By Toral Pradhan Special to Simerg Daman (pop. appx. 40,000) is located about 193 kms North of Mumbai. Physiographically, Daman is a small part of the South Gujarat coastal land. Bounded by the Kolai river on the North, the Kalu river on the South, Sahyadri hills and the Valsad district to the East and the Arabian Sea to the West. [1] ...
So what do you tell your friends in the Western world about their new stereotypes of Islam and what do you tell your Muslim brothers and sisters and followers about their stereotypes of the Western world? Well I would start by asking a very simple question: in 2013 what is the definition of an educated person? What is the knowledge that ...
Dr. Mohamed Keshavjee's book, "Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution" examines both Sunni and Shi'a applications of Islamic law, demonstrating how political, cultural and other factors have influenced the practice of fiqh and shari'a in the West. Exploring in particular the modern development of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), the author shows that this process can revitalise some of the essential principles that ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce that it has awarded the Zahid Ali Scholarship to Dr Sean W. Anthony, Assistant Professor of Islamic History in the Department of History at the University of Oregon. The Zahid Ali Scholarship was established in 1997 by the IIS in the name of Professor Zahid Ali (1888-1958), a pioneer of ...
Nicholas Tomalin: You have been compared to the Pope. Is your word, like his infallible? Aga Khan:The Imam's word on the Faith is taken as an absolute rule. Every Ismaili is expected to accept it. The Community always follows very closely the personal way of thinking of the Imam. It's one of the particularities of Ismailis. An Ismaili who did not ...
My Titania now a Classic prospect. Sea The Stars celebrated another important marker in his stallion career on Sunday as My Titania offered her sire a first Group success. Racing for the third time of her career, My Titania was sent off hot favourite for the Gr 3 C.L. Weld Park Stakes at the Curragh. After tracking the leaders for much ...
News story -- Dr Miklos Sarkozy, Visiting Research Associate in the Institute's Department of Academic Research and Publications was a chief panellist at The Sixth Biennial Congress of The Association for the Study of the Persianate Societies in Sarajevo from 2-6 September 2013. The panel comprising three speakers including Dr Sarkozy was on the subject of Messianism and Occultism in Islamic History ...
As part of Simerg's special series on Jamatkhanas, we published a piece under the title Happy Days in Hasanabad(please click to read the historic piece). We mention this because the Jamats in Western India have just witnessed and experienced the happiest days of their lives in the historic Hasanabad complex in the intimate company of their beloved 49th Imam, Mawlana Shah ...
Do individuals increasingly lack an ethical compass? Which is why most freedoms go past a certain set of limits. Freedom has been taken to a point where unethical behaviour has become acceptable. That is what I am apprehensive about and we see it many parts of the world. That kind of freedom enables the individual to behave in ways that are ...
"Amir al-mu'minin, peace be upon him, caught hold of my hand and took me to the graveyard. When he had passed through the graveyard and left the city behind, he breathed a deep sigh and said: "'O Kumayl these hearts are containers. The best of them is that which preserves (its contents). So, preserve what I say to you. People are ...
India -- Mumbai, 28 September 2013 - Mawlana Hazar Imam's 11-day visit to India drew to a close today. During the visit, which included a ceremony marking the restoration of Humayun's Tomb and the inauguration of the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, the Imam met with senior government leaders at the national and state levels. Hazar Imam also devoted a considerable amount ...
As you know I attach great importance to Indian history and to the great caliphates, the great empires of the Muslim world, because I believe there's always something to learn. The past is a place to learn, even if the future is different, and this is why I have spent considerable time in trying to enhance in India the Mughal history ...
Zainidin Imanaliev illustrates an older performance tradition of art of Kyrgyz komuz - the virtuoso soloist who is at once master instrumentalist, singer, and entertainer. ...
