Eji Shahna khat aavya vira jampudip manhe Kain lavya lavya Chandan vira. Da'i s were sent to the Indian subcontinent by Imams residing in Persia to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam beginning in the late 11th or early 12th century. The da'is, who were known by the Persian term pir, composed ginans to explain the message of Revelation to non-Arabic ...
The Tayyibi Ismaili scholar and author Idris Imad al-Din (d. 1468 CE) was the chief da'i of the Yemeni Ismaili da'wa, descended from the prominent al-Walid family, who led the Tayyibi Musta'lian Ismaili administration for more than three centuries. Thus, Idris had access to the literary heritage of the Ismailis, including the majority of the surviving Fatimid texts. In his seven-volume ...
Named after the Prophet's daughter, the Fatimids, Mawlana Hazar Imam's ancestors, established their empire in 909 in North Africa when Imam al-Mahdi was proclaimed Caliph. The Fatimid Caliphate remained in North Africa during the reign of Imams al-Mahdi (r. 909-934), al-Qa'im (r. 934-946), and al-Mansur (r. 946-953). Imam al-Mu'izz (r. 953-975) founded the city of Cairo which subsequently became the capital ...
"A sound enabling environment must create a favourable framework in which people's energy and creativity can be motivated, mobilized and rewarded." Mawlana Hazar ImamConference on Central Asia and Europe, Berlin, Germany, 13 November 2007Speech "What a sound enabling environment must do is to create a favourable framework in which human creativity can flourish... In the end, human progress must grow out ...
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili pirs, who came to the Indian ...
Hasan-i Sabbah was born in Qum, in Persia, into a Twelver Shi'i family in the mid-1050s. His family migrated to Rayy, an important centre of Shi'i learning in Persia, where Hasan received his early education. Shortly after the age of seventeen, Hasan was introduced to Ismaili teachings by the local da'i Amira Darrab. Subsequently, Hasan learned more about Ismaili doctrines from ...
Nasir Khusraw, a Persian poet, philosopher, traveller, and a da'i, was born on 1004 in Qubadiyan, a small town in eastern Iran into a Twelver Shi'i family. After completing his schooling, where he studied Arabic, Persian, mathematics, philosophy, and religious sciences, Nasir entered government service in the revenue department. He enjoyed travelling, admiring the architectural and cultural creations of the regions ...
Mawlana Hazar Imam presided over and made opening remarks at the first seminar of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture held at Aiglemont, France, on April 5, 1978.The first review meeting of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. From left to right Doğan Kuban, Hasan uddin Khan, Renata Holod, Mawlana Hazar Imam, Oleg Grabar, William Porter, Nader Ardalan, Garr Campbell, Michael ...
One of the most important female figures for the roles of women is Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadija. She was born around 604 CE in Mecca, the youngest of three sisters: Zaynab, Ruqayya, and Umm Kulthum. Hazrat Fatima was reportedly close to her father. When the Prophet emigrated (hijra) to Medina in 622 CE initiating ...
In the Quran, nature and water are explained as signs of God (ayah), which is also the term used for each verse of the sacred text. "That means that, like the words of God written as verses in the sacred text, nature and water specifically are signs of God on which people are called to meditate. Hence, nature is a scripture ...
Tulips are depicted on a variety of Ottoman decorative arts including textiles and ceramics. Called lale in Ottoman-Turkish, tulips held a range of meanings in Muslim contexts. For Sufis in the Ottoman realms, the numerical value assigned to the letters forming the word lale, the total being 66, corresponded to the value assigned to the letters for Allah which suggested a ...
"My prayer is that the university we are now building will enable many generations of the students to acquire both knowledge and the essential spiritual wisdom needed to balance that knowledge and enable their lives to attain the highest fulfillment." Mawlana Hazar Imam, Karachi, Pakistan16 March1983Aga Khan University (AKU) Mawlana Hazar Imam had announced the construction of a hospital, medical college, ...
Mawlana Hazar Imam succeeded his grandfather to the Imamate on 11 July 1957. To mark his accession, several Takht Nashini (Masnadnashini) ceremonies were held, including one at Bombay (now Mumbai), India, on 11 March 1958. Mawlana Hazar Imam's Takht Nashini (Masnadnashini) in Bombay, 1958. Image: 25 Years in Pictures, Islamic Publications Ltd., London, 1983 In his address, Mawlana Hazar Imam said: ...
