Iqra
THE SEATS OF THE ISMAILI IMAMAT FROM MEDINA TO LISBON (632-2018)
Through the centuries, the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat has been formally designated in one or more locations by the Imam-of-the-Time, depending on the requirements of the day. It has known many homes over the years – throughout the Arabian Peninsula, in the Middle East, in South Asia, and in North Africa. It moved to Cairo in the tenth century, when my ancestors founded that city. The decision to establish a new Seat here in Portugal, at the gracious invitation of your Government, is one that has been taken after much reflection and consultation. It represents a true milestone moment in the long history of the Imamat.
Today – July 11, 2018 – marks the official opening of the first Global Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Lisbon, Portugal. The establishment of the Global Seat is an unprecedented and milestone event in the history of the Ismaili Muslims. Having endured centuries of persecution and attempted genocides (read about them here), the fact that the Ismaili Imamat enjoys a safe environment to conduct its work is an immense blessing and a unique situation in its 1,400 year history.
As recent as 150 years ago, the living situation of the Ismaili Imams was not so fortunate – the Imams had no permanent residence and were constantly wandering from place to place in search of a safe haven.
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah described his own childhood lifestyle as “the life of gypsies”:
My first recollection is of camping in tents and of travelling with my father. We went through Kutchh, Kathiawar and Sind, and I can never forget the memories of those days when we had to halt every two or three hours in order not to tire the horses and mules and donkeys and camels that carried our luggage. Now, looking back, it seems to me that we led the life of gypsies; we were almost a gypsy family. We carried our food about, as very often we could not get it at the places through which we passed. Even water for drinking was brought, sometimes from Bombay or Karachi, in the form of soda water.
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III,
(quoted in Naoroji M. Dumasia, The Aga Khan and His Ancestors, 76)
In his historic address to the Portugese Parliament yesterday, Mawlana Hazar Imam referred to fifteen centuries of Ismaili Imamat history and mentioned the existence of prior Seats of the Ismaili Imamat in various parts of the world:
The Ismaili Imamat itself, as you may know, is an international institution that goes back some 15 centuries, to the time of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon Him and his Family). This means that when I inherited my role just 61 years ago, I became the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. Through the centuries, the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat has been formally designated in one or more locations by the Imam-of-the-Time, depending on the requirements of the day. It has known many homes over the years – throughout the Arabian Peninsula, in the Middle East, in South Asia, and in North Africa. It moved to Cairo in the tenth century, when my ancestors founded that city. The decision to establish a new Seat here in Portugal, at the gracious invitation of your Government, is one that has been taken after much reflection and consultation. It represents a true milestone moment in the long history of the Imamat.
Prophet Muhammad
Hazrat Ali
Panj Tan Pak
SEAT OF ISMAILI IMAMAT LISBON PORTUGAL
On the occasion of the designation of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat, MawlanaHazar Imam is presented with a gift on behalf of the global Jamat.
MawlanaHazar Imam designates the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat
MawlanaHazar Imam ordains the instrument to designate the Henrique de Mendonça Palace as the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat on 11 July 2018.
MawlanaHazar Imam addresses leaders of the Jamat on the occasion of the designation of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat on 11 July 2018.
MawlanaHazar Imam ordains the instrument to designate the Henrique de MendonçaPalace as the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat on 11 July 2018.
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
A meticulously detailed coloured print depicting the Qajar monarch Fath Ali Shah. The print was presented to MawlanaHazar Imam as a gift to mark the significance of the occasion of the designation of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat.
Noorani Family
At a ceremony earlier today, marking the conclusion of his Diamond Jubilee year, MawlanaHazar Imam officially designated the premises located at RuaMarquês de Fronteira in Lisbon — the Henrique de Mendonça Palace — as the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat, and declared that it be known as the “Diwan of the Ismaili Imamat”.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Imam’s family including Prince Amyn, Princess Zahra and her children Sara and Iliyan, Prince Rahim and Princess Salwa with their children Prince Irfan and Prince Sinan, Prince Hussain and Prince Aly Muhammad as well as leaders of the Jamat from around the world.
