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

(compiled from comments offering summaries on http://www.ismaili.net/heritage/node/29740#comments )

Letters from Alnaz and Nagib on the Court Docket
On November 2nd, 2010 heritage says:

As users are asking to read the letters from Nagib and Alnaz on the court docket, the latest have been attached on the following link:

A. Various Court Filings
See:
20101027 - Letter to the court by Nagib Tajdin re Discovery - Consent Judgment.pdf 88.35 KB
20101031 - Letter to the court by Nagib Tajdin re Discovery - Consent Judgment - Motion schedule .pdf 89.2 KB
20101101 - Letter to court by Alnaz Jiwa about Discovery and Motion Scheduling.pdf 35.34 KB

Enjoy Surfing Your Heritage!

Recording
On November 3rd, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

No the off the record conversation is not recorded. The rules governing these issues say, firstly, that only parties can attend; secondly, court reporter can go off the record only if all parties (participating in the discoveries) must consent before a reporter can off the record.

The reporter was chosen by Mr. Gray (ordered by court) but normally the examiner (in this case Nagib) would retain a reporter. The reporter seemed very close to mr. Gray and should not have gone off the record.

It is not surprising to me that Mr. Gray went off the record, and that the reporter chose to abide by his unilateral demands.

Unfortunately, I did not believe that they would play games but in hindsight I should have known better not to trust them.

One example of the issues of concern, they are insisting that we agree to infringement of copyright. I can't agree because MHI did confirm that books can be kept by the people. There can't be consent and infringement at the same time.

* Canada (67.208.18.71)

Opportunity NOT missed !!!!
On November 5th, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

I think Nagib did the right thing. Why ask Hazar Imam if He is the real plaintiff. Let Him say so Himself.

The jamats were told by way of a terrible announcement that Nagib and his group were terrible nafarmanis - refused to obey two letters directly written to him by the Imam, one from His brother, prompting the Imam to bring a lawsuit as “a sad last resort”, an refused to accept an affirmation, and then two guys (Nagib and me) had the audacity to DEFEND against the Imam !!! Wow, when I made a statement to the Law Times that we would defend the lawsuit, I was inundated with telephone calls from so many, emails, etc., all because we were going to defend AGAINST the Imam. Please, everyone told me, stop making a mockery of yourself and make the Imam become angry at you, he will excommunicate you, etc., etc. It took an enormous amount of inner faith to remain firm in the belief that the Imam was not behind this despite the optics of it all.

Finally the Imam and his two murids (according to others, two satans) are finally face to face. Finally the Imam had an opportunity tell Nagib (and me) how angry He was with us and to tell us to cease and desist our continued defiance and nafarmani, and to correct our mistaken beliefs.

So what does the Imam do!! Tell us to stop doing all the nasty things that we are doing? Stop defying the Imam? Nothing of that sort at all. The Imam responds (it on the RECORD) "May I make a suggestion". And He ends the suggestion by saying that He would meet us again (outside the litigation) and deal with the issues. Why say that He would to meet us again (raised it Himself) if are so wrong and terrible murids, worthy of being excommunicated for disobeying Him? Why NOT tell us how wrong we are, etc. It would have taken a whopping one minute to tell us off and to leave. All of one minute. And Nagib made it clear that although legally he could have asked questions of the Imam, he left the Imam at His freewill to say whatever He desired.

And all he did is make a SUGGESTION. Think about it. A suggestion is not a command, or an order, or a direction at all. Isn’t that like saying: you are right, I will not tell you to stop; I will not tell you that you have wronged me; I will not say you are nafarmani; none of that.

He does not say that He wrote the letters and ASKS us to apologize to them. No, He REQUESTS us to withdraw the allegations of fraud, why REQUEST us to withdraw? Had He signed the letters would He not tell us that we were wrong and ask us to apologize. Nagib was determined to file a report with Paris police, and Hazar Imam just protected His officer from criminal sanctions. And the Imam just requests us to withdraw the allegations.

The Imam was given an opportunity to correct us. Instead the Imam validated everything we said in our defense, and distanced himself from all points asserted in the claim, the reply, and the forged letters, all of which have been mentioned by Bloglaw in his post.

It was not a missed opportunity, at all. Hazar Imam took the opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifices we have done to fight and to protect Him and the Jamats. The historical references to Arjun and Mawlana Krishna is apt. There are no words by which I can express what happened face to face with the Noor. The Noor was with us and embraced us. Shukr, is all I can say.

