Aga Khan in East Africa for First Golden Jubilee Visit

His Highness the Aga Khan arrives in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Sunday, 12 August, on the first leg of a 12-day official visit to the East Africa region, at the invitation of the Governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. During the trip the Aga Khan will meet with members of the Ismaili Community and top ranking government officials.

The East Africa tour will be the first undertaken by the Spiritual Leader of the 15 million-strong Ismaili community since he completed his 50 years as the Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims last month. He is expected to make a number of visits during his Golden Jubilee year, especially to countries where the Ismaili Community resides and where the Aga Khan Development Network operates.

Fifty years ago, at the age of 20, the Aga Khan succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, as the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. In the Ismaili tradition, the Imam’s jubilee celebrations offer occasions to launch new social, cultural and economic development projects. Projects launched during the Jubilees of his grandfather, Aga Khan III, including the Diamond Jubilee Trust Bank and the Jubilee Investment Trust, continue to serve the people of East Africa.

During his visit to East Africa, the Aga Khan will preside over the foundation stone laying ceremonies for the Faculty of Health Sciences of the East Africa chapter of the Aga Khan University, the residential campus for the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, the new Aga Khan Academy in Kampala and Uganda’s Bujagali Hydro Power Project. While in Mombasa, he will participate in the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Aga Khan Foundation’s educational Madrasa Programme.

http://www.akdn.org/news/2007august11_ea.htm

Aga Khan arrives in Kenya today for 12-day tour

Aga Khan arrives in Kenya today for 12-day tour Story by JEFF OTIENO Publication Date: 8/12/2007

His Highness the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, arrives in the country today to begin a 12-day official visit of the East African region. The tour, which will cover Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, will be his first in the region since he completed 50 years as the Imam (spiritual leader) of the 15 million Ismaili Muslims living in some 25 countries, mainly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Fifty years ago, at the age of 20, the Aga Khan succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, as the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. During the trip, the Aga Khan will meet members of the Ismaili Community and top ranking government officials, among them President Kibaki. He will also inaugurate various projects under the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Projects inaugurated The projects to be inaugurated are aimed at uplifting the lives of the less fortunate in society. The Imam’s jubilee celebrations offer an opportunity to launch new social, cultural and economic development projects. Some of the memorable projects launched during the jubilees of his grandfather, Aga Khan III, include the Diamond Jubilee Trust Bank and the Jubilee Investment Trust. In Nairobi, where the tour commences, the Aga Khan will launch the Faculty of Health Sciences of the East Africa chapter of the Aga Khan University in Nairobi. He will also preside over the laying of the foundation stone of the residential campus of the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, the new Aga Khan Academy in Kampala and Uganda’s Bujagali Hydro Power Project.

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=104303

Interview of MHI “The Core of the Terrorist Problem Is Political”

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-224/i.html

“The Core of the Terrorist Problem Is Political”

Interview with Karim Aga Khan

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the hereditary imam of Shiite Ismaili Muslims, argues that today’s Middle Eastern terrorists are fueled by political motivations and not religion.

| Bild:
Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in Berlin | Your majesty, the world is shocked by terrorist attacks that are carried out by people who claim to be fighting for Islam. You, as a prominent Muslim leader, have claimed that Islam is a religion of peace. Does that mean that Islam has two faces? Prince Karim Aga Khan IV: No, I don’t think so. For one thing, you have to think about the fact that this is just represents a very, very small minority of the world’s Muslim population. Also, these people are primarily driven by political and not religious motives. It would be wrong to consider them representative of Islam.

The Western world has to take a close look to see which forces are in play in order to differentiate between belief and things that have nothing to do with belief. We as Muslims could also ask the same things: like what’s happening in Northern Ireland. If I as a Muslim came to you and were to say: What’s happening in Northern Ireland reflects Catholic and Protestant beliefs, then you would say: you’re uneducated.

