In November 2001, Calgary Headquarters Jamatkhana hosted the University of Calgary’s Senate – it was the first time in the UofC Senate’s history that they had met off campus!
The following link goes to the minutes of that meeting.
http://www.senate.ucalgary.ca/meetings/minutes/Nov%2030%2001%20Mins.pdf
178.1 Call to Order
Chancellor Perraton called the meeting to order and welcomed all.
• He extended a special welcome to Trudy Ross attending her first
senate meeting as the incoming representative of the non-academic staff.
• He further thanked the hosts for extending an invitation to senate
to meet in the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre today, noting the
involvement of Senators Bharwani and Sumar in that process.
• He introduced the President of the Ismaili Council for Canada, Dr.
Firoz Rasul who had travelled from Vancouver to attend today’s
meeting. Dr. Rasul is Chairman and CEO of Ballard Power Systems. He
also serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of
British Columbia and holds many other senior volunteer positions,
including membership on the National Committee for the Aga Khan
Foundation and membership on the BC premier’s Technology Advisory
Council. Dr. Rasul has degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business
Administration, and an Honorary Degree from Simon Fraser University.
178.2 Welcoming Remarks
Dr. Rasul thought it fitting that the senate should meet at the
Jamatkhana and Centre, a spiritual and educational facility. The
development and dissemination of knowledge is important to the Ismaili Community and he noted that Algebra came from the Greeks and was then
developed by Muslim scholars. The community also has long standing
connections with universities and 20 years ago established the Aga
Khan University in Pakistan.
He considered the world quite uninformed about Islam, and a need to
understand the faith better had been reflected in recent increases in
sales of books on that topic. He described Islam as pluralistic,
noting that the largest concentrations of Muslims are in Indonesia;
India; Pakistan and Nigeria. Islam, he continued, has a powerful sense
of values and ethics. Life has value in Islam. He condemned the
behaviour of the Taliban, stressing that the values they represent are
to Islam parallel to those held by the IRA in a Christian context.
He then introduced Dr. Kabir Jivraj, President, Ismaili Council for
the Prairies, and also a member of the U of C’s Faculty of Medicine.
Dr Jivraj also stressed the very important historical linkages between
Ismailis and education and noted that purpose of the Ismailis to
improve the quality of life in the community and in the global
community beyond.
A presentation of seven books on Islam and the Muslim faith was made
by the hosts and gratefully accepted by the Chancellor on behalf of
the University Library. In turn the Chancellor presented a certificate
of appreciation from the Senate.
Ismailimail 