefore, they know the exact date when a new lunar month would start and when it finishes.

On the other hand, the majority of the Muslim world relies on moonsighting to determine the start and end of a month. As per the Holy Qur’an and traditions of the Holy Prophet (sawa), Imam al-Baqir (as) and Imam al-Sadiq (as), the Muslims are instructed to sight the new moon to determine the start and end of a month. I would like to shed some light on the Bohra calendar and prove that the Bohra Calendar is not accurate.

The Bohra Calendar & Moon sighting Quran tells us to follow the lunar calendar; however, it does not specify the exact number of days in a given month. For instance, Quran does not tell the Muslims that Muharram is always going to be 30 days, nor does it say that the Holy Ramadhan is always going to be 30 days.