Spirit & Life

“The complexities of world problems and societies today require people educated in broad humanistic traditions in addition to the guidance and direction provided by the teaching of their religion. The history of the twentieth century is replete with examples of the danger of the systematic propagation and uncritical acceptance of dogmas, ideologies, and even theologies. More than ever, I believe that universities must shoulder the responsibility for contributing to the process of building the capacity for moral judgement in complex settings.”

Extract from the speech by Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Centenary Celebration meeting of the Association of American Universities, Washington, D.C., April 22, 2001.

“As the economic arena has been globalizing, openness and flexibility have become prerequisites for progress, and success has gone more and more to those who can connect and respond. Specialized expertise, pragmatic temperament, mental resourcefulness—these are increasingly the keys to effective leadership—along with a capacity for intellectual humility which keeps one’s mind constantly open to a variety of viewpoints and welcomes pluralistic exchange.

In such a world, the most important thing a student can learn is the ability to keep on learning.”

His Highness the Aga Khan - speech at the Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India on 22nd September 2006

Source:
http://www.akdn.org/speeches/2006september22.htm

Ismailis have long contributed to the advancement of science, mathematics, and architecture. In the tenth century, the Ismaili Imam al-Mahdi founded the Fatimid state in Tunisia in North Africa.  His successors spread the first Shia state to areas of North Africa including Egypt and parts of Arabia.  It was during the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) that the early contributions of Ismailis reached their peak, with founding of Cairo and the building of Al-Azhar Mosque (969-971) in that city. Dar al-Ilm, or the ‘House of Knowledge,’ a precursor of modern universities, was established in Cairo in 1005 by the Fatimid Imam-Caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.  Studies there included jurisprudence, grammar, medicine, logic, mathematics, and astronomy.  The institution was open to everyone regardless of their religious backgrounds.

The Fatimids were noted for employing their officers based on merit rather than on heredity.  Sunnis Muslims, Christians, and Jews occupied high positions in the Fatimid government.  The Fatimids also encouraged the practice of private patronage of mosques and other religious buildings by Muslims of different persuasions.  The Muslim doctrine of justice and equality is an essential aspect of the faith and action of Ismailis.  When His Highness the Aga Khan speaks today of pluralism and acts to defend it, he is upholding a thousand-year-old tradition.  When he creates a university, as he has in Karachi and in Central Asia, he is also walking in the footsteps of his ancestors even as he looks to the future.

– Philip Jodidio. Under the Eaves of Architecture. The Aga Khan: Builder and Patron. (Prestel, 2007)

The knowledge sector is increasingly shaping the social and economic dimensions of our lives and, as a consequence, the idea of knowledge-based societies has gained popularity. To apprise the Ismaili community in the UK about the meaning, importance and dimensions of such a society, the Aga Khan Education Board for UK organised an event called the Knowledge Symposium.

Though the notion of the knowledge society can be traced back to the 1960s, it is in the last decade that it has become a forceful idea in academic, business and political circles. The Baconian aphorism, ‘Knowledge is Power’, has in today’s context acquired a new life, albeit with a significantly different meaning.

Organised by the Aga Khan Education Board for UK, the Knowledge Symposium was held at the Ismaili Centre in London on 8 March 2008. Attended by over 250 people, the event highlighted the trajectory of a society’s progress towards a knowledge based society. Previously, similar events were also held in Canada.

Complete at the source

“The complexities of world problems and societies today require people educated in broad humanistic traditions in addition to the guidance and direction provided by the teaching of their religion. The history of the twentieth century is replete with examples of the danger of the systematic propagation and uncritical acceptance of dogmas, ideologies, and even theologies. More than ever, I believe that universities must shoulder the responsibility for contributing to the process of building the capacity for moral judgement in complex settings.”

Extract from the speech by His Highness the Aga Khan

at the Centenary Celebration meeting of the

Association of American Universities,

Washington, D.C., April 22, 2001

“To the Imamat, the meaning of ‘quality of life’ extends to the entire ethical and social context in which people live, and not only to their material well-being measured over generation after generation. Consequently, the Imamat’s is a holistic vision of development, as is prescribed by the faith of Islam. It is about investing in people, in their pluralism, in their intellectual pursuit, and search for new and useful knowledge, just as much as in material resources. But it is also about investing with a social conscience inspired by the ethics of Islam.”

Extract from Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the opening of Alltex EPZ Limited at Athi River, Kenya, December 19, 2003

“My forefathers founded Al Azhar University in Cairo some 1,000 years ago, at the time of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of the workings of the Creator’s physical world. The form of universities has changed over those 1,000 years, but that reciprocity between faith and knowledge remains a source of strength.”

Extract from the Commencement Address made by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 27, 1994

Al-Azhar: An Ancient Centre of Learning

Al-Azhar (The Luminous) was constructed as the central grand-mosque for Cairo by al-Qaid Jawhar al-Siqillí when he took Egypt for the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz li Dín Allah in 969 CE and founded Cairo as its capital city. It was inaugurated on 7 Ramadan 361 AH / 22 June 972 CE. Possibly so-named after Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima al-Zahra, through whom the Fatimids traced their genealogy back to the Prophet.

Complete at the source.