What's New
This weekend, the Aga Khan Education Boards are hosting the inaugural Global STEM Festival Finale. Over recent weeks, participants from 20 jurisdictions around the world engaged in activities and experiments so as to better understand the world around us, and develop important skills for the future.
Based in Geneva, Dr Walraven has direct management responsibility for the Aga Khan Health Service Companies, located in South and Central Asia, East Africa, and the Middle East. In this interview, he explains the value and importance of wearing a face mask in our continued fight against Covid-19.
The Ismaili is pleased to present Dua-e-Reham, a well-known and beloved poem set to music, and performed by Faisal Amlani, Nafeesa Dhalwani, and Tanzeel Bhaidani, with music by Alishah Wadsaria. The timeless lyrics were authored by the esteemed poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal over a century ago, and encourage us to exemplify universal ethics by being good citizens and showing compassion to those less fortunate than ourselves.
The clock reads 6 AM and Karima Rehmani is already at work on a Zoom call, talking with colleagues in Boston and Pakistan about everything ranging from children’s art activities to Covid-19 training for teachers and government officials in rural Sindh.
Thirty-five years ago, on 23 August 1985, the then Canadian Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, officially opened the Ismaili Centre Vancouver in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam, marking a moment of great historical significance for the Jamat in Canada and around the world.
The Ismaili is pleased to present Mazee Balayem, performed by the Yusuf Khirad Band at the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre in Khorog, Tajikistan, in 2019. The lyrics, attributed to Jalal al-Din Rumi, express the complexity of human existence and the importance of zikr. The musical composition is a blend of traditional Central Asian instruments such as the daf, doirah, rubab, and sehtar, and modern instruments including the keyboard and guitar.
The current healthcare crisis is accelerating the pace of change, and new innovations that were expected to take a decade to develop are now being tested and marketed at a dizzying rate, which has consequences for almost all organisations and employees.
The playing out of events over recent months has caused many of us to experience a rollercoaster of emotions. Some of us may have felt distress, perhaps taking it out on others around us, some will have felt curious to learn new skills, while others may have felt like curling up into an anxious ball, worrying about what this means for the future.
A group of young students from the Middle East Jamat had the chance to visit a series of architectural works and explore how the study of architecture can help to better understand the beliefs, values, technology, and history of various civilizations.
The Ismaili is pleased to present The Birds, a multilingual song composed, produced, and performed by senior members of the Global Jamat. It is inspired by Farid ud-Din Attar's Persian poem Conference of the Birds, in which a group of birds join together and undertake a challenging journey to seek the court of their king.
In the second round of the USA National High School Senior Online Rapid Chess Tournament, chess prodigy Danial Asaria hovered over the resign button on his computer screen. He describes the moment as being “completely dead lost.” However, since this was his final chess tournament as a high school student, he did not want to regret what could have been, so he continued to play.
Performed by a group of high school students in Calgary, Canada, the song Close to You shares messages of hope, unity, and faith. During these challenging times, it reminds us that we are never alone, and expresses gratitude for the support and guidance received from the Imam-of-the-Time.