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TheAtba-e-Malak community are a branch ofMusta'liIsma'iliShi'aIslam that broke off from the mainstreamDawoodi Bohra after the death of the 46thDa'i al-Mutlaq, under the leadership ofMaulana Abdul Hussain Jivaji in 1890. They are based inNagpur inIndia. There are several hundred followers of this branch of Islam. They have further split into two more branches:
Atba-e-Malak Badar, whose current leader isMaulana Muhammad Amiruddin Malak.
Atba-e-Malak Vakil, whose current leader isMaulanaTayyeb.
TheAtba-e-Malak Vakil is Muslim Shia Isma'iliTayyibi Dawoodi Bohra sect that firmly believes in the tradition ofnass governing the appointment ofSaheb-e-Amar (spiritual successor) continuing the succession (silsila). As per the principle ofnass, neither Imam norda'i al-mutlaq can pass away without appointing their successor, but after untimely and sudden demise of the 46thda'i al-mutlaqSyedna Mohammad Badruddin, due to uncertainty and unawareness ofnass, the community divided into two. While the majority acceptedAbdul Qadir Najmuddin as 47th Da'i al-Mutlaq, a small community, concentrated in Nagpur, instead turned to Abdul Qadir Ebrahimji as hismansus (successor) orvakil (guarantor), becoming the Atba-e-Malak Vakil.
The leader of the community is titled theSahab-e-Amar (the one with authority) and the currentSahab-e-Amar isTayyeb bin Razzak. Like mainstream Dawoodi Bohras, their main religious scriptures are theQur'an andnasihat, which are works written by Syedi Sadiqali during the period of 42nd and 44thda'i al-mutlaqs, and similar to all other Tayyibi Shi'as, they have sevenpillars of Islam, namelytahara,namaz,zakat,roza,Hajj,jihad andwalaya, defined bybatini belief. In their beliefs, theSaheb-e-Amar reinforces and connects with his spiritual lineage to effectively preach, uphold and spread humanitarian values and causes The transfer of the title from father to son must be followed in essence (batin) and not necessarily in a superficial or apparent (zahir) sense.
