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RESURGENT (FATIMID) SHIA ISMAILI MUSLIMS OF TENTH CENTURY After centuries of living in taqiya* (conceal faith when under threat) and low profile in past Islamic world, Shia Ismaili Muslims are fast emerging as one of the most visible and internationally recognized Shia Ismaili Muslim communities of 21st century. Within the Shia theological framework, the concept of taqiyah* refers to a dispensation allowing believers to conceal their faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion.Is this practice allowed in Islam? Yes. Allah has allowed it in the Qur'an, and reason too shows the wisdom of the permission. Taqiyah is in fact, allowed by sharia, by authority of the Qur'anic verses, "except when you have to guard against them", and "except he who is compelled while his heart remains steadfast with the faith." Ismailism is a branch of the Islamic faith.The Ismaili get their name from their acceptance of Ismail Ibn Jafar as the divinely appointed spiritual successor (Imam).Ismailism at one point became the largest branch of Shiism, climaxing as a political power with the Fatimid Empire in the tenth through twelfth centuries. In common with other Muslims, Ismailis believe in the oneness of God. The teachings of Ismailism has been transformed into the belief system as its known today, with the explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning (batin) of the Islamic religion.The term Ismailis in today's vernacular generally refers to the Nizari path (tariqah), which recognizes the Aga Khan IV as the 49th hereditary Imam and is the largest group among several Ismaili path. The Legend! The True Spritual Leader. Great personality the Aga Khan. Photo: AKDN/Gary Otte His Highness the Aga Khan Photo: AKDN/Gary Otte His Highness the Aga Khan became 49th Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims on July 11, 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather Sir Sultan Mohd. Shah, the Aga Khan lll more » Golden Jubilee Archive Fifty years after he became the Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, the global Jamat commemorated Mawlana Imam’s Golden Jubilee with special events and activities around the world that took place between 11 July 2007 – 13 December 2008. more » Inaugural Address His Highness the Aga Khan marks his Golden Jubilee Aga Khan III (1877-1957) was the 48th Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslims. Through his intimate knowledge of Eastern as well as Western cultures, he was able to play a significant role in the international affairs of his time. His long public career had many dimensions. He was a member of the Indian Imperial Legislative Council (1902-1904), President of the All India Muslim League (1906-1913), and the founder of the All India Muslim Conference (1928-1929). He successfully campaigned for separate electorates for all Muslims of India, leading a delegation in 1906 to the Viceroy for this purpose. He was the leader of the muslim, and the entire Indian, delegation to the Round Table Conference in London (1930-1932) which discussed India's constitutional future. In 1934 he was appointed a member of the British Privy Council. He served as India's representative at the Conference for the Reduction of Armaments in Geneva in 1932 and as the chief delegate of India at the League of Nations in the 1930s. In 1937 he was unanimously elected President of the League. Aga Khan III was also a social reformer whose concerns included the alleviation of rural poverty and the uplift of women in society. An advocate of modern education, he became an ardent supporter of male and female educational advancement in India and East Africa and played a key role in the development of the Muslim University of Aligarh. A keen connoisseur of culture, he advocated a truly multicultural education blending the best and highest of Western and Eastern literary classics. He was a champion of amity between nations and peoples. In India he consistently supported the ideal of Hindu-Muslim unity, reminding both that India was their common parent. On the international scene he strove strenuously for the ideal of world peace. This book is a comprehensive collection of his speeches and writings covering the years 1902 to 1955. The topics include constitutional progress in India, education, rural development, Hindu-Muslim unity, Indians in Africa, Turkey after World War I, the renaissance of Islamic culture, Persian poetry, the fortunes of the League of Nations, the importance of science and technology, the status of women, Islam in the modern age and Pan-Islamism. HISTORY BOOK History of the Ismailis by Mumtaz Tajddin - Comprehensive book about Imams, People, Periods and Events in Ismaili History. EVENTS A searchable list of the main events and periods in Ismaili History, with references to other sources on the site. In short fifty years of his Imamat during his secular and progressive leadership as Imam (spiritual leader) of millions of Shia Ismaili Muslims worldwide, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV changed the course of history and uplifted his community, socially and economically by building various institutions. Under his guidance based on ethical principles of Islam as a faith that teaches compassion, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings, Aga