Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Charity is something else. This is a poor country, but not miserable. You see how the people celebrate the feast. The people are poor, but they are happy. In Europe, I don't think we are happy, and we are much more helped by the government. The people are always asking for more. And they are never happy.

Simply put, the greatest resources a society can possess are the creativity and ingenuity of its peoples. All societies require knowledge production, and knowledge has always played a vital role in the rise of prosperity and social well-being. But too often, societies face multiple barriers for unlocking their intellectual capital's full potential and participating in global knowledge networks. Access to higher education and lifelong learning is one critical component of a knowledge society.

In a knowledge society, intellectual capital is the most powerful generator of prosperity and improvement of quality of life, more than conventional measures of land, labor, raw materials, physical or financial capital. Knowledge is the driver of innovation.

But, for myself, I am very much looking forward to continuing the work with the institutions, to continue to try and improve the quality of life for the Jamat in Pakistan and all the communities in which it lives.

Maintaining handicrafts through the centuries is, in my view, a matter of great importance. Not only in the job creation that they ensure, but in maintaining artistic abilities and vision that have endured through the centuries, which can embellish our everyday lives while they tie us silently with the past, our past. They have an important educational role. One must learn to see, not just look, as one learns to hear, not just listen.

Despite all the rhetoric about basic needs and poverty alleviation -- and despite several decades officially dedicated to development -- the number of people in extreme or absolute poverty continues to increase.

Continue to strive with courage and optimism and grasp all opportunities to serve your communities and contribute to making a more pluralistic and peaceful world. Since I was a young girl, my father always told me what a mistake it had been for many international organizations in the 1960s and 70s to focus almost exclusively on primary education and effectively defund tertiary and higher education across many countries.

If it's a daunting endeavor, so much the better. For every success there will be setbacks, but when you look back, it will be with the satisfaction of those who embrace hope, strive against the odds, and remain faithful to their commitments and ideals.

As we all know, an excellent education is a broad one, developing the interests in arts, culture, sports, as well as academics, but it also needs to be meaningful and relevant. As we saw in the film again, the extensive service learning program is local and sustainable and improves the quality of life of others. It also allows our students to demonstrate their growing leadership skills and values.

Although young people go through many challenging transitions in their lives, we aim to make the Academy a positive and memorable experience for all, one that helps young people to set the right course for their lives and build their character and attributes as leaders.

I think I know animals better than most people.

..... young people all over the world. Whether in Africa, Asia or Latin America, or indeed in the Western countries, their attitudes were remarkably similar. They all had problems with their leaders, with the establishment, with the privileged few, and all asked questions which sometimes their elders were unable to answer.

Another example: such detestable things as "old age homes" and "orphanages" are only a product of the developed world. In the developing world, people are taken care of by the extended family in much more humane ways.

A necessary condition for pluralism to succeed is that the general education of the populations involved must be sufficiently complete so that individual groups, defined by ethnicity, religion, language and the like, understand the potential consequences of actions that might impinge on others. This is, for example, one of the principal reasons why today there is so much uninformed speculation about conflict between the Muslim world and others.

The result of this exemplary and varied group reminds us there is no blueprint for pluralism. Rather pluralism is an idea that expresses itself in a multitude of locally rooted ways.

We must seek to develop between Ismaili women and men, fellowship and teamwork, shared learning, understanding, support and above all shared goals. These things could come about through our efforts to develop an ongoing communications system, and with the aid of international dialogue among leaders, Women's Portfolios, and the Jamat at large.

As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”

Since I became the Imam of the Ismaili community a little over twenty years ago, I have marvelled at the social conscience of the people of this great sub-continent. Wherever they are, whatever their activities, no matter their ages or wealth, they are consistently concerned with each other's well being and I am convinced there is more spontaneous humanitarian and philanthropic activity in this part of the world than any other

We engage with the often difficult issues that relate to the quality of peoples’ lives, not only in the Ismaili Community, but also for those with whom we share our lives, locally, nationally and internationally. And in so doing, our purpose is to uphold human dignity, to help improve the lives of the vulnerable, and to support the pluralism that exists here in Portugal, and which is crucial to the maintenance of a peaceful, compassionate and harmonious society.

Helping one’s neighbours and working with them for the common good is a basic tenet of Ismailism. In keeping with the ethics of Islam, wherever we reside, we ensure we are active in civil society, working in many fields of endeavor to offer our time, knowledge, expertise and material resources to help better the cohesiveness of the communities and societies in which we live, and to improve their quality of life.