Simerg

In this in-depth study of Syad Imam Shah's ancient ginan, Naklanki Geeta (generally referred to as granth because of its voluminous size), Shiraz Pradhan explores its much advanced scientific ideas compared to the contemporary knowledge of the era. Pradhan seeks to explain how the composition's numerous verses might relate to cutting-edge scientific developments taking place today. Pradhan further explores the concept ...

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AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF NAKLANKI GEETA The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, the largest, most complex experimental facility ever built, and the largest single machine in the world. Published on the NASA website on February 25, 2008 as its image of the day. Image Credit & Copyright: Maximilien Brice, CERN BY SHIRAZ PRADHAN ...

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Ticket holders line up to listen to His Highness the Aga Khan at Harvard University on November 12, 2015. Photo: Azeem Maherali. Editor's note: Thematic excerpts from speeches made by His Highness the Aga Khan are highly popular with our readers, and we are pleased to present this feature once again for the recent Jodi lecture that was delivered by the ...

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Arif Babul World renowned Ismaili astrophysicist, Dr. Arif Babul of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, was recently invited to participate for the BBC's flagship discussion program, The Forum, which brings together three leading figures and thinkers to talk on specific themes. The episode in which Professor Babul participated focused on Core: A Journey to the Centre of the ...

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Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933 - 2003). Photo: Wikipedia Commons. Excerpts from a selection of statements, interviews and speeches that the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan gave when he was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Links to a fuller version of this article as well as all his UNHCR speeches and statements are provided below. Please also read ...

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"We must do everything possible to prevent human suffering" His Highness the Aga Khan with UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres at UNHCR Headquarters. Photo: The Ismaili. His Highness the Aga Khan visited the UNHCR headquarters on November 6, 2015 to meet UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, and discuss past and future cooperation in emergency operations around the world. His Highness ...

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BY VALI JAMAL Kampala, Uganda (Special to Simerg) Mr. Justin Trudeau has a special moment with his mother, Mrs. Margaret Trudeau, before the swearing in ceremony. Photo: Sgt. Ronald Duchesne, Rideau Hall. The remarkable victory by Justin Trudeau in the Canadian Federal Election held last month, and his momentous swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall on November 4, 2015, as Prime ...

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IRRESPECTIVE OF AGE, THE ISMAILI IMAM'S STATUS IS EXALTED "O Jamat do not consider me small. I am the descendant of the Prophet and my grandfather isHazrat Amirul Mominin(Hazrat Ali) and my grandmother isKhatoon-e-Janat(the Lady of Paradise) Hazrat Bibi Fatima. I am the Light(Nur) of both Hazrat Ali and the Prophet (Muhammad). Though young in age I am exalted. We Imams ...

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LAKE SAREZ NASA IMAGE Please click on image for enlargement Lake Sarez, deep in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan, was created 90 years ago when a strong earthquake triggered a massive landslide that, in turn, became a huge dam along the Murghob River, now called the Usoi Dam. The resulting lake is perched above surrounding drainages at an elevation greater than ...

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LETTER FROM PUBLISHER "Victorious Trudeau" Justin Trudeau with wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau just as results from polling stations across the country confirmed a Liberal majority government. Photo: Jean-Marc Carisse. Copyright. By Abdulmalik Merchant "Victorious Trudeau" is the caption of this large, beautiful and poignantly touching photograph on the front window of Jean-Marc Carisse's Studio Café located on Elgin Street in Ottawa. It's ...

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"Look at the mountains, the rivers, the trees, the flowers, as evidence of Allah's love for the people He has created" His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th Ismaili Imam, is seen addressing his followers in Ishkashim, Badakhshan, during his first historic visit to the region in 1995. "The Qur'an refers very often to nature as a reflection of Allah's power ...

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CRUCIAL GAME By Malik Merchant David Price on the mound for Toronto on August 8, 2015. Photo: Wikipedia. For Toronto Blue Jays, hope takes root at the pitcher's mound with a must win situation in the penultimate game tonight, Friday, against the Kansas City Royals, who are 3-2 up in the Best of Seven American League Championship Series (ALCS). David Price, ...

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José Antonio Bautista's home run which gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 3-run lead over the Texas Rangers in the 7th inning of the deciding game played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, is worth relishing. Bautista's swing of the bat that brought the 3 runs, his stare at the direction of the pitcher immediately after ...

