Published: June 05, 2008
By Subramani Dharmarajan – Xpress
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Dubai Ismaili Center |
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Aleem Dhanant, left, a community member and Aziz Merchant, member communications and publications for Ismaili Council at the new Ismaili centre. |
Spread over 13,000 square metres, the brick and wooden seven-domed structure attracts around 800 to 900 people on weekends. |
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The new Ismaili Centre |
Like other Ismaili Centres in London, Vancouver and Lisbon, the Dubai Ismaili Centre is open to all communities. |
It’s Dubai’s newest playground. Tucked away inside the Ismaili Centre in Karama, a courtyard with a garden has become a popular haunt among children and families.
"It’s a playing area for children and gives us an opportunity to meet," said Susan Sharif, Member, Health and Welfare, Aga Khan Ismaili Council for the UAE. Bachelors and families congregate here in large numbers on weekends.
Aziz Merchant, a member of communications and publications with the Council, said: "The courtyard could lend itself to poetry readings, art exhibitions and inter-school dramatics."
Life has changed significantly for an estimated 5,000 members of the Ismaili community with the opening of the dedicated centre on April 27, the first in the Middle East and the fourth such institution in the world.
Spread over 13,000 square metres, the brick and wooden seven-domed structure, which is inspired by the Fatimid architecture of old Egypt and Syria, attracts around 800 to 900 people on weekends. An early learning centre will open next year and will admit 225 children.
The ‘Jamaat Khana’ is not only for prayer, but also a place where families can get together. Munira Jaffer, a housewife, said, "It doesn’t feel that we are coming here to pray. It feels like coming home to family and friends."
Aleem Dhanani, a Canadian of Indian origin, who has organised activities at the Ismaili Centre in London, sees the Dubai centre as "a place for reflection and tranquillity". "The Economic Forum held recently was a springboard to correlate the community’s entrepreneurs," he said.
Fast facts
- Aga Khan, the spiritual head of the Ismaili Community, conceived the centre to promote mutual understanding
- Like other Ismaili Centres in London, Vancouver and Lisbon, the Dubai Ismaili Centre is open to all communities
Ismailimail 
Yaalimadad,
you should give Add. also of all Jamatkhanas with city
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