An authentic dance of Mohiniso Majitova born into an artist family in Bukhara, her grandmother is Olia Hanum, the performer from an old Bukharan family of singers and dancers. In her interview Mohiniso Majitova says that she learned dancing from her grandmother, visiting local celebrations and international concerts. Mohiniso works as a nurse in local hospital, but a need to dance is ...
"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." The positive proliferation that I would dearly love to see happen is based on a simple principle: yes to energy, no to arms....Iran could even contribute to the worldwide removal of nuclear energy for military use. That ...
Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic, 27 September 2013 - The University of Central Asia (UCA) announced that Phase I of the construction of its Naryn main campus had begun. UCA Director General Dr Bohdan Krawchenko, speaking at UCA's School of Professional and Continuing Education Town Campus, in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic, shared details of the campus design and architecture and provided an overview of ...
INTRODUCTION: Thousands of Ismailis around the world pledged a Nazrana (the term means an offering, a gift or a present) of Time and Knowledge (TKN) to their 49th Imam, Mawlana Shah Karim al-Hussaini, His Highness the Aga Khan, during the celebration of his Golden Jubilee from July 11, 2007 until December 13, 2008. Numerous Ismaili individuals have since dedicated their time ...
India -- The recently inaugurated Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad is one of the few schools in India to combine a rigorous academic programme with a rich array of co-curricular activities on a state-of-the-art residential campus. It also benefits from being part of a global network of Academies for which shared values and pluralistic ethos are an inspiration to the school's ...
A weekend double brings Gilltown Stud sire's tally to seven. SEA THE STARS is getting into his stride as a sire and he enjoyed an excellent weekend with a 1 - 2 at Newmarket and a winner in Cologne. This double brings the Arc de Triomphe hero's total up to seven first-crop winners and 13 placed horses from 26 runners, a ...
A girl is helped by police officers inside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi where 59 people are reported killed during Saturday's terrorist attack. Please click on next image, see below, for a slide show at the Denver Post website. Viewer discretion is advised as some of the images are disturbing. Links are also provided to the websites of Al-Jazeera and the ...
India -- Hyderabad, India, 20 September 2013 -The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, the second in a global network of 18 schools, was officially inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and India's Minister for Human Resource Development in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam. Hyderabad, India, 20 September 2013 -The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, the second in a global network ...
Nobovar was born in Komsomolobod in the Rasht valley of Tajikistan. His parents are orinally from Dehrushan village of Rushan District of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, in the Pamirs. Himself being a Rushani speaker (one of the many Pamiri languages), he sings mostly in Tajiki and Rushani. ...
Badakhshani music and dance represent a distinct cultural practice within Central Asia that has been shaped by the combined forces of geography, history, language, and religion. In Tajik Badakhshan, where the majestic Pamirs reach heights only slightly lower than those of the Himalayas, rugged terrain has impeded contact between Pamiri peoples and inhabitants of other regions of Central Asia. One consequence of ...
Mashallah Bameri, Balochi musician from Southeren Iran (1950-2011) Bameri showed interest in music when he was only eight and began to learn doholak (a kind of regional drum). He also liked singing and used to sing in the well-known regional ceremonies. ...
Hamid Khezri, dotar player and singer, is renowned as a versatile musician equally at home in a wide range of musical styles ranging from the folk music of his North Khorassan home, the Sufi music of the South Khorassan deserts and the troubadour traditions of the mountains of North Khorassan to original compositions and a variety of cross-over projects. Whether as a ...
Mashallah Bameri, Balochi musician from Southeren Iran (1950-2011) Bameri showed interest in music when he was only eight and began to learn doholak (a kind of regional drum). He also liked singing and used to sing in the well-known regional ceremonies. ...
One of the most interesting phenomenon of Boysun culture is the art of "bakhshi". These are folk artists who perform in the classical Turkic genre of sung improvisation with accompanied by the two-string dombra, a popular music instrument. Bakhshi singing is remarkable, with a very ancient guttural manner of performance that imitates the growling of a predatory animal. There has even been ...
