Verily we come from God and to God we return (Q 2:156) Every soul will taste of death. Then unto Us ye will be returned (Q 29:57) Lo! Unto thy Lord is the return (of all) (Q 96:8) Echoing the ayats, Pirs and Sayyids composed several ginans including: Pir Hasan Kabirdin: Dur desh thi aayo vanjaaro Shah mil sodaa kijiya O ...
"And indeed We have created man And We know what his soul whispers to him, And We are nearer to him than [his] jugular vein" (Q 50:16). "God said: I could not be contained in the heavens and the earth but can be contained in the heart of a true believer." Hadith of Prophet Muhammad Ginans are a vast collection consisting ...
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic 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 gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian ...
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 ...
The University of Central Asia (UCA) was established on August 28, 2000 as a private, not for profit, secular university through an international treaty signed by the presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Kazakhstan, and Mawlana Hazar Imam; ratified by the respective parliaments and registered with the United Nations. The presidents are the Patrons of the University and Mawlana Hazar Imam ...
"Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God." Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul ...
![[Aug 17]Today in history: Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah succeeded to the Imamat](https://ismailidigest.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/889376970f.jpeg)
Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III succeeded as Imam on August 17, 1885 at the age of eight years, leading the Nizari Ismailis as Imam for 72 years, longer than any of his predecessors. At the age of nine, he received the honorific title of 'His Highness' from Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901). In 1892, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah commissioned ...
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur'an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent. From the Sanskrit gyan, ...
In order to convey Ismaili doctrines, pirs composed ginans in local Indic languages, using religious ideas, symbols, and poetic forms from various folk traditions in a re-formulated form. Asani has designated this context as Indic rather than Hindu as the term 'Hinduism' is a post-colonial one, originating in an attempt by Westerners in the subcontinent, "especially missionaries, to lump together everything ...
Pirs composed hymns, known as ginans in several languages of the Indian subcontinent to explain Ismail doctrines to non-Arabic speaking peoples of the Indian sub-continent. "Since the Khojas consider the pirs to have been spiritually guided and authorized by the imams in that they p reached, the ginans have acquired a special sanctity" (p 45). Ginans served as "secondary scriptures that ...
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea; evo haide tamare harakh na maeji. Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light; boundless will be the joy in your heart. (tr. Ali Asani). Listen Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent ...
"... today we must explore every opportunity to have different faiths come together in addressing the problems of our respective societies. We come from the same common religious heritage, descendants of Abraham, and it is enjoined on us to address the problems of society on the same ethical premises."Mawlana Hazar ImamLisbon, Portugal, December 19, 2005SpeechMawlana Hazar Imam speaks after being awarded ...
Born into a noble family in 1004 in Marv in the eastern Iranian province of Khurasan, Nasir Khusraw followed the family tradition and worked for the government in a financial capacity. During his adulthood, he began to search for answers to his inner discontent - "some answer to the question of why all this exists. In his Safarnama ('Travelogue'), a record ...
Nasir al-Din Tusi, one of the major intellectual scholars of the thirteenthcentury who contributed to many fields of learning, was born in 1201 in Tus, northeastern Persia into a Twelver Shi'i (Ithna'ashari) family. His father, a prominent jurist, encouraged al-Tusi to study all branches of knowledge and examine the views on the various schools of Islamic tradition, because his father "was ...
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah called the first Ismailia Association Conference for Africa on July 20, 19451 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The objectives of the conference were to establish an Ismailia Association for Africa, independent from the Association for India, and to address the training of teachers to impart religious education to young boys and girls. The Conference, held in the ...
Following the commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Imamat, Imam continued to meet with government leaders, was bestowed honours, inaugurated Aga Khan Music Awards, presided over the 14th cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and participated in many events. The Aga Khan Development Network also continued its work to improve the quality of life of millions ...
"An amount equal to the value of the diamonds - more than half a million pounds - had been collected and was offered to me as an unconditional gift. I wanted this enormous amount to be used for the welfare of the Ismaili community throughout what was then undivided India. The specific scheme which I had in mind was a trust, ...
The Institute of Ismaili Studies was established by Mawlana Hazar Imam in 1977 to promote scholarship and learning about Muslim cultures and societies. In a message informing the Jamat of the inauguration of The Institute, Mawlana Hazar Imam said: "...not since the Fatimid period has there been in existence a Research Centre for Ismaili Studies, ...This is therefore a significant step ...
A Golden Jubilee initiative, the theatrical production Ali to Karim recounts the story of our 49 Imams. The production traces the unbroken thread of Imamat through over 1,400 years of history from 8th century Arabia to 12th century Persia and 17th century Persia. The production during Hazar Imam's Golden Jubilee commemoration comprised 7 episodes while the current one has 5 episodes. ...
"A thousand years ago, my forefathers, the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs of Egypt, founded Al-Azhar University and the Academy of Knowledge in Cairo. In the Islamic tradition, they viewed the discovery of knowledge as a way to understand, so as to serve better God's creation, to apply knowledge and reason to build society and shape human aspirations." Mawlana Hazar ImamMaputo, Mozambique, June 25, ...
"...(O) towering mountain of knowledge that has incapacitated its climber:.... The like of you cannot be found among those who have gone, From all the people, nor those that remain." Imam al-Mustansir bi'llah Abu Nasr Hibat Allah b. Musa b. Abi Imran b. Dawud al-Shirazi, one of the most distinguished da'is of the Fatimid period (909-1171), was born around 1000 in ...
