‘Shrine belongs to Dawoodi Bohras’: Old records settle Patan shrine dispute in Gujarat HC

A century-old paper trail and an ancient inscription have helped settle a decades-long dispute over a shrine in Patan, with the Gujarat High Court upholding the finding that the Anavada shrine belongs to Maulana Yaqub and the Dawoodi Bohra community, rejecting claims by the Faruqui family that it was a Sunni-Hanafi-Barelvi shrine.

The 137-page judgment dismissed an appeal filed by Kutubuddin Fakruddin Faruqui and others, finding no reason to interfere with a Waqf Tribunal order from February 9, 2026. The case involved a piece of land in Anavada village, with the Faruqui family claiming it as the burial place of Hazrat Maulana Mehboob and the management of the shrine as caretakers.

The Dawoodi Bohra community maintained it was the shrine of Maulana Yaqub, a saint revered by them. The court found documentary records from 1916-17 describing the site as Maulana Yaqub Saheb Dargah Dawoodi Bohra Kabrastan, noting the absence of Maulana Mehboob Dargah. An ancient inscription translated to Gujarati referred to Maulana Yaqub and his titles Mehboob and Mashuk, which the court observed had not been rebutted.

The Faruqui family's claim evolved from describing the shrine as Maulana Mahboob Dargah in 1952-53, then seeking to shift to Mutawalli status, but the court found that mere service as a Mujawar did not grant hereditary rights. The dispute was between the Dawoodi Bohra community and the Faruqui family, not between Shia and Sunni sects, as the appellants failed to provide evidence of the shrine's Sunni-Hanafi-Barelvi character on August 15, 1947.