Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr

 

“O moon-faced Beloved,
the month of Ramadan has arrived.
Cover the table
and open the path of praise.”

The great Muslim poet Jalal al-Din Rumi sang about Ramadan in the 13th century AD (translation by A.J. Arberry):

“The month of fasting has come, the emperor’s banner has arrived; withhold your hand from food, the spirit’s table has arrived.

The soul has escaped from separation and bound nature’s hands; the heart of error is defeated, the army of faith has arrived.

Fasting is our sacrifice, it is the life of our soul; let us sacrifice all our body, since the soul has arrived as guest.

Fortitude is as a sweet cloud, wisdom rains from it, because it was in such a month of fortitude that the Koran arrived.

…Wash your hands and your mouth, neither eat nor speak; seek that speech and that morsel which has come to the silent ones.”

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My Beloved Grandfather

My Beloved GrandfatherA few words by Mowlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan IV

“Today, I am speaking to you in a city and in a country which have a particular meaning to my family and myself. On 2nd November, 1877 my beloved grandfather was born here in Karachi. Through 72 years of Imamat, he guided his spiritual children to happiness and prosperity…”
 – Karachi, August 4, 1957

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Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) – My Holy Ancestor

In the seventh century of the Christian era, there was a rapid and brilliant new flowering of humanity’s capacity and desire for adventure and discovery in the realms of both spirit and intellect. That flowering began in Arabia its origin and impetus were given by my Holy ancestor, the Prophet Muhammed, and we know it by the name of Islam. From Arabia the tide of its influence flowed swiftly and strongly to North Africa and thence to Spain.

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Islamic Art and Architecture in Fatimid North Africa and Egypt

Arts of the City Victorious

Islamic Art and Architecture in Fatimid North Africa and Egypt

A 2007-8 Top Seller in African History as compiled by YBP Library Services

 This is the first book-length study of the art and architecture of the Fatimids, the Ismaili Shi’i dynasty that ruled in North Africa and Egypt from 909 to 1171. The Fatimids are most famous for founding the city of al-Qahira (Cairo) in 969, and their art—particularly textiles and luster ceramics, but also metalwork and carved rock-crystal, ivory and woodwork—has been admired for nearly a millennium. In this engaging and accessible book, Jonathan M. Bloom concentrates on securely dated and localized examples of Fatimid art and architecture. His discussions focus on significant examples and are illustrated with over 100 photographs, many in color, and extensive notes and bibliography provide guidance for further reading and research.

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Ali to Karim ends USA tour with final performance in Houston

After completing a whirlwind tour of seven US cities in seven weeks, the team behind ALI TO KARIM: A Tribute to the Ismaili Imams, has now packed-up their sets, costumes and props, and parted with a trunk full of memories.

The cast and crew staged 21 performances that drew an audience of more than 20 000, and captivated the Jamat with their creative energy. They brought history to life in a manner that had never been done before.

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Aga Khan University: skills learning centre to introduce modern methods

Aga Khan University will be setting up Skills Learning Centre that will pioneer the use of virtual reality tools, simulation, teleconferencing and telelearning to enhance learning capacity in the healthcare sector.

This will improve the education not only of the university’s undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, but also practising physicians interested in continuing education programmes. It will also help to improve the quality of medical education in the country.

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Clinton Global Initiative Website Features Hashoo Foundation’s Economic Empowerment Project

Houston, TX (September  25) – The Women Empowerment through Honey Bee Farming project is featured on the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Website as a “Featured Commitment” during the 2008 Annual Meeting, announces the Hashoo Foundation.

 “The Hashoo Foundation is deeply appreciative of these opportunities provided by the Clinton Global Initiative,” said Chairwoman Sarah Hashwani.  “They will allow global leaders and organizations to learn about the project’s successful implementation of this practical, scalable model for women’s economic self-sustenance.”

In 2007, at the Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting, the Hashoo Foundation made a Commitment to Action to support the advancement of women within this region, and improve their livelihoods with the Women Empowerment through Honeybee Farming project. The Commitment was to train 50 women by 2009 to cultivate 150 honey bee hives in Pakistan’s Northern Areas and Chitral (NAC), which are amongst the poorest and most isolated in the country.

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Ismail Gangji, Varas

Gangji, the father of Ismail was one of the famous and dedicated social workers in Junagadh jamat. He had never gone to school, his family members called him gang i.e., unlettered, and became known as Gangji, making his original name disappeared in the records. He was however a man of middle class. His son Ismail is supposed to have been born around 1788 and his fame soon reached incredible heights as the Varas of Junagadh.

Varas Ismail Gangji, crowning the towering name of the Hero of Kathiawar, was a petty spice trader on foot with a bag on his shoulder and wandered from one village to another and was a cheater to give less in weighing. He sold spices in place of the bales of cotton and disposed off in the market. He passed almost 25 years in this trade, which he started at the age of 6 to 7 years.

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Ismaili-Net.Com – 21st Century Worlds Information Guide. by: Ibrahim Machiwala (Lodhi)

Ismaili-Net.Com – 21st Century Worlds Information Guide. by: Ibrahim Machiwala (Lodhi)

http://www.ismaili-net.com
 

First company in the world producing Fairtrade Certified dried fruits

After graduating in Food Technology from a renowned university in Pakistan, Mr. Sher Ghazi, the present CEO of the Mountain Fruits Company joined the Aga Khan Rural Support Program, AKRSP in year 1990. After ten years of association with community development work Mr. Sher well understood the fundamentals of rural development and realized that sustainable development can be achieved through involvement of small farmers in agro base micro enterprises, value addition to agriculture surplus and by exporting it to high value Fairtrade markets.