Hyderabad, 20 September 2013 - The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, a new, not-for-profit school situated on an expansive 100-acre campus, was officially inaugurated today by the Chief Minister of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Honourable Sri N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, and the Minister for Human Resource Development, the Honourable Dr M.M. Pallam Raju, in the presence of His Highness the ...
The network concept that I have mentioned is something that makes our academy endeavour a unique and distinctive one. And if there is one central thought I would like to have you take away from this day, it is the interconnected, international dimension of our envisioned academy experience. Our planning is that there eventually will be 18 Academies, situated in 14 ...
Komuz player Ruslan Jumabaev (b. 1973), one of the leading instrumentalists of his generation, grew up in a musical family in Naryn, and began playing komuz at the age of six. He is a graduate of Bishkek Conservatory, and has a baccalaureate degree in law. ...
A living legend in Azerbaijan is Edalat Nasibov, whose improvisational style on the saz, a long-necked lute, is based on the vocal repertory of Azeri bards (ashiq). Strumming on a saz, Nasibov imitates the inflections of a bard's voice. ...
An Ashik (Azerbaijani: Aşıq, Turkish: Aşık, Persian: عاشیق, Armenian: Աշուղ, ashugh, Georgian: აშუღი, English: ashughi, Greek: ασίκης) is a mystic troubadour or travelling bard, in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran、 who sings and plays the saz, a form of lute. Ashiks' songs are semi-improvised around common bases. The word Ashik derives from the Arabic word Asheq (عاشق), and means the "one ...
Abdurahim Hamidov (1952 - 2013), the great master of Uzbek dutar. Abdurahim Hamidov was born in 1952, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His ancestors were merchants, his father and grandfather were mullahs. He began learning music at the age of six by singing the entire repertoire of children's songs. A year later he began playing the rabab, a long-necked lute; and at the age of ...
India -- Delhi, 18 September 2013 - The restoration of the 16th century garden tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun was inaugurated in Delhi today. Mawlana Hazar Imam, the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch, and Chairman Ratan Tata of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust presided over the ceremony together, a reflection of ...
Delhi, India, 18 September 2013 - The restoration of the Mughal Emperor Humayun's 16th century garden tomb, the jewel of Mughal architecture that predates the Taj Mahal, was inaugurated on 18 September by India's Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Union Minister of Culture Mrs Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Chairman of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mr Ratan Tata, and His Highness the ...
Delhi, 18 September 2013 - On the occasion of the inauguration of the Humayun's Tomb, His Highness the Aga Khan meets with Indian government leaders. ...
Delhi, 18 September 2013 - The restoration of the Mughal Emperor Humayun's 16th century garden tomb, the jewel of Mughal architecture that predates the Taj Mahal, was inaugurated on 18 September by India's Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Union Minister of Culture Mrs Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Chairman of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mr Ratan Tata, and His Highness the Aga ...
The word "partnership," in fact, could be the watchword of this celebration. What we honour today, above all else is the spirit of partnership in which this work has unfolded. In my view, an Ethic of Partnership must be at the centre of any successful project of this sort. Among other things, an Ethic of Partnership means that traditional separations between ...
Bangladesh -- Dhaka, Bangladesh, 17 September 2013 - Concluding a two-day visit to Bangladesh, Mawlana Hazar Imam departed from Dhaka this afternoon. Hazar Imam travels on to India for a two-week visit. The Honourable Foreign Minister, Dr Dipu Moni, and Mohammad Ziauddin, Ambassador at Large from the Prime Minister's Office, bid Hazar Imam farewell on behalf of the Government. Before leaving, ...
India -- Delhi, 17 September 2013 - Mawlana Hazar Imam arrived in India today, starting a 10-day visit during which he will join Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in marking the completion of the restoration of Humayun's Tomb. He will also inaugurate a new Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad. Upon his arrival in Delhi, Mawlana Hazar Imam was received by Ruchira ...