The Seat of the Ismaili Imamat was established in Lisbon by MawlanaHazar Imam at the invitation of the Portuguese government. This reflects the strong historical ties that have developed over generations. During the ceremony, MawlanaHazar Imam remarked about the long-standing relationship.
“I am grateful for the government of Portugal for inviting me to establish the Seat within its territory. Over the years, the Portuguese have shown friendship, understanding, and a warm welcome to the Jamat as well as to the Imamat,” he said. “Ours is a relationship grounded in the shared values of religious freedom, tolerance, and pluralism. I believe, alongside strengthening the Imamat’s capacities, this will also enable our institutions to make a constructive and beneficial contribution to areas of mutual interest.”
This is the first time in the Ismaili Imamat’s 1,400-year history that a Seat has been established following a treaty with a sovereign non-Muslim country, making the designation a milestone moment for the global Ismaili community. MawlanaHazar Imam highlighted the significance of the agreement on a global scale, as well as to the Jamat, during his remarks.
“Establishing a Seat in Portugal will also provide a platform for enhancing international relationships and taking them in new directions. At this time I wish to acknowledge the diligent work of many murids who over the years have contributed to the process that has resulted in this milestone agreement with Portugal,” Hazar Imam said. “It is my hope that the Jamat will share in my happiness over the accomplishment of this significant milestone which I believe will strengthen the Imamat’s capacity to fulfil its mandate of ensuring the Jamat’s safety, security, and quality of life.”
The notion of a Seat goes back to the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), whose residence in Medina served both as a seat and a mosque. Hazrat Ali, during his reign as the first Imam and the fourth Caliph of the nascent Muslim Ummah, established his Seat in Kufa, Iraq. In the Fatimid caliphal era, the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat moved from Raqqadah in Qayrawan (now Tunisia), first to al-Mahdiyya, and thereafter to al-Mansurriya and eventually to al-Qahira (now Cairo) in Egypt, a city founded by MawlanaHazar Imam’s ancestor, our 14th Imam, Caliph al-Mu’izz.
In Ismaili tradition, the notion of the Seat of the Imamat corresponds to the Imam’s physical presence. Depending on the requirements of the Imamat and the Ismaili community, it is the Imam’s prerogative formally to designate a Seat in one or more locations.
Historically, including during the periods when they ruled over territories and peoples, Ismaili Imams have engaged in global diplomatic relations, with the Seat serving as the locus of such relations. In the modern era, the Imamat collaborates with national governments, regional and international institutions, and civil society organisations, to fulfil its mandate, which includes to guide the Jamat, and to improve the quality of life around the world.
The official designation of the Seat’s premises follows a series of significant developments in the relationship between Portugal and the Ismaili Imamat and builds on accords with the Republic of Portugal, the first of which was signed in 2005 and thereafter in 2008 and 2009.
In June 2015, Portugal welcomed the establishment of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Lisbon. The Agreement signed on that occasion, represents a pioneering gesture that underlines the values of tolerance, cooperation, and mutual respect. It provides an enabling framework that will facilitate the global work of the Ismaili Imamat and marks the first such accord in the Imamat’s modern history and is a historic milestone. The premises at RuaMarquês de Fronteira, home of the Seat, provides a long-term base from which the Imamat will address complex international requirements and challenges.
His Excellency also shared his hope of what these events will bring for Portugal saying, “Your visit here and your establishment here, shows how we would like to project ourselves in the international community as a bridge-building country. We offer you our heartiest congratulations at this high point in history. We hope that your presence in Portugal will be a catalyst for energy and joint work for the creation of more fair, more open, and more pluralist societies.”