Khan IV has undertaken numerous development initiatives that serve some of the world's poorest populations. These projects share a common goal; helping to create an environment in which peaceful, productive societies can flourish. Aga Khan IV assumed the office of the Imamat in July 1957, and since then he has worked on an international scale to improve living conditions and foster social, cultural and economic opportunities not only for his community but also non-Muslims in the developing world. Aga Khan also introduced many theological and esoteric interpretation of the Qur'anic concepts that attributes explicit divinity of Caliph Hazrat Ali to his Shia Ismaili Muslim community. Hazrat Ali was destined to be the only man aside from Muhammad himself whom both Sunnis and Shia would acknowledge as a rightful leader of Islam. According to Shia belief, Ali was and always has been the first rightful successor to Muhammad, designated by him as the true spiritual leader who would pass on his knowledge and insight to his sons, so that they in turn would pass it on to their own sons. Ali, that is, was the first of the twelve Imams who would join Muhammad and his daughter Fatima as the true Ahl al-Bayt. As all lined up to pledge allegiance to Ali, nobody yet thought in terms of Sunni versus Shia. As they pressed their forearms against his and swore to God that his friend was their friend, his enemy their enemy, they thought that divisiveness was at an end. Ali was the one who would unite them. Their would be no more greed, no more selfaggrandizement, no more corruption. The stranglehold of the Umayyads has been broken, a new era dawned. Under Ali, they would return to the true path of the Prophet. In science and knowledge Ali was the most learned of the companions of the Prophet (sawas), and of Muslims in general. In his learned discourses he was the first in Islam to open the door for logical demonstration and proof and to discuss the "divine sciences" or metaphysics (ma'arif-i ilahlyah). He spoke concerning the (esoteric) aspect of the Quran and devised Arabic grammar in order to preserve the Quran's form of expression. He was the most eloquent Arab in speech. Most famously, especially for mystical Sufis, for whom Ali would become the patron saint of knowledge and insight: "I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its gateway", said Muhammad (pbuh). The Aga Khan, heir to the family fortune and a society figure, is founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, one of the largest private development networks in the world. AKDN continues to work with a variety of African and Asian countries to improve living conditions and promote education. For instance, in Afghanistan the AKDN has mobilised over $700 million in development projects.[4] In 1979, the Aga Khan also established the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to promote the study of Islamic art, architecture, urbanism, landscape design, and conservation - and the application of that knowledge to contemporary design projects.[5] The program engages in research at both institutions and students can graduate with a Master of Science of Architectural Studies specializing in the Aga Khan program from MIT's Department of Architecture. The young Aga Khan's early forefathers ruled with great splendour over Egypt and North Africa during the tenth and eleventh centuries. When they were forced by plundering armies to move down to Persia (renamed Iran) and joined the already established Ismaili community there, they left behind lasting monuments of culture and enlightenment in the shape of institutions of learning and works of great art. The most famous university of Islam, alAzhar, as well as the city of Cairo were founded by them in 970...........See Research The installment of the Isma'ili imam to the Fatimid caliphate ... The Fatimid Isma'ilis soon succeeded in founding an Isma'ili government ..........The Art of the Fatimid Period (909–1171) | Thematic Essay ... The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, presents an online exhibition of art and architecture from the Fatimids, whose opulence fuelled a Renaissance in Cairo. The Fatimids were reputed to exercise a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam as well as towards Jews and Christians. The ruling elite of the state belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism. The leaders of the dynasty were also Shia Ismaili Imams, hence they had a religious significance to Ismaili Muslims. They were also part of the chain of holders of the office of Caliph, as recognized by most Muslims. Time and again, Muhammad (pbuh) had made it clear how close he held Ali, the one man who had had faith in him when all others scoffed. Nobody, Sunni or Shia, denies the extraordinary closeness between Muhammad (pbuh) and Ali. In fact the two men were so close that at the most dangerous point in the Prophet's life, Ali served as Muhammad's double. Aga Khan, the forty ninth Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslims follows in path of Hazrat Ali, whom Ismaili Muslims consider him to be the rashidun ( the rightly guided one ).Directly descended from Mohammad (pbuh) through the prophet's daughter Fatima, the Aga Khan was the Imam (the spiritual leader, or Pope) to over 15 million Ismaili Muslims. Sir Sultan Md. Shah, the