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  • Fatima Jamani (“Maaji”) in her volunteer uniform at Ismaili Center and Jamatkhana in Atlanta.
    Salimah Virani | 11 October 2019 | USA

    Still a Volunteer at 105 Years of Age

    Fatima Jamani (“Maaji”) in her volunteer uniform at Ismaili Center and Jamatkhana in Atlanta.
  • Fatima Jamani and her family
    Salimah Virani | 11 October 2019 | USA

    Still a Volunteer at 105 Years of Age

    Fatima Jamani and her family

Her blue dupatta (shawl) with the white border glistens as she directs the flow of traffic in Atlanta’s busy Ismaili Center and Jamatkhana, while seated on her chair. "Maaji" celebrated her 105th birthday on January 1st of this year, and she is the epitome of service, dedication and loyalty to the Imam and the Jamat.

Born in India, in 1914, when British King George V was Emperor, at age 15, she married Gulamali Jamani, who was a year older. Maaji remembers, "We were so young and foolish." She lived in an extended family of 16 members and experienced her first loss when her son passed away at the age of four months. At the age of 44, her husband left her side and she had to care for her nine-year-old daughter.

Attempting to emerge from this grief, Maaji found a light so powerful that it has sustained her until this day. That light is the Imam, and she decided to devote her life to him. She did not remarry, but instead, raised her husband’s siblings, and managed the household. She found solace in teaching in the religious education center (REC) in Bombay Jamatkhanas until bouts of pneumonia prevented her.

During the Takht Nashini of Hazar Imam in 1957, she recalls an incident when she went unto the dais to present the young Imam with her mehmani. Approaching him, she felt she had to offer something special to him, so she removed her ring and offered to place it on his fingers. As the Imam watched Maaji, she tried every finger but it was still too small. Hazar Imam looked at her and accepted the ring, and as she was walking down the steps, he stood up and hugged her. To her, it meant he had accepted her seva, and validated the bond between murid and Murshid.

In 1986, Maaji moved to Albany, New York, and then to Atlanta, with her daughter. She has three great-grandchildren, but recently lost her only granddaughter. Two years ago, at age 103, Maaji and her daughter went to Toronto, where she visited the Aga Khan Museum and The Ismaili Centre, Toronto.

In her younger days, Maaji loved to stitch clothes for the whole family and continued to do so even for her great-grandchildren. She loved singing and dancing, displaying her talents in garba during various celebratory programs, reciting ginans until she became a centenarian and, until suffering a recent fall, attended Jamatkhana morning and evening.

Maaji's life struggles, perseverance, and determination to serve the Jamat is an inspiration to all. When asked the secret to her longevity, she smiles and says, “I don’t gossip.” Wise words and a lesson for all of us to live by. Maaji, may you continue to spread your love, always!