Kenya -- Nestled among the narrow streets of Old Town Mombasa is a little gem of a place that radiates the hopefulness of a new generation. Founded by three Aga Khan Academy teachers, the Jahazi Coffee House is making an effort to improve life in the surrounding community.Jahazi Coffee House: A once abandoned 18th century house in Old Town Mombasa was ...
The Aga Khan Studs are offering a second batch of well-bred individuals for private sale via their website. The highlight of the consignment is winning miler Zarkamar, a half-brother to the dam of Zarkava. The colt's half-siblings also include Gr 3 winner Zarkiya, pattern performer Zariyan and black-type hurdler Zarkali. 3yo Zarkamar is a son of Falbrav and winning mare Zarkana, ...
Profile: Nazim Bhimani who calls himself Deaf 1 Naz, is sixteen years old and is deaf. Please see his profile in his own words at Nazim Bhimani: The Deaf World. The following poem was composed by him when he was twelve. "You came with a beautiful name and took everything in vain" pens Deaf 1 Naz Hurricane Katrina OH MY GOD! ...
Profile: Here is Nazim Bhimani's profile in his own words: "My name is Nazim Bhimani, but I like to call myself 'Deaf 1 Naz' as I am a deaf rap-poet, since I was four. I believe I am very blessed because I can hear with my heart. I write and recite only to make a difference in the world. "I've been ...
Arif Babul, one of Canada's top astrophysicist's Profile: Arif Babul is Professor and Director of Canadian Computational Cosmology Collaboration, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, where he researches on how our universe evolved from an extremely smooth state into a rich network of galaxies. He describes poetically the texture of the ...
Folio from a Koran; ink, color, and gold on parchment. The verse is from the end of the second sura (chapter) of the Koran, known as al-Buqara (The Cow) - Sackler Gallery and Freer Art Gallery Please browse the Fatimid artificats and Islamic Art at the Freer and Arthur Sackler Galleries by clicking the links shown below. If in (or visiting) ...
Shellyza Moledina, passionate about science...and poetry Profile: Shellyza Moledina is a university student currently enrolled in a Pharmacy degree in the United Kingdom. Aside from having a substantial passion for science and healthcare, this 21 year old is also a poet and singer and lyricist. Shellyza currently has one album titled Your Light Inside, which is composed of eleven English songs ...
Profile: Salim-el-azhar Ebrahim was previously based in Seattle, USA and is presently stationed in Karachi. He is an epigrammatist, poet, essayist, dialogist, and film-maker, and author of a newly released book Reason! The Measure of Thought, a collection of 500 original epigrams (publisher: www.amazon.com: kindle books). His previous work, The Hourglass and the Pen - the Measures of Thought, a short ...
Fez Meghani of Irving, Texas, seeks to reach out to the Muslim World Profile: Fez Meghani, aged 33, received his degree in Business from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently a music producer for PlaneTunity Records. He has in the past produced musical works such as Aag, City of Light, The Evolution of Creation and A Golden Sunrise, ...
Please click on each poet to read their profile and poetry (arranged by poet's last name): Arif Babul, Vancouver/Victoria, British Columbia Canada Arif Babul: Midnight Meditation (with profile) Nazim Bhimani, Ontario Canada Nazim Bhimani: The Deaf World (with profile) Nazim Bhimani: Hurricane KatrinaNazim Bhimani: Who Am I? Salim-el-azhar Ebrahim, Karachi Pakistan Salim-el-azhar Ebrahim: Epigrams I (with profile) Salim-el-azhar Ebrahim: The Pragmatist, ...
Baliyana takes the Gr 3 1,000 Guineas Trial and Duncan wins an Ascot Listed contest. Dual Classic-winning sire Dalakhani has been quick to build on his excellent results of 2008 and his progeny were back in the winners enclosure after Pattern races last weekend. The double was headed by HH Aga Khan's three-year-old filly BALIYANA who was a smooth winner of ...
