Antonio Marujo/Faranaz Keshavjee: How are the projects which you have launched in Portugal? Can we expect to have, in Lisbon, a school of excellence as part of your network of academies? Aga Khan: Portugal is a very important country ... I have been to several other places. But Portugal has very important factors: in the Portuguese society, pluralism is a social ...
"Frankly, this so-called freedom of the press has reached a state of such license that virtually anything can be printed." His Highness the Aga Khan's 1989 India Today Interview (India) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "A free press is not simply a press free to criticise as an end in itself. In many developed countries, freedom of the press has often ...
Peter Hahne: Your Highness, Islamic believers are spreading fear and terror across the world in the name of Allah, as witnessed again most recently on the island of Bali. What does all this have to do with religion? Aga Khan: Nothing at all. Islam and terror have not the slightest thing in common. Islam does not teach terrorism any more than ...
"I have seen situations where there has been an attempt to marginalise the intelligentsia of a given community and that of course is an extremely unwelcome feature of a society." His Highness the Aga Khan's 2015 Samuel L & Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture and apres lecture conversation with Diana L. Eck, Harvard University (Cambridge, USA) [Emphasis added] ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ...
"In the face of this changing world, which was once a universe to us and is now no more than an overcrowded island, confronted with a fundamental challenge to our understanding of time, surrounded by a foreign fleet of cultural and ideological ships which have broken loose, I ask, do we have a clear, firm and precise understanding of what Muslim ...
"The Ismaili Imamat is a supra-national entity, representing the succession of Imams since the time of the Prophet. But let me clarify something more about the history of that role, in both the Sunni and Shia interpretations of the Muslim faith. The Sunni position is that the Prophet nominated no successor, and that spiritual-moral authority belongs to those who are learned ...
"The second question to ask about tourism as a growth area for the Pakistani economy is whether, air transport considerations apart, tourism trends in countries close to, or similar to Pakistan, indicate that the world's leisure industry does hold potential for this country. So what is happening in Asia, and the Third World generally? Recently it was reported that: "Tourism earned ...
"I will offer two rather different case studies of efforts by agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network to make more effective use of the Internet for educational purposes. "The first is a project to develop a World Wide Web based resource to enrich the information available for architectural students, teachers, scholars and professionals interested in architecture in the Islamic world. ...
"Manly bravery' is a general term embracing all other qualities." Hazrat Ali Maxims of Ali "Bravery is a resplendent honour, and cowardice a visible degradation." Hazrat Ali Maxims of Ali "When things become clear, you realise that lying goes with cowardice, and truthfulness with courage, and ease with despair, and weariness with covetousness, and deprivation with greed, and humiliation with debt. ...
"The day begins for me -- as it has begun since my early youth -- at 4 A.M. I wake up automatically about that time and spend the first hour -- between four and five -- at intense prayer. There are no statues in my bedroom but a special prayer carpet is always prepared and my tasbee, my rosary, is always ...
Vladimir Djurovic: His Highness's passion for gardens is intoxicating.... I think that His Highness is happiest when he is working and discussing the gardens. He really wants us to reinterpret the Islamic garden in a contemporary way. We did not copy any garden [for Toronto] -- it is more about what you feel and smell and hear in an Islamic garden. ...
"We are here to discuss one of the most vital development issues of our time -- housing. I speak to you on this subject with a sense of urgency, for I am deeply persuaded that the lack, and deterioration of human habitations, as economies grow, urbanisation accelerates and demographies explode, pose some of the greatest practical and ethical problems that developing ...
"The communications revolution is a two-edged sword, opening exciting doors to the future, yes, but also threatening venerable cultures and traditional values. On every hand we can see the rise of the global economy -- and with it the global career and multinational family life, international fads and intercontinental life styles. Some find this process exhilarating, but many others find it ...
"I do not think it is necessary to spend time outlining the challenge that the process of globalisation represents vis-a-vis the cultural fabric of our world. But it is not the content of the new media, or even its domination by media giants, that is the real threat. The problem is that large segments of all societies -- in the developing ...
"As regards education, for example, remember the 1970s. At that time, certain governments, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, tried to create an artificial national unity by encouraging the teaching of languages that no one outside the country could speak. This linguistic nationalism had regrettable consequences at international level. For example, a degree in medicine from Pakistan in Urdu was ...
"Over this past half century, the pace of change on our planet has been bewildering. And that pace is accelerating. I was struck last month by the fact that the leadership of France, the U.K. and Germany had changed significantly in just a few months and similar changes are coming in the United States. "As the pace of history accelerates, developments ...
"[I]t should be said in all candour that the recent history of higher education in numerous less developed countries has been discouraging. Many development policy makers in the 1960's and 1970's simply did not see higher education as a priority concern -- instead they incorrectly calculated that they could not justify the cost of higher education from the foreseeable productivity of ...
"[C]ultures are now mixing physically to an extent that would once have seemed impossible. Economic globalisation contributes to the trend. Some 45 million young people enter the job market in the developing world each year -- but there are not enough jobs at home for many of them. Immigrants now account for two thirds of the population growth in the 30 ...
"Cultural conflict in the past was often mitigated by the fact that sharp cultural distinctions were muffled by geographic distance. But geography as a cushion between cultures has been diminishing in recent years. The communications revolution has meant 'the death of distance'. More than that, cultures are now mixing physically to an extent that would once have seemed impossible." His Highness ...
Geoffry Barker: Westerners see an incongruity in your dual roles as a religious leader and international businessman. Do you think you are an incongruous religious leader? Aga Khan: The incongruity exists through your tradition, through your experience, the Augustinian interpretation, if one can call it that, of Christianity.... In Islam there is no reason why a dichotomy should exist. Every Muslim ...
