Eric Chol / Christian Makarian: As the leader of the Ismaili community, you have always emphasised the development of social, economic and cultural activities not only for your followers, but for the benefit of all. What do you make of your development organisation? Aga Khan: It needs to permanently adapt! The idea of development is comparable to a kaleidoscope: you twist ...
Jean-Jacques Lafaye: People like to compare and contrast Presidents Sarkozy and Obama. What do you think of them? Aga Khan: Before these two men came to power, it seemed to me that major international issues were suffering a kind of paralysis. Fortunately, things have changed. The two presidents belong to a younger generation. Each certainly possesses a young man's determination and ...
"My interest in launching the Global Centre for Pluralism reflected my sense that there was yet no institution dedicated to the question of diversity in our world, and that Canada's national experience made it a natural home for this venture." His Highness the Aga Khan's 2010 10th Annual LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture, Institute for Canadian Citizenship (Toronto, Canada) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ...
"[AKDFED's] main purpose 'is to contribute to development,' [the Aga Khan] adds. 'It is not a capitalist enterprise that aims at declaring dividends to its shareholders.' Central to his ethos is the notion that his investments can prompt other forms of economic growth within a country or region that results in greater employment and hope for the poor. "Economic developments experts ...
"Give good advice to everyone who seeks your counsel, and do not seek the counsel of anyone except the advice of one who is sincere and intelligent." "Nothing is correct if you avoid consultation." "Nothing helps quite like consultation." "Do not let a mean person join your consultation, because he will limit your action; nor a coward, because he will make ...
"When I succeeded my grandfather as Aga Khan in 1957, I was a student at Harvard -- but speaking mostly French. I got extra English practise, however, from my new official routine of regular communication with Africa and Asia and, in the bargain, was kept in great good humour by the amazing typographic errors which inevitably arose. But then computerised spell ...
"My third question concerns ways to improve the process of learning from the experiences of the voluntary sector. Traditionally jealous of their independence, many voluntary agencies are cautious about allowing scrutiny and promoting the replication of successful projects on a large scale. If the potential of private development agencies is to be realised and confidence in them is to grow, this ...
"One of the most important lessons I have drawn from my experience of all manner of different countries in different stages of economic development and following different policies is the need, everywhere, for consistent management, in a stable framework. "All human endeavour, whether it be Government or private, economic, professional, social or artistic has three quite simple imperatives if it is ...
"If we were to look at a map of the world that charted armed conflicts in the last 15 years, it would show that nearly two thirds have occurred in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. More than 80 per cent were internal conflicts, either full-blown civil wars or state-sanctioned aggression against minorities in those countries. In nearly every instance, ...
"The AKDN Foundation is an umbrella organisation which coordinates the activities of over 200 agencies and institutions that make up the network, employing a total of 70,000 paid staff and 100,000 volunteers. The network operates in 35 of the poorest countries in the world and is statutorily secular. This tableau is of course merely a momentary snapshot of a constantly evolving ...
Stefan Aust / Erich Follath: Your Highness, in a lecture Pope Benedict XVI quoted Emperor Manuel as saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as a command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." This quotation from the 14th century has caused great uproar in ...
"[I]nstitutions are the vehicles to unleash the creativity and energy of billions of men and women.... The business and voluntary sectors can work together to unleash the creative energies of the informal sector, the many millions of tiny producers.... "It is my profound conviction that steps to strengthen institutions and the linkages between them are critical to the freedom of the ...
"An institution dedicated to proceeding beyond known limits must be committed to independent thinking. In a university scholars engage both orthodox and unorthodox ideas, seeking truth and understanding wherever they may be found." His Highness the Aga Khan's 1994 Aga Khan University Convocation Ceremony, 10th Anniversary Address (Karachi, Pakistan) ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "What students know is ... no longer ...
Pranay Gupte: Of all your worries, what concerns you most? Aga Khan: I'm worried about continuity. And I'm worried about the efficacy of the institution in a continuum of time. Worried is perhaps not too strong a word. I think about that. I think about that. The institutions, I think, are aware of it. We are now working on 10-year programs. ...
"I think that one has to be very careful in the interpretation of Islam, not anchoring that interpretation at one time in history. If you make Islam a faith of the past, you in a sense make it impossible for the Muslim to practise his faith today and in the future. And as a Muslim I totally reject the concept that ...
John Stackhouse / Patrick Martin: You've spoken in the past, well before September the 11th, about some of the difficulties or challenges of Muslim nations to secularise. Is that still a great challenge for those countries, and do you foresee it happening in the near term? Aga Khan: I can't give you a single answer to that, and the reason is ...
John Stackhouse: How should we in the West view Iran? Aga Khan: That is an extremely complex question. It is an extremely complex question. I think one of the issues is: What is it that you want from Iran? I don't have a lot of clarity on that, frankly. Are we talking about the nuclear issue? Are we talking about regime ...
Antonio Marujo / Faranaz Keshavjee: In Islam, as in Christianity, the role of the female has been debated. There are people who say that they would like to see your daughter, Princess Zahra, as the next Imam. However, tradition claims it has to be the eldest son ... Aga Khan: As far as I know, there is no Muslim community in ...
Aga Khan: It's a fascinating situation in Africa because there are in the continent three different tendencies. There are States that are building free democratic societies, there are States that are building some kind of socialist society without actually being socialist, and there are completely socialist States. Nicholas Tomalin: Do you find left-wing political attitudes are a danger to your Faith? ...
"What is it we can now do to nurture healthy and competent democracies, in old settings where democracy has grown weary and in new settings where it is freshly planted? I would make three suggestions -- each of which is reflected in the experience of this university. 1. Strengthened civil institutions "First, we must strengthen our civil institutions. This means realising ...
