Prince Karim Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of about 20 million Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims and is now turning 74.  He was born on December 13, 1936 in Switzerland. Every year on December 13, the Ismailies around the world celebrate his birthday with religious and emotive zeal.

The Murids arrange religious Majalises in Jamat Khanas where they make religious offerings, supplications and reaffirm their allegiance to the Imam of time. Sweets and festive refreshment is served and the Ismailies wish each other Khushhali or Salgira Mubarak.

Ismailies around the world celebrated the Salgira, this year, jubilantly. Jamat Khanas were decorated in many parts of the world. Many people in North America, Australia and Europe closed their offices and businesses early to get to Jamat Khanas in time.

In Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral of Pakistan, Ismailies also congregated the Birthday of their Imam in a festive and religious fashion. Houses were seen decorated, lighting on the mountains and around Jamat Khana (prayer and social hall) premises and cultural dishes were especially prepared in the designated area of Jamat Khana called Langer.

Various Day and evening Majalises were arranged in which waezeen delivered speeches urging the Murids to follow the guidance of their Imam in their worldly and religious matters. The waezeen emphasized the Jamat to work for the better image of Islam through service to humanity.

This year’s celebrations were congregated modestly as the Ismailies simultaneously honour the holy month of Muharam in which one of their Imams, Imam Hussain Ibn Ali was martyred and his family was massacred by Umayyad Caliph Yazid, at Karbala in 680 CE

They pledged that every member of the community will continue to serve the humanity which, their Imam has consistently taken as mission since 1957.

The Ismailies concluded their celebrations with special prayers for all the Muslims around the world who are passing through difficult times. They also prayed for their national prosperity, peace and development in all their respective countries.

Q.K Sunny from Gilgit-Baltistan has contributed to this story

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  Posted in         Ismaili Events, Ismaili News

Architecturally excellent, the following five projects are also deemed by His Highness Aga Khan to be the most likely to improve quality of life for Muslims throughout the world.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1977. Every three years since then, His Highness Aga Khan, the Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, has recognized everyone involved with the process of creating projects that aspire to be architecturally, culturally, and spiritually fabulous. All of this year’s 401 nominees (in accordance with competition rules) hailed from regions that have a strong Muslim presence.

Five winners selected from a shortlist of 19 received their awards this evening at a glamorous ceremony in Doha, Qatar, attended by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and the Aga Khan. First place went to the Bridge School project by Xiaodong Atelier, which closed the gap between two parts of a village in Xianshi, China, becoming the village’s cultural and spiritual focus.

First place: Bridge School Xiashi, China. By Li Xiaodong Atelier:

“The result is a project that has successfully invigorated the entire community, encapsulating social sustainability through architectural intervention.”

Second Place: Madinat Al-Zahra Museum in Cordoba, Spain. By Sobejano Architects S.L.P., Fuensanto Nieto and Enrique Sobejano.

“A refined and subtle design by the architectural firm Nieto Sobejano, the museum complex blends seamlessly into the site and the surrounding farmland – a series of rectangles composed of walls, patios and plantings which, taken together, seem more like a landscape than a building.”

Third Place: Ipekyol Textile Factory in Edirne, Turkey. By Emre Arolat Architects.

“The glazed southern facade, five internal courtyards, as well as gardens and light wells give each user access to natural light and views of nature, and the spaces also provide recreational areas for the workers.”

Fourth Place: Wadi Hanifa Wetlands in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. By Moriyama and Teshima Planners Limited/Buro Happold.

“In an effort to redress the balance between the resources of the wadi and the people living around it, the Arriyadh Development Authority has implemented a comprehensive development strategy, a programme of works that aims to restore and develop Wadi Hanifa as an environmental, recreational and tourism resource.”

Fifth Place: Revitalization of the recent heritage of Tunis, Tunisia (an urban revitalization effort that restored public spaces and landmark buildings.) By Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina de Tunis.

“The urban revitalisation plan, devised and spearheaded by the Association de Sauvegarde de la Médina de Tunis (ASM), has restructured the public spaces of the area around Avenue Bourguiba and Avenue de France and made them chiefly pedestrian.”

For more information about winners and shortlisted projects, please visit the official website for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture website.

All images courtesy of AGAA

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As societies come to think in pluralistic ways, I believe they can learn another lesson from the Canadian experience, the importance of resisting both assimilation and homogenization — the subordination and dilution of minority cultures on the one hand, or an attempt to create some new, transcendent blend of identities on the other.

What the Canadian experience suggests to me is that identity itself can be pluralistic. Honouring one’s own identity need not mean rejecting others. One can embrace an ethnic or religious heritage, while also sharing a sense of national or regional pride. To cite a timely example, I believe one can live creatively and purposefully as both a devoted Muslim and a committed European.

I believe that the challenge of pluralism is never completely met. Pluralism is a process and not a product. It is a mentality, a way of looking at a diverse and changing world.

A pluralistic environment is a kaleidoscope that history shakes every day.

Responding to pluralism is an exercise in constant re-adaptation. Identities are not fixed in stone. What we imagine our communities to be must also evolve with the tides of history.

As we think about pluralism, we should be open to the fact that there may be a variety of “best practices,” a “diversity of diversities,” and a “pluralism of pluralisms.”

In sum, what we must seek and share is what I have called “a cosmopolitan ethic,” a readiness to accept the complexity of human society. It is an ethic which balances rights and duties. It is an ethic for all peoples.

It will not surprise you to have me say that such an ethic can grow with enormous power out of the spiritual dimensions of our lives. In acknowledging the immensity of The Divine, we will also come to acknowledge our human limitations, the incomplete nature of human understanding.

In that light, the amazing diversity of creation itself can be seen as a great gift to us — not a cause for anxiety but a source of delight. Even the diversity of our religious interpretations can be greeted as something to share with one another — rather than something to fear.

In this spirit of humility and hospitality, the stranger will be welcomed and respected, rather than subdued — or ignored.

In the holy Koran we read these words: “O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul … [and] joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace ye became brethren.”

As we strive for this ideal, we will recognize that “the other” is both “present” and “different.” And we will be able to appreciate this presence — and this difference — as gifts that can enrich our lives.

Let me conclude by emphasizing once again the urgency of this challenge. We are at a particularly complex moment in human history. The challenges of diversity are frightening for many people, in societies all around the world. But diversity also has the capacity to inspire.

The mission of the Global Centre for Pluralism is to look closely at these challenges — and to think hard about them. This will be demanding work. But as we go forward, we hope we can discern more predictably and pre-empt more effectively those conditions which lead to conflict among peoples. And we also hope that we can advance those institutions and those mindsets which foster constructive engagement.

The world we seek is not a world where difference is erased, but where difference can be a powerful force for good, helping us to fashion a new sense of cooperation and coherence in our world, and to build together a better life for all.

The Aga Khan, the 49th Hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, delivered the prestigious 10th Annual LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture in Toronto, at the invitation of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. This is an excerpt from that speech.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Diversity+force+good+world/3709850/story.html#ixzz142Z2hVvL

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