For my comments this evening it was suggested that I share some of the lessons the Aga Khan Development Network has learned from its 50 and more years of work, essentially in the developing countries of East and West Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. And it seemed that one of the subjects that I might discuss with ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1984 address, Islamic Architecture: Concerns and Directions, on receiving the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal for Architecture at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. In this extensive speech, the Aga Khan discusses pressures Islamic architecture faces and suggests solutions. Topics he addresses include:the historical and theological context of Islamic architecture,pre and post ...
The history of constitutions can be seen, as an oscillation between the two poles of centralisation and diffusion with new concentrations of power often amplifying the temptation to abuse, while new dispersions of power are often associated with stagnation, paralysis and even more opportunities for corruption. Arrangements that effectively balance power through a federalist approach, for example, are elusive. What is ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2004 Keynote Address to the Annual Conference of German Ambassadors in Berlin, Germany. One of his seminal speeches on democracy, the Aga Khan notes that democracy is "susceptible to failure at any time, in any society" and elaborates on "three essential pre-conditions for the successful transition of the poorest areas of the ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2005 Address to the International Press Institute, 54th General Assembly, in Nairobi Kenya. An adapted version of the speech was printed under the title Closing Africa's journalism deficit in the Jerusalem Post, the Jordan Times and Pakistan's Daily Times. In this insightful speech, the Aga Khan discusses "the adequacy of journalistic knowledge ...
Interviewer: Veronika Hofer Introduction at Arte (Google translation) Spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, a branch of Shiite Islam, Prince Karim Aga Khan is also the head of the Aga Khan Development Network, the largest private network of development of the world. See the tabloids especially him the heir to his dynasty and the owner of a prestigious stable of racehorses. ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2009 University of Alberta Graduation Ceremony Address. In this candid speech, the Aga Khan discusses the challenge of international development and its relationship to education identifying "four areas of concern" universities can help address:Governance and failure of democracy.The role of civil society in the development.Ethics and moral standards in the political and ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2001 interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. In this wide ranging interview, made just 2 months after 911, the Aga Khan discusses: 911,the diversity of the Ummah,various facets of Islam's values including polygamy and why "We are further than the polygamy today" in some parts of the world,his role as Imam,the structure ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2006 commencement address at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. In this seminal speech, the Aga Khan discusses democracy at length, noting that "our challenge is not to find alternatives to democracy, but to find more and better ways to make democracy work." To this end he suggests four aspects ...
Thinking of the past, I recollect the important dates of Tajik history. Twenty years ago, independence; sixteen years ago, an agreement between the Aga Khan Development Network and the government of Tajikistan in order to contribute to the development of this country. That agreement has enabled us to share as partners in the work of developing Tajikistan and improving the quality ...
What you are doing today is setting a remarkable example of people coming together for a common purpose across frontiers -- and that common purpose is to improve the quality of life of every individual in those societies.... These bridges enable people to come together to share best practice in developing human society. Across frontiers, you can build best practice in ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 2005 Paris Match interview, his fourth with the magazine. In the interview, the Aga Khan extensively discusses the Imamat covering his role as Imam, Imamat resources and his involvement in saving the Prince de Condé's Chantilly estate. Click for this NanoWisdoms' Suggested Reading: POSSIBLY RELATED READINGS (GENERATED AUTOMATICALLY) ...
This week's selection is Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III's 1902 All India Muhammadan Educational Conference Presidential Address, Muslim Education in India. Though made over 110 years ago, during his appeals for support to establish Aligarh University, in this important speech the Aga Khan decrys the "general apathy which pervades every walk of life" of the Ummah. Observing that "this ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1967 Peshawar University Convocation Address. In this thought provoking speech, soon after nations across Asia and Africa had gained independence, the Aga Khan contrasts the social context of the developed West with that of the East, noting that "some of the contrasts I have observed have convinced me that by no means ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1985 Pakistan Television Corporation Interview. In this interview, made the day after the inauguration of the Aga Khan University Hospital and the university's Faculty of Health Sciences, Karachi, the Aga Khan discusses the university's history and future. He also provides his insights and interpretations of Islam on many issues including the encompassing ...
[W]e are looking at quality of life indicators -- indicators that are not the same as those of the World Bank, indicators we have tried to develop through our own experience. We are looking at things like security, longevity, disposable income, access to education and employment. We are looking at what really affects people's attitudes to their own understanding of quality ...
Let me mention just five of the most important ways in which the School, we hope, will be truly distinctive.... In the first place, the School will work on the newest frontiers of media technology, with state-of-the-art equipment and innovative pedagogies ... This does not mean that we will ignore old skills and values. Our core concern must always be the ...
Today's inauguration of the Heart and Cancer Centre follows in this long tradition -- and points the way to broader, future horizons. We are planning for the day when this Faculty will include undergraduate education in medicine, nursing and allied health professions, as well as post-graduate nursing and medical studies -- and a 600-bed hospital. We plan to award bachelors and ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1986 interview with Riad Naguib El-Rais, 'The Critical Time'. In this engaging interview, the Aga Khan discusses Islam's image in the West with particular emphasis on the role Ismailis and all Muslims can play in the "'humanistic infiltration' of the industrial society in such a way that Islam may be looked upon ...
[I]f we have moved forward in various parts of the world, it is thanks to the leadership of the jamat. And I would like you to take these remarks to heart. Think about them because they're said not only for today, they're said for the past and they're said for the future.... I wanted to tell you [that] your leadership [which] ...
