Thousands of North Texans headed to San Antonio for rare religious event

By ANNA M. TINSLEY

Star-Telegram staff writer

Nadir Meharali knows he has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of a rare religious event.

Today, the Dallas man is heading to San Antonio to join as many as 10,000 other North Texas Shia Ismaili Muslims who are taking part in the Golden Jubilee, a time to celebrate the 50th year of leadership by their spiritual guide, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV

“I think practically everyone from here is going,” Meharali said.

As many as 35,000 Shia Ismaili Muslims from across the state may be there to honor Aga Khan, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad, who succeeded his grandfather in 1957 at age 20. He is the 49th hereditary leader of the Shia Ismailis.

Once he reached his 50th year of leadership, Aga Khan, who lives in France, began traveling to different countries for the yearlong celebration, which began July 11, 2007.

Aga Khan tries to meet with state leaders during his stops and talk about initiatives not only to increase access to healthcare and education but also about ways to reduce poverty and find peace.

This month, he plans to visit four states — Texas, California, Illinois and Georgia.

He is scheduled to arrive in Austin today.

On Saturday, Gov. Rick Perry will meet with Aga Khan and hold a special ceremony at the state Capitol to sign a memorandum of understanding between the University of Texas and Aga Khan University, pledging to work together to showcase educational environments, according to information released about the Golden Jubilee.

Saturday night, Perry and his wife, Anita, will host a private gala dinner at an exotic game preserve in Austin to celebrate Aga Khan’s 50 years of service, according to the governor’s office.

By Sunday, Aga Khan will meet with those in the Shia Ismaili Muslim community who gathered at the convention center and Alamodome in San Antonio, during the private celebration that will include speeches, dances, poetry and celebration.

“This is a first in our lifetimes,” Meharali said. “There are a lot of festivities … and a tremendous amount of cooking.”

Prince Karim Aga Kahn IV

Who he is

Aga Khan became the spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims on July 11, 1957, at 20. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III.

The 49th hereditary imam, or leader, he is a descendant of the prophet Muhammad and his cousin and son-in-law Hazrat Ali, who was the first spiritual leader of the Muslim community.

Born in Geneva in 1936, he grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and graduated from Harvard in 1959 with an honors degree in Islamic history.

The community he leads

The Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, known as the Ismailis, are part of the Shiite branch of Islam.

They believe that after the prophet’s death, Hazrat Ali became the spiritual leader, known as an imam. That leadership continues through his descendants.

There are about 15 million Ismaili Muslims living in about 25 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe, as well as central and South Asia, East Africa and the Middle East.

Source: Golden Jubilee committee

Source : Star – Telegram

S.A. to sparkle in Golden Jubilee of the Aga Khan

Jeorge Zarazua – Express-News

Aisha Dharani was only 5 years old and remembers little about the visit by the spiritual leader of her faith to Los Angeles, where she was growing up in the 1980s.

Dharani, now 30 and a San Antonio businesswoman, never imagined being in an audience again with the imam, Prince Karim Khan. Especially not in the Alamo City.

After all, the Shiite Ismaili Muslim community here is relatively small compared with other places, such as Houston, New York and Chicago. Some estimate the number of local Ismailis to be about 1,000 or so, nothing near the more than 15,000 who live in Houston.

“The probability of it even happening here, it’s unthought-of,” Dharani said.

So imagine her surprise when it was announced three weeks ago that the imam, Aga Khan IV — a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad — was coming to San Antonio as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations marking his 50th anniversary as the Ismaili spiritual leader.

The Aga Khan was to have kicked off his U.S. celebration tour in Houston, but organizers said because of unavailable space at convention centers there, they had to relocate the Golden Jubilee event to San Antonio.

More than 30,000 Ismailis from across the U.S. and the world are expected to attend the private, three-day celebrations. Today and Saturday, the event is at the Alamodome and Sunday it’s at the Convention Center

The local celebrations culminate Sunday, the day of the darbar, when the Aga Khan is scheduled to have an audience with his followers.

“We never really dreamt that such a small Jamat (congregation) would host so many people,” Dharani said.

Waheeda Kara, a San Antonio real estate agent and a spokeswoman for the local Ismaili community, said ever since the announcement, thousands of volunteers have been working to prepare for the celebrations.

She said they had only 21 days to complete the job.

Dharani said local Ismailis are doing their part to ensure a successful Golden Jubilee for the Aga Khan.

“People have come from all over to help out, which is truly remarkable,” she said.

Nazim Karim traveled from Los Angeles to help.

“Obviously for us, it’s a very significant event,” said Karim, who also edits the Ismaili, a national magazine. “It’s historic because in our 1,400-year history, there have only been eight imams, spiritual leaders, who have celebrated their 50th anniversary as imams.”

The Aga Khan’s last visit to Texas was in June 2002 when he spoke at the inauguration of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the facility is a $10 million house of worship and a community center in Sugar Land. It’s one of the largest Ismaili Muslim centers in the United States and serves as the national headquarters for Aga Khan’s social service and community networks in this country.

Aga Kahn IV was only 20 years old when he became imam in 1957. He was in his final year at Harvard University, where he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree with honors in Islamic history in 1959.

To those outside the religion, he’s considered a fabulously wealthy individual with a particular fondness for raising fine thoroughbreds and racing speedboats. He’s also the stepson of actress Rita Hayworth, who became his father’s second wife.

Ismailis view the Aga Khan as an infallible imam who’s not only a spiritual leader, but guides them on temporal matters as well. They also stress his philanthropic work and that of the Aga Khan Development Network, considered one of the world’s largest private, international agencies working to improve living conditions for people in Third World countries.

“It’s been his responsibility to take care of two things, and we need to be very clear about what the role of imam is, which is different from the general Christian perception of a spiritual leader,” Karim said. “In Islam, a Muslim leader is not just a leader who guides in spiritual matters, he is responsible of the material welfare of his community. So he’s a leader spiritually as well as temporally.”

Karim said that when Ismailis gather to celebrate the jubilee, they will reaffirm their faith and strengthen ties within their own community, as well as reflect on the many accomplishments of the Aga Khan.

“He’s guided our community through all kinds of political and economic turmoil, helped with material welfare, and, at the same time, helped us with our faith and to maintain our traditions,” Karim said.

Other U.S. cities hosting Golden Jubilee events are Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Chicago and Los Angeles, where Dharani remembers him visiting, also hosted Silver Jubilee celebrations for the Aga Khan in 1983.

Source: MySA.com
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Texas welcome for Imam
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Texas Gov Rick Perry to host Muslim sect’s spiritual leader

Texas Gov Rick Perry to host Muslim sect’s spiritual leader

Aga Khan, governor to sign UT pact with Mideast university.

By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, April 11, 2008

Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to host a private dinner followed by fireworks near Austin on Saturday to honor the Aga Khan, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad celebrