By DAVID MARKIEWICZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/10/07
It was Monday morning, a time when dinner restaurants normally are dark and quiet, still recovering from the weekend rush. Yet, the parking lot at Zyka, an acclaimed Indian restaurant in DeKalb County, was jammed. Inside the downstairs dining room, dozens of women sat around long tables piled high with oversized onions, chopping them to tear-inducing glory.
Weep not. This was preparation for a celebration.
The women are part of metro Atlanta’s Ismaili Muslim community which today marks the golden jubilee of its imam, or spiritual leader, Prince Karim Aga Khan, with an all-day commemoration and feast at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Some 15 million Ismailis living in 25 countries around the world will remember the day when Aga Khan, a then 20-year-old, Harvard-educated grandson of the former imam, was chosen.
In the last 50 years, the billionaire who traces his lineage to the prophet Mohammed has burnished his international reputation as a philanthropist and advocate of building businesses in less developed nations.
DeKalb County has a special place among Ismailis who are a minority within the minority Shia branch of Islam, and among more than 1 billion Muslims in the world. The Ismailis’ Southeast regional office is located on DeKalb Industrial Way. That center has been temporarily closed for renovations, so Zyka, which is located nearby on Scott Boulevard in Decatur, served as a hub leading up to today’s anniversary.
That meant that the restaurant hosted two weeks of smaller, preparatory celebrations in advance of the event at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The parking lot nightly was filled to overflowing with cars of Ismailis who came to learn more about their faith, and to celebrate.
Saloni Vastani, a spokeswoman for Ismailis locally, said the day is a momentous one, in part, because it is rare that an imam lives to his 50th anniversary.
“It has huge significance,” she said. “It is a great time to celebrate all his work. It’s an opportunity to educate people about the work that has been done to alleviate poverty around the world.”
Mansoor Saleh, a physician, said Ismailis have become “successful, contributing members of society” because of the temporal and spiritual leadership provided by Aga Khan.
Vastani said that it is hard to pinpoint the number of Ismaili Muslims in DeKalb, metro Atlanta or Georgia, because of transiency. She said Ismailis have been in the area at least since the 1970s, with many coming here as doctors or as students.
The community, she said, does not come together in one place often, but Wednesday there will celebrations in each region of the U.S., in other major cities including Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.
Ismailimail 