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

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Honourable Adviser for Foreign Affairs
Honourable Adviser for Religious Affairs
Excellencies
Your Excellencies
Distinguished Guests

As-Salaam-o-Alaikum

It is a special pleasure to welcome this distinguished and diverse audience to this Foundation Ceremony, as we formally mark the beginning of a new Jamatkhana in Dhaka.

Bismillah-ir-Rahaman-ir-Rahim

As-Salam-Alai-Kum, Peace be upon you

Your Excellency Mintimer Shaimiev,
Your Excellency Eleonora Mitrofanova,
Respected Members of the Government,
Distinguished Guests

What an enormous pleasure it is to welcome all of you to this ceremony.

We gather today with a group of extraordinary people, in an extraordinary place, and for an extraordinary purpose.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is organised around a series of three-year cycles - each one culminating in the recognition of our Award recipients.

Mr Talbot, Ladies and Gentlemen, honoured guests and members of the Asia Society

By the Islamic calendar we will in just a few months enter the 1400th year of our faith. In the Christian accounting of time, we stand on the brink of the 21st century. It seems fitting to reflect, to consider what Islam has been and what it is to become in this new age. It is a time to speak about hazards and about visions.

May I thank you first for the honour you have done Me in inviting My wife and Myself to this luncheon and asking Me to speak on a subject which is of great concern to us all. I must say, after such a plentiful luncheon, it is somewhat an arduous task but we are all used to it in the Jute Industry. I am particularly grateful for the generous references you have made to the work of My father and My grandfather for the cause of Pakistan.

Madam Prime Minister,
Your Excellencies,
Your Worship the Mayor,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a very great pleasure for us to welcome you, Madam Prime Minister, and so distinguished a gathering for a ceremony which is a most significant one for the Ismaili community: significant because this is the first cultural and religious centre in the Western world to have been built specifically for the community's requirements.

(During the visit to the Philippines, the Speaker of the Senate, Mr. Protempore Salipada Pendatun held a banquet in honour of His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan on 23rd November 1963. While proposing a toast to the guest of honour, he praised His Royal Highness’ educational efforts all over the world.

Following is the reply made by Prince Aga Khan)

(On his way to the Philippines, His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan stopped at Karachi on 21st November 1963.

On 22nd September 1962 at Calcutta (India) an address of welcome was presented to Mowlana Hazar Imam Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan by Shri Keshab Chandra Basu, the speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

All Nations Club of Calcutta (India) gave a Dinner in Honour of His Royal Highness Prince Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan on 22nd of September 1962.

His Excellency Shri Shanker Das Banarji, the Finance Minister of West Bengal (India) welcoming His Royal Highness, paid glowing tributes and said, “Your position, therefore, is that of a world citizen, who can make a large contribution towards creating goodwill among men, understanding and co-operation among nations.

His Royal Highness in his reply said, :

“Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Your Excellency, members of Kamar Education Trust:

Let me begin by saying how very happy I am to be amongst you today and how honoured I am that you should have invited me to lay the Foundation Stone of this Hostel. The kind words which you have spoken about my late Grandfather have touched me deeply as he was not only a great Muslim but the revered head of my family for over three quarters of a century.

(The Ismailia Youth Services Karachi have initiated many projects for the advancement of the community. In Karachi one of these has been the Muhammedi Girls’Academy. Recently a magnificent building has been constructed in the lush green surroundings at Malir on the Karachi-Hyderabad highway.

Never in the history of Mankind has the speed of change been so great. Until some years ago, only the philosophers and astronomers had thought of the other worlds. All our children will have to think of them, for our boys and girls will certainly have the occasion to visit them.

This extraordinary widening of the horizons of mankind is something for which we must prepare our children and if the aim of education is to equip our young generations with the weapons with which to meet the future, then surely your institute is doing the most noble service.

Your Worship, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am most happy indeed that it has been possible for me to make this brief visit to Nairobi on my way back from the Independence celebrations in Tanganyika and to be able to open this fine new Secondary School.

MOMBASA, KENYA
MAY 11, 1961

On May 11, 1961, in his first public engagement in Mombasa, His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan opened a new £25,000 nursery school.
…

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic,
31 October 2002
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Tanaev
Your Excellency, Ambassador Gautschi
Excellencies
Distinguished Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen

AT RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN

DELHI, INDIA,

JANUARY 12, 1983

Your Excellency,

I am delighted that this evening's most enjoyable dinner gives me the opportunity of thanking you publicly for the welcome which your Government, and in particular the Prime Minister and the officials concerned, have given us. My wife, my brother and I are all deeply touched by the warmth of our reception on this Silver Jubilee visit and are sincerely appreciative of the courtesies extended to us.

President Sampaio,
Rector Manuel Patricio,
Professor Adriano Moreira,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great honour to be invited here today to address this esteemed audience on such a relevant topic. Our title speaks of societies which are at once plural and peaceful—a goal which is important but also elusive. For even our best efforts to combine stability with modernity seem to be constantly disrupted.

On lst October 1960, His Royal Highness laid the foundation stone of the Reading Room building of Prince Aga Khan Students' Union, Kharadhar, Karachi. This institution which was established in 1932, is doing very useful work by providing fees and books to deserving students. The honorary workers of the Union, with great efforts and in details, carried out an educational survey of their area in order to determine the needs and requirements of Ismaili Students. They have also underway a scheme to start a mass educational centre.

Karachi, Pakistan OPENING CEREMONY OF "Dr. ALIDINA KHARADHAR HOSPITAL & MATERNITY HOME" (Kharadhar)
August 26, 1960

(Speeches. Vol 2. pg 20)

September 17, 1959

Kampala, Uganda

(Opening of Mosque at Wandegeya –outskirts of Kampala, East Africa)
(Somalis with beaded head-dresses, Arabs and Swahili Shaikhs in their long flowing gowns, Africans wearing red fez, Ismaili Muslims in golden turbans, were part of the large gathering of all races which on 17-9-1959 saw His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan open the new mosque at Wandegeya on the outskirts of Kampala, (Uganda in East Africa)