To restore, create and revitalise beautiful green spaces has been a prime goal of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in recent years -- with ten notable successes in places ranging from Cairo to Zanzibar, from Toronto to Kabul, from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Bamako in Mali -- and, of course, here in India. All of these projects were designed to ...

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As you have heard, I am currently marking sixty years in the role I inherited in 1957. This role has taught me a great deal about the challenges of pluralism -- about the way those challenges can be met, but also the way those challenges are growing. These are not new challenges, they are as old as the human race. They ...

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For a long time, political debate all around the world focused on the competing merits of government action versus private enterprise. My conviction, which has deepened through the years, is that these are false alternatives -- and that is the central message I would emphasise in these brief remarks tonight. The question is not which sector can be most effective in ...

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I have always felt at home in Portugal, and now ever more so since the signing in 2015 of an historic Agreement between the Ismaili Imamat and Portuguese Republic to establish the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in this country -- an important milestone in the 1,400-year history of the Ismaili Imamat. It marks the culmination of our long and deep ...

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The NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings wishes all belated Diamond Jubilee Mubarak! Although thought of as an architectural endeavour, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture -- established forty years ago by His Highness the Aga Khan -- has deeper intellectual and philosophical roots. As the Aga Khan explained, in 2001, the "goal was to create an intellectual space" ...

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Let me emphasise a point about the concept of pluralism that is sometimes misunderstood. Connection does not necessarily mean agreement. It does not mean that we want to eliminate our differences or erase our distinctions. Far from it. What it does mean is that we connect with one another in order to learn from one another, and to build our future ...

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The NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings wishes all Happy New Year. A New Year brings with it the promise of change and 2017 promises to be memorable year, full of change, for both Ismailis and the world, as a whole. This year we Ismailis will, In'Shah'Allah, celebrate His Highness the Aga Khan's Diamond Jubilee -- marking 60 glorious ...

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The NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings wishes all Salgirah Mubarak. Salgirah is an annual Ismaili celebration, commemorated on December 13, in recognition of His Highness the Aga Khan's birthday. The famous 19th Century playwright, poet and author, Oscar Wilde, once remarked "with age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone" -- though in the Aga Khan's case, of ...

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I think, first, of how great architecture can integrate the past and the future -- inherited tradition and changing needs. We need not choose between looking back and looking forward; they are not competing choices, but healthy complements. We can learn valuable lessons from history without getting lost in history; we can look boldly ahead without ignoring what has gone before.... ...

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As people living in a given time, we are observers of that time. We have the ability to affect the future and one of the exciting aspects of this Award, I think, is, particularly, that precise opportunity to build for the future, to look forward to processes of change which are thought through, which are evaluated, which are affected upon in ...

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Students of world history remind us how Central Asia, a thousand years ago, "led the world" in trade and investment, in urban development, in cultural and intellectual achievement. This was the place that leading thinkers from around the known world would look to for leadership. What were the latest breakthroughs in astronomy or mathematics, in chemistry or medicine, in philosophy or ...

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Since 2001, AKDN and its partners have channelled over $1 billion to enhance self-reliance and improve the quality of life of Afghans. Between now and 2020, AKDN plans similar investments in cultural heritage, education, energy, health, and poverty alleviation.... I would reiterate my profound belief in the power of sustained, long-term, multi-dimensional development that empowers individuals and communities to improve their ...

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These are just a few thoughts as I look to the future of Global Citizenship. The challenges, in sum, will be many and continuing. What will they require of us? A short list might include these strengths: a vital sense of balance, an abundant capacity for compromise, more than a little sense of patience, an appropriate degree of humility, a good ...

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Justice Sachs' career has been a truly inspiring one. He has been a heroic freedom fighter, an insightful legal scholar, a compelling author and for fifteen years a member of South Africa's Constitutional Court. And, as most of you undoubtedly know, he was a chief architect of South Africa's new, post apartheid Constitution, one of the most admired Constitutions in the ...