Nasir Khusraw (1004- ca.1077) was born in Qobadiyan in the district of Marv in the eastern Iranian province of Khurasan. He did well at school, learning Persian and Arabic as well as sciences, literature, mathematics, philosophy, religious sciences, and history. Following his family's tradition, Nasir joined the government bureaucracy in a financial capacity, perhaps as tax collector. He enjoyed to travel ...
"Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur'an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah's benevolent majesty." Mawlana Hazar Imam, London, UK, 19 October 2003Speech "As we use our intellect to gain new knowledge about Creation, we come to see even more profoundly ...
Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III succeeded his father to the Imamat on August 17, 1885 reigning for seventy-two years, longer that any of his predecessors. K.K. Aziz notes that Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah "occupies a place which .... may be called unique.... The positions he held in public life, the parties and organizations he led or patronized, the ...
In December 1964, Mawlana Hazar Imam announced his plan to build a modern medical centre comprising a medical college, a school of nursing, and a teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, to meet the health care needs of the country. The Government of Pakistan donated 84 acres of land for this initiative. Hazar Imam laid the foundation of the complex in 1971. ...
"...he [Ali ibn Abi Talib] was a prince to whom God gave much knowledge and wisdom."1 Attar "Ali b. Abi Talib, may God beautify his profile, is the secret mystery of the gnostics...and the whole Muslim Community agree that Ali b. Abi Talib represents the breaths of inspiration of all the prophets...He has sayings the like of which no one prior ...
To mark seventy years of his Imamat, Ismailis wished to weigh Imam in platinum. The first ceremony was held on February 3, 1954 in Karachi, Imam's birthplace. Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah addressing gathering on the occasion of his Platinum Jubilee at Karachi. Image: Poppperfoto/Ilm Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah succeeded his father to the Imamat on August 17, 1885 reigning for seventy-two ...
The term dawr al-satr generally refers to a period in early Ismaili history when the Imams were in concealment to escape persecution, and not directly accessible to the community. The first dawr al-satr occurred from shortly after the death of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq in 765 to the establishment of the Fatimid state in 909 in North Africa. The second period of ...
"From the development of written language to the invention of printing, to the development of electronic and digital media - quantitative advances in communication technology have not necessarily produced qualitative progress in mutual understanding. To be sure, each improvement in communications technology has triggered new waves of political optimism. But sadly, if information can be shared more easily as technology advances, ...
The Nizari Ismailis, residing in several countries around the world, have had a long and eventful history. On two occasions they had their own states, the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) and Alamut (1090-1256). After the fall of Alamut until recent times, the Nizari Ismailis experienced religious persecution, frequently resorting to extensive dissimulation practices; they disguised themselves as Sufis, Twelver Shi'is, Sunnis, or ...
Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II, the forty-seventh Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, succeeded his father to the Imamat in April 1881. Born in 1830 in Mahallat, Persia (modern day Iran) where he spent his early years, he went to Najaf, Iraq, with his mother to study Arabic, Persian, and Ismaili doctrines while his father was residing in Bombay (now ...
Imam Hasan Ali Shah was born in Kahak in 1804 and succeeded to the Imamat at the age of thirteen, after his father was murdered in Yazd, Persia. His mother went to the court of the ruling Qajar monarch Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834) to seek justice for the murder of her husband and support for her family. Fath Ali Shah ...
Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III (r. 1885-1957) established a research institution, the Ismaili Society, in 1946 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, for the study of all matters connected with Ismailism. Imam employed Wladimir Ivanow (1886-1970), the pioneer of modern Ismail studies, to undertake this task. On 1 January 1931 Ivanow began working at the Ismaili Society. (About Ivanow and ...
"It is an honour for me to have been invited here today to participate in the inauguration of this important international seminar and I have welcomed the opportunity because the issue of improving the living conditions of the poor has long been of the deepest concern to me, just as it was to my grandfather, Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan. ...
