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

A true dialogue requires not only that we articulate one perspective, but also that we listen – attentively - to other perspectives. More than that, it asks us not only to listen to one another, but also to learn from one another.

Our Ismaili tradition, however, has always accepted the spirit of pluralism among schools of interpretation of the faith, and seen this not as a negative value, but as a true reflection of divine plenitude. Indeed, pluralism is seen as essential to the very survival of humanity

I genuinely believe that generations that are born, brought up, and live in better-quality surroundings have a different outlook on life. Architecture is, in my view, a method of creating development, well-being. And I think architecture, if it goes wrong, can be a source of conflict or destabilization.

The industrialized world has attached a very great premium to materialism. Has there been, as a consequence to that, a dehumanization of society? Has the individual lost his sense of identity? What has been the impact on ethical standards, generally speaking? Have ethical standards fallen?

For instance, most of you have heard Sony radios. Some of you may own sets made in Japan by Sony, but the Sony Corporation was once a purely American company. It set up business in war devastated Japan 20 years ago and, with the aid of the remarkable mechanical ingenuity of the Japanese, developed the modern transistor which has had such an enormous influence on the radio and electronics industries

The communication satellite can provide cheap and rapid telephone communications all over the world. It can be used for extremely accurate long-range weather forecasting of incalculable value to your farming community. It also has a tremendous potential for educational television.

In the meantime, we are making ever greater demands upon volunteers to maintain the standards of administration which we believe essential......The heart and lifeblood of our network is the Voluntary Workers; the Boards, the Committees, the Volunteers young and old who contribute their time and efforts

I would cite the words of the first hereditary Imam of the Shia Muslims, Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who emphasized in his teachings that “No honour is like knowledge.” Those words have inspired an emphasis on education within our tradition ever since that time

the classical concept of `education for the sake of education' is giving way to a more pragmatic approach brought about by the sheer necessity of meeting the demands of a world where science and technology are assuming an ever more dominant role in society.

I hope that as time goes by, you will be more and more demanding upon yourselves, upon your institutions, more and more eager to bring competence and knowledge and wisdom and understanding from generation after generation into these institutions.

I have been concerned about the way our institutions anticipate change. I have mentioned many times to you recently, the issue of the meritocratic environment in which today, much more in the future, your children will be living

If Islam is to be the source of inspiration, how do we transform this inspiration into practical terms of everyday life? And how do we do this and at the same time continue to make material progress, which I have said earlier, very often has its origins in the western, Christian world? These questions have a special urgency and relevance in a democratic society such as Pakistan is now seeking to create

The Muslim world offers deep roots in a system of values, emphasising service, charity and a sense of common responsibility, and denying what it sees to be the false dichotomy between religious and secular lives.

With humility, tolerance and respect for each other, by honest work and straight dealings, you will earn the true friendship of your fellows. It does not matter whether you are wealthy or poor, whether you are in business or the professions, whether you work with hands or brain, your spiritual obligations are equal.

Ismailis are Shia Muslims who believe, like all Shias throughout the world, that the successor to the leadership of the Muslim community, after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, was the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, and that this leadership, in both spiritual and temporal matters, was to continue by heredity through Ali in the Prophet's family.

In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect. Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers

In the Shia Ismaili Muslim tradition, voluntary service to others is viewed as an integral and positive part of daily life, and never as a burdensome obligation or an elective activity. Service is a means for each individual to actualise Islam’s ethics of inclusiveness, of compassion, of sharing, of the respect for life, and of personal responsibility for sustaining a healthy physical, social, and cultural environment

All beings are affected positively or negatively by their surroundings but for Muslims it is a particularly critical matter. Islam does not deal in dichotomies but in all encompassing Unity. Spirit and body are one, man and nature are one. What is more, man is answerable to God for what man has created.

You have talked, Your Excellency, about the crisis of the human spirit and the difficulties of reconciling the old ethical consciousness with the competitive and the aggressive approach which many of us have today.......In fact, I believe that with human mind we can go only so far and that thereafter we must leave the rest to time and the blessings of the Almighty.

I cannot say that I would ever approve of our losing our true identity and I think that one of the greatest ways to avoid this danger is to see that our children are equipped with the most advanced intellectual weapons possible but that they should receive this equipment in their own homes against the background of their own society, their own traditions and their own beliefs