In many western countries, including Germany, more and more people have the opinion that Islam and democracy are irreconcilable. If that’s true, then a mutual understanding and effective cooperation between Muslims and the Western world would be practically impossible.

Aga Khan: That’s true, but I don’t see a conflict between Islam and democracy. There’s absolutely no conflict if you look at the original form of the Muslim community.

Tolerance and pluralism are at the top of your agenda for improving conditions for all humans. Is that because your own followers, the minority Ismaili Muslims, are discriminated against? At times, other Muslims have even gone so far as to describe you as a heretic.

Aga Khan: In every religion there are differences of opinion about the interpretation of the religion. But I don’t think the Ismailis are still discriminated against today. To the contrary, we’re building bridges to the representatives of other directions of Islam. Because the idea of pluralism is tightly anchored in Islam.

Of course there are many different interpretations. But the differences in interpretation is not a problem in Islam. I would even go so far as to say that Islam is a very broad religion. There’s a very famous line by Allah in the Quran: “I have created you from one soul.” With that line, he meant all of humanity.

Since the end of 2001, the West has been seeking a dialogue with the Muslim world. But more and more people are frustrated because no real answer is coming from the Muslim side. They’re waiting for the voices of moderate Muslims who will vocally and clearly speak out against terrorism in the name of Islam. Why aren’t we hearing these voices?

Aga Khan: I think you can hear these voices more often now. We have to consider that there are forces inside the Islamic world that do not promote freedom of opinion — especially in regards to religion.

Is there hope that we can someday stop terrorism?

Aga Khan: Firstly, I’d say this: Let’s remedy the causes of terrorism. Generally that’s political frustration and not a question of religion. The situation in the Middle East was not created by Islamic beliefs.

The situation in Kashmir was not created by Islamic belief. The situation in Afghanistan was not created by Islamic beliefs. So we have to identify the core of the problem, and that is political in nature. And when we know the real causes of what drives people to desperation, then we can get a grasp on it.

Interview conducted by Günter Knabe© DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE 2004

Interview of MHI “In Islamic Architecture You Can Often Sense a Spirituality”

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-450/i.htmlInterview with Karim Aga Khan

“In Islamic Architecture You Can Often Sense a Spirituality”

He is the hereditary imam of Shiite Ismaili Muslims – and known for his development network and wealth. But Karim Aga Khan is also well-versed in architecture. Philip Jodidio spoke with him

Bild:
Karim Aga Khan: “I have always tried to keep in mind the environment in which the building will exist. I personally don’t like decontextualization” | How did you become interested in architecture so early on?Karim Aga Khan: I traveled a lot between the years 1957 and 1967. During my travels I encountered a form of poverty that I had not known before. Anyone who visited the slums of Karachi, the mountains in Karakoram, or even the suburbs of Bombay or Calcutta in 1957 saw an indescribable poverty, which was visible foremost in people’s living conditions. My interest in architecture focused therefore on the question of how to improve the quality of life among the poorest of the poor.

How did you want to achieve this?

Aga Khan: Back then building was all about realizing the highest possible profit for investments – whether in a school, a hospital, or an apartment. But my attitude towards building projects changed completely. While consumer societies can build something and then tear it down, poor societies cannot afford to do this. And architecture is the only art which directly reflects poverty. Music and literature do not reflect poverty in a comprehensible manner. Architecture, however, inevitably shows quality of life or the absence thereof.

| Bild:
The late 18th century mausoleum of Timur Shah Durrani, Shah of Afghanistan. The building was recently reconstruced with the aid of the Aga Khan Trust | In the 1950s you had the Aga Khan School built in Nairobi.

Aga Khan: What was difficult back then was considering further development. If you built a hospital in 1958, what would happen to it twenty or thirty years later? Many things were foreseeable, others were not. Foreseeable was only the worsening of the destitution.