Berlin, Germany, 15 May 2009 - His Highness the Aga Khan arrived in Berlin yesterday for a two-day official visit to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. The meetings focused on the expansion of activities since the signing of an agreement in 2004 between the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) ...
Berlin, Germany, 15 May 2009 - His Highness the Aga Khan arrived in Berlin yesterday for a two-day official visit to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. ...
The ship occupies a unique position in the Islamic tradition. The Qur'an counts it among the ayat (miracles) of God and devotes twenty-eight verses enumerating its benefits to mankind. For Shaykh Khudr, a contemporary of the Ismaili Imam Nizar, Imams are the Ships of Salvation The following poem is a composition by Shaykh Khudr of Syria. He was a contemporary of ...
His son among the top lots at €160,000€ 2009 will be an important year for AZAMOUR as his first juveniles are eagerly awaited on the racetrack. The progeny of HH Aga Khan's champion middle distance performer have already been sought after at public sales, with his first yearlings meeting with success in the ring last season at prices reaching 550,000€. AZAMOUR's ...
Dubai, UAE - 12 May 2009 - The Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP), an initiative of Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P), was declared as one of the twelve winners of the Dubai International Award for Best Practices (DIABP). This is the first ever social project from Pakistan to receive this prestigious award in the fourteen year history ...
Dubai, UAE, 12 May 2009 - The Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP), an initiative of Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P), was declared as one of the twelve winners of the Dubai International Award for Best Practices (DIABP). This is the first ever social project from Pakistan to receive this prestigious award in the fourteen year history of ...
Parrot in a cage There was once a merchant who owned a beautiful parrot. The parrot's ability to sing kept the merchant very happy for years. The merchant looked after the parrot very well. But the parrot, who was confined in a cage, missed the freedom that many other birds of its kind had, and longed to be with them in ...
Global -- Seventy-four learners were joined by their families and senior Jamati leaders from across Europe as they graduated with a Certificate in Lifelong Learning awarded by the London School of Economics. The ceremony marked an important milestone for the graduates as well as the Ismaili Council for the European Union. The first Certificate in Lifelong Learning class graduated in an ...
Modern Artistic Expressions Please read the precursor article Modern Artistic Expressions first, before you review the guidelines below. For the time being, images and your poetic compositions should be emailed to simerg@aol.com. A special form will be designed and available at a later date to facilitate on-line submissions. All the following must be provided in your email (except for option fields) ...
"The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) focuses on a small number of specific development problems by forming intellectual and financial partnerships with organisations sharing its objectives. Most Foundation grants are made to grassroots organisations testing innovative approaches in the field. With a small staff, a host of cooperating agencies and thousands of volunteers, the Foundation reaches out to vulnerable populations on four continents, ...
On May 6, 2009 President Obama had three pivotal meetings with leaders from two pivotal countries. He was joined by Vice President Biden first for a meeting with President Karzai of Afghanistan, then with President Zardari of Pakistan, and finally for a trilateral meeting with both of them. The following is a press briefing by National Security Advisor General James Jones ...
....the Hussein moulid is an incredible and eye-poppingly chaotic experience of music and religious fervour. It's definitely not for the weak, but something everyone should experience once. Article by: Hadeel al Shalchi, published in The National, Abu Dhabi, UAE. See Men, women and their children sleeping in alleyways, old men smoking shisha pipes on the kerb, young boys dancing to ...
Solar power drives Earth's climate. Energy from the Sun heats the surface, warms the atmosphere, and powers the ocean currents. NASA Photo Even After All this time The sun never says to the earth, "You owe Me." Look What happens With a love like that, It lights the Whole Sky. Poem by Hafiz, 14th Century, Translation by Daniel Ladinsky Sir Sultan ...
Portugal -- 8 May 2009 - A historic international agreement was signed between the Portuguese Republic and the Ismaili Imamat on matters relating to religion, cooperation, culture and education. The agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Luis Amado and Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his one-day visit to Lisbon, Mawlana Hazar Imam held meetings with ...
