Global -- The Ismaili had the opportunity to speak with four Ismaili women working at the United Nations (UN) to learn about their careers, their work, and the role of the UN over its 74 year history. Samina, Nahla, Nazneen and Shenaz have spent many years working across various agencies and departments of the UN. Here they share their experiences and ...
Kenan Institute for Ethics - Speeches & Panels - Why Religion Matters: The Future of Faith in an Age on Disbelief. Huston Smith is the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Syracuse University. ...
EVOLUTIONNEWS.ORG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah, 1956: "The young Waezin should each try and find new arguments based on the discoveries in all branches of science for keeping the human soul like [sic] the ocean with the Divine wisdom and power."] ARTICLE: Atheist biologist Richard Dawkins said "the machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like." Understanding where this information came from is at the heart of modern origin-of-life research. Although chemical laws can hold the DNA molecule together, the *information in DNA cannot be explained by natural laws*. It would be like saying the information in a newspaper headline might arise from the chemical attraction between ink and paper. Clearly something more is at work. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) assumes information in signals from space requires an intelligent source. By the same logic, information in cells suggests an intelligent source. The Information Enigma ...
JollyGul.com presents lyricist Suman's devotional geet Aa(n)kho vaataldi joi thaaki (My eyes are growing weary waiting) beautifully sung by Aly Sunderji and Nazia Amin Mohammad . This is part of their ...
An educational programme was hosted at the Aga Khan Centre in London in late-September, for supporters of its three resident institutions, namely AKF, IIS, and AKU. The two-day event was attended by Prince Amyn and Princess Zahra. ...
By AMIN JAFFERPhoto Credits: Amin Jaffer Collection (1968, Arusha Visit) and Shiraz Nasser Collection (1968, Egerton College Visit) [Editor's Note: Amin Jaffer's last photo piece for Barakah was a magnificent collection of Rare photos of Prince Aly Khan's visit to Arusha, Tanzania in 1951. This new piece by him has photos and images of Prince Amyn Aga Khan's visit to Arusha ...
GOOGLE.COM -- There were three hidden Imams between Imam al-Nizar and Imam Imam ala-Dhikrihi al-Salaam during the dawr-i satr in Alamut. One Syrian manuscript, whose author and date are unknown, "is the only available Syrian manuscript which gives the same genealogical tree of the Nizari Imams as the one accepted by the modern Ismailis." In 559/1164, on what is known as qiyamat-i qubra or qaim al-qiyama, Imam Hasan II ended the dawr-i satr and publically announced himself as the legitimate Imam descended from Imam al-Nizar. A year and a half after the declaration of qiyama, on 6th Rabi I, 561/January 9, 1166, Imam Hasan II was stabbed by his ...
Short-listed for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. ...
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 ...
YOUTUBE.COM -- Nairobi is Kenya's capital city. In addition to its urban core, the city has Nairobi National Park, a large game reserve known for breeding endangered black rhinos and home to giraffes, zebras and lions. Next to it is a well-regarded elephant orphanage operated by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Nairobi is also often used as a jumping-off point for safari ...
Global -- The Global Centre for Pluralism (GCP) hosted the second biennial Global Pluralism Award ceremony in November 2019. At the ceremony, presided over by Mawlana Hazar Imam and attended by many members of the GCP's Board, including Princess Zahra, the Centre recognised three winners who will each receive a $50,000 grant to help them continue their work. "A more inclusive, ...
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. Nasir enjoyed travelling , admiring the architectural and cultural creations of the ...
The Aga Khan Library houses a growing collection of over 50,000 titles, covering a range of subjects, historical and contemporary, on Islam in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Gujarati, and Sindhi, among many other languages. At present, the Aga Khan Library holds more than 1000 titles in its rare books collection. In 2019, the Aga Khan Library embarked on the development of the Digital Collections platform, a project intended to display, preserve and facilitate research in a selection of materials from its rare books collection. To date, the Aga Khan Library has been able to digitise and upload a hundred of these valuable books. The collection includes ...