Yes, there are many who criticize us. Remember the other site also chastised the Imam for agreeing to allow the books to remain. Abiding by the Imam's wishes is not their criteria at all. It is what THEY think is right is what matters. For these types of people, our Pirs has said: Aap muarada jeev dozake pariya (the person who acts by his own desires will go to hell).

Those who know our history, long gone history, should know that all Prophets, all Pirs, all Imams have had “dhongi” surrounding them. Pir has said: Dhongi to anee anee hare vasee, te tu lute shahebji nu dhyaan re, moman a man am janjo re..... (pretenders surround the lord, and they distract Him...)

* Canada

No doubts in my mind!
On November 4th, 2010 Nagib (not verified) says:

All doubt in my mind are gone. I know what the Imam wants.

I had the possibility to act as a cunning examiner or act as as a devoted Ismaili in this audience and I decided to act as an Ismaili. is this not what you would have done? I am sure you would have done the same.

When Imam is in front of you, you always address him by starting all your sentences with the word "I beg your forgiveness" and you continue your sentence if He allows you. And when you are interrupted or do not understand, you do not say "what?", you say "sorry?" - That is our code of conduct since Centuries.

The Imam said everything He wanted to say and you just have to trust that what He has for the future is what is good for everyone. He knew there was no way for me to ask any questions as all the 5 questions I had in my mind were related to the letter which was snatched by Gray. Gray knew that as a devoted Ismaili I would not raise my voice or create a fuss in the presence of the Imam and he took advantage of this. So be it.

I felt that The Imam has to set the direction of the meeting so I kept quiet. Is that not what each one of you reading this post would have done in the same circumstances?

Was I expecting anyone not to follow what the Imam would say at that meeting? No, I thought all will respect the words of the Imam. Did I expect people to contradict The Imam and argue loudly against Him? No, honestly, I was not expecting this to happen. I made an error of judgment, assuming that all of Gray, SS and MM would have some respect for Imam's instructions.

Ultimately what count is that Imam Himself has confirmed that Alnaz and I were right. So I am going to act in accordance to the Instructions I got.

A Consent Judgment
On November 6th, 2010 Nagib (not verified) says:

The Consent Judgment as described by Hazar Imam could have happened 6 months ago, there is nothing in what the Imam said to the defendant that was not acceptable to them even 6 months ago. And whatever was not acceptable to SS and MM 6 months ago is still not acceptable to them today.

In the same manner, a 5 minutes meeting with the Imam could have happened any time in the last year or so. Maybe Imam had some reasons to "reward" the defendants with half hour instead.

Yes he contradicted all the
On November 4th, 2010 Nagib (not verified) says:

Yes he contradicted all the lies which are in the Statement of Claim and their other documents. The Imam confirmed that He knew that Alnaz was not part of anything to do with the publication, he confirmed there was no problem with the web site, he confirmed that he understood that Mehmani of 1992 and confirmed he gave the instructions to continue at that time as they were looking for competent people even for translating the Farmans into French, Farsi etc.. He confirmed that whoever had the Golden Edition could keep it. He also confirmed that there was no editing of the Farmans. So yes, he clearly said everything we were saying since the very beginning.

Nagib

Keeping books!!!
On November 1st, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

Although MHI had said in his first sentence that undistributed books to be given to ITREB, I asked MHI for permission to ask for clarification, he says "yes", so I ask, khudavind I am asking this for clarification, did I understand correctly that all those books that have been distributed and given away, they can be kept by the recipients and not returned", MHI responds, yes that is what I meant." SS at this moment intervenes, "we can make an announcement in the jamatkhanas for the books to be returned by all to tarika boards, if they wish...", MHI replied to him that, "it would be nice if we spoke with the same voice". Nagib asks, khudavind I have 200 books remaining in Kenya, can I give them to ITREB in Nairobi, MHI says, yes you can.

* Canada

Mohamed Manji argues against this site!!!
On November 1st, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

Just before the mulakat ended, MM says to MHI, khudavind their web site is causing problems so It should be closed. MHI responds, "I am not familiar with the web issues so we can't deal with it", MM, "but khudavind it is causing confusion in the Jamats because we have Ismail.org they have Ismaili.net and it is causing problems...". MHI cuts him off saying, "it would be nice if we spoke with one voice, why can't you work together?"

* Canada

Mulakat with Imam on Oct 15
On November 1st, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

Mawlana Hazar Imam came in at 10:40 a.m. The Mulakat took place on 38th floor of Royal Bank Towers (the building with Golden glass on downtown Toronto) at the lawyers boardroom.