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On the occasion of Prince Rahim Aga Khan's 44th birthday on Monday, October 12, 2015, we are pleased to produce excerpts from his commencement address that he delivered at the Graduation Ceremony of the Institute of the Ismaili Studies held in London, England, in September 2007. Prince Rahim Aga Khan and Princess Salwa on their wedding day on August 31, 2013. ...

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Mawlana Hazar Imam thanking the government of Portual for inviting the Ismaili Imamat to establish its permanent Seat in the country. Photo: TheIsmaili/Gary Otte. See text of agreement, click on note 4 below. "The religious leadership of the Ismaili Imam goes back to the origins of Shia Islam when the Prophet Muhammad appointed his son-in-law, Ali, to continue his teachings within ...

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"Nazarali Bapa was in the iron trade. He was a tool-maker and had the expertise that was required in this profession. Due to this, his oldest son Gulam Husein Nazarali Makani (my grandfather) received a tender after the British left India to install hand water pumps in all the neighbouring cities of Bombay...Widowed at a very early age with five children, ...

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Editor's note: In this piece, Khurshid Makani pays a tribute to her great grandfather, Nazarali Rahim Makani or Nazarali Bapa who passed away in 1951. More recently in 2015 Khurshid's own mother, Noorunisa Maherali, passed away in Singapore, and a tribute to her will follow shortly. We pray that the souls of the deceased members of Ms. Makani's family may rest ...

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The 49th Ismaili Imam "Friendly, smiling and interested in everything he saw, the Aga Khan impressed his scientific hosts on every phase of the medical research. He manifested particular interest in the Laboratory's work in tissue culture and its potential for cancer research, in the genetic effects of both radiation and inbreeding in mouse colonies, the use of radioactive isotopes in ...

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"[the] Aga Khan and his network have done such remarkable development work across the world, especially in Asia and East Africa, and we're delighted to play a part in spreading our knowledge throughout the world with partners like him." -- Sam Hawgood, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) PLEASE CLICK: The Aga Khan Visits UCSF to Strengthen Partnership ...

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Editor's note: For the month of September 2015, Simerg will be publishing new posts on a less frequent basis. Normal publication will resume in October. The following piece first appeared on this website in 2012. ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE, AND A SHIA ISLAMIC RESPONSE Ever since researchers in 1998 discovered that stem cells extracted from embryonic tissue could regenerate to ...

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BY KARIM THARANI University of Saskatchewan Library Special to Simerg Ginan Central is a web portal developed at the University of Saskatchewan Library with the goal of digitally preserving and providing access to ginanic literature in order to promote research and education. The projects undertaken and shared on Ginan Central are diverse and ongoing. For example, the Ginan Index and Search ...

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"....The tallest mountain near Mecca is Abu Qubays, which is round like a dome, so that if you shoot an arrow from the foot of the mountain it reaches its top....Having come into the city, you enter the Haram Mosque, approach the Ka'ba, and circumambulate..... always keeping the Ka'ba to your left [shoulder]. Then you go to the corner containing the ...

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His Highness the Aga Khan delivering the Keynote Address to the 2015 Athens Democracy Forum on September 15, 2015. Photo: AKDN / Gary Otte The following are excerpts from remarks made by His Highness the Aga Khan on September 15, 2015, in a keynote address to the Athens Democracy Forum, an international gathering of diplomats, business leaders and opinion makers. The ...

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Editor's note: For the month of September 2015, Simerg will be publishing new posts on a less frequent basis. Normal publication of 6 - 8 new posts per month will resume in October. The following piece by Barnaby Rogerson first appeared on this website in 2012. PLEASE CLICK:An Englishman Reflects on the Nature of Imam Ali "....No one could ever doubt ...

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By Abdulmalik Merchant Alijah Zul Khoja: Lifetime Educator and Leader It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of an outstanding educator and leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, (Alijah) Zulfikarali M.A. Velji Khoja, in Ottawa, Canada, on Friday, September 4th, 2015. His funeral and burial ceremonies will take place in Ottawa on Wednesday, September 9. Born in Pretoria, ...

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Editor's note: This poem was composed by Nazim Bhimani, a deaf Ismaili boy, when he was twelve. Nazim calls himself Deaf 1 Naz, and his profile in his own words can be read by clicking on Nazim Bhimani: The Deaf World. HURRICANE KATRINA "You came with a beautiful name and took everything in vain" pens Deaf 1 Naz By Nazim Bhimani ...

