The Ismailis: His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan and his Life’s Work – A radio program hosted by German Radio, Bayern 2 Radio Wissen

The approximately 15 million Ismailis are a Shiite community and this faith community is recognized by the importance it gives to using the intellect in practicing the teachings of the Quran. As a result, the Ismailis view knowledge as a divine gift. Even the women have a distinct position here.

— Veronika Hofer, Journalist & Documentary Director of “Karim Aga Khan and his life`s work”

Following His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee, journalist and filmmaker Veronika Hofer followed His Highness across the world for 2 years covering a multitude of AKDN projects such as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in Doha, Qatar (2010-11-24), the opening of the Heart and Cancer Centre of the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya (2011-07-25) and various other projects including the one in Kabul, Afghanistan and Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Egypt. The documentary, “Karim Aga Khan and his life`s work” had it’s broadcast premiere on the occasion of His Highness’ 75th birthday on ARTE – the Franco-German TV station and its affiliated worldwide network in 2011. While the video documentary is no longer available on ARTE, a radio program of the documentary continues to be available.

Bayerischer Rundfunk – Bayern 2 Radio Wissen: Die Ismailiten –  Erlösung durch Wissen

Bavarian Radio – Bayern 2 Radio Wissen: The Ismailis – Salvation through knowledge

Listen to Radio Baveria presentation at Bayern 2 | Radio Wissen | Ismailiten

Story, translation from German, and courtesy: Paderborner ‘SJ’ Blog

The audio starts with the famous saying of Hazrat Ali

“There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation.”

Hazrat Ali was the 1st Imam of the Shias 650 years after the death of Jesus Christ.

The audio continues with the explanation on the guidance of the present Imam His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan in which he advice his followers to live unitedly, improving their quality of life by learning from the past, following the present correctly, and by wisely looking to future opportunities.

Today there are about 15 million Ismailis living in Asia, Africa, Central Asia, China, Syria and Europe as well as Canada. Within the Muslim world, they are considered very progressive because they have the living Imam who is their spiritual and worldly guide. Their living Imam (spiritual leader) is what differentiate them from the other Muslims. The Imam advises his followers to obtain education and knowledge to its fullest, consequently they are very successful and progressive.

To understand Ismailism one need to understand the history of Islam.

The audio explains the story of Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), his marriage with Kadijah, visit of Angel Gabriel in the cave with God’s messages. He tried very hard to bring Arabs to follow one God instead of many gods. When he died in year 628, Islam was being practiced far and wide. After he passed away there was dispute regarding the appointment of his successor.

The audio then explains in detail the emergence of Sunni and Shia communities and their different interpretations. The audio continues by explaining the founding of the Fatimid’s dynasty in North Africa and Egypt, and later on the Imams move to Iran and how they lived discretely due to the constant threat of persecution.

Then the audio explains how the Ismaili Imams migrated to India. For the Ismailis of India, who were converted from Hinduism to Ismailism by the Imam’s missionaries, having the Imam living in their midst was very delightful and a great blessing.

Due to the Imams teachings, the Ismailis believe in inner meanings of Quran and followed the spiritual path. The third Aga Khan advised his followers to educate females first if they could not afford to educate all their children. Due to this teachings, today Ismaili women are better educated amongst their counterparts in the Muslim world and are in top positions in many fields. In addition, women are treated as equals by men and they pray side by side in their Jamatkhanas. Ismaili women also hold leadership positions in their community.

For Ismailis, the Imam is both their Spiritual Mother and Father. He guides them both in spiritual and worldly matters. Every Ismaili performs volunteer duties to the Imam, the Jamat and other communities they live with. Ismailis have no conflict between religion and modernity and are loyal citizens to the country in which they live.

The present Imam was studying at Harvard University in 1957 when he was appointed as the successor by his grandfather. He now lives near Paris and looks after the global affairs of his followers who are spread in more than 30 countries. From the tithe given by the followers and his own wealth, he has created the ‘Aga Khan Development Network’ which is the largest private organization in the world. It works in poor countries targeting development efforts for all mankind – no matters what their religious background is. Within the network, many institutions were established in various fields such as health, education, agriculture, business enterprise, and so on – all for the benefit of the people of developing countries. Today there are 80.000 people working for the network in different countries as part of different projects.

Since 1957 His Highness has been trying hard in building bridges between Islamic world and the West. According to His Highness the Aga Khan the Islamic world is rich in the domain of the humanities, in the arts, philosophy, which has been absolutely absent from Western dialogue.

Every three years the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is presented to winning building projects that fulfill human purpose – an example is a school in Bangladesh, or a housing project in Malaysia or a school in China, The winners receives one million dollars which is the largest amount in this field.

In the political sphere he is very much respected and meets with many heads of states sharing, wisdom, knowledge and influence. Since he does not belong to any political system or depends on any one country, he is an independent figure. He is the longest serving diplomat who can communicate and advice different politicians and country leaders. Many politicians come and go but he is ever present.

The bottom line of success for the Ismaili community is that they are pluralistic in their world view and adopt the practice of religion with changing times, and are better equipped for the future with education as well as knowledge. With the Imams advice they adjust life according to changing times. According to the Aga Khan we must learn from the past and find new solutions to confront the present and future situations.

Background

For two years the filmmaker Veronika Hofer and her crew traveled around the world to see projects of the Aga Khan’s organisations, to accompany His Highness and to meet him finally for an extraordinary personal and thoughtful interview. Veronika Hofer and camera operator Johannes Straub visited the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in Doha, they explored projects in Egypt, Kenya and India.

“I never realized such a demanding and exhausting film project … but in the end it was so enriching to meet all the people in the Aga Khan projects and to meet His Highness personally. That`s the experience I want to share with other people through this film”.

– Veronika Hofer, Journalist & Documentary Director of “Karim Aga Khan and his life`s work”

You can learn more about Veronika Hofer’s work at http://www.prospera.at/

The video documentary “Karim Aga Khan and his life`s work” continues to be available at Veronika Hofer’s website and at Jamak Khana Literature counters around the world under the title His Highness the Aga Khan – A Life’s Work at a special discounted price.