I sent a letter to the court today setting out in greater details of what happened at the Mulakat. I will send a copy to this site and I trust that Umed can post it for all to read, and all will know what MHI spoke about. As you all know only one sentence spoken by MHI is on the record, and about 20 minutes of information was given by MHI, He was very gracious with us, I was very nervous and just did not know what to expect at the Mulakat, but with so many Murids praying for us, MHI was so gracious with us, looked at us with so much affection, affection I do not feel worthy of and am ever so grateful and offer my Shukr.

One thing I did not mention in that is that as MHI was preparing to leave the room, I presented a box of chocolates to MHI as Mehmani, “Khudawind, we would like to present this Mehmani on behalf of all those who have supported the book and their family" and Hazar Imam made a gesture of blessing toward the box lying on the table and said “I accept.”

I raised the box to give to him and Hazar Imam leaned toward the box and said, it’s not appropriate for me to take it from you in the law office, but I accept it, if you give it to me outside I will take it from you, but i accept it. Then he smiled, put his hand on his heart and said “Khuda Hafiz” once looking to Nagib, once again "Khuda Hafiz" looking at me. Of course I did not follow the Imam outside but took the box and placed it as Mehmani in JK.

He spoke of His Farmans, Farmans of previous Imams, Ginans, Mehmani of 1992, Dais ('when Farmans are changed, Da'is have got hurt'), and said He annotates His Farmans and that Farmans cannot be changed.

All we can say is Shukr.

* Canada

SS and MM in Imam's presence!!!
On October 31st, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

At the meeting both of these men refused to accept the Imam's words, and argued against the Imam's stated positions. To SS the Imam said, "it would be nice if we spoke with the same voice", and to MM the Imam said, "it would be nice if we spoke with one voice. Why can't you work together?"

I had seem from far (in videos) their abrasive behavior in MHI's presence, I had heard comments of their defiance of MHI from others, but finally I witnessed their outrageous behaviour against the Imam right in His face, a heart wrenching experience.

I had taken my law clerk with me to the meeting, and she (sitting just outside the board room and had direct vision of both the board room which was on her left and the elevators which were straight from her) said that when they came out of the boardroom, MHI walked fast, did not respond to comments being made by Mr. Gray, and then 'ran' to the elevators which was held by a security guy, and He ran into the elevators while SS and MM were trying to catch up, but the elevators closed and the Imam went without the two, who waited for another elevator.

Alnaz

* Canada

WHY INSIST ON INFRINGEMENT - SELF INTEREST OR A CRITICAL NEED !
On November 4th, 2010 Bloglaw (not verified) says:

If MHI had personally instructed Mr Gray to file the lawsuit, then on 15th Oct 2010, why would Imam spend 25 minutes with the defendants and not one minute to say he is the plaintiff, there were no forgeries, he would like allegations withdrawn and a Judgment agreed. Leaders need to ponder over this question and directions given by Hazar Imam on 15 Oct 2010.

The main disagreement in the 2nd consent order drafted by Mr Gray and what Nagib-Alnaz signed, is that Mr Gray/Dr SS and MM, want Alnaz and Nagib to admit that they infringed copyright (according to Alnaz)
So Let us examine reasons the why Mr Gray/SS/MM should be asking Alnaz and Nagib to admit they Infringed copyright;

a. Alnaz and Nagib have never questioned and have already admitted Imam’s has copyright over farmans.
b. Imam has registered copyright of His Farmans in Canada after the start of this lawsuit.
c. Imam has given consent for books which have been already distributed to remain with murids.
d. Since Imam has consented. There is therefore no reason why legally and for the purpose of a consent order this consent cannot be a continuing consent which was settled by conciliation and agreement at the behest of the Imam.
e. Imam has no issue therefore also with integrity or authenticity of farmans in the book.
f. By not admitting any infringement by Alnaz & Nagib, our mehmani rite and ceremonies are also preserved, remain intact & hooured.
g. Imam has accepted Alnaz was not involved with the printing, publication or any infringement. Why should he be asked to admit infringement
h. Imams copyright is no less or more protected if Alnaz and Nagib admitted infringement or did not. So why the need.
i. Imam, did meet for 25 minutes, wanted conciliation, and directed everyone to work together, and Imam will meet Alnaz and Nagib again. Imam wanted all to speak in one voice.