"There was great purity of design, great synthesis in expression, great sensitivity to movement, to shape, to colour, and I think, all that art really was very, very unique for that period in human history.... Clearly, the Fatimid Empire is part of my family's history, it's part of Ismaili history, it's an important part in the sense that, it is, I ...
Jawdhar (d. 973), a Fatimid courtier and confidante of the first four Fatimid Imam-Caliphs who ruled in North Africa (910- 973 CE), rose to become one of the most eminent statesmen of the early Fatimid period. His life was compiled by his private secretary Abu Ali Mansur al-Azizi al-Jawdhari in Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhari, translated as Inside the Immaculate Portal. The term ...
"Study in order to acquire learning, and to adorn yourself with it; cultivate dignity and goodwill; treat with respect those who teach you, and those whom you teach. Do not make your learning oppressive to anyone, and do not permit your vanity to destroy the effects of what is really good in you... Those who acquire learning merely for the purpose ...
Qayrawan, the metropolis of North Africa, was the capital of Ifriqiya (modern day Tunisia and eastern Algeria) and the city in which Imam Abd Allah (Ubayd Allah) al-Mahdi was declared caliph in 909, beginning Fatimid reign. It had long been a major centre of Sunni scholars belonging to the Maliki and Hanafi schools of law. There was also a small community ...
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea; evo haide tamare harakh na maeji. Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light; boundless will be the joy in your heart. (tr. by Ali Asani). Listen From the Sanskrit jnana meaning 'contemplative knowledge,' ginans are a vast corpus of poetic compositions whose authorship was attributed to preachers, pirs, sent by Imams residing in Iran ...
"How can we inspire people to reach beyond rampant materialism, self-indulgent individualism, and unprincipled relativism... A passion for justice, the quest for equality, a respect for tolerance, a dedication to human dignity - these are universal human values which are broadly shared across divisions of class, race, language, faith and geography. They constitute what classical philosophers - in the East and ...
"On the day of 'Id al-Fitr, al-Mu'izz rode out for the 'id prayer to the musalla of Cairo that Jawhar had built.... Al-Mu'izz had arrived in regal attire, with his banners and litters. He led the complete, long id prayer..." The prolific Sunni, Egyptian scholar of the Mamluk period (1250-1517), Al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), wrote the most comprehensive account of the Fatimid ...
The first revelation to the Prophet was about knowledge and learning: "Recite [Iqra]! The Name of your Lord, who created! Created man from a clot. Recite! Your Lord is Most Generous! He who taught by the pen; Taught man what he did not know" (96: 1-5). The Prophet received revelations over twenty-three years, conveying the messages as he received by reciting ...
"There are two forms of knowledge: the knowledge [God] taught His angels, messengers and prophets, and [the knowledge] He withheld and confided to no one; in this [latter form of knowledge] He brings into being what He wills." Imam Muhammad al-Baqir(Cited in Faith and Practice in Islamic Traditions p 232) "Imam Hasan has explained the Islamic doctrine of God and the ...
Prophet Muhammad frequently sought moments of reflection by retreating to a cave on Mount Hira outside Mecca. After fifteen years of this meditative practice, during one of his retreats, he received his first call of revelation on what subsequently came to be called Laylat al-qadr (Night of Power). It is believed that the first revelation came during the latter part of ...
Monday 11 to Sunday May 17, 2020 is National Nursing Week in Canada, coinciding with Florence Nightingale's birthday on May 12. The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. Addressing the need for health care, Mawlana Hazar Imam inaugurated the Aga Khan ...
"Philanthropy and charitable giving hold a very central place in the teachings of the Holy Quran, the writings of Islamic thinkers, and the history of Muslims in all parts and cultures of the Islamic World.... Islam's clear and explicit injunction is to share resources beyond one's reasonable commitments, and to care for those in need... Religion and generosity - the gifts ...
Imam Muhammad b. Ali b. al-Husayn b. Ali b. Abi Talib, better known by his title al-Baqir, was born around 677 in Medina. He succeeded his father to the Imamat in 713, reigning for about twenty years. He received the title al-baqir al-ilm, 'one who splits open knowledge,' shortened to al-baqir, due to his vast knowledge. Lalani notes that Imam al-Baqir ...
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 ...
"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, November 13, 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 ...
"The doctors' aim is to do well, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies."1 RhazesAl-Razi. Source: Science Museum History of Medicine Abu ...
![[Apr]This month in history: Imam Aqa Ali Shah succeeded to the Imamat](https://ismailidigest.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/b3c867e79f.jpeg)
Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II was born in Mahallat, Persia, in 1830. He spent most of his early years in Iraq, possibly Najaf, where he went with his mother while his father was in Persia. In Iraq, Imam studied Arabic, Persian, and Nizari Ismaili doctrines, returning to Persia in the late 1840s. In 1853, he travelled with his mother ...
![[Apr]This month in history: Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah visited Ismailis in Gwadur](https://ismailidigest.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/4a4a65f373.jpeg)
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah visited the jamat of Gwadur, (in modern-day Pakistan province of Balochistan) in April 1905.Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah visited Ismailis of Gwadur in April 1905. Source: The Ismailis An Illustrated History Gwadur, a town and seaport in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, has been inhabited since the Bronze Age (3000BCE-1000BCE). In 1797, the town became part of the ...
In his Memoirs, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah states: "During the previous year [1896] there had been sinister rumours that an epidemic of bubonic plague was sedulously and remorselessly spreading westwards across Asia. There had been a bad outbreak in Hong King; sporadically it appeared in towns and cities farther and farther west. When in the late summer of 1897 it hit ...