News story -- The Aga Khan Library, London, in collaboration with Bloomsbury Publishing has launched a Digital Collections website, showcasing manuscripts, artworks, rare books, out-of-print publications, photographs, and maps which have been produced in different periods and areas of the Muslim world. As the custodian of several research collections and the personal archive of the late Professor Mohammed Arkoun of acclaimed scholars, ...
Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-2017) George Elliott Clarke discusses the apparent tensions around recognizing the presence of "Afro-Métis" in the First Nations and multiculturalism contexts. ...
Portugal -- A exposição inaugurada pelo Príncipe Hussain Aga Khan, no Centro Ismaili, Lisboa, no passado dia 11 de dezembro, encontra-se patente no Salão de Exposições até ao dia 31 de dezembro de 2019, das 15h00 às 21h00. A exposição inclui obras de arte realizadas pelos alunos do Talim (aulas de educação religiosa e civilizacional), inspiradas no Ensaio Fotográfico "O Mar ...
FACEBOOK.COM -- QIAM NOORI -- Are Ismailis a sect of Islam? Is H.H. Prince Karim Aga Khan the 49th son of Ali, the successor of Prophet Mohammad? In this documentary, we are trying to determine the position of the Ismaili sect within Islam, the thoughts, as well as the Imamat of H.H. Prince Karim Aga Khan based on Qur'anic verses, Hadith, historical sources, and logical reasons. Prophet Mohammad was living his final days ...
[ISMAILI DIGEST ED: UPDATE 15.APR.2020: There are now 18 titles available for free download.] ARTICLE: We are pleased to launch a selection of IIS publications as eBooks, available for online reads and downloads. Stay tuned for updates to this page as more IIS eBooks are planned for release soon! Titles now available in PDF format, include: "The Master and the Disciple", James W. Morris ~~ "The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning", Heinz Halm ~~ "Justice and Remembrance; Introducing the Spirituality of Imam 'Ali", Dr. Reza Shah-Kazemi ~~ "Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs: Festival Sermons of the Ismaili Imams", Paul E. Walker ~~ "Shimmering Light: An Anthology of Ismaili Poetry" ~~ "Surviving the Mongols: Nizari Quhistani and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia", Dr. Nadia Eboo Jamal ~~ "A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community", Dr. Farhad Daftary ~~ "Eagle's Nest: Ismaili Castles of Iran and Syria", Peter Willey
AZQUOTES.COM -- "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." -- Maya Angelou ...
Pakistan -- Speaking on the occasion of his birthday on the 16th of December in 2016, Mawlana Hazar Imam expressed, "My wish for the decades ahead is that you stand firmly by the principles and ethics of our faith. Wherever you are, whatever age you are, whatever you do in your lives, it is essentially important to me that the principles ...
By Zahir K. Dhalla December 5, 2019 Alikhan Muradali Alibhai Hasham [Jeraj], a well-known Tanga, Tanzania boy, was born in 1950 at the Jeraj residence on School Street, opposite New Hotel. ...
Renowned Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum and winner of the Jameel Prize 5 and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, discusses how climate, land, culture, and community engagement have inspired the evolution of her designs. This talk was presented as part of the 2019 Design TO Festival. ...
Two-hour video of the Misaq-e-Ishq event held at the Ismaili Centre London on 16 January 2019. ...
"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."
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the inauguration ceremony for the restoration of Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India, 18 September 2013. ...
MEDIUM.COM -- THE POLYMATH PROJECT -- James Lovelock's done original work in medicine, space exploration (at NASA), climate science, nuclear research and, as an lone scientist, first identified atmospheric CFCs. At 98 he is, as far as I know, still doing science. Lovelock's "lab" for 30+ years was the basement of his modest suburban home. There's a lot to like about this freedom" no bosses, no paperwork, no annoying bureaucracy to deal with. However, it comes with a downside: you don't get paid and yet he managed without any grants or other charity. In his book "A Rough Ride to the Future", he writes: "... being a loner gives a wonderful freedom to make mistakes and then learn from them; only very rarely do corporate scientists ...
