Zoeb bin Moosa

Who is Zoeb bin Moosa?

Zoeb bin Musa al-Wadei is the first Dai al-Mutlaq, a position of spiritual authority in Musta‘lī Ismaili Bohra Islam. He was appointed to the position by Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi of Yemen in 532 AH.

Arwa al-Sulayhi had been named "Hujja" by Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah, the Fatimid Imam. Dai was the intermediary between the Imam, and called Dai al-balagh. Dai Lamak ibn Malik and his son Dai Yahya ibn Lamak were the dai of that era. After the death of the twentieth Ismaili imam Al-Amir, his child At-Tayyib Abi l-Qasim, only a few months old, became the twenty-first Imam. As Tayyib was not in a position to run the Ismaili dawah, Al-Amir authorised Arwa al-Sulayhi to run it. She empowered Zoeb bin Moosa to manage the dawah in Yemen and extend its influence in India. The Dai had become the Dai al-Mutlaq and was made independent from political activity. Because of the independence of the dai, the Fatimid dawat could survive even after Arwa al-Sulayhi's Sulayhid dynasty had lost power in Yemen.

Zoeb lived in Haus, Yemen, and that was where he died, after being Dai al-Mutlaq for 14 years. His ma'dhūn, or assistant, was Syedna Khattab bin Hasan.