The brief video posted here with the transcript that follows originally appeared on the Voice of America website on March 17, 2017. We hope to catch up with this Syrian Ismaili family as well as other families like them with whom we have recently made contact, to see how they have been doing since their arrival in the USA or Canada. ...
(The following piece has been compiled from the NASA website) One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA's OPPORTUNITY rover mission came to an end in February 2019 after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA's return to the Red Planet. The OPPORTUNITY rover stopped communicating with Earth when ...
We present two very interesting videos related to India's Azim Premji, who this week announced an increase in his philanthropic commitment to the Azim Premji Foundation by $7.5 billion, taking his overall commitment to his endowment to $21 billion. The news which has been reported widely in media around the world generated a very interesting panel discussion on the Indian Channel ...
A portrait of Shirin Mohamedali Khimji (1935-2019). Photo: (Late) Shirin Mohamedali Khimji Family Collection. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un"Surely we belong to God and to Him we return" -- Holy Qur'an, 2:156 "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. ...
Top portion of image shows plaque commemorating Ismailis who were killed in a WWII raid in Burma. Bottom half is a surreal image by Sarite Sanders of Aswan's Fatimid cemetery. HONOURING LIVES LIVED By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher-Editor, Simerg,Barakah and Simergphotos Simerg offers to all Ismaili families around the world an opportunity to submit memorials to honour and celebrate the lives of their ...
A LETTER FROM PUBLISHER Malik Merchant of Simerg One thing that I deeply appreciated about the Ismaili UK Newsletter (at least the hard copy version that I knew of) was the periodic publication of births and deaths that occurred in the UK and other European countries that were under the jurisdiction of the UK Aga Khan Ismaili Council. That information was ...
A tribute to the great Ismaili dai, Hasan bin Sabbah who was responsible for establishing the Alamut state after the divisions in the Fatimid Empire led to its eventual demise. Hasan maintained that Imam Nizar and not Musteali was the rightful heir to Imam Mustansir billah, the 8th Fatimid Caliph. Photo: © Copyright Muslim Harji, Montreal, PQ, Canada.. The recent CNN photo ...
[Numerous reports in the Iranian media in November 2014 announced that Iran was planning to offer the castle of Alamut to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The historical significance of the fortress dates back to 1090 A.C. when the Ismaili dai Hassan Sabbah chose the Alamut region as the headquarters of Ismailis following the Nizari-Musteali split in Fatimid Egypt. But ...
By AMAR GROVER, CNN, January 31, 2019 "Sabbah's rule from Alamut is shrouded in mystery and enigma...partly because most Ismaili records of the era were destroyed by the Mongols while the writings of their detractors survived. Fused with the half-truths and fanciful tales of European travelers including Marco Polo along with the sensationalist confections of pseudo-scholars, the Ismailis were long cast ...
"The children of Adam, created of the self-same clay, are members of one body. When one member suffers, all members suffer, likewise." -- Sadi, Muslim poet. "Withdrawing and distancing from others does not make us stronger. We hurt ourselves, limit that which can nurture us, open ourselves to injuries that can only be survived by connections. Isolationism and xenophobia fuel hatred ...
By ABDULMALIK MERCHANT (Publisher/Editor Simerg, Barakah and Simergphotos; .Com) Hold the historical moment of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Diamond Jubilee for ever with a numbered 2-set frame of stamps, first day covers, motifs as well as a unique Portuguese souvenir sheet affixed with a genuine 1.25 mm diamond Photo: Copyright © Simerg/The Ismaili Collection. In the extraordinary life of Mawlana Hazar Imam, ...
By NIZAR MOTANI --------------- Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West By Mansoor Ladha, 252 pp. University of Regina Press, CDN$ 23.15 (at Amazon), Kindle Edition CDN$ 11.19 --------------- Since the word Diaspora is encountered in many written accounts and conversations, the author has, thankfully, shed light on it. "In Greek, ...
"Christians may be surprised to learn that Muslims believe in the Virgin Birth and Jesus' miracles".....MORE BY MICHAEL WOLFE Left: Virgin Mary nurtured by a palm tree in a Turkish miniature, as described in the Qur'an; right: Mary and Jesus in a Persian miniature. Please click on image for Michael Wolfe's article "Jesus Through a Muslim Lens." Images: Wikipedia. _____________ "Muhammad, ...