In view of the above the only reason why Mr Gray Dr SS and MM are trying to get an admission of infringement from Alnaz and Nagib can only be motivated by self interest and or to boost personal ego’s and or other such reasons. There is no critical need or benefit for the Imam or the community in asking for an admission of an infringement for the consent order. If there is r I have missed something, then I invite leaders in question, Alnaz, Nagib, or Mr Gray to share them with us, and or to comment on what was said in those 25 minutes ? According to the defendants the following is a summary of what was said;

1 Nagib said he is seeking forgiveness and only Directions, Instructions and Orders from Imam. He did not exercise his law of the land right to question or cross examine Hazar Imam
2 Imam wants them to admit copyright over His farmans and added that this is the honourable thing to do
3 Imam will meet Alnaz and Nagib going forward.
4 Imam annotates His Farmans but does not change any Farmans
5 Imam offered the annotated Farmans to Alnaz and Nagib if they wanted them.
6 Imam said that when Farmans were changed in the past , it has hurt dais
7 Imam wishes to protect Farmans from being changed, and to protect Ginans.
8 Imam confirmed that a murid [referring to Karim Alibhay] presented him the first book during a mehmani ceremony in Montreal in 1992, and Imam responded by encouraging him to continue the work;
9 Mr. Tajdin informed Imam that he had 200 books remaining in Kenya and if he can return them to ITREB in Kenya. Imam agreed.
10 Alnaz sought further clarification and Imam confirmed again that the distributed copies of the books can remain with whomever they have been distributed to, and that only the undistributed books are to be handed to ITREB
11 Dr Sachedina objected to this and suggested that he could send an announcement to be read in all Jamatkhanas for all copies distributed to be returned. Imam refused and responded to him by saying “it would be nice if we spoke with the same voice”; {meaning Dr Sachedina was contradicting Imam’s decision,. Instead of asking for guidance he is contradicting Imam’s wishes”}
12 Imam suggested that Alnaz and Nagib withdraw allegations of fraud made against His staff, and officers.
13 Imam confirmed that Farmans of previous Imams and the copyright in them also belongs to the Imam;
14 Mr. Manji asked Imam to direct Alnaz and Nagib to cease the heritage web site activities. Imam refused. Mr. Manji then said to Imam that the web sites causes a lot of problems and confusion in the Jamats and has a name similar to Ismaili.org. Imam responded to him by saying that Imam is not aware of web issues and “it would be nice if we spoke with one voice”, and added “why cannot you work together?”
15 Mr. Tajdin informed His Highness that he took full responsibility for the publication of the books and that Jiwa had nothing to do with publishing of the books, to which Imam responded that he knew “Mr. Jiwa” was not involved in the publication of the books;

According to Mr Gray whatever was said off the record is legally privileged. Therefore legally he will not attempt to agree what was said off the record or for it to be admitted in court. However by changing his first draft he is accepting that his first draft was not in accordance what was agreed, which justifies the resulting disputes.

Will Dr SS and MM take the same stand as Mr Gray or will they do the right and honourable thing by sitting down with the leadership and together with Alnaz/Nagib ensure ALL directions given by Hazar Imam are fully shared, discussed, agreed and followed.

* United Kingdom

The questions were already given
On December 12th, 2010 librarian-umed says:

The questions were already given to Mr Gray in advance. When we arrived in Gray’s office, he was already in another room with Hazar Imam, later he told us he had prepared Hazar Imam to reply to our questions.

However Gray knew that Imam will say everything in our favour so he cleverly put off record as soon as the Imam started speaking. I was too engrossed in what the Imam was saying and did not notice that Gray had put off-line the whole conversation.

The Imam stayed half hour instead of 15 minutes, he talked about all the questions and even on issues different from Farmans and the lawsuit. He said he remembered very well the Mehmani of 1992 and the instruction he gave us to continue publishing because it was at a time when he was looking for competent people for this work. This week Gray has pleaded in front of the judge that the Imam could not remember what happened 18 years ago and Mohamed Manji was seating in the room also. Both knew Imam’s position was opposite of their position. God have mercy on them, they will need it.

Nagib
-----------

The Court may draw an inference in regards to the presence of the Imam. Gray forcefully pleaded that the presence of the Imam meant that he was the plaintiff. Though, in reality the Imam was only interested in resolving the situation and putting the issue at rest. That was the reason He came.

