"Nine eleven has scarred America, but not just America. It has scarred the Islamic world, and hundreds of millions of devout and practicing Muslims for whom the word of the Quran is the word of God. We have clarity and direction enough when the Quran affirms that to a life is, as if, to save humankind altogether."

His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the some 12-15 million Ismaili Muslims, was speaking at the inauguration of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center in Sugar Land. The center was formally opened Sunday by the Aga Khan, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, along with an invited group of 150 guests. The center will serve as the national headquarters of the sect.

Describing the multipurpose Center which will combine cultural and …with space for quiet…Aga Khan said "it will be a place of search and enlightenment, not of anger and of obscurantism."

The Aga Khan cautioned against stifling "the strength which comes from the diversity and pluralism of Muslim societies, past and present."

"Unfortunately, there are forces at work in the Islamic world that seek to establish such a norm," he warned. "This makes it all the more important that we strive to counter such efforts by employing all the means of intellectual discourse."

Hello Sugar Land His Highness the Aga Khan (second from the right) is pictured with Governor Rick Perry and others at the inauguration of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center in Sugar Land.

Governor Perry echoed some of these sentiments when he spoke of the need "to heed the lessons of centuries past: that peace among men can never be achieved through division - it can only be achieved when we realized our common hopes, our common bonds, our common humanity."

The Aga Khan, who is accompanied by his wife, Begum Inaara Aga Khan and his eldest son, Prince Rahim Aga Khan, is on an official visit to Texas at the invitation of Governor Perry whose guest he was in Austin the next day.

The Aga Khan is the 49th Imam (hereditary spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims and a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). A Harvard graduate in Islamic history, the Aga Khan, 65, succeeded his grandfather as Imam of the Ismailis in 1957. He has established and leads a number of private, international, non-denominational development agencies, collectively known as the Aga Khan Development Network. The Network seeks to empower communities and individuals, often in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities, especially in Asia and Africa.

Ismailis reside in some 25 countries across the world from sub-Saharan Africa, across the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, and South and Central Asia, as well as in Western China, Russia, Europe and North America.