Photo via Munira Karamkhudoeva of Khorog, Badakhshan. "The Prophet Muhammad taught: 'The doors of goodness are many.....enjoining good, forbidding evil, removing harm from the road, listening to the deaf, leading the blind, guiding one to the object of his need, hurrying with the strength of one's legs to one in sorrow who is asking for help, and supporting the feeble with ...
"For hundreds of years my spiritual children have been guided by the Rope of Imamat; you have looked to the Imam of the Age for advice and help in all matters and through your Imam's immense love and affection for his spiritual children, his Noor has indicated to you where and in which direction you must turn so as to obtain ...
[The following is an adapted version of a eulogy delivered by Karim H. Karim at the bhatti reception honouring his sister Nazil, who passed away recently in Port Moody, British Columbia, at the age of 61] By KARIM H. KARIM Nazil Kara (1957-2018) I would like to tell you about my sister Nazil Kara, whose life was ordinary and also extraordinary. ...
LETTER FROM PUBLISHER By Abdulmalik Merchant Effective October 17, 2018, Canada is legalizing the recreational use of cannabis or marijuana. The current Federal Liberal Government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has justified legalization "to better protect the health and safety of Canadians, to keep cannabis out of the hands of youth and to keep profits out of the hands of ...
(The post celebrates Id-e-Ghadir, a major festival in the Shia calendar which falls on 18th Dhul-Hijjah, Tuesday, August 28, 2018). For our highly acclaimed series "I Wish I'd Been There", we invited historians, authors, and educators as well as our readers to be fly on the wall and answer the question: What is the one scene, incident or event in Ismaili ...
Kofi Annan (1938-2018): A Statement by the Annan Family Photo: Kofi Annan Foundation. It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness. His wife Nane and their children Ama, Kojo ...
PLEASE CLICK:TAKE A MAJESTIC TOUR OF LISBON ON A VINTAGE MOTO-SIDECAR Please click on image for article on touring Lisbon. Date posted: July 5, 2018 _____________Advertisements ...
To commemorate the Diamond Jubilee visit to Canada, the Jamat of Canada presented Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, a very rare version of a manuscript of Nasir Khusraw's Divan. The presentation was made on behalf of the Jamat by Karima Karmali, the Vice President of the Aga Khan Council for Canada, on May 11, 2018 during the final ...
By ABDULMALIK MERCHANT Grave of Alwaez Jehangir Alibhai Merchant (December 13, 1928 to May 27, 2018) bearing a temporary plaque with his name. He was buried on Thursday, May 31, 2018 at Victory Memorial Park located in Surrey, British Columbia. Photo: Nurin Merchant, taken on June 2, 2018. I found myself awake at 2:30 AM on Saturday May 26, 2018, and ...
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un "Surely we belong to God and to Him we return" -- Holy Qur'an, 2:156 "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." -- Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah, His Highness the Aga Khan III (1877-1957), 48th ...
VISIT SIMERG'S NEW EXCITING BLOG "ALL THINGS LISBOA" PLEASE CLICK: Ismailis offering professional travelling services Please click on image for Ismaili travel professionals Date posted: May 8, 2018. ___________________Advertisements ...
WELCOME MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT OF HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN SHIA IMAMI ISMAILI COUNCIL FOR PORTUGAL _________________ LISBON REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT THE OFFICIAL ISMAILI WEBSITE FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND REGISTRATION Finally, the REGISTRATION DAY is here and the President of the Aga Khan Ismaili Council for Portugal has sent a warm and special message of welcome to the worldwide Jamats! ...
In the Ismaili tradition, the Imam has a central and indispensable role in helping the believer mediate the outer and inner aspects of life By KARIM H. KARIM (This is an abridged and revised version of the article "A Semiotics of Infinite Translucence: The Exoteric and Esoteric in Ismaili Muslim Hermeneutics," which was published in the special issue on "Visible/Invisible: Religion, ...
A point of of reference for everyone travelling to Lisbon to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan PLEASE CLICK: Please click on image to visit new blog All Things Lisboa (), is a new blog by Barakah.com and Simerg.com to help you enjoy Portuguese culture during your visit to the city in July for what has ...