To mark the significance of the occasion, a gift — a meticulously detailed coloured print depicting the Qajar monarch Fath Ali Shah — was presented to MawlanaHazar Imam on behalf of the global Jamat. The print, with its exquisite detailing and saturated colours, evokes the powerful impression of the monumental imperial enthronement scenes.
The coloured aquatint on paper depicts the Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah enthroned with princes, noblemen, ministers, foreign ambassadors, and envoys. The print is one of a series of reduced copies of life-size wall paintings completed in 1812-13, evoking the splendour and glory of Fath Ali Shah’s reign at the Court of Persia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The occasion was also marked by the launch of the official website of the Ismaili Imamat: https://Ismaili.Imamat.
In his address to the Portuguese Parliament on 10 July 2018, MawlanaHazarImam referred to the Seat as a “committed global institution” and spoke of the meaning and impact it will have, remarking “Lisbon, already a leading international crossroads city, will also now serve as a central connecting point for the global Ismaili community.” He reaffirmed the magnitude of the decision to establish a Seat in Portugal “taken after much reflection and consultation” saying that “it represents a true milestone moment in the long history of the Imamat.”
This milestone moment is also recognised by Portugal and its people. At the Parliamentary address yesterday, His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, referred to the Diamond Jubilee of MawlanaHazar Imam as well as this historic occasion as “the high point, even a historic point of projection of the Ismaili community and Portugal.” He went on to say “that celebration, and that all of this is celebrated here, and the fact that the headquarters of the Ismaili Imamat is going to be established here – is historic, it gives us great pride, great pleasure, but also great responsibility.”
THE SVI GENERIS WORK OF THE AGAKHAN IV
It is absolutely important today to promote cultural heritages, to promote music, to promote art and architecture, to learn from each other, to listen to each other, to promote pluralism in its many forms, to fight illiteracy, poverty, diseaseand hunger, to create sustainable means of survival, to bring peoples of different cultural backgrounds together, and draw strength from diverse beliefs, to promote tolerance,, to promote ethic and morals in the very fabric of societies, to protect ourselves from excessive materialism and greed.
The above should explain the work of the Agakhan IV in various fields and the reason why the Ismaili Imam is winning so many AWARDS, accolades, confirment of Honorary degrees and being consulted by Governments of the world and many institutions.
THE WORLD’S GREATEST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
The Hindu civilization is the oldest civilization on earth. Tens of thousands years old. There are other civilizations also, The Mayans, The Aztecs, The Egyptians, The Persians which were all wiped out. Only the Hindu civilization survived, but at a very high cost.
The same people who destroyed the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Egyptians and Persians have put narratives forward to excuse the Hindu Genocide and to deny it.
Lots of writings to falsify and to omit the Hindu Genocide have been written.
People like Konrad Elst, Francois Gottierge, Stephen Knapp are collecting thousands of years of evidence in different epochs, for a foundation calledISHID FOR TALIMA SANSTHAPAN, and who are verydedicatedto the cause.
The Hindus were raped, tortured, killed by Islamic Invaders and by persuars of Abrahamic faiths, who wanted them to convert to their faiths,in the 11th Century. The main mode of destruction was Physical Genocide, Destroying Temples and Burning Libraries.
The records of perpetrators, the Islamic Invaders have been put forward by their secretaries, via the Muslim Chroniclers which have become the principal sources..
Taimur/ Taimoor boasts of killing 100, 000 Hindus a day.
The Bahamani Sultan had a target of killing 100,000 hindu a year for 200 years.
In the Hindu Kush mountains, which have frontiers with Afghanistan and Pakistan,thousands were slaughtered, and blood would flow from the mountains.
In 1600, the Hindus and Sikhs fought bravely and quelled the threat of establishment of Islamic Caliphate, by the likes of ChatrapatiShivaji.
The next set of Invaders were the European Colonisers who had Abrahamic and Economic agendas.
Tens of millions of Hindus were killed by the British, through The Portuguese Inquisition, British Labour Camps, creation of different famines by WinstonChurchill and firing at peaceful protests by women and children and the massacre by the Muslim league under British watch, eg the Nawakhi and Mobler Massacres.
