Creating (neo)Fatimid neighbourhoods? – Daudi Bohras, Bhendi Bazaar and an architectural identity

August 2022: being given an introductory tour to the shiny new Al-Saadah tower as a first landmark construction in the grand urban redevelopment project of Bhendi Bazaar, a predominantly Bohra neighbourhood in Mumbai, my Bohra host highlights elements of Islamic architecture in the high-rising block. Probed further, a Fatimid architectural legacy is stressed and jaali or ornamental / latticed screens covering the lower windows are referred to as an example of this style.

Subsequent initial visits to Bohra neighbourhoods and diaspora communities around the Indian Ocean and especially eastern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) suggests that Fatimid architecture or rather a Neo-Fatimid form plays a major role in the construction of a distinguishable visual identity for the Daudi Bohras, i.e. for a community involved in diverse infrastructure projects such as bazaars, universities or mosques across a wide-ranging geographical network connecting the centre in western India with other localities around the Indian ocean (and beyond). The Bohra community is actively reviving a Fatimid legacy and putting a clear stamp on their neighbourhoods in various cities.

The paper starts by mapping and comparing recently constructed community-driven projects in Mumbai to similar Bohra projects elsewhere but also to neighbouring communities and raises the question which architectural ideas inform the construction and infrastructure projects or (re)development more broadly of the Bohra community?