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The NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings wishes all Navroz Mubarak. Today, the Spring Solstice, is Navroz, or "New Day," symbolising new beginnings. It is, therefore, also a time to reflect over what we wish to begin afresh. In the past four months, first at Harvard in November and then at Sharm el-Sheik in February, His Highness the Aga ...

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[S]ome people say, is that we live in a "post-fact" society. Yes, a post-fact society. It's not just that everyone feels entitled to his or her own opinion -- that's a good thing. But the problem comes when people feel they are entitled to their own facts. What is true, too often, can then depend not on what actually happened, but ...

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What I see emerging today is a refreshingly, balanced confidence in Africa -- a spirit that takes encouragement from past progress, while also seeking new answers to new challenges -- understanding that the best way to move into the future is to walk hand-in-hand with partners who share one's goals. And we are all here to fulfil that role. I highlight ...

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AKDN's development and humanitarian work in Syria began many years before the war. In the present situation, we have committed resources and efforts to ensure that Internally Displaced People receive humanitarian assistance, and are supported to sustain their livelihoods. We are taking two approaches: First, we are supporting local community leaders, teachers, doctors, engineers and others to foster stability, protecting their ...

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We started the Aga Khan University in Pakistan some 32 years ago and it has grown into a truly international institution, with major campuses in Africa as well as in Asia, and with programmes in many fields. But right at the centre of its mission, from the very start, has been one principle goal: to help ensure the people living in ...

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You know the expression "golden handcuffs"? Well the one thing I don't know how to make is golden handcuffs! But I hope that the institution which will come up here will be so important that our graduates will actually choose to be here, because that is the best form of loyalty that we could expect. NOTE: The advertisements that appear over ...

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For a very long time, as you know, the term most often used in describing the search for human understanding was the word "tolerance." In fact, it was one of the words that was used in 1955 text to describe one of the objectives of this Jodidi Lecture. In recent years our vocabulary in discussing this subject has evolved. One word ...

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[I]t was not until a century later that the Institut [de France] made it a priority to revitalise the Domaine. And I was invited to become a part of the response. The Institut and I quickly agreed that a short-range burst of attention was not the answer. We needed a long-term plan. And we also agreed to build on the principle ...

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But what can we say then, about why democratic systems often fall short in their efforts to improve the quality of their constituents' lives? Let me suggest four elements that could help strengthen democracy's effectiveness in meeting this central challenge. They are: improved constitutional understanding, independent and pluralistic media, the potential of civil society, and a genuine democratic ethic.... This leads ...

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The NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings wishes all Imamat Day Mubarak (click on the image to view the card). In keeping with the theme of our card, we would like to share with you some of His Highness the Aga Khan's advices for leaders: . If this is your first visit to the Archive, we invite you to ...

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In her LaFontaine-Baldwin lecture in Toronto, in 2003, the Chief Justice said and I quote, "One problem, more than any other, dominates human history -- the problem of how we deal with those who are different than us." Those words have sharp, continuing relevance as we move further into the 21st century. Whether the challenge involves new waves of migrants moving ...

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The Park and its Gardens can serve as a symbol of "connection" in other ways as well. Among them are rich connections across time linking us to the past. The Garden has for many centuries served as a central element in Muslim culture. The Holy Qur'an, itself, portrays the Garden as a central symbol of a spiritual ideal -- a place ...

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Through revitalisation of the sort we celebrate today, we hope to preserve an extraordinary panorama of Islamic history, from the Fatimid Caliphs to the present. At a time when fractures in the unity of the Ummah are so highly visible, I see such projects as particularly hopeful. They are important symbols for the identity of all Muslims, sources of pride for ...

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Four years ago, today, the NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings was given special permission by Aiglemont to publish His Highness the Aga Khan's speeches. One key objective and reason for establishing the Archive was to create a comprehensive and authoritative, professional reference resource of the Aga Khan's wisdom for scholars. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction and pride ...

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Through the centuries, millions of people have made their way here. They have come to see these architectural achievements, the oldest and largest Indo-Islamic architectural complex. They have come to admire the decorative genius that we have around us and to think about its continuing influence in contemporary life. They have come to enjoy the green spaces that are such an ...

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