Aga Khan lll on Pluralism: "In Islam there are two touchstones I have treasured and sought to apply. The first affirms the unity of the human race, as expressed in the Holy Quran where God, as revealed through the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) says the following: "O Mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord, who created you from single soul and from it created its mate and from the twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. The second passage is from Hazrat Ali: No belief is like modesty and patience, no attainment is like humility, no honor is like knowledge, no power is like forebearance,and no support is more reliable than consultation. Hazrat Ali's regard for knowledge reinforces the compatibility of faith and the world. And his respect for consultation is, a commitment to tolerant and openhearted democratic process." Prince Karim Aga Khan on Pluralism : “….we cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity…” Prince Karim Aga Khan on Knowledge: Quote The passage of a millennium has not diminished Nasir Khusraw’s relevance nor dulled the lustre of his poetry. It continues to uplift and inspire, reminding us that we are the authors of our own destiny. As he has said, we can be like a poplar tree which chooses to remain barren, or we can let our path be lit by the candle of wisdom, for only “with intellect, we can seek out all the hows and whys. Without it, we are but trees without fruit.” Another lesson that we learn from this great philosopher is that, in the ebb and flow of history, “knowledge is a shield against the blows of time”. It dispels “the torment of ignorance” and nourishes “peace to blossom forth in the soul”. The Shia Ismaili Muslims are a community of ethnically and culturally diverse peoples living in over 25 countries around the world, united in their allegiance to His Highness the Aga Khan, the forty-ninth hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. He assumed the office of the Imamat in July 1957, and since then he has worked tirelessly on international scale to improve living conditions and foster social,cultural and economic opportunities for men and women in the developing world : The Ismaili: Home Ismaili faith in Islam is based on "exoteric" as well as "esoteric" interpretation of Qur'an : topic "Exoteric" "Esoteric" Preferred state of consciousness Normal waking consciousness Expanded; meditative or spiritual states Transformation of personality No (ego-centred) Yes (transpersonal) Self-transcendence Means of knowledge Reason (secular), Belief (religious) Higher Inspiration and Intuition ("Gnosis") Authority External (Bible, Church, Science, etc) Internal (Inner feelings and intuition) Philosophy or teachings Narrow; only one authority (Bible, Scientific method,etc), everything outside that is considered false Broad; universal, is able to draw from many different teachings, both exoteric and esoteric Metaphysical Position Simplistic (Materialism, Dualism, or Holism) Sophisticated (complex cosmology, psychology, ontology,etc) Emanationism, Dramaturgism Concept of Absolute Reality External God (Dualism): i.e. God is mainly considered as a separate, external being or Space-Time-Energy (Materialism) - the "unified field theory" or Theory of Everything or some such holy grail of physics Universal Consciousness (Monism)The Divine is within as well as without The above table therefore presents things in a very simplistic way, as the distinction between Exoteric and Esoteric is never so clear cut. The whole idea of such a dichotomy comes about through the establishment of the various Monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc) in dogmatic form. Due to the impossibility of reconciling literal scriptural theology with mystical insight, a very sharp demarcation naturally appears between, say, conventional Judaism and Kabbalah, or conventional Islam and Sufism. But in the East, especially India, no such distinction is necessary, and one finds instead a smooth gradation from exoteric to esoteric, with all positions being equally acceptable. In any case, especially in traditional or established forms of esotericism (Buddhism, Sufism, Kabbalah, etc), there is always some conceptual dogma, so we have esoteric religion, a religion based on mystical experiences, but still interpreting them according to an a prior analysis. Most mystical and esoteric streams within religious traditions get around this problem by the use of sophisticated Hermeneutics. In the Western world this problem was further exacerbated by the rise of scientism, rationalism, and Protestantism. A good example of the difficulty of separating esoteric from exoteric can be seen by looking at the distinction between so called "rabinic" or Legalistic Judaism and the occult movement of Kabbalah. One would think that there could be no more distinct counterpoles, but a deeper study shows that the situation is no-where near as clearly defined, even here. Aga Khan believes “knowledge revolution” is not so much factories, land and machinery that drive the world economy but the knowledge, skills and resourcefulness of people. All societies, it has become clear, must invest in higher education for their talented men and women or risk being relegated to subordinate, vulnerable positions in the world. Compiled and written by Hasni Essa