The other possible inference that the Court may dray is that Gray knew that the Imam will take our favour, and this is why he put everything off-record. If Gray knew Imam was with him, he would have put on record everything the Imam said. In fact the Court Recorder is supposed to note down who is in the room [she did not], what time the proceedings went off-record etc… she did nothing of this. She was supposed to confirm the transcripts with me before releasing, she released to Gray first, I was not even given her email or contact or name by Gray up to the time Gray released the transcript. There was quite a manipulation of the records, so Prothonotary Tabib ruled in a Case Conference that no evidence from Discovery can be entered by either party except by going in a new full Motion.

I could not do that because of logistics. There were few weeks between the Discovery on Oct 15th and the last Motions of December 7th; that was 2 trips for me from Kenya to Canada. Putting a Motion in between and coming for cross-examination was just impossible. 3 trips in 6 weeks and having to prepare would be an expensive Herculean task.

Nagib

Questioning the Imam
On December 12th, 2010 Alnaz (not verified) says:

A true Ismaili would not insult the imam by asking him questions. Nagib left the floor open to the imam to say whatever he wanted, much better than asking questions because the imam could then say whatever wax in his mind.

Did the imam not remember his letter no. 1, or letter no. 2, or his brother's email, or his affirmation, or the allegations he made in the claim, or the announcements he authorized to be read in jks. It seems not because when the imam was given the floor, he did NOT refer to or mention anything from these things that we have been rejecting.

Mr. Gray and MHI were given the floor freely to place on the record officially to once and for all destroy our credibility and arguments.

And, wow, the record is clean, nothing said against us.

Nagib says, if Gray knew that MHI would have supported him and their position why then he went off the record. Read the transcript, as soon as MHI says, may I make a suggestion, Gray says go off the record.

What was he scared of?

* Canada

THE SO-CALLED “DISCOVERY” OF THE IMAM
On December 12th, 2010 ABDUL (not verified) says:

Since the start of this lawsuit, the leadership and their spokespersons have been playing a deceitful and dirty game with Mr. Tajdin and Mr Jiwa. On one hand they sued them in open court but on the other, they want to tie their hands in defending themselves.

If the Defendants file their version of the events, they are accused of defying the Imam; if they seek to show that an affidavit is misleading, they are accused of insulting the Imam appointees.

It appears that those who started this lawsuit believe in court system only if it makes them winners; or maybe they never thought they would have to show any evidence; the Agakhan’s name would make the judge bow his head and pronounce in their favour (like they would in dictatorships in Pakistan or Tajikistan)

To properly defend themselves, when it came to the Imam’s discovery, the Defendants would have done what the Plaintiff did …..hire a high-profile International law firm and then get a barracuda lawyer to conduct Mowla’s discovery. As everyone knows, there are many in the world who would have paid for the best lawyers for a chance to “get” at our Imam. In fact, with His divorce case is still pending, even the Begum Inaara’s lawyers would have been quite interested.

Also, this lawsuit has raised historic issues of Shia and Ismaili Tariqas and it would a first time for the Imam of the Ismailis to have to respond in a free-for-all discovery process.

Even the issue of copyright law is very current for many legal practitioners as there is an untested new Copyright Act that is seeing its way through the legal world. It was the reason the Canadian Lawyer magazine was initially interested in the Agakhan lawsuit.

So with all this clutter, what do Naqib and Alnaz do?

Like true momins, they chose not to subject their Mowla to such ordeal (although to be fair, the Imam is no stranger to the courts, having been the defendant in two messy divorces and a number of other business related lawsuits.)

Instead, they stood in front of Him, tongue-tied, with centuries of devotional theology guiding their conduct. They waited for the Guru to instruct. (How can a hired gun understand the emotional turmoil in their heads as they are seated two feet across the table from Him?- Perhaps the esteemed Canadian Judge, who is Catholic, may understand why they could not x-exam their “Pope”)

So to those who make death threats against the Tajdin and Jiwa families… don’t push so hard that they really get tempted to push back. Naqib is not some illiterate peasant in Gujarat in the last century; he is a very powerful Canadian businessman, supported in this ordeal by a large network of family and friends across the globe. And Alnaz is not an artisan shoemaker in Porbander; he is an articulate Toronto lawyer, who has fought many a hardy lawsuits for his clients.

If these two really fight, this community will be torn apart. They can start by criminal charges against all those involved in the death threats, including any local leaders. At the same time, there are those who have publically libelled and slandered them including the editor of the Vancourite, who assumes he has a license to say anything because he controls a website. Then there is the opportunity to subpoena all those such as MM; SS and the Aiglemont staff who could have been involved in the initial fraud and cover-up. And finally, there is the whole question of whether there can ever be copyright in Farmans, especially if they are made for circulation.