Selected verses from a poem titled Recognition of the Imam by Fida'i Khurasani: He is always present, a witness with his followers; but who has seen his beauty except the blessed? He who is the cupbearer of the fount of paradise, is aware altogether of the hearts of his followers. He is the Imam of the time, the guide and comforter, ...
"A sound enabling environment must create a favourable framework in which people's energy and creativity can be motivated, mobilized and rewarded." Mawlana Hazar ImamConference on Central Asia and Europe, Berlin, Germany, 13 November 2007Speech "What a sound enabling environment must do is to create a favourable framework in which human creativity can flourish... In the end, human progress must grow out ...
![[Dec 1]Today in history: Mawlana Rukn al-Din Khurshah succeeded to the Imamat](https://ismailidigest.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/513e875015-1024x576.jpeg)
The twenty-seventh Nizari Ismaili Imam Mawlana Rukn al-Din Khurshah (also Khayrshah) succeeded to the Imamat on 1 December 1255. Born around 1230 in Rudbar, northern Persia, Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah was the oldest son of Imam Ala al-Din, who had designated him in his childhood to be his successor. Mawlana Rukn al-Din Khurshah's brief reign coincided with the completion of the ...
"As I look around me, my deep sense is that today the strongest human force, sadly, is fear. This sentiment has multiple origins, many of which you have learned about and experienced directly. At this time, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees believes that there are some 50 million people who are either refugees or internally displaced persons. Far more ...
Fearful that Persia's history would be forgotten, Abu'l-Qasim Firdawsi (940-1020) composed the Shahnama (Book of Kings), comprising more than 60,000 rhyming couplets, telling the story of Persia (modern-day Iran) from the time of creation to its conquest by Muslims in the seventh century. Partly legend, partly historic, it is also a manual on kingship, a collection of heroic tales, and a ...
"Instead of shouting at one another, we must listen to one another -- and learn from one another. As we do, one of our first lessons might well centre on those powerful but often neglected chapters in history when Islamic and European cultures interacted cooperatively -- constructively and creatively -- to help realise some of civilisation's peak achievements." Mawlana Hazar Imam ...
"Whilst open to all, the Aga Khan University is to be an Islamic institution. It will draw upon the great historical tradition of Muslim learning, the heritage of such philosophers and scientists as Ar-Razi and Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd. In the true spirit of this tradition, it will also address the higher educational needs of Muslims as they face ...
"I am proud, in noting just one reflection ... that this Centre is located in a neighbourhood that celebrates the great names of Ismoili Somoni and Rudaki." Mawlana Hazar Imam Ismaili Centre Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 12 October 2009 Abu Abdollah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki (ca.858-941), a Persian poet and a talented singer and musician, was born in Panjakent, Tajikistan, and served as ...
As soon as Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah came of age in 1898, "he set out to see the world... the first country he visited was England, where he was received by the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, the Secretary of State for India, Lord George Hamilton, the Duke of Connaught and some other men in high places. On a royal invitation he ...
"Life is a great and noble calling, not a mean and grovelling thing to be shuffled through as best as we can but a lofty and exalted destiny." Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and TimeMawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah. Photo: Aga Khan Studs Mawlana Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III was born on ...
"Our hope is that the Aga Khan Museum will also be a centre of learning, of education, revealing the connections between the arts of Muslim civilisations and those of other civilisations, indeed between the arts of the different Muslim civilisations themselves. This dialogue - silent, musical, literary - is what binds us all together in a common cultural heritage that we ...
"At the height of Islamic civilisations came a magnificent flowering of the arts and architecture: the buildings created by the great Islamic dynasties rank among the finest monuments of world culture. To focus one's attention on material details of these creations and on their representation in the pictorial arts of the time makes one understand better how they reflect the all-encompassing ...
"It is not piety that you turn your faces to the East or the West. But the pious is one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the prophets; and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to kinsfolk, orphans, the needy, the wayfarer, and to those who ask, and to set ...
The sixth Fatimid Caliph and sixteenth Ismaili Imam Abu 'Ali Mansur, succeeded his father Imam 'Aziz (r. 975-96) at the age of eleven on 14 October 996 with the caliphal title of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ('Ruler by God's Command'). The first Fatimid ruler to have been born in Egypt, Mawlana al-Hakim worked to extend the da'wa outside the Fatimid domains especially ...