The night journey (al-isra) and the ascension (al-mi'raj) of the Prophet is observed on the 27th day in the Islamic month of Rajab (falling in 2018 on Friday, April 13). This is an event of great spiritual significance because the exalted experience of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) is viewed by all Muslims as an example of his elevated status. Significant events of ...
BY ABDULMALIK MERCHANT (Publisher/Editor Simerg, Barakah and Simergphotos, .com) Friends meeting friends at the magnificent Lisbon Ismaili Centre during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of His Highness the Aga Khan in 2008. Photo: Nurin Merchant. Note: This post will be updated at regular intervals as more information become available. Lisbon: The "highest point" of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations Flights to Lisbon are ...
"Often when I see members of the Ismaili community, they start by thanking me and thanking my father specifically, and I always have to turn it around and say no, no, no, thank you. Thank you for being the embodiment of the vision that my father and so many others had" -- Prime Minister of Canada, March 21, 2018, Ismaili Centre. ...
Click on image for Barakah's table of contents. Since the commencement of his Diamond Jubilee on July 11, 2017, His Highness the Aga Khan, Mawlana Hazar Imam, has visited 9 countries and flown more than 90,000 kilometres. At the age of 81, the 49th Hereditary Imam of the Ismailis is the oldest reigning Imam in Ismaili history. We invite our readers ...
"Prophet Muhammad believed that freedom of religion and civic rights were important components of a 'Muslim Nation'....His covenants with Christians can be viewed as a kind of medicine to cure the diseases of Islamic extremism and Islamophobia." -- Rice University Study The Covenant with the Monks of Mount Sinai was commissioned by Prophet Muhammad, with Hazrat Ali as its scriber. Manuscript ...
The purpose of this post is to provide external links to news of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Diamond Jubilee visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We we will make every effort to ensure that links are filtered so that the news is not repetitive - often the same news agency report is shared by different media. The page will be updated ...
President Firoz Rasul delivering his address in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan during the inauguration ceremony in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 15, 2017 of a new AKU Centre for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME), a state-of-the-art facility for technology-based learning for health professionals. Photo: The Ismaili/Rahil Imtiaz Ali. Message from President Firoz Rasul of the Aga Khan University ...
PREPARED AND COMPILED BY ABDULMALIK MERCHANT (Publisher-Editor, ) Handshake: Pope Benedict XVI and His Highness the Aga Khan As part of his famous Apostolic Journey to France in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI, on September 13, paid a visit to the "Institut De France" in Paris. The Pope, who had been elected as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church ...
Foreign Voices in the House Abdulmalik Merchant: From all those you have heard and met during your lifetime, what would you say to his followers about their own Imam? J. Patrick Boyer: All around the world there are individuals holding office....But being an office holder does not make someone a leader. The Aga Khan is a leader. To have the opportunity ...
A house in a Karachi neighbourhood is beautifully decorated to mark the Aga Khan's visit to his Ismaili community after 17 long years. Photo: Simerg. PAGE LAST UPDATED: December 20, 08:25 AM EST (in Karachi +10h, December 20, 06:25 PM). The purpose of this post is to provide external links to media coverage of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Diamond Jubilee visit to ...
By ABDULMALIK MERCHANT Karl Schlamminger (1935-2017) It is with much sadness to report that the internationally renowned artist and sculptor, Karl Schlamminger, passed away on Saturday, 9th December 2017 in Munich at the age of 82. Karl Schlamminger is best known for his design of the logo for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, in which the word Allah is repeated ...
Latest updates were applied at 00:47 AM on Thursday, December 14, 2017. The purpose of this post is to provide external links to media coverage of Mawlana Hazar Imam's Diamond Jubilee visit to Pakistan. This post will specifically cover his visit to Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan in the northern areas of Pakistan. We we will make every effort to ensure that we ...
INTRODUCTION: On February 18, 1976, His Highness the Aga Khan, Mawlana Hazar Imam, accompanied by Begum Salimah Aga arrived in Pakistan for a month long visit that included several mulaqats with Ismailis around the country. During the visit they both attended numerous public and private events and engagements and Mawlana Hazar Imam announced the creation of the Aga Khan Award for ...