And what is the nature of a strong institution? It is the quality of its leadership. And in that sense, my happiness this evening it to be able to say to you that is through the quality of your leadership, your efforts, your endeavours, your commitment that this jamat in Uganda [and] in other countries of the world has built international ...
I also want to thank you for the most lovely gift that you have given me. These gifts are very meaningful. They're chosen with care and they are chosen in such away that they know they will please me. I would like to begin by telling you how immensely happy I am to be back in Tanzania and to be able ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's vision for the Aga Khan Academies. In this short but weighty article, the Aga Khan gives his views on the age-old question: What does it mean to be an educated person? Among the many factors he outlines, he observes in particular "what students know is ... no longer the most important measure ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1996 Commonwealth Press Union Conference Keynote Address, 'The Spirit of Creative Encounter' (Cape Town, South Africa). In this seminal speech, the Aga Khan introduces the notion of the "Creative Encounter" and asks: "How can the rapid acceleration of contact among ... cultures be turned into co-operation rather than conflict? Or to put ...
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 ...
This week's selection is His Highness the Aga Khan's 1970 University of Sind Convocation Address (Hyderabad, Pakistan). In this prescient speech, the Aga Khan explains how the Muslim concept of statehood was broken after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and replaced with Western notions, noting also that the "loss of control of government [during colonial times had] left the Muslims ...
NanoWisdoms is pleased to announce its "Suggested Reading" series which, twice a month, will make a reading recommendation from our Archive of Imamat speeches, interviews and writings. This week's choice is Mawlana Hazar Imam's 2003 address to the Institute of Ismaili Studies on the occasion of its 25th Anniversary Graduation Ceremony. In this candid speech, Hazar Imam draws attention to:issues Muslims ...
His message is simple. If we help societies create their own support systems, for health, education and economic development "... then societies will evolve positively and without too much difficulty. Now that sounds over optimistic, and it might well be but that's the goal." Some say our world is getting flatter, some say hotter, but here is proof it is getting ...
[I]n much of the world where we work, our problem is volatility -- volatility in economics, in governments and so on and so forth. I think what we've learned is that the best answer to this volatility, in the countries where we are, is civil society and very often civil society is not an expression everyone is comfortable with. But I'll ...
It has never been easy for people to live together. Wiping away superficial misunderstandings will not by itself allow a spontaneous spirit of accommodation to blossom. To do so will require concerted, deliberate efforts to build social institutions and cultural habits which take account of difference, which see diversity as an opportunity rather than a burden. We can begin by looking ...
NanoWisdoms is pleased to announce the launch of the NanoWisdoms Archive, the first website dedicated to His Highness the Aga Khan's speeches, interviews and writings. As a dedicated repository, the NanoWisdoms Archive enables precise, narrow searches returning results only with the Aga Khan's remarks since the Archive contains no other content. Furthermore, searches are comprehensive as the Archive encompasses material scattered ...
My effort to defend the value of culture, through the Aga Khan Development Network, and specifically through its dedicated agency, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, focuses its activities in four main areas: the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme; the Aga Khan Award for Architecture; the Aga Khan Music Initiative; and Museum Projects. These activities, which are themselves subdivided into a ...
Practically no countries [sic] in Asia, Africa or the Middle East have a political landscape rooted in a strong two-party system as do many Western democracies. The probable consequence is that in many if not most countries of the developing world, coalition government will be omnipresent in the decades ahead. Yet few of these countries have any established experience with coalition ...
There is one other larger context I would like to mention today -- the story of the Serena Hotel Group as a whole. Stretching back now over nearly four decades the Serena Group has contributed significantly to the economic progress of the places where it operates. And we intend that this same thing will happen in this country. To begin with, ...
I certainly think the invasion of Iraq was a serious mistake. We had crisis situations before that. We had them in Kashmir. We had them in the Middle East. If you look at the origins of those crises, they were political not religious. At the moment, it's the horrible conflicts which are dominating the image of the Islamic world and I ...
The general goal of the Aga Khan Development Network, as system of agencies, is to assist in the construction of civil society. Over the past 50 years we have come to the conclusion that the strength and quality of civil society is the greatest guarantor of processes of positive change.... I think the issue is not only the differences in quality ...
I am convinced that, over time, the most effective weapon to combat human trafficking will be civil society's rejection of these vile activities. It will be essential, therefore, to share the knowledge accumulated by the Award's activities with civil society organisations around the world -- including schools which teach about business, and the leisure industry, and the widest possible range of ...
As we look to the future, let me mention four principle areas of concern: the Islamic environment of our work, its relevant constituencies, the shifting social and economic scene, and the impact of new technologies.... Why should we emphasise an Islamic approach to architecture? Our Master Jury, in responding to this question, has described how global forces now threaten the values ...
I am very grateful to the Sakip Sabanci Museum, and to the Chairman of its Board, Ms Güler Sabanci, for hosting this presentation of treasures of the future Aga Khan Museum's collections ... The choice was made to focus on the arts of the book and calligraphy, themes which have been central to Islamic culture for close to fifteen hundred years. ...
As societies come to think in pluralistic ways, I believe they can learn another lesson from the Canadian experience, the importance of resisting both assimilation and homogenization -- the subordination and dilution of minority cultures on the one hand, or an attempt to create some new, transcendent blend of identities on the other. What the Canadian experience suggests to me is ...
