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.