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US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Awards Support Major Projects at Cultural Sites in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and GuatemalaA

The Center reviewed seven proposals based on program criteria, proposal quality and project merit, and recommended three for support in 2008, which are the following.

$725,000 to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for the conservation of Qala Ikhtyaruddin, the 15th-century citadel of Herat, Afghanistan, a prominent public landmark of this ancient city and one of the most impressive surviving citadels in all of Central Asia; $978,705 to the World Monuments Fund for the conservation of the 10th-century Phnom Bakheng Temple in Cambodia.

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A Poem on Salwat:

Ya Allah, Ya Muhammad, Ya Ali

O Brothers and Sisters, do not rest,
Till all of us pass the test,
For Salwat is ours,
To be recited every hour.

 

When the salwat poses,
It becomes the staff of Moses.
Let the baraka of Allah, Muhammad and Ali flow,
And see the true believers glow.

 

Let love and consciousness grow,
And see negativity hit a new low,
For darkness disappears,
When the Sun appears.

 

– Noorallah G. Juma –

Tribute to Alwaez Rai Amiraly A. Amlani

Alwaez Amlani was a great champion of Imamat and created excellent greeting cards which are archived on SalmanSpiritual.com. Although he was very ill, he still prepared, at my request, the following card in which he depicts the rise of Imamat and Ismaili faith. This is an actualization of a firman made by NOOR Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah (a.s.) and the prediction of Pir Hasan Kabirdin (r.a.) in his granth, Anant Akhado:
 

 

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The Paramount Need for Higher Spiritual Education

Mi’raj means a ladder or a series of steps or stairs, or the occasion of Holy Prophet’s vision of the Divine light in the higher world. Let us study upon the higher dimensions of Mi’raj by studying the following questions:
 

1. What is the meaning of the word “Sûr”?
   “Let us first analyse the word “Sûr” literally. The root of the word is “s-w-r” and its derivatives are: sara yasiru sawran, meaning “to call”, “to cause to incline”, “to cut”, “to separate”; as-sûr, trumpet, bugle …” (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 31)
    
2. What is the function of “Sûr-i Israfil”?
   “… Hazrat Israfil, who is the custodian of the Sûr, is (an angel) to wake people up, both today and tomorrow (36:52).” (Source: Healing Through Knowledge, p. 24).
    
3. What is the function of “Sûr-i Israfil” from a ma’rifat point of view?
   “According to the people of ma’rifat, to conceive as-sur as a trumpet or bugle is nothing more than a veil, for the reality is that through the angel Jadd (72:3), it is the soul-seizing and soul-giving melody of Divine love, i.e., it is a living, unique, unprecedented luminous flute, which for the friend of God, has the effect of fana’ fillah (annihilation in God) and baqa’ billah (survival in God). In the above examples you have seen that among the meaning of the word “sûr” are “to call (= da’wat-i-haqq)”, “to cause to incline (= to make humble)”, as well as “to cut (= to slaughter)”. The slaughtering, however is not with the usual knife, but with a dagger of Divine love. With it, Hazrat Ibrahim slaughtered his beloved son Hazrat Isma’il in the path of God. Otherwise, the appellation Dhabihi’llah (Sacrifice for God) does not have any real meaning.” (Source: Psalms of Lovers, p. 31-32). 
    

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The Paramount Need for Higher Spiritual Education

Over the past 51 years, Noor Mowlana Hazir Imam has consistently made firmans on the topic of higher spiritual enlightenment. Let us reflect deeply on the spiritual and luminous dimensions of Noor Mowlana Hazir Imam and then assess our progress on the path of enlightenment:
 

1. What is encompassed in Noor Mowlana Hazir Imam?
   “God encompasses all the subtle things of the universe, the existents, this world and the next world in the manifest Imam, because it is the Imam who is the house of His sacred light. Thus, the act of reviving the two kinds of the dead and the record of deeds and traces is also in the Imam, as Allah says: “Verily We bring back the dead to life, and We write down what they have sent before them, and their traces. And We have encompassed everything in a manifest Imam.” (36:12). That is, nothing is beyond the domain of the subtle body, the great soul and the perfect intellect of the pure and holy Imam.” (Source: Manifestations of Wisdom, p. 24)
    
2. What can be seen through the Light of Imamat?
   “By the Divine Pen is meant a great angel called the Universal Intellect and the Guarded Tablet is also a great angel called the Universal Soul, and they are the perfect intellect and the soul of the Imam of the time. They are one Light, which works like the Pen and the Tablet of the higher world. It is a miracle of the perfect power of the omnipotent God, the spiritual miracles of the light of Imamat are practically shown in the personal world of each arif (a mu’min who sees) so that the chain of His spiritual favours may continue forever.” (Source: Manifestations of Wisdom, p. 24-25)

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Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. 1020)

Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani was a prominent Ismaili missionary during the reign of the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Hakim (996-1021). He was of Persian origin and was probably born in the province of Kirman. He seems to have spent the greater part of his life as a Fatimid da‘i (missionary) in Iraq (in Baghdad and Basra) and in central and western parts of Iran.

Al-Kirmani was part of the official Fatimid campaign against the dissident da‘is, who had also proclaimed al-Hakim’s divinity. In Cairo he produced several works in refutation of the Druze movement and religion. Subsequently, al-Kirmani returned to Iraq where he completed his last and magnum opus, Rahat al-‘aql.

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