Nagib and Alnaz have done the Ismaili community a great favour. They have conducted themselves with dignity under attack and they have chosen to limit the damage only to those directly responsible.

* Seychelles

so poignant and so
On December 15th, 2010 Murad (not verified) says:

so poignant and so succinctly presented. Leaders and especially Dr SS and MM did not realise before the lawsuit started nor did they seriously attempt conciliation nor even contacted Alnaz before filing the Lawsuit..

Bloglaw quoted Imam's farman in which Imam directs leaders and wishes resolution of differences always by arbitration, friendship and discussion internally and therefore not to broadcast externally.

Why are leaders not willing to meet and sit down with Alnaz and Nagib and resolve the only Issue. See Bloglaw comment in Vancouvertie below

Comment by bloglaw in Vancouverite December 13, 2010 Thank you. Indeed it would be wonderful if the case was settled today and there was a LIF announcement to that effect. Maybe there will be.

There is one, and only one issue. That is admission of infringement. The reasons why admission should not be an issue are as follows;

a. The sanctity of Mehmani of 1992, and the tsignificance and radition of acceptance of Mehmani generally by Hazar Imam directly and also in JK will have been and needs to be respected and preserved
b. The Farman made in 1992 during Mehmani does not need to be changed since Leaders in any event will be working together with our 2 brothers going forward (As directed by MHI)
c. The sanctity and tradition of following Farmans until they are changed will have been respected and preserved.
d. Legally a consent without admission does not give Imam legally any more or less legal protection from external infringements in future by either the 2 murids or anyone else > So why make this an issue.
e. Alnaz Jiwa and Nagib Tajdin have confirmed that they will abide by all Imam’s directions and guidance. Therefore if in the unlikely event Imam’s guidance becomes necessary in future on any matter, Imam may do so at his pleasure.
f. By settling this case in this way we will be following Imam’s guidance on resolving issues internally by conciliation, by discussion and friendship as brothers and sisters. This will have a very positive consequential impact internally and externally.
g. Hazar Imam did not make this a specific pre condition on 15 October 2010

h. All resulting and consequential issues arising can and will be resolved by by the Leaders by discussion, friendship and together in accordance with Farmans by Hazar Imam.

Unfortunately there have been no meetings and yet there is every reason for meetings and agreement based on the above reasons to agree and conclude this case.

I have been praying and continue to pray for conciliation and agreement. Leaders are aware and I do not need to post your comment and my response in the Heritage site.

* United Arab Emirates

I do not think there will be
On December 19th, 2010 Nagib (not verified) says:

I do not think there will be any hasty decision on this matter. The easy matter would have been just to give a judgment in the matter of Copyright without considering the far reaching changes it will bring to the Ismaili Faith as practiced for Centuries by our Jamat. But the judge was very much aware of what this would meant to our Faith.

The first day of the hearing on 7 December, the Judge was very annoyed, he asked "Why can't you all resolve the issue by mediation?" It looked like he was not comfortable giving a decision in a so complicated matter which was way beyond the issue of copyright and in which he understood that the defendant were eager to comply with whatever the Imam will tell them to do. He could not understand that the Imam came for Discovery and went and the case was still continuing. I guess it is difficult for any person, including me to understand that when the Imam came to find an honourable solution to this lawsuit which was launched without consulting Him why was it still continuing?.

Why are these people SS, MM and Gray still continuing it against the wishes expressed clearly by the Imam? And when the Imam Himself confirmed to them that He vividly remembered the Mehmani of 1992 and the presentation of the book and the instructions He Himself gave to Karim Alibhay, how are these 3 people going to justify what they have done behind the Imam's back by continuing in His name a baseless lawsuit.

And my question to them is simple: The Imam said he will meet us again and we will work together and He will give us all the Farmans with His anotations. Where will these people hide when it happens?

