"This is Paradise before the Fall, where man and beast were living in harmony and nature was respected," he says, looking at his prized possession, a water-colour entitled The Court of Gayumars. From the famous 16th-century Shahnama or Book of Kings created for Shah Tahmasp

The Aga Khan Legion was established in December 15, 1940. About 50 leaders gathered for the purpose of Diamond Jubilee projects in which Prince Aly Khan had presided. Valiahad Prince Aly Khan told the gathering that he had found great happiness in this founding of the Aga Khan Legion. He said that even though the Ismaili community was small in comparison to other communities, through its sense of brotherhood and unity and good organisation it would be able to achieve great objectives.

Muslim scholars reached pinnacles of achievement in astronomy, geography, physics, philosophy, mathematics and especially, in medicine. The great British scientist Isaac Newton remarked that if he was able to see further than his predecessors, it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Among those giants who made possible the scientific revolution in Europe were Ibn Sina, whose 'Canon of Medicine' was a standard text for five hundred years; a

At the height of this civilization, academies of higher learning reached from Spain to India, from North Africa to Afghanistan. One of the first and greatest research centres, the Bayt al-Hikmah established in Baghdad in 830, led Islam in translating philosophical and scientific works from Greek, Roman, Persian and Indian classics