NATIONALPOST.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Note the dramatic drop in faith related practices between people born in Canada and those born outside Canada, especially among those under 50.] ARTICLE: Canadians pray, but aren't churchgoers. We believe in angels, but reject religion. Check out the surprising [2015] poll that reveals the state of our faith. ...
[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- FS.BLOG -- FARNAM STREET -- While we all hold an opinion on almost everything, how many of us do the work required to have an opinion? Great thinkers, like Darwin, did the work necessary to hold an opinion. Doing the work counteracts our natural desire to seek out only information that confirms what we believe we know. Doing the work means you can't make up your mind with a high degree of confidence right away. Doing the work forces you to challenge your beliefs because you have to argue from both sides. You become the somewhat impartial judge. What's on trial is your opinion. ...
[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- OZANVAROL.COM -- We've so lowered the threshold for stating an opinion that we stopped doing the work that's required to express one. Instead of bothering to listen, read, or even skim, we rely on sound bites ... But if we haven't read it, we shouldn't have an opinion on it. It's that simple. This means that, from time to time, we must utter those three dreaded words: "I don't know." When we candidly acknowledge that we don't have an opinion, our mind opens and our ears perk up. As Stoic philosopher Epictetus put it, "it is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows." ...
United Arab Emirates -- There was a cultural evening of Flamenco at the Ismaili Centre Dubai, which is a professionalised genre of dance native to southern Spain. The evening showcased thiscaptivating and characteristic part of Spanish culture, while bringing together the Spanish Ambassador to the UAE, various diplomats from Spain and other countries, dignitaries and journalists, many of which visited the ...
United Arab Emirates -- Dubai, 9 December 2018: In partnership with the Consulate of USA in Dubai, the Ismaili Centre, Dubai hosted an evening of Jazz with the US Air Force Jazz Band. USA Consul General His Excellency Phil Frayne commented: "The lovely architecture of the Ismaili Centre and the Ismaili community's commitment to pluralism, tolerance and to building bridges make ...
Jubilee Mubarak and Padharo Mowla, both songs have crossed 1 Million+ views on YouTube! By Irfan S Ali (Irfan_101@hotmail.com) Diamond Jubilee year of His Highness the Aga Khan was a blessed, ...
GOOGLE.COM -- It behoves those who know the true position of the Imams to love them sincerely. They should see that their faith in them is prompted by love and not by the expectation of a worldly gain from them. If one's love is prompted by a worldly consideration it ceases with the loss of consideration. Let the love be love for the sake of love and let it continue to be the same whether one is favoured or disfavoured by the Imams and whether one is in prosperous or adverse circumstances. ...
BY SULTAN JESSA MONTREAL - CANADA: Healthy eating is important to keep fit. Canada has just introduced a new guide to keep its citizens healthy and fit. Diseases like diabetes, obesity, ...
Zainub Verjee was invited to speak at an event remediating the second wave feminist archive, collaborating with students, activists and scholars called the Laboratory of Feminist Memory Bar. The Laboratory of ...
When the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) opened up two Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Khorog, Tajikistan, the largest township in the region, it was delighted to hear up to ...
By Aleesha Suleman (Article published 2017) For each of the past several years, a group of students about to enter secondary school have travelled from their home country of Tajikistan in ...
YOUTUBE.COM -- In this video, Gisoo Misha Ahmadi takes a trip to the holy city of Mashhad in north east of Iran. ...
Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II (r.1881-1885) had assigned the task of collecting ginan manuscripts to Lalji Devraj (1842-1930) and his associates, who published the texts through the Khoja Printing Press in Bombay (modern-day Mumbai). Later, the press was re-named to Ismaili Printing Press, which became the official publishing house for Ismaili literature. The Khojki fonts in which the ginans ...
Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time & Place is the first exhibition on art and Islam at Phoenix, Arizona's Art Museum, in more than two decades. Organized by the Newark ...
During the Peterson Lecture1 given for the 40th Anniversary of the International Baccalaureate (IB), His Highness the Aga Khan related a story from his schooldays in Switzerland. His sports coach, a refugee who fled what was then Czechoslovakia with only the clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet, eventually made it to the United States and became a ...
By Sudeep Ghosh, ToK Coordinator and faculty in the English department at The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad (India) As we celebrate the National Youth Day on 12 January to mark the ...
On 27 January 2019, The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) and the Aga Khan Foundation UK hosted a panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, where the new IIS publication ...
'Fragile Beauty', a photo exhibition at Khoja Mosque, Nairobi, offers a rare opportunity for Kenyans to engage with the "beauty, fragility and diversity" of marine life. The exhibition began on January ...
Yasmin is an X-ray technician at the medical centre in Booni, Pakistan. She traveled more than 1,000 km south to Karachi, to train in computer radiography. Her medical centre also received new X-ray equipment, which provides faster and more accurate results. With her new skills and equipment, Yasmin can see - and help diagnose - more patients in a day. Getting ...
Lisbon's Curry Cabral public hospital is to receive Portugal's National Health Service's first surgical robot, the hospital's board announced on Tuesday According to the chair of the Central Lisbon Hospital Centre, ...
Global -- On 27 January 2019, The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) and the Aga Khan Foundation UK hosted a panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, where the new IIS publication Islam: An Illustrated Journey was officially launched. Many of us are curious about other cultures with a hunger for experiencing the "out of the ordinary", and we satisfy ...
