The Dawoodi Bohras have been living and working in San Francisco since the 1950s, when male Bohras started coming to San Francisco from India to study and to find a better life. Slowly, our numbers grew and we became a small, tightly knit community of friends.

Women of the Bohra faith began to visit the Bay Area in the early 1960s, reaching out to many people outside of the community and making lasting friendships.

In the 1970s, many of the young bachelors that had initially come here to study finished their schooling and went back to India to get married and bring their wives to the United States. They entered the work force and started families.

In 1978, the Head of the faith, Aqa Moula (TUS) Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb visited California for the first time. It was during this visit that the San Francisco Jamaat – or community – was officially established, and it soon began to grow quickly. By the time His Holiness visited again in 1986, the San Francisco community had become well established, with 60 families and many Bohras succeeding in their chosen professions.

In the 1990s, Silicon Valley experienced unprecedented growth and the Bohra community had an influx of young, ambitious members that were a part of this profession. In 1996, His Holiness visited the San Francisco jamaat for the third time.

Since then, the San Francisco Jamaat has continued to grow in size and devotion, and we are planning to build a masjid – or mosque.