"I should also mention here the headlines of this past week -- which chart the widening gulf between Islamic and Western societies. Here the culprit has not been military action or diplomatic failure but the power of media images -- deeply offensive caricatures -- which have profoundly offended one billion four hundred million Muslims around the world, including myself. "The question ...
Caroline Pigozzi / Jean-Claude Deutsch: Your Highness, what pride do you get from your work? Aga Khan: I am proud of two things. The first is the creation, in a variety of countries, of institutions of the community which possess real autonomy, which do not depend on the intervention, nor the thinking, nor the support of the Imam. The second is ...
"The Aga Khan Development Network agencies have been involved in micro-credit for more than 60 years. During that time, a variety of institutions offering a range of products tailored to specific needs have been established in many countries.... We have also extended loans for education and health care, which we believe can be important ways to break down the barriers to ...
Pranay Gupte: As you look at your extensive network, what is the thread that runs through all of them? Aga Khan: I think the starting premise is what are the inputs that are required in the parts of the world in which we are working that can have a beneficial impact on the quality of life if the people in those ...
Imran Aslam: You've always made this point that it takes time, it takes a lot of will, determination, courage, and we look at some of the projects like you have initiated in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. There are some concerns, which I think we needed to address here, certain perceptions that are needed to be cleared. When we talk about ...
"[The Aga Khan] is interested in the current debate on whether the hijab, the Muslim headscarf, should be worn in Irish schools and cautions against the issue being used to create division: "'My own sense is that if an individual wishes to associate publicly with a faith, that's the right of that individual to do that, whether he's a Christian or ...
"Over these five decades, I have watched that world oscillate constantly, between hope and disappointment. Too often, disappointment has been the dominant story.... [One] response has been to revisit past glories, contrasting them with contemporary setbacks. Many Muslims in particular, recall a time when Islamic civilisations were on the cutting edge of world progress. They dream of renewing that heritage. But ...
'Let me also comment on the sharpening of cultural conflict within Western societies. 'The past few years have been a dispiriting time in Europe -- in part because of what many describe as a clash of civilisations in Europe's midst, triggered by the rapid growth of minority populations. Perhaps, under a revitalised leadership, Europe can lead the world in meeting that ...
'In the 1990s, the term "failed state" gained currency to describe the situation in places like Afghanistan and Bosnia or Liberia and Somalia. Today, such descriptions simply divert attention from the real issues. For, apart from Weapons of Mass Destruction, HIV/AIDS or climate change, the greatest global threat today is not failed states -- states themselves do not fail -- but ...
"This general apathy which pervades every walk of life is the sign of a moral disease, and what I will ask you to consider with me today are the causes of this terrible disease, and I will especially invite your attention to this point. Are the causes of this disease, to use a medical phrase, congenital and necessary, i.e. are they ...
"It is more than ever necessary that the foundation of Imami-Ismailism should be understood by the new generation of Ismailis throughout the world. If those who believe that Hazrat Ali was the rightful successor of the Prophet to be the 'Ulu'l-amr Menkom must accept the principle of that succession for the same reasons they accept in the case of Hazrat Ali ...
"But, as I have explained in my Memoirs for the whole world to understand there are two worlds -- the world of material intelligence and the world of spiritual enlightenment. The world of spiritual enlightenment is fundamentally different from the world of material intellectualism and it is the pride of the Ismailis that we firmly believe that the world of spiritual ...
"And if two parties of believers fall to fighting, then make peace between them." "And if one party of them doeth wrong to the other, fight ye that which doeth wrong till it return unto the ordinance of Allah; then, if it return, make peace between them justly, and act equitably." "The believers are naught else than brothers. Therefore make peace ...
"Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is! "Again, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is! "A day on which no soul hath power at all for any (other) soul. "The (absolute) command on that day is Allah's." Qur'an 82:17-19 Pickthall "On that day man will cry: Whither to flee! Alas! No refuge! ...
"I've seen that film [of Shergar's Epsom win] I don't know how many, tens or hundreds of times. I keep trying to analyse where this remarkable performance came from and every time I see the film, I feel that I have learned something.... I had watched quite enough races to be able to determine what the jockey probably was feeling, how ...
Be just, honest and straightforward. Give full measure and full weight, in justice. We task not any soul beyond its scope. And if ye give your word, do justice thereunto, even though it be (against) a kinsman; and fulfil the covenant of Allah. This He commandeth you that haply ye may remember. (6:152) Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal ...
Margot Dougherty/Richard B. Stolley: The subject of money inevitably comes up when your name and your foundation are mentioned. Could you put to rest some of the myths? Aga Khan: A lot of stories have been told. My grandfather's jubilees were events which the Western media thought were very spectacular. The impression was given that very substantial amounts of money went ...
"Today my worry is not [with polygamy]. My worry is the notion of unique family, which is in the process of destroying itself. Voila! We are further than the polygamy today. Today we face a situation where a part of our world accepts that children are born outside the family." His Highness the Aga Khan's 2001 Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International Interview ...
"What has been my own policy with my followers? Our religion is our religion, you either believe in it or you do not. You can leave a faith but you cannot, if you do not accept its tenets, remain within it and claim to 'reform' it. You can abandon those tenets, but you cannot try to change them and still protest ...
First of all you educate the individual to understand better the creation of God. Therefore education is part of the manifestation of faith because you seek to understand what you would not normally understand. Secondly, Islam is very, very rigorous, very demanding on the elimination of inequities in society. And my experience at least, is that very often inequities in society ...
