As societies come to think in pluralistic ways, I believe they can learn another lesson from the Canadian experience, the importance of resisting both assimilation and homogenization -- the subordination and dilution of minority cultures on the one hand, or an attempt to create some new, transcendent blend of identities on the other. What the Canadian experience suggests to me is ...
The variety of the world is not only more available, it is nearly inescapable. Human difference is more proximate and more intense. What was once beyond our view is now at our side and, indeed, to use the popular expression, "in our face." ... The challenge of diversity is now a global challenge and how we address it will have global ...
AKDN is of the view that investing in the institutions of civil society and in their capacity to deliver services deserves far greater priority, attention, support and resources than has hitherto been the case, even as investments in rebuilding the State's institutions continue. Civil society institutions are best able to take into consideration, to reflect, specific provincial or local political situations ...
My own role in the Nation Media Group has also evolved considerably. Seven years ago I gave my personal shares in NMG to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) -- the economic development arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The move not only gave NMG a new source of corporate strength but it also anchored the company ...
No one can deny that today, there are distressing and even dangerous tensions between the Muslim world and the West. With its history and cultures, and indeed its different interpretations of Islam, the Muslim world is still little known in the West, as are its contributions to global cultural heritage and patrimony. This lack of knowledge is a dramatic reality which ...
Much focus over the years has centred heavily on the capital, Kabul, and the central government. Insufficient attention has been paid to the real impact of the generous investments made by donor countries. Do enough Afghans perceive these investments as improving their quality of their life? It is vitally important to demonstrate that local governments and local actors working together with ...
We are facing years and even decades of continued testing among various forms of democratic governance. At the present moment, we may well be seeing more failures than successes. I feel strongly that students of government from across the world can help address this situation, suggesting a creative range of constitutional options and best practices in places where governmental systems have ...
The Umayyad Caliphate integrated the Peninsula to a vast transcontinental empire which, from Baghdad to Cordoba, was the focal point of human civilisation during a period of European obscurity. Muslim Spain transmitted to the West many of the literary and scientific works of antiquity, which had been lost at the fall of the Roman Empire. Classical texts, recuperated in the Alexandria ...
Nation-building may require centralised authority, but if that authority is not trusted by rural communities, then instability is inevitable. The building of successful nation states in many of the countries in which I work will depend -- as it did in the West -- on providing significantly greater access for rural populations, who are generally in the majority. If these reflections ...
"Convivencia" -- the Spanish word for living together harmoniously -- is not a simple concept. It is, of course, the term used to describe the co-existence of different faiths in medieval Spain. The code of "convivencia" was about tolerance and much more. In Toledo, Córdoba and Granada it implied mutual respect as well as an appreciation of science and scholarship, and ...
It is indeed my sincere hope that in shaping its educational programmes and policies and in developing its presentation of art as a vehicle of discovery and understanding, the future Aga Khan Museum will be able to cooperate closely with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Nothing could please me more than to know that the exhibition presented here is a first step ...
It is important to note that what happens in North America, culturally, economically and politically, cannot fail to have worldwide repercussions -- which is why the Museum will aim to contribute to a deeper understanding among cultures and to the strengthening of cultural pluralism: essential to peace, and to progress, in our world. The developing political crises of recent years, and ...
[Google translation] [T]hrough the choices presented are the thousand years of history of Islamic art, the eighth to the nineteenth century and from Spain to China this exhibition invites visitors to browse. It offers a preview Louvre, as the nucleus of the future museum to house the entire collection in Toronto, Canada, and will be the first in the Americas to ...
[I]t is striking to me how many modern thinkers are still disposed to link tolerance with secularism -- and religion with intolerance. In their eyes -- and often in the public eye I fear -- religion is seen as part of the problem and not part of the solution. There are reasons why this impression exists. Throughout history we find terrible ...
The aim of the Aga Khan Museum will be to offer unique insights and new perspectives into Islamic civilisations and the cultural threads that weave through history binding us all together. My hope is that the Museum will also be a centre of education and of learning, and that it will act as a catalyst for mutual understanding and tolerance.... This ...
[Google translation] It is necessary to constantly consider the relationship between the Ummah and the knowledge society. One realises that countries that have succeeded in reconciling both develop most quickly. On the other hand, those that reject or limit access to the knowledge society get left behind. My concept of Islam is a faith for all time, not backward looking. In ...
[Google translation] Rarely, if ever, as in this moment, we have witnessed so many misconceptions and misunderstandings between our two companies. My deepest hope is that events of this magnitude encourage and enhance the interest and appreciation of the heritage of civilization that we share and increase knowledge and respect between peoples and cultures. Google translation -- [I] am particularly pleased ...
Twenty years later, the [Aga Khan Trust for Culture] has shown how culture can be a catalyst for development even in the poorest and most remote areas of the globe. From Afghanistan to Zanzibar, from India to Mali, the Trust's support to historic communities demonstrates how conservation and revitalisation of the cultural heritage -- in many cases the only asset at ...
A deepening sense of spiritual commitment, and the ethical framework that goes with it, will be a central requirement if we are to find our way through the minefields and the quick sands of modern life. A strengthening of religious institutions should be a vital part of this process. To be sure, freedom of religion is a critical value in a ...
Our financial pledge of $75 million in 2002 has been exceeded by 60 per cent and along with our donor, lender and investor partners, we have mobilised just under $400 million for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.... [D]evelopment is only possible when the community is engaged at the grassroots level and is given the ways and the means to take responsibility for ...
