To mark the commencement of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Diamond Jubilee on 11th July 2017, TheIsmaili Nutrition Centre is pleased to launch "Taste of Culture" - a celebration of our cultural diversity through the joy of food. Travel around the world with us, as we dish out food secrets from the locals themselves. From Dar-es-Salaam to Dallas, discover some ...
In a 2003, Hazar Imam wrote "The true test [of education] is the ability of students and graduates to engage with what they do not know and to work out a solution." Notice he addressed his remark to everyone, since everyone is either a student or a graduate. You may be wondering what this has to do with experts, or ...
Around the 11th century the Imams, then residing in Persia, sent Pirs to the Indian subcontinent to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam to non-Arabic speaking people. From the Sanskrit word jnana, meaning 'contemplative knowledge,' Ginans are a vast corpus of poetic compositions, authored by those Pirs to fulfill the Imams' wishes. At the time, devotional poetry was flourishing in ...
In 1967, Mawlana Hazar Imam said "Western Europe and North America ... face social and moral conflicts which are far more daunting than known in Asia or Africa." In 1976, he said "I have observed in the Western world a deeply changing pattern of human relations. The anchors of moral behaviour appear to have dragged to such depths that they ...
To help the Jamat better understand why Ismaili Digest is so different from every other Ismaili website, we've prepared this short video to highlight some of our main features. Even if you've visited us before, we're sure you'll discover something you didn't know!
Due to the nature of major technical changes to Ismaili Digest we're making this week, the website, our e-mail services and isma.li links will be up and down while we iron out any issues. We're sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience during this time. Although our subscribers and visitors won't see or notice any differences due to the changes, under the hood critical components are being replaced with alternative technologies that will give is more resilience and independence going forward.
Salgirah Mubarak! To celebrate this happy occasion, we bring you our popular collection of 50 jokes by Mawlana Hazar Imam -- many with video or audio. During the Golden Jubilee, Hazar Imam said in Vancouver, "from time to time I have joked with my Jamat, and it has come to them in a rather unexpected way! And I said to ...
In today's skeptical, secular world, many Ismailis wonder how complete and accurate is the historical record that documents and traces the Ismaili Imamat back to Prophet Muhammad and the first Shia Imam, Hazart Ali. Like all hereditary offices, at times there was disagreement over who was the legitimate successor to a previous Imam. Indeed, in his 1986 Man Alive interview, ...
Parable: Learning from Tragedy, the Story of the Imprisoned Parrot Parrot in a cage There was once a merchant who owned a beautiful parrot. The parrot's ability to sing kept the merchant very happy for years. The merchant looked after the parrot very ...
"It was very satisfying to hear Hazar Imam and President Talib have such confidence, respect, and trust in the private Ismaili media publishers, and value our work that President Talib wished to set up relationships with us and Hazar Imam gave him guidance on how to structure the relationships.... I think the institutions and the Jamat are really not aware of the thousands of hours of passionate work reliable private Ismaili web publishers put, voluntarily, into their websites each year with no other motive than a deep and sincere desire to help the Jamat, which these websites do in countless ways that may not be always appreciated."
A fundamental aspect of our faith is the idea of "personal search." However what does this actually mean? Does "personal search" mean there are "no black and white answers" to faith related questions we have? That every interpretation is automatically correct? This is also known as relativism. Relativism claims there is no absolute truth, no single correct interpretation, but Hazar ...
"I believe our intellectual tradition does not lie in just studying the fruits of other people's intellectual labour -- such as the works handed down from our past luminaries -- but, rather, in the intellectual labour itself.... That is, the actual intellectual activity which produced those works that embodied new thinking ... Think about it this way. If we're not producing new, original works today, what new works will Ismailis, a 1,000 years from now, find worthy to republish or translate from our time? ... Thinking and expressing opinions are at the heart of Ismaili Ignition's understanding of the Ismaili intellectual tradition and why our vision is simply: Help reignite the passion to think for ourselves and encourage each intellect to express itself."
With all the cold weather we're having in North America, it seems winter has come early. And on these winter days, what could feel better than a steaming hot bowl of dhal? Here are four recipes that are sure to hit the spot with your family. Warm regardsIsmaili Digest
Sacred Web Editorial - The Transhumanist Fallacy GOOGLE.COM -- SACRED WEB -- Transhumanism can be defined as the ideology which seeks to modify or improve the human race. A very basic question that must be asked before we presume to tamper with humanity ...