ITV: What do you think of are the qualities that you'll look for when it is your turn to appoint your successor? Aga Khan: I think I would hope the next Imam has a thorough and deep understanding of the faith which he has to represent and lead in its interpretation. I think he must have a good understanding of the ...
"Today, we are entering a stimulating new phase of growth with expanded academic quality and more sophisticated service capability in our teaching hospital. The Faculty of Health Sciences is the university's oldest and most advanced endeavour. It is appropriate, therefore, that many new accomplishments and initiatives are focused within that faculty. The Rufayda School of Nursing building, and the Hadi Radiology ...
"When this Institution was first conceived, those who participated in its conception, particularly the Harvard Team, underlined the severe lack of research capacity, research activity in higher education in the Third World. So from the earliest days of the thinking of this institution it was underlined how essential research would be to make this institution a significant player in the teaching ...
"This afternoon we mark an important new stage in the development of the Aga Khan University. Professor Bacchus has detailed the structure and functioning of the Institute for Educational Development, but I should like to describe to you my thoughts about why an Institute like this is so important to Pakistan and the developing world, and why it is a logical ...
"[B]ecause Pakistan has one of the lowest ratios in the world of nurses to doctors, [the Aga Khan University] decided that the first component of its Faculty of Health Sciences had to be a School Nursing. This was created in 1980 with substantial support from McMaster University in Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency. "The programmes carried out by AKU's ...
"There are of course many reasons for a large number of trained Pakistani doctors remaining abroad, often in very eminent posts, but I hope that with new medical institutions such as this, there will be much greater incentives for qualified men and women to return. This institution alone will create a number of senior and junior teaching posts. "I also intend ...
"In 1954 I came to the United States for the first time in my life and entered Harvard College as a first year student. It was an experience that I will never forget. All of my formal education up to that point had been in French, and although I had studied English, my command of the language was not up to ...
"Historically, the arts, including architecture, have taken their principal inspiration from religious faith. But when art is separated from faith-based roots, other influences can dominate -- including soulless technology and empty secularisation." His Highness the Aga Khan's 2010 Aga Khan Award For Architecture Prize Ceremony address (Doha, Qatar) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever its vernacular forms, the language of art, ...
Last summer marked the 55th anniversary of his Imamat. It was an inheritance no one -- himself included -- expected him to receive when the news was announced on July 11, 1957 during a reading of the will of his grandfather His Highness [Sir] Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III. It was the first time in the family's 1,300-year history that ...
Question: Does the fact that you have been to Harvard mean that you have ideas for modernising? Aga Khan: Secular institutions yes. Definitely so. His Highness the Aga Khan's 1958 interview by four members of the UK Press (London, United Kingdom) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Nicholas Tomalin: Have you used your power to make any radical changes in the Ismaili ...
"The Muslim world offers deep roots in a system of values emphasising service, charity and a sense of common responsibility, and denying what it sees to be the false dichotomy between religious and secular lives." His Highness the Aga Khan's 1994 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Commencement Ceremony address (Cambridge, USA) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "God has favoured me with the ...
Geoffry Barker: Do you see yourself as a reforming or conservative Imam? Aga Khan: I think that is terminology which just does not apply in the sense that the essentials are the essentials and have remained the essentials for centuries. So I think reform as such doesn't exist. Conservatism could exist in secular terms, not in religious terms. His Highness the ...
Nicholas Tomalin: You have been compared to the Pope. Is your word, like his infallible? Aga Khan:The Imam's word on the Faith is taken as an absolute rule. Every Ismaili is expected to accept it. The Community always follows very closely the personal way of thinking of the Imam. It's one of the particularities of Ismailis. An Ismaili who did not ...
"Amir al-mu'minin, peace be upon him, caught hold of my hand and took me to the graveyard. When he had passed through the graveyard and left the city behind, he breathed a deep sigh and said: "'O Kumayl these hearts are containers. The best of them is that which preserves (its contents). So, preserve what I say to you. People are ...
"In the final analysis, no nation, no race, no individual has a monopoly of intelligence or virtue. If we are to pursue the ideal of meritocracy in human endeavour, then its most perfect form will grow out of a respect for human pluralism, so that we can harness the very best contributions from whomever and wherever they may come." His Highness ...
Roy Bonisteel: That your leadership wasn't just spiritual it was also financial support there too -- tell me, does the community still tithe to you? Aga Khan: There is, like in I think all faiths, a form of religious due which is voluntary, which is institutional income. It is given within the context of the link between the Imam of the ...
"You can be an educated person in the Judeo-Christian world and know nothing -- I mean, nothing -- about the Islamic world.... One of the difficulties is that the Western world does not understand the pluralism of the Islamic world, which is heavily, massively pluralistic, even more so than the West. But the West does not understand it because it has ...
"Professional standards and assumptions can provide a form of intolerance, pride and myopia as intractable as the rigidities of traditional societies." His Highness the Aga Khan's 1987 McMaster University Convocation Ceremony address (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "[P]rogress is possible when complex issues are subjected to competent, intelligent, nuanced and sophisticated analysis, free from dogmatism, and based upon ...
"Many of the most intimate friends of the Prophet and the most pious and distinguished of the 'companions' doubted which side they should take in the civil wars, and how they should act so as not to be responsible for any harm that might come, and so were led to adopt the most dangerous principle of all. They retired each into ...
"[We Muslims] have the knowledge that Islam is Allah's final message, the Qur'an His final book and Muhammad His last Prophet." His Highness the Aga Khan's 1976 Presidential Address, International Seerat Conference, 'Life of the Prophet (sas)' (Karachi, Pakistan) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Of course, we hold fast by the Qur'an, for it is from the Qur'an that we get ...