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of Genocide is not only physical killing but a deliberate and systemic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group.
The European Invaders,very cunningly and effectively enacted Cultural Genocide by taking control of the Temples and Siphoning wealth out, de- warriorizing and removing the sharia tradition ( shatrias are warriors) from Hindus by outlawing Martial Arts like KalariPayatu and replacing the theParata education system with very biased anti- hindu British education system, and deliberately misinterpreting and mistranslating and telling lies about Hindu faith for Cultural and Physical Genocide.
Different and disparate groups with conversion agendas, global agendas of domination, and other ideologies, communists, are in persuit of their interests in India even now after 72 years of Independence of India, who want to get a chunk of hundreds of millions of Hindus in their following to be able to further their agendas with ease.
Dr. Jeffery Armstrong Vedic Vidya
$43 Trillion Siphoned of India in 173 years
India has Bank rolled the Impoverished Colonial BRITAIN, In the name of JESUS
This article has been compiled from Jeffrey Armstrong’s talk on VEDIC Vidya.
The PURPOSE of this article is to NOT FORGET, NOT seek REVENGE, but gain WISDOM.
The “EMPIRE”sanctioned the DISCOVERIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The era when Columbus and others set sail to “DISCOVER NEW PLACES”, in the world was possible with “TWO PAPAL BULLS “from the CATHOLIC CHURCH.
1st Papal Bull was called “Bull Romanus Pontifex by Pope Nicholas V, issued on January 8th 1455.
2nd Papal Bull called “Bull Inter Caetera”was issued by Pope AlexanderVl on May 4th1493.
Both these Papal Bullsgave permission to all Catholic Countries in Europe to go out with Ships, Gunpowder and by force to go to all cultures which were considered paganby, by the then Christian Church authorising to “discover” all the cultures in the world that were not Christian. You could NOT discover a culture that was already Christian.
These Papal Bulls are legal in the US even now, and this is the reason the native people of US do not have the same status as the US citizens, because they are not “exactly people”.
The “discovery” process of other than Christian cultures, meant, takeover all their possessions, own their land, steal their resources, pillage, rape, and enslave them and the land that they lived on was called “TERRA NULLIS”, if they were not Christians, their lands were “ empty”, a legal term for the Catholic Church.
The second term that was used was “ Persona Non Grata”, meaning appearing like a person but not one.
This was done by people who were not living in our times but in some era in the past, who had unique ideas and went into the world robbing, enslaving, denigrating and desecration all the culturas of the world they encountered.
It was in a great historical epic, of the Mahabharata, a historical verifiable landmark, a very rich civilization, about 7582 years ago, which had its own LANGUAGE, SANSKRIT, when the Bhagavad-Gita was spoken.
This historical civilizations language SANSKRIT, is the mother language of, Greek and Latin and the romantic languages that arose like Italian, Spanish, French, European languages, Russian, German, Scandinavian which were Cultures along the Trade Route with India (Bharat) for 10, 000 years and more.
Knowledge used to flow out of India along the trade route and because of India’s natural resources and the science and wisdom India had, the British “governed” and “discovered “, them by colonising and robbing them.
This period of “discovery “ is called the black period of history and should never have happened in which there was rape, pillage and invalidation of cultures by consideringthem not being human, cannot be undone.
However, if we could bringhealing to historical wounds by dedicating the stolen wealth to India and other cultures, for revival of the Language and Cultures and passing this knowledge of black period of history to future generations and making them aware and bringing literacy to poor vulnerable communitiesis very important. The future generations need not suffer from these type of assaults.
India is the mother ship of all cultures.
The Papal Bulls are INSANE legal documents in the name of religion which were and are being used for inducing calamities against mankind creating antagonistic cultures by playing on colour cast, creed and different belief systems.
Truth will always Prevail.