Nagib

IMAM IS METICULOUS & NO DICTATOR
On January 6th, 2011 Bloglaw (not verified) says:

Nightmare in Vancouverite says : DO YOU KNOW BLOGLAW? “…AGA KHAN’s Letter to Nagib Tajdin (Jan 24, 2010); “Over some time now, I have viewed with concern the inappropriate and unauthorised private initiative of some spiritual children who print, publish and circulate in various forms the texts of Farmans attributed to me and also to my late grandfather, as well as Talikas and voice recordings. This is a serious and absolutely unacceptable breach of the Imam’s right and responsibility, established over many centuries, to safeguard the integrity of his communications to the Jamat, and which are conveyed in the context of the privileged relationship of the Imam with his murids.” “I, therefore, expect you, and the other murids who are working with you, immediately to take all the necessary measures to recall and to withdraw from circulation your recent publication and the accompanying mp3 device, and cease their printing and distribution. Also, I would like you to deliver all remaining stocks of these materials to the Institute of Ismaili Studies at 210, Euston Road, London NWI 2DA.” “This is a matter that I, like my predecessors as the Imams-of-Their-Time, have and continue to view with the greatest seriousness, and I hope that within 72 hours of your receiving this message, you will confirm to me directly, exceptionally, that you understand both the gravity of this matter, which already had an unfortunate precedent about which you were cautioned, and that it can be closed immediately and definitively.”
QUESTION B-L-O-G-L-A-W: Nagib Tajdin and Alnaz Jiwa have steadfastly held that the above IMAMAT Communication is forged. Bloglaw, do you too believe what NT and AJ have been drumming since April 2010? “Yes” or “No”.

BLOGLAW REPLIES
Nightmare; If you read Imam’s Farmans and speeches, and have heard or spoken to Dr SS, you will have more questions then you do. Nagib does not believe this letter was written or signed by MHI.
Let us look more closely at the letter, and the questions;

1 Why would Imam write to Nagib and refer to “some” murids and say they are all publishing “various forms of texts” and not say you have published this book of Farmans which I have not authorised and it is my wish that you should stop etc. Has Dr SS informed Imam, or is aware of other Murids and if so why is the letter not addressed to other murids too including especially to Alnaz for example. Dr SS (&MM) knew he was involved but chose not to contact him.
2 Why MHI would refer to his “Grand father” saying about printing of texts, books, various farmans also attributable to my late Great Grandfather. This book does not have Farmans of MSMS, nor is the lawsuit about Farmans of MSMS?. Is it possible that Dr SS has said there are other murids who are publising various forms of texts of Farmans, and if so who are they? and why no letter to them ?
3 The letter then says the Farmans are made to murids in a priviledged context and to preserve the integrity of Farmans. Why would Imam need to say this or do so. What information was Imam given by Dr SS (Remember according to Dr SS Imam only spoke to Dr SS and he thinks to MM directly. So we can conclude there was only one source of information to Imam (Dr SS)
4 Imam then says Imam wishes them to withdraw the RECENT publication from circulation and return remaining books to IIS (not ITREB). Why did not Imam refer to ALL publications since 1992. And add that all those murids who have printed books and print books should all stop too and name them ?
5 Why would then Imam say you must within 72 hour confirm “directly” to me and not give information of how to contact directly knowing all letters go through Dr SS who decides what letter go to the Imam or not. Dr SS of course knew any letter in and out will come through him.
6 The letter then says you were cautioned before. So Dr SS will have informed Imam Nagib was cautioned. Was Imam informed Alnaz was cautioned. Others cautioned ? if so who ? No letter to them ? In the past any caution will have been for earlier books not this one. No cautions on this book before or after by MHI. If cautioned on earlier books, why Imam wishes and talks about only the current book ? Imam we all agree is meticulous. Does this letter reflect that?
7 Imam then says within 72 hours all Imam wishes is to be informed directly exceptionally and personally that Nagib understand the gravity of the situation but not concluding the letter to say what precisely Imam wishes him to confirm beyond that. This is unlike a letter based on all the facts and information which Dr SS either failed to mention or did not know or want to know.
8 The letter is confrontational and dictatorial and autocratic , threatening in nature and content. That is not the nature of MHI. That we now know for sure is the nature of Dr SS and MM.
9 In light of the lawsuit and what we all know now and especially what Dr SS has personally said, and the forensic reports and leaders not following Imams directives or sharing and informing us, that letter raises more questions than gives answers. Especially instead of a 5 minutes meeting there was a 30 minute meeting and directions on 15th October 2010. We have 3 consents and no meetings to conclude as directed by MHI

These questions are not and should not be seen as questioning the Imam but questions arising from a letter and its contents based on information in the lawsuit, and primarily from the Leadership Dr SS (and secondly MM and AB)

Nizar Shivji – you are right 100% and you hit the nail on the head about leadership “…The Ismaili Muslims Institution and its leadership have failed to emerge as a driving force to know the right from the wrong. The internal issues of past 40 years have remained unsolved ”

The key question therefore “What is the solution to address the widening gap ? Should not the Leaders meet them and conclude thios case together.