You personally visited the construction sites…

Aga Khan: The Imamate was responsible for most of what was being built there. So I went and saw what was happening there. You learn a lot about poverty when you see how the people in these countries live – and when you speak with them. You don’t learn that in books.

If you were to name a building that had influenced you the most, which would it be?

Aga Khan: I couldn’t name an individual architect, but I have worked a lot with architects who have specialized in “programmatic” buildings, as I would call them, that is, buildings such as hospitals and universities. It was hardly possible to work very closely together with them, because too many projects were being built at the same time. In response to the question about which buildings have impressed me, I would say the Ahmad-Ibn-Tulun Mosque in Cairo is one example. It is unbelievably plain, yet no building is more impressive.

| Bild:
Modern Islamic Art: The entrance of the congregation hall of the Ismaili Muslims in Dubai | In the 1960s you built your Costa Smeralda Resort on Sardinia. Do you draw a clear dividing line between this project and the architecture you dealt with as Imam?

Aga Khan: On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, no. If you build on private initiative, you are looking for economic profits. Schools and hospitals, on the other hand, at least ours, are non-profit projects. As a rule, these buildings are not constructed in order to obtain a maximum of profit. My building projects have one thing in common: I have always tried to keep in mind the environment in which the building will exist. I personally do not like “decontextualization.”

How do you understand the term?

Aga Khan: I don’t like it when an architect seeks conflict with nature. It is not appropriate. On Sardinia we had the unusual situation that there was no housing at all at the time. The only people in the area were shepherds, who kept their herds there in the summer. One green pasture. And everything in this area was small: the mountains, the vegetation, even the people. If skyscrapers had been built in this environment, the outcome would have been an absolute disaster.

It seems as if your projects clearly changed when you built the Aga Kahn University in Karachi at the beginning of the 1970s.

Aga Khan: The search for suitable architects was very time-consuming back then. We couldn’t find anyone who was experienced in building universities, and in the Islamic world. So we had a competition. The Boston architecture agency Tom Payette followed our request and undertook numerous trips to explore the architectural diversity of the Islamic world.

Many of the buildings that Tom Payette’s people studied were ecclesiastical buildings. In your view, does architecture have religious expression – even with buildings such as the Aga Khan University?

| Bild:

<!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>Cover of “Under the Eaves of Architecture” | Aga Khan: In Islamic architecture you can often sense a spirituality – not only in buildings that serve as houses of worship. There is an explicit reference in the Koran between architecture and references to the afterlife. Buildings make a statement on the value of the environment. Sensory impressions also play a role: fragrances, sounds, music or water. The Azhar Park is a good example of this. Many visitors to this Cairo park can feel its spirituality.Many of the projects selected for your prize, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, value the well-being of the people. Is it at all concerned with architecture as it is understood in the West?

Aga Khan: Yes, it’s true. The award was created to honor quality of life. In fact, we see this as a moral obligation. Most buildings in developing countries cannot be measured with Western standards.

Recently you finished a new Ismaelite center in Dubai. It is the opposite of the skyscraper architecture that is currently popular there. Did you want to make a statement with it?

Aga Khan: The building boom there has purely economic grounds and does not concern religious buildings. What I build should be oriented on human standards. The debate about the highest building in the world has to do with ambition, vanity, and pride, or whatever you want to call it. These motives play no role in our value system.

You have given two contracts to Japanese star architect Fumihiko Maki – the delegation building of the Ismaelite Imamate in Ottawa and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. For your conditions a surprising decision.

Aga Khan: Maki was the obvious choice, for a specialty of Japanese architects is to combine cultural legacy with modernity. I can say to Maki: I would like this building to incorporate the value system of the past, but don’t design it so esoterically that the effect is overwhelming.

Interview conducted by Philip Jodidio© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/Qantara.de 2007

“Under the Eaves of Architecture. The Aga Khan: Builder and Patron.” Prestel Verlag, Munich, 59 euros. Translated from English by Martin Wittmann.

Translated from the German by Nancy JoyceQantara.de