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I. THE HARSH REALITIES OF ALEPPO TODAY (A). Syria's Most War-Torn City by Newsweek Magazine (Note: Newsweek's story, accessible by clicking on the first image shown below, contain graphic images and may disturb some readers. Discretion is advised). "Longer even than the journey from Damascus to Aleppo is the time it takes to get from one end of Aleppo to the ...

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Written a thousand years ago, Ferdowsi's Shahnama or The Epic of the Kings tells the story of the Iranian people from the time of the world's creation. National epic, landmark in world literature and a profound expression of the Iranian soul, Ferdowsi's masterpiece is still read and recited throughout Iran. I. THE EPIC OF THE KINGS, AN INTRODUCTION The statue of ...

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Editor's note: The following two mystical stories have been adapted from the August-September 1981 issue of The Unesco Courier magazine, which was dedicated to Islam and the Muslim world. INTRODUCTION (compiled from UNESCO Courier) A manuscript by Farid Al Din Attar kept in Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany. Photo: Wikipedia. We present two extracts from The llahi-nama or Book of God by ...

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LETTER FROM PUBLISHER Simerg's Merchant By Abdulmalik Merchant I have lived in Ottawa for almost thirty years, and as a lover of magazines and newspapers I have been a weekly visitor to two great and noteworthy magazine stores in the downtown area, "The Globe" in the Byward Market area and "Mags & Fags" on Elgin Street, as well as "Brittons" located ...

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Editor's note: We are pleased to offer our readers a link to an extraordinaryfootage shown on Portuguese Cable News Channel, SIC Noticias, of the signing ceremony that took place in Lisbon establishing the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Portugal. We also include two other short clips of remarks made by the Foreign Minister of Portugal and the Prime Minister of ...

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Introduced by Abdulmalik Merchant Publisher-Editor, Simerg.com June 3, 2015: Mawlana Hazar Imam thanking the government for inviting the Ismaili Imamat to establish its permanent Seat in Portugal. TheIsmaili/Gary Otte On Thursday June 4, 2015, in a piece entitled History in the Making: Establishment of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Portugal, we informed our readers about a landmark agreement that ...

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Introduced by Abdulmalik J. Merchant (Publisher/Editor Simerg) 'The Magnificent Seven' In 2008, the same year that the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat Building was opened by Canada's Prime Minister Harper in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, a rediscovery of a spectacular medieval Islamic rock crystal ewer, forgotten since the mid-19th century, provided the catalyst for ...

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Letter From Publisher Simerg's Merchant By Abdulmalik J. Merchant Simerg's new feature Short Historical Insights is intended to make history educational, interesting and stimulating for readers through anecdotes, facts, stories as well as images related to Ismailis and their Imams, in no more than 500 words. Information in the series will be unearthed from a maze of documents, including those that ...

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Editor's note: I have immensely enjoyed the diverse range of songs in this magnificent album by Maher Zain, a Muslim Swedish Rythm and Blues (R&B) singer, songwriter and music producer of Lebanese origin. With more Facebook fans than any other Muslim artist, Zain has attained stardom status among Muslims around the world and has become an icon of modern Islamic music. ...

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"...For all clear thinking individuals, wherever they may be, the world's drug problem must remain a matter of permanent concern. With the density of the Ismaili population in Gorno-Badakhshan, in Afghan Badakshan, in Chitral and Hunza and elsewhere in South West Asia and Africa, the leaders of the Ismaili Community, its institutions and I, as the Imam, must be particularly concerned ...

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The recent Encounters showcase by Ismaili students of Ottawa generated great feedback from members of the Jamat. One visitor commented: "Congratulations to every single member of the BUI team. It is wonderful to conceptualize the brand of AKDN and other Imamat Institutions right at the youngest stage of Ismaili kids. Well done!" PLEASE CLICK: Sharing a journey through Encounters with the ...

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"The poor are not mere inanimate, unmotivated, units of deprivation. They are living, thinking people like the rest of us." Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th Ismaili Imam EID MUBARAK Historical photo: Muslims offering the Eid ul Fitr prayers at the Sheikhantaur Mosque in Tashkent. Photo created/published between 1865 and 1872. Credit: The US Library of Congress. The ...

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1. MAWLANA HAZAR IMAM HAD ADVOCATED THE PRINCIPLE OF "YES TO ENERGY, NO TO ARMS" SEVERAL YEARS AGO Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslims Photo: AKDN/Anya Campbell. Copyright. "We are a long way from the democratization of nuclear energy. Maybe I'm naïve but I advocate another approach, which I call "positive proliferation. ...

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