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

For decades the AKDN has been working with vulnerable communities to improve quality of life and reduce disaster risk. Today in the face of the climate crisis, understanding and mitigating these risks is even more urgent. Only by helping these communities adapt and thrive in harmony with their often-precarious habitat can we hope to mitigate the effects of climate change

The language of a nation is not only the expression of its own voice but the mode of interpretation with all other human societies. Before it is too late, I, an old man, implore my brothers in Islam here not to finally decide for Urdu as the national language of Pakistan but to choose Arabic

Many of our greatest architectural achievements were designed to reflect the promises of life hereafter, to represent in this world what we are told of the next. Since all that we see and do resonates on the faith, the aesthetics of the environment we build and the quality of the social interactions that take place within those environments, reverberate on our spiritual life.

When I made my offer five years ago, I made it conditional upon three pledges by the authorities concerned. I requested first that the land upon which this complex of buildings would be created should be made available to us without charge. Secondly, I asked that the Foundation which I proposed to create in order to finance the project should be exempt from tax. Finally, I suggested that our builders should be encouraged to employ traditional techniques and concepts of Muslim architecture.

But I think that we must keep in mind that these schools are meant to create an elite, to develop your children in such a way that they can go on through their secondary and university education, and thereafter enter the best universities in the world. This was the goal in building these new buildings and in trying to put together a core of teachers who really can produce outstanding students.

I too, as the leader of my community, have become deeply involved in the provision of basic health and education, which I believe are crucial stepping stones towards mankind's self-realization and growth.

Being responsible as the Imam for this Ismaili community of some 15 million people, I have necessarily become a student of social problems of all kinds. Islam, I should like to underline, is an all-encompassing faith. It gives direction to man's life, urging the individual to achieve a balance between material progress and spiritual well-being.

Islam therefore guides man not only in his spiritual relationship with God, it also guides man in his relationship with his fellow men and his relationship with the material world around him. It encourages enterprise, but warns that enterprise, without a social conscience, is not acceptable. It is in this respect, where Islam's message applies to all aspects of man's life, that he will be judged not just on what he does but the manner in which he does it.

This will be a place of congregation, of order, of peace, of prayer, of hope, of humility, and of brotherhood. From it should come forth those thoughts, those sentiments, those attitudes, which bind men together and which unite. It has been conceived and will exist in a mood of friendship, courtesy, and harmony.
It is my hope, a very deep hope, that it will become a symbol of a growing understanding in the West of the real meaning of Islam.

The armies which set out from Saudi Arabia to conquer the various provinces such as Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Persia, North Africa and so forth took with them both the original political biases of Mecca and Medina and in many cases their own favourite leaders. It was difficult for the Khalifs to control the provinces which had been conquered by such armies as these tended to settle down most often in places with older cultures and better chances of agriculture, and the soldiers respected their own generals rather than the central authority.

As the central authority declined, people turned to discussing the nature of Christ, the relationship that existed between the Emperor and Pope, and also the many problems relating to the Trinity. One heresy succeeded another at an extraordinary pace and, although the Church called numerous ecumenical councils, the difficulties remained unsolved. Here were born the Monophysites, the Duophysites, the Nestorians, the Albigentsians, the iconoclasts and many other such heresies.

Your incessant and drenching downpours in Tanganyika which you so happily call 'short rains' will no doubt give you similar worries. I only wish they did not strike everywhere I go. Life gets soggy. I have nicknamed my own private cloud, 'deluge'.

Over-expansion means the inclusion of remote peoples into the framework of a society whose ways of living and ideals are born, guided and sometimes dictated from a focal point, the capital. A concrete example of this is that during the life of the Khalifate, the poor agriculture and the lack of natural resources useable in those times of the focal point, Saudi Arabia, clashed with that which the Muslims found in the more fertile countries such as Persia and Spain.

En Islam, il est dit qu’Allah nous rend responsables, durant notre vie, de la bonne gestion de Sa création : nous sommes effectivement les trustees et non pas les propriétaires de Sa création. C’est la raison pour laquelle j’ai voulu choisir le mot « Trust », parce que ce mot correspond le mieux à l’éthique de l’Islam et de l’individu face à la création d’Allah. Voilà donc la raison pour laquelle le Trust, tout en étant une fondation, s’appelle « Trust »

But as an individual one can make a difference. Might we try to stop using plastic completely? Buy glass instead. Insist on reusable straws and more. Might you try to recycle everything you can. Plant more, plant everywhere. Become an Olympian planter. Have a plant in your kitchen. Buy local as much as you can.

I would want you to know that out of two schools of hammerheads and hundreds of individual sharks I have seen, I have only been frightened by three and that out of 350 species of shark, one could only consider a handful dangerous; and that we kill a hundred to two hundred million sharks a year while they only kill six to eight of us. I would show you that they are disinterested in us 99% of the time and say that they are so elegant and streamlined that its hard to be afraid.

I was brought up in the Muslim religion," says the publicity-shy prince, who was 65 yesterday. "My
father insisted that I learnt the Koran and encouraged me to understand the basic traditions and beliefs
of Islam but without imposing any particular views. He was an overwhelming personality but
open-minded and liberal."

"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

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