On the auspicious occasion of Imamat Day, our beloved Imam was humbly presented with a special gift on behalf of the Global Ismaili Jamat.
The gift is a Monumental Basin, which dates back to Safavid Persia or Mughal India in the 18th century, engraved with depictions of animals, palmettes, and arabesques.
The rim of the basin features calligraphic odes from a qasida by the 11th century Ismaili dai, philosopher, traveller and among the greatest of the Persian poets, Nasir Khusraw.
Verses of the qasida can be translated as follows:
None save a sage sees the fruit
Of this world’s tree, O sage!
A sage deems the wise this world’s fruit
The fool, its thorn
Hidden are the noble
Like dates among countless tangled thorns…
In God’s care am I in Yumgan
Look well, I am no prisoner!
No one says silver, gems, and rubies
Are abject captives in their mines
While poor Yumgan may be powerless
Here have I plentiful power and prestige…
People deem not a royal pearl inadequate, inferior
Simply for its insignificant oyster…
For those of luminous hearts and wakeful eyes
Knowledge and wisdom surpass gems and minted gold