For the Aga Khan Museum, I thought that 'light' might be a concept around which you could design an outstanding museum.... I hope that the building and the spaces around it will be seen as the celebration of Light, and the mysteries of Light, that nature and the human soul illustrate to us at every moment in our lives. I have ...
Respect for press freedom grows out of a respect for pluralism as a cornerstone of peace and progress. Pluralism implies a readiness to listen to many voices -- whether we agree with them or not -- and a willingness to embrace a rich diversity of cultures. When our diversity divides us, the results can be tragic, as we have seen in ...
Our historic adherence is to the Jafari Madhhab and other Madhahib of close affinity, and it continues, under the leadership of the hereditary Ismaili Imam of the time. This adherence is in harmony also with our acceptance of Sufi principles of personal search and balance between the zahir and the spirit or the intellect which the zahir signifies. Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. I am ...
There is one other front on which the battle must be waged, however, and it has to do with media owners and managers. Too often, those who set the media agenda see it primarily as a business agenda. Too often the measure of media success is simply financial profit. I think this attitude is wrong -- it often makes for manipulative ...
The Aga Khan Development Network agencies have been involved in micro-credit for more than 60 years. During that time, a variety of institutions offering a range of products tailored to specific needs have been established in many countries.... We have also extended loans for education and health care, which we believe can be important ways to break down the barriers to ...
Today, the absence of public spaces in the Islamic world is something of major concern to me. And, Charles, you were talking about city planning. I think we are, generally speaking, in the Islamic world still very weak on landscape architecture and planning. We will need to do a lot more there. A number of architectural schools actually are linked to ...
I profoundly believed that architecture is not just about building; it is a means of improving people's quality of life.... I am pleased that 28 years later, we have had some success in achieving our original goals [of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture]. We are gratified that so many others now are engaged in the cause. We have created a ...
We stand today confronted with starkly different visions of the future of historic cities. At a time when our heritage, the anchor of our identity and source of inspiration, is being threatened with destruction, by war and environmental degradation, by the inexorable demographic and economic pressures of exploding urban growth, or by simple neglect, there can be no doubt that it ...
In the long history of the Ismaili Imamat's engagement with education, covering well over a 1000 years and numerous countries past and present, few days can have been as important as this one.... As the young men and women from this Aga Khan Academy, and over time from its sister schools, grow and assume leadership in their societies, it is my ...
Education must also make the case for a pluralistic tradition in which other views, ethnicities, religions and perspectives are valued not only because that is just and good, but also because pluralism is the climate best suited for creativity, curiosity and inquiry to thrive. It must also stimulate students to consider a variety of perspectives on some of the fundamental questions ...
I am sure that all of you here today will agree that we live in a time of rapid change -- change that is often not predictable, and not always positive. The best way to manage change, whether positive or negative, is to anticipate it and prepare for it.... I have come to the conclusion that there is no greater form ...
There are many, many interpretations of Islam within the wider Islamic community, but I think one on which there is greatest consensus, is the fact that we are trustees of God's creation, and we are instructed to seek to leave the world a better place than it was when we came into it. Therefore, the question is: What is a "better ...
Please click on the icon for a side by side comparison in PDF format.Below, is a shorter version of the interview transcript published in Architectural Record, and in the Archive, is the more extensive version published by AKDN. Highlighted below are major portions nevertheless missing from the version published by AKDN. SOURCES: On the occasion of the 2001 Aga Khan Award ...
His Highness the Aga Khan would like to announce today a multi-year financial commitment, which will be no less than U.S. $75,000,000, to enable the Aga Khan Development Network to conceptualise and implement a recovery, reconstruction and long-term development programme that will span many regions of the country. It will range in scope from agriculture-based rural development; food and seed security; ...
The history of this multi-faceted project, reaching back over a decade, has been an exhilarating process of discovery and opportunity. While at the beginning the idea was to provide the metropolis with a much-needed green space at the heart of its historic agglomeration, the progressive uncovering of 1.3 kilometres of historic wall led to another major task -- giving a new ...
At present there is a great deal of apprehension about the future of local and national cultures in most countries in the developing world. What can the cultural diplomacy of the United States do to address these anxieties and replace them with a sense of confidence through new and shared initiatives? ... Cultures that do not or cannot communicate become increasingly ...
The Qur'an, the Hadith, the sayings of Hazrat Ali, and many scholarly sources make numerous references to the forms and purposes of philanthropy. Human dignity -- restoring it, and sustaining it -- is a central theme. Enabling individuals to recover and maintain their dignity as befitting their status as Allah's greatest creation, is one of the main reasons for charitable action. ...
We talk a lot about the rights of the press as an independent social critic, and that is very important. But it is also important to talk about the obligations of the press as a constructive social leader. In my view, this sense of social obligation means avoiding that obsessive individualism which is so rampant in our world. It means rejecting ...
It is clear, also that at the turn of the century the Ummah is subjected to powerful stresses and strains, and it is my deepest hope that you and your government will not only lead Pakistan to a happier, more united, and progressive future, but that you will also succeed in giving to Pakistan her rightful place within the Ummah. Prince ...
While preparing these brief comments, I felt I should do some homework on Emperor Hadrian, after whom this award is named.... Moore describes Hadrian's Villa and its predominant themes in terms surprisingly evocative of many of the distinguishing principles of Islamic architecture.... It is to me utterly striking how many of the unique architectural qualities so eloquently illustrated by Charles Moore ...