Global -- Illustrated with more than 250 spectacular images, Islam: An Illustrated Journey explores the rich pluralistic heritage of Islam in a clear and accessible way. The book takes readers on a visual journey from the advent of Islam up to the present day, and across the landscapes of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, South and Central Asia, the Indian Ocean, ...
'Religion is dying' - that's what some throughout the world say. But, a look at the statistics shows that globally, many of the world's largest religions, are actually on the rise. In this week's Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan debunks the belief that religion is on the way out. ...
This presentation entitled "Naklanki Gita" (An Ismaili mystical poem) was delivered by Mr. Ali Jan Damani at an International Ismaili conference at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He has world's fourth (4th) largest collection of Khojki manuscripts and knows Khojki. Ali Jan is currently working on the translation of "Man Samjani". ...
The Ismaili Seniors Matki Band was invited to perform at the India's 70th Republic Day Celebration in Houston TX, held at the Stafford Civic Center on Jan 27th, 2019. The band's ...
The Aga Khan University (AKU) faculty Prof Murad Moosa Khan has become the president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the first Asian as well as the first Pakistani in the 60-year history of the Association. "To me, this is a challenge as well as an opportunity to work with the global community, IASP professionals and volunteers, to prevent suicidal ...
THEFEDERALIST.COM -- It [is not] surprising that a small but growing number of social scientists are having second thoughts about the modern tendency to eliminate all religious and even broadly spiritual conversation from the public square.... Despite the pessimism in many faith communities about the direction of modern culture, secularism's institutional weakness and growing academic respect for the wisdom of traditional religion are two good reasons to be more optimistic. In combination, they may prove far more transformational than currently seems possible. ...
Global -- On 15 January 2019, world-renowned public intellectual Professor Mona Siddiqui, OBE, delivered the annual lecture commemorating Milad-un-Nabi, to an audience of over 250 government and community leaders, academics, and members of the Jamat on the topic of "Hospitality, Global Conflicts and Migration: From Divine Imperative to Social Conscience." In her welcome remarks, Ismaili Council for Ontario President Sheherazade Hirji ...
What can we learn from 1,400 years of excellence in Islamic geometric design? What rules and conventions have guaranteed consistent quality for centuries across the Islamic world? Eric Broug looks at ...
Pakistan -- A pioneering Winter Arts program for young Jamati members from Gilgit-Baltistan saw teachers from one of Pakistan's top art schools travelling to the region for a series of workshops that introduced key techniques and skills to budding artists. "Its (The Aga Khan Museum) fundamental aim will be an educational one, to actively promote knowledge of Islamic arts and culture. ...
Inspire'd asks speakers, artists and leaders a simple but profound question "If you had 10 minutes to share your wisdom with the world, what would you say?" After nearly 5 years, ...
The Aga Khan Development Network has been active in the field of education in Asia for over a century. The first Aga Khan Schools were established in Mundra, Gujarat and Gwadar, Balochistan in 1905. Since then, thousands of students have been educated at Aga Khan Schools across South and Central Asia. To ensure young learners a good start, the Aga Khan ...
QUOTEFANCY.COM -- "Do you want to understand how to swim, or do you want to jump in and start swimming? Only people who are afraid of the water want to understand it. Other people jump in and get wet." -- Michael Crichton ...
LIVE WEBINAR -- AKDN -- WHEN: Day long starting 10:00AM London (GMT) Thursday 31 January 2019; 5:00AM New York/Toronto (EST); 4:00AM Chicago/Houston (CDT); 3:00AM Vancouver (PST); 3:00PM Karachi (PKT)/Dushanbe (TJT); 3:30PM Mumbai (IST). WHERE: On-line from the Aga Khan Centre, London. Hosted by the Aga Khan Library for curators, area studies directors, collection librarians, and those studying the Middle East and Islamic Studies collections. Attend online via the link the end of the page. ...
Introduced by ABDULMALIK MERCHANT (Publisher/Editor Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos .com) The Flickr page of the Paris Peace Forum contains some amazing portraits and images of world leaders who attended the forum from November 11 - 13, 2018. We have come across a few photos of Mawlana Hazar Imam that will be of interest to all our readers. To appreciate the photos, ...
[This piece is an aggregation of stories and news from 2018 pertaining to Mawlana Hazar Imam and members of his family that did not appear on Barakah due to the editor being away periodically. This piece therefore complements our coverage of significant events of 2018; do not leave this page without a visit to Barakah's Table of Contents.] Prepared and compiled ...
Global -- An enthusiastic group of students at the Khorog campus of the University of Central Asia (UCA) have formed an initiative to promote awareness of ecological issues and encourage participation in environmentally sustainable practices. "We were driving to Ishkashim and passed by a landfill. It was horrible," said Anisa Abibulloeva (Class of 2021), an economics major at UCA from Dushanbe, ...
Works of art have made up the visual landscape of Islamic societies for fourteen centuries, playing an important role in the devotional lives of Muslims. Writing the sacred word was considered an act of piety, inspiring the development of diverse calligraphy styles from the Kufic, named after the city in which it is believed to have been developed by Hazrat Ali ...
(CNN) -- What comes to mind when you think of Afghanistan? War, famine, deprivation?What about Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan? Could you even locate these countries on the map?Dutch traveler Thijs Broekkamp is on ...
Hunza, January, 25, 2019: Sports Club and Rising Federation (SCARF) in collaboration with Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board, and Altit Boy Scouts held a Ice Hockey tournament on January, 25, ...