United States -- My extended stay in Pakistan began with a family vacation in Karachi, Pakistan from our home in Seattle, Washington in February 2019. We had gone to visit family and see where our parents grew up, and in the process We visited some community schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods. Seeing people's living situation -- conditions filled with need and poverty ...
"The Garden has for many centuries served as a central element in Muslim culture. The Holy Qur'an, itself, portrays the Garden as a central symbol of a spiritual ideal - a place where human creativity and Divine majesty are fused, where the ingenuity of humanity and the beauty of nature are productively connected. Gardens are a place where the ephemeral meets ...
By MALIK MERCHANT (Publisher-Editor, Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos)Sakerkhanu Velji garlands Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, moments before he blesses her marriage to Sadruddin Velji during his Takhtnashini visit to Dar es Salaam in October 1957. Photo: © Sadruddin Velji Family Collection. Two framed photos of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, hang prominently on a wall ...
Their progeny shone on the track as well as in the sales ring. The Aga Khan Studs flagship sires, SEA THE STARS and SIYOUNI, have both enjoyed further Classic glory in 2019. Gilltown Stud's SEA THE STARS is ranked third leading European sire and won a second consecutive Gr.1 Irish Oaks thanks to the exceptional Star Catcher, also winner of the ...
YOUTUBE.COM -- Skyscrapers light up big city skies, hanging around above the world's most metropolitan cities. Coming up are the world's most amazing skyscrapers. ...
Sugar Land, TX - On December 10, 2019, Five term Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson endorsed Dr. Suleman Lalani in his bid for Texas House District 26 in the 2020 March Democratic ...
In July of this year (2019), Ali and Dilshad karim decided to visit another part of Portugal. Algarve, Portugal. Algarve is in southern Portugal, on the Atlantic coast; and due to ...
How is philanthropy strengthened when multiple stakeholders come to the table? Dr. Mirza Jahani, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation USA, discusses the role government, civil society and business play in philanthropy. In the words of Dr. Jahani, "we all wear multiple hats", so we must find solutions that are inclusive of multiple perspectives. In this video, Dr. Jahani shares how the ...
Burden of cancer morbidity and mortality in Tanzania to be reduced Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 16 December 2019 - To combat the rise in cancers and enhance comprehensive cancer care in Tanzania, the Government of Tanzania, the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS), and the French Development Agency (AFD) today signed a grant agreement and memoranda of understanding related to an innovative ...
MINDMATTERS.AI -- The confusing ways the word "intelligence" is used belie the differences between human intelligence and machine sophistication. That is why we can easily fool computers. A fire truck, for example, seen from head on, could be correctly recognized. But once pointed up in the air, and turned around several times, the same fire truck is mis-classified by the neural net as a school bus or a fireboat or a bobsled. An associate of mine quipped that we should refer to what computers do as "Superficial Intelligence" and not "Artificial Intelligence." "Artificial" carries overtones of the real item, "Superficial" correctly identifies the fact that Deep Learning has only the appearance of intelligence. Humans are intelligent. Computers only fake it. ...
MINDMATTERS.AI -- So-called "white hat" hackers who test the security of AI have found it surprisingly easy to fool. Last week [2018] a group of researchers described a turtle they had 3D printed. Most people would say it looks just like a turtle, but an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm saw it differently. Most of the time, the AI thought the turtle looked like a rifle. In another test a computer scientist at UC Berkeley subtly altered a stop sign with stickers. It fooled an autonomous vehicle's image recognition system into "thinking" it was a 45 mph speed limit sign. Humans could immediately recognize the stop sign, but the car did not. It's no wonder that autonomous car makers shuddered at the results. ...
By MALIK MERCHANT Please click on photo below to view/download a high resolution imageA life-size depiction of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mawlana Hazar Imam is depicted with other Honorary Canadian Citizens in a special section on the floor dedicated to "Turning Points of Humanity. The caption in ...
