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

AKU aims to be as relevant for the next global health crisis as it has been for this one. Today, AKU is building its capacity for cutting-edge research applicable to the distinctive health risks for populations in Asia and Africa. It will seek to harness the enormous potential of advances in artificial intelligence, genomic medicine and stem cell science to address tomorrow’s challenges, as well as today’s.

The free social and intellectual part played in the life of Arabia by Imam Hussain’s daughter, Sakina, and by the daughter of Talha and the great grand daughters of Khalifa Abu Baker can be contrasted with the position of women in the 19th century. Again, we know what high standard of music and art had been attained in Mecca and Medina as early as the Khilafat of the early Omaiyyads and compare it with the disdain with which art is looked upon by some misguided Muslims today.

I cannot emphasize too strongly that this network could neither have been created nor been managed and improved without the boards, the committees, and the other volunteers, young and old, who contribute their time and effort, unpaid, for the benefit of society. The voluntary worker is the lifeblood of our institutions, both in education and in health.

If we, the people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are to remain loyal and obedient to the commandments of our faith, we have no choice but to cast away all thoughts of East and West, of Asian, American or European and of all those barriers which alienate man from man, and people from people, so that we may join together to promote universal brotherhood under God.

In the early centuries of Islam, the great schools of Islamic jurisprudence were built upon the above principles. Basic to all their legal systems they developed the doctrine that liberty is the fundamental basis of law. The science of law was defined as: “The knowledge of rights and duties whereby man is enabled to observe right conduct in the world

Portugal has been a country in which the Jamat and its institutions and the Imamat have been experimenting with new initiatives to see whether it would be possible, in the western world, in a strongly Catholic country, to establish new initiatives which would bring together people of Christian backgrounds and Muslim backgrounds to work together

I must say that, as a Muslim, I stand here in front of you in amazement that the Western world had to experience the revolution in Iran to learn about Shia Islam, or the civil war in Afghanistan to learn about Wahhabi Islam. Please remember that we are talking about a religion followed by one-fifth of the world's population! This is the equivalent of Muslims being unaware of the distinction between Catholics and Protestants within Christianity.

Perhaps the most common of these ingredients has been the failure of those involved to recognise the fact that human society is essentially pluralist, and that peace and development require that we seek, by every means possible, to invest in and enhance, that pluralism. Those groups that seek to standardise, homogenise, or if you will allow me, to normatise all that and those around them must be actively resisted through countervailing activities.

For almost a century, we have spoken of the educated, professional woman as a goal. Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah once wrote: "Women equipped with means of earning a livelihood need fear nothing." We must now turn this wise statement into a reality. This may be a tall order, but we must make a start. Where a start has been made, we must accelerate the pace.

Beginning prior to the turn of the century, Ismaili women throughout the world have been encouraged to acquire more education than their peers. Consequently, Ismaili women are, today, relatively well educated. The benefits of this academic policy have been extensive Firstly, the educated mother is better informed on health, education, hygiene and nutrition, and hence provides a better environment for her children.

What do we share with Singapore? First of all I think we share a very strong commitment to human knowledge, to the notion of competence, to the notion of quality, to the notion of developing human society around value systems which are strong.

I believe that such a message of hope, predicated on the outstanding examples of what has been achieved in the built environment of the Muslim world, can be extended to other central themes in the lives of Muslims today, their societies, and their countries. The proper application of the premises which the Award has demonstrated, a trust in pluralism, a confidence in unfettered debate, a rejoicing in innovation, a deep respect for cultural and physical resources, could well be the basis for developing new approaches to other central needs in these same societies.

In his 10 years of experience in the field of refugee work, the High Commissioner had noted that the worst thing that could happen to a refugee is to remain idle. This creates bitterness and breeds unrest and instability. The refugee becomes frustrated and turns against his country and the country of asylum

I would like to underline that when we talk about solutions we do not just mean settlement in European and other countries to which these refugees and asylum-seekers travel. To us the best solution is one in which refugees and asylum-seekers can return in safety and dignity to the countries of origin. When that is not possible, one should also actively pursue temporary solutions in the regions to which they have greater affinity.

“I would like to congratulate Aga Khan University Hospital for being the first CAP accredited laboratory in Pakistan. We know that the journey has been a long one but we are sure and certain that the benefits of our accreditation and your continual desire to improve your services, your performance, your accuracy, your reliability, and your precision, will benefit the patients in Pakistan”

The recognition of private sector capabilities, which in the past have often been considered politically unacceptable in developing countries, is extending into the sphere of social institutions. More and more countries are questioning why it was ever necessary to nationalise competent private schools and medical facilities. In Pakistan, for example, private schools are now being returned to their former owners.

In the Third World we are not talking about saving for refrigerators or cars. We are talking about the ability to buy proper clothing and to send children to primary school, to live in a house - however primitive - not in a hovel. We are talking about improvements which do not require large amounts of money but do require a genuine understanding of the impediments to improving the quality of life of rural people.

Oh yes. He is always with me, He doesn't leave me. I am thinking of him all the time. As long as you live and you are thinking of someone he is alive. When you die, he will die. Because he is in me, he lives with me. Now it's 35 years (since his death) and I am very grateful that he left me the possibility to build this mausoleum. I am very proud.

And I am happy to tell you that it is My intention to develop a permanent base here in Singapore. And that is also the reflection of the success of the Jamat. Your standing, your leadership, your credibility, the relations that you have built. This is what makes these constructs a reality for Me to work with.

People are much more interested in war than in peace. It is always so much easier for the media to focus on conflict, suffering, bombs, mines, struggle and resistance, than on reconstruction and relief. They only highlight these subjects when things go wrong, when food stocks lie rotting in ports, or when they arrive too late. Rarely do we hear about the positive aspects of reconstruction. This is precisely why my job