Lisbon, Portugal, 8 May 2009 - His Highness the Aga Khan made a one-day visit to Portugal to meet with the His Eminence D. Jose Policarpo, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon and Chancellor of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP), and Portugal's Foreign Minister, Luis Amado, amongst other senior officials. The Aga Khan was also invested as Foreign Member, Class of ...
Lisbon, Portugal, 8 May 2009 - His Highness the Aga Khan made a one-day visit to Portugal to meet with the His Eminence D. Jose Policarpo, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon and Chancellor of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP), and Portugal's Foreign Minister, Luis Amado. ...
[During the Golden Jubilee of my Imamat] I visited numerous countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and I came into contact with men and women who were intelligent, mature, responsible and who were seeking to build nation states ... but these builders were seeking to build on the basis of an enormous knowledge deficit.... [The] question is a deficit ...
Shemima's Gr 3 win yet another for sire Dalakhani. Winner of the Gr 3 Prix de Lutèce and runner-up in the Gr 2 Prix Chaudenay over 15 furlongs each last season, SHEMIMA successfully dropped back to ten furlongs to take the Gr 3 Prix Allez France on her seasonal debut last week at Chantilly. Trainer Alain de Royer Dupré commented, "This ...
News story -- Early in 2009, the offices of the Aga Khan Foundation (UK) will relocate from the Ismaili Centre in South Kensington to the Euston Road facility. Prior to the beginning of the academic year in 2009, the Aga Khan University's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations will also relocate from their current premises in Bedford Square to the Euston ...
The following are some of my Letters to Editor which were published in The Christian Science Monitor (USA), The Independent (UK) and the Pakistan Daily Times (Pakistan). Note, the titles or headings under which the Letters were published were determined by the editors of the respective newspapers, and are not mine. "Show Islamic Face of Peace",The Christian Science Monitor, December 5, ...
29 April 2009 - For years, development institutions focused on narrowly defined goals - without much coordination with organisations outside their discipline. Many thought that rising incomes would lead to development. In AKDN's experience, however, income disparity is only one aspect of poverty. Other forms can be just as damaging: a lack of access to quality education, the inability to mitigate ...
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 ...
One afternoon a man from Hodja's native village paid a visit to him and brought a fat duck as a present. The Mullah was extremely happy. Without delay he plucked the duck and prepared a delicious soup, which he shared with his guest. The day after, another man came to see the Hodja. He brought no present but he explained: "I ...
By Farouk M. Topan I: Introduction The relationship between man and God forms the focus of most religious literature. Of paramount importance to the relationship is the conduct, behaviour and action of man during his sojourn on earth. What he says and does is deemed to affect that relationship: good deeds strengthen it, bad deeds impair it. It is thus considered ...
...As a Muslim leader speaking in Washington this evening, it seems appropriate that I cite the words of President Obama, in his recent speech in Ankara. As he put it, pledging a"broader engagement with the Muslim world, we will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground." I know that the vast majority of the Islamic world ...
Washington, USA, 23 April 2009 - His Highness the Aga Khan delivered a keynote speech at the 8th annual Global Philanthropy Forum. The Aga Khan also met with The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Secretary of State, at the State Department prior to delivering the address to participants at the Global Philanthropy Forum. ...
[Why have our development] efforts over five decades not borne greater fruit? Measured against history, where have things gone wrong? Given the progress we have made in so many fields, why have we been so relatively ineffective in sharing that progress more equitably, and in making it more permanent? My response centres on one principal observation: I believe the industrialised world ...
United Arab Emirates -- Reminiscing Heritage, an exhibition of photographs taken by acclaimed Royal Photographer of the United Arab Emirates, Noor Ali Rashid, is being hosted at the Ismaili Centre Dubai. The exhibition was recently inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. One year after its inauguration, the Ismaili Centre Dubai is hosting the first in ...
Reflecting on Mawlana Hazar Imam's speech at the 2009 Conference of the Global Philanthropy Forum, Asif Penwala explores the connection between philanthropy, the ethic of compassion and voluntary service. He observes how this relationship comes together within the Jamat, as well as the wider sphere of the Ismaili Imamat. "...and do good - to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours ...
