Khuzaima Qutbuddin, who was hailed by a dissident section of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community as their religious leader, died in California on Thursday afternoon. A follower who confirmed the news said that Qutbuddin died of natural causes. He is survived by four sons and five daughters. He was 76.

“Before he passed away, he named his eldest son, Taher Fakhruddin, as his successor,” said the follower, who asked to remain unidentified.

Dawoodi Bohras are a sub-sect of Shia Islam who predominantly hail from Gujarat. The sect’s population is around 1.5 million around the world, although the majority of Bohras live in India.

Qutbuddin was one of the two claimants to the position of the 53rd Dai (Bohra spiritual leader), after the 52nd Dai Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin – Qutbuddin’s half-brother – died in January 2014.

Since then, Qutbuddin had been locked in a bitter succession battle with Burhanuddin’s son Mufaddal Saifuddin, who is regarded as the legitimate 53rd Dai by the majority of Dawoodi Bohras. While Saifuddin claims his father had named him as the successor in 2011, Qutbuddin claimed that Burhanuddin had chosen him as the next Dai more than 50 years ago in a private conversation.

In April 2014, Qutbuddin took the succession dispute to the Bombay High Court, even as the Bohra administration under Saifuddin began to excommunicate followers of the rival claimant. In April 2015, Qutbuddin attended court hearings despite his weak health in order to testify and be cross-examined. The case is still ongoing.

Qutbuddin was considered as extremely learned in religious matters and had served as the community’s mazoon – the second-in-command to the Dai – for 50 years before Burhanuddin’s death. While his eldest son Taher Fakhruddin was with him in the US when he died, the rest of his family held a condolence meet for his followers at their home in suburban Mumbai on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the bitter animosity between the two rival factions of the community, followers of Saifuddin began circulating Whatsapp messages calling Bohras to burst celebratory firecrackers to mark Qutbuddin's death.