"I believe that one test of real leadership is whether or not policies are nuanced and flexible so as to allow each situation to assessed on its own merits. I think this is especially important today, when change is coming at ever increasing breakneck speeds, placing a premium on flexibility and adaptability because, frankly, today there is no time for dogmatic, rigid, and inflexible policies, as Hazar himself has explained. Nuanced policies, based on 'empathetic knowledge' require, of course, openness to view the situation from the other side and then the confidence and courage to make a 'competent, intelligent, nuanced and sophisticated analysis' of the situation."
The term "Islamic art" refers to visual arts produced in Islamic regions but not necessarily for or by Muslims. It is generally contemplative and, as such, often incorporates prayers or verses from the Qur'an or Hadith. Curiously, these are not just rendered on places of worship, but even on everyday objects such as utensils and cooking pots. The breadth of ...
"Ignition Questions offer forward looking questions, ideas, concepts and perspectives, related to the faith or the community. They are inspired by Hazar Imam's 1986, USA guidance where he said: 'In dealing with the issues that lie ahead of us, we will look at them straight in the face, we will ask the hard questions. If we cannot find immediate answers, we will go on asking the same questions until In'sh'allah, we are inspired to find the answers, but we will not give up. We will not go back to an obscurantism, to a form of intellectual retreat into something which is neither beneficial for the present and certainly not constructive for the future ... we must have the courage to ask the questions and to seek the answers.'"
"We have three scheduled newsletters -- daily, weekly, monthly -- which let subscribers choose the frequency they wish to be updated with the latest posts from the websites we aggregate. To help institutional and private publishers 'recycle' their older content and expose it those who might not have seen it, every week we dedicate a newsletter -- called the Editor's Choice Newsletter -- to one website, in rotation. No other content from any other website is featured in this dedicated newsletter.... A lot of effort has been spent to ensure that Ismaili Digest email newsletters are 100% mobile friendly."
As Muslims, in the modern world, the words "modernity" and "tradition" unleash an uneasy cascade of conflicting emotions as we try, often unsuccessfully, to reconcile the two. Fortunately, Mawlana Hazar Imam, has provided his profound insights and perspectives on how to look at and reconcile the two, not just for today but for all time. At the heart of his ...
"Off The Beaten Track links to little known, fascinating, important, and sometimes even controversial, research, knowledge and opinions relevant to the community's wellbeing, personal and intellectual growth, best practises, etc. (as opposed to current affairs, news, politics, etc.), in keeping with Hazar Imam's advice to keep expanding our knowledge horizon: '[We must] constantly review and revise and renew what we think we know.' (2006, Pakistan) There is, of course, a challenge, what I call 'intellectual inertia,' to overcome. That is, the comfort of the status quo, of the familiar, the common resistance to new ideas, new ways, new paradigms, especially those that challenge or overturn the conventional wisdom."
The castles inhabited by Nizari Ismailis from 1090 CE until the Mongol invasion in 1256 CE were researched by Peter Wiley over the course of 40 years. His final work, "Eagle's Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria", published in 2005 by The Institute of Ismaili Studies, is recognised as the standard work on the subject. The Ismaili state, from ...
Ismaili Digest Exclusive for October 2019 -- Each month enjoy the most popular new articles and videos viewed by the Jamat from over 36 of the best Ismaili websites with just one click! 'Most popular' means most viewed post(s) on each website (excluding duplicate postings and Event Alerts) without social media influence. NOTE: Posts are randomly ordered.
"Ignition Paradigm Proposals are inspired by Hazar Imam's 1989 guidance where he said: 'Bring forward your ideas. It is only a stupid person who does not listen to ideas. It means he is like a horse ... who lives with blinkers [and] all they can see ahead of them is a little tiny dimension of light.... It is only that sort of a horse that goes straight, straight, straight, straight, straight and it never looks for a new direction, a new idea, something creative. Let's not be a horse with blinkers.... No, that is not for our Jamat. ... Have confidence in your own judgement, confidence in your ability to analyse problems, confidence in your ability to develop solutions to those problems.'"
In June 1999, in Aiglemont, Mawlana Hazar Imam said: "You cannot know this, but I watch other immigrant communities. I don't just watch my Jamat, I watch others, and I watch what they are doing, and I draw lessons from that ..." And so, as a faith community, we decided to look at other faith communities to see what lessons ...
"While conventional wisdom suggests group brainstorming is the best approach to creativity, innovation and insight, real world experience, research from the last 40 years, and even the greatest creative minds in history, all testify that real creativity, real innovation, real insight first happens when we work with our thoughts, alone, not in groups, teams or committees. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, famously said in his memoir, 'I don't believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee.' Often we think we don't have the confidence or knowledge or experience to do think for ourselves, or that only 'experts' should think about such things, but that, in my view, is fundamentally mistaken."
The Prophet Muhammad's is often thought of as "just the messenger of God's revelation," however , as the Qur'an makes clear, the scope of his spritual status and reglious roles are deep and comprehensive. According to Shia belief, that status and those roles did not extinguish at the Prophet's death but are, instead, carried forward by the Shia Imamat, so ...
"In 25 years I would like to be able to list 25 profound and permanent achievements the community accomplished that fundamentally moved the community forward in ways we could not anticipate in advance because we chose to tap the full intellectual capacity of the community. If that's the objective, then there are two overarching challenges we face to achieve it. First, we really need to start nurturing a culture that truly looks to marshal and leverage the community wisdom, that Hazar Imam recently spoke of, from across the entire Jamat and not just small segments. Secondly a culture that truly respects and encourages socially responsible, reliable, trustworthy private initiative, that helps serve the Jamat, also needs to be nurtured."
There is nothing more moving for an Ismaili than to be in the presence of our Imam. And, some Ismailis have the rare honour of being with our Imams privately, even if just for a moment. However, by the grace of our Imams, humble stories of such meetings move all of us, whether we knew the person or not, whether ...
During the Diamond Jubilee, Mawlana Hazar Imam made a critical remark in Karachi: "There should be a dialogue between the Jamat and our institutions, and this dialogue should be an ongoing process of thinking together, of what will best serve the Jamat ... So we are seeking community wisdom, the wisdom of the Jamat, as to what are its needs, ...
Ismaili Digest Exclusive for September 2019 -- Each month enjoy the most popular new articles and videos viewed by the Jamat from over 36 of the best Ismaili websites with just one click! 'Most popular' means most viewed post(s) on each website (excluding duplicate postings and Event Alerts) without social media influence. NOTE: Posts are randomly ordered.
Biryani. To the South Asian Ismaili community, the very word conjures up fond memories a favorite dish for special occasions. It's so much a part of the culture, that even Mawlana Hazar Imam jokes about biryani, again and again and again! 🙂 There are no end of creative ways to make biryani and The Ismaili Nutrition Centre has four mouth-watering ...
Although most people assume they know what introversion is, actually, they don't. As Susan Cain, author of Quiet, writes, "introversion is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology" as if it's a "problem" to fix, like was once thought about left-handed people. Introverts don't need to be "fixed" any more than left-handed people need to ...
Intellectual diversity has been a hallmark of Ismaili literature. Throughout their history, and across the regions, Ismailis produced diverse literature in Arabic, Persian and Indian languages. Among others, subjects included science, philosophy, the doctrine of Imamate, legal compendia, esoteric interpretations of Revelation, histories of early Imams as well as a rich collection of religious and devotional poetry. The selection chosen ...
Take a trip back in time and relive major Imamat and Noorani Family events going back to Mawlana Sultan Mohammad Shah. These short, but engaging, historical newsreels from the early 1900s will make you feel like you were right there, experiencing it all over again. Warm regards RoundUp Video Series
Over the years, Mawlana Hazar Imam has spoken extensively about the media and their audiences, often delivering harsh criticisms of both. Times have changed and today social media has turned everyone into both a publisher and consumer of news and information. Each of us is now a small broadcasting station, adding to the information stream (and noise) others wade through ...
Ginans are an indispensable tradition for the South Asian Ismaili community. In these pieces, Dr. Ali Asani, perhaps the community's foremost authority on ginans and author of "Ecstasy and Enlightenment," explains, in non-academic language, their history and role in Ismaili practices today. Best regardsIsmaili Digest
Peer Review. The very words conjure up a spiritual sacredness and authority that no one dare challenge. But is that stamp of authority worthy of uncritical worship? Are peer reviewed journals a fortress against pseudo-science and superstition, store houses of "reliable facts?" Editors of the most prestigious peer reviewed journals don't think so. Richard Smith, who edited the British Medical ...
Volunteering has been the backbone of the Ismaili community since the very beginning and it can be, rightfully, said the Ismaili community has been built and sustained by volunteers, not just those within the institutions, but all those who have selflessly contributed to the communities progress. Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah famously said to the volunteers "Today I will give you ...
It's Summer and we could all use a nice, cold healthy drink. Here are 5 we're sure will hit the spot! "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." - James Dent Happy Summer! Ismaili Digest
We're pleased to announce Ismaili Ignition's new interview series "Ismaili Families Speak!" Parents have always faced challenges in raising their children. However, today the pace of change is so rapid, new challenges arise before parents have understood, much less addressed, challenges from just a few years ago. In this series, we'll be talking to parents about raising their children as Ismailis, including the challenges they face and solutions they've tried. We hope their insights will help other parents facing similar challenges.