From the meeting on 15
On January 6th, 2011 Nagib (not verified) says:

From the meeting on 15 October, I know that Hazar Imam never wrote this letter nor signed the Boston fake. I also believe Mrs Parkes did not do the forgery, she just emailed me the forged letter not knowing that it was forged.

But since the IIS mention comes up, I can also say that Mowlana Hazar Imam never ever mentioned IIS during our meeting.

At some point during a case conference, Protonotary Tabib did an interesting remark, she said the Motions and the trial will not resolve anything. She is right. There is nothing from this case stopping others who are publishing, there is nothing stopping us re-printing all the previous 9 Farman books which we have published in the past and there is nothing stopping the other people who still publish in various languages such as French, Gujrati, English, Urdu, Farsi etc...

During the Motions hearing on December 8th 2010, the judge said that if the Imam wanted his Farmans not to be published or people not to buy the Golden Edition, it would have been easy for him to make a Farman or Talika to this effect. He also said the Imam could have signed an affidavit which he did not do.

And of course any intelligent person will understand that Alnaz who did not even know the Golden Edition was published up to after it was published was falsely accused without any warning, without even a courtesy call from anyone, be it SS, MM or Gray. And unless one believes that Imam would falsely accuse one of His Murid or that the Imam will strip Himself of his infallibility, nothing from the case is credible. It is time that this mockery of our Imam stops immediately.

Why is the Imam NOT supporting SS?
On January 6th, 2011 Conundrum !! (not verified) says:

Initially I was I was stunned and in disbelief that AJ and NT had the galls to publicly make allegations of fraud against the Imam's right hand man, appointed directly by him. Then I became very angry at AJ and NT after I heard about the lawsuit and the announcement in April concerning the letters by the Imam and Prince Amyn.

When the Imam came to Toronto in May of 2010, I was confident that the Imam would publicly express to the world that he had full confidence in his right hand man (SS) and that he (SS) and the lawyer and his assistant of Boston had not committed any fraud. I expected the Imam's statement (even without condemning the two) would embarrass these two idiots (and their friends) and their case would fall, and we would move on. Of course, I was hoping that in that public announcement the Imam would remove these two from our jamats.

But we all know, the Imam came and went without one word of support for SS, his right hand man. Also I note that the Imam did not tell the jamats by any farman, Talika, or anything from the Imam to publicly express his support for SS.

I was so stunned that for days I could not think straight. A non-Ismaili co-worker whom I explained my conundrum told me that the silence meant that he (the Imam) did not support his right hand man because the right hand man did do the wrong as alleged. He said that if such serious allegations of fraud are made in a public forum (court and internet), any leader (manager, president, whoever) would be obliged to issue public statements of support. He reminded me (embarrassing me because I do follow politics) that Harper and other such leaders do that all the time - come to the minister's aid by expressing confidence. He in fact told me that he was surprised as to why I could not see it myself and that he had to explain this simple point to me.

That conversation led me to rethink my stand, I went back and read everything printed on the internet sites by these two and also the documents filed by them which (I am sorry to say I did not do so earlier and blindly believed). The cross examination of SS (which if anyone has not done so will regret on the day of judgment) opened my eyes and I instantly knew why our Imam has not supported SS.

I ask all of you today, including the vancouverite.com followers: if one of your siblings publicly said that you forged your father's signature when you did not, would you expect your father to defend you, and help clear your name?

Notably, IF AJ and NT were wrong, I can bet that the Imam would make sure that his comments were on the record to support SS and to show that AJ and NT were wrong. Also the court record of 15th simply says that NT will not maintain allegations of fraud on HH's staff (not officers, SS is not on his staff, see his own cross-examination transcript.) But if they were wrong, why no similar comments by AJ? And no apology to SS who was sitting there by NT or Aj?

I am feeling so bad that I had bad mouthed these two people for many months, and hope to meet them sometime to seek their forgiveness.

But it leaves one unanswered question which I have not seen raised by anyone.

IF SS is the fraudulent guy, why has the Imam not publicly supported AJ and NT (he did in private off the record) and not taken public steps to support the two? I am not well read and not much knowledgeable about the Imam's actions and work? Can some of our readers give comments and explain me why would the Imam not publicly support these two? There must be a reason? But what? (People with opposite views than mine, that SS did not commit the fraud, then the question would become - why is the Imam not supporting him publicly?)

I now strongly feel that Aj and NT are right. But why are they still suffering? This is my new conundrum.

* Canada

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