When Naheed Nenshi was recently elected mayor of Calgary, much was made nationally and internationally of the fact he was the first Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city.
And that focused attention on the new mayor’s faith connection. Many people were not aware of the Ismaili Muslim faith tradition, but it has been an important part of the community in Calgary for decades.
Dr. Habib Kurwa, a dermatologist and associate professor at the University of Calgary’s medical school, says there are about 10,000 Ismaili Muslims in the city and that number has grown with the city’s population. “There is a strong ethic of volunteerism and giving time to strengthen society,” he says.
Kurwa says the first members of the community came in the 1960s as some professionals from the United Kingdom and Asia initially made the journey to Calgary. The larger group from East Africa followed in the 1970s because of the politics at that time in their home countries.
In 1990s, there were Ismailis who came from Central Asia.
Like all Muslims, the Ismailis believe the Prophet Muhammad was the last and final prophet of Allah (God), and that the Holy Qur’an, Allah’s final message to mankind, was revealed through him. Muslims hold this revelation to be the culmination of the message that had been revealed through other prophets of the Abrahamic tradition before the Prophet Muhammad, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus, all of whom Muslims revere as prophets of Allah.
In common with the other Shiite Muslims, the Ismailis affirm that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, became the first imam (spiritual leader) of the Muslim community.
Ismailis believe that this spiritual leadership, known as the Imamat, continues through the hereditary line of Ali and his wife Fatima, the prophet’s daughter. His Highness the Aga Khan is the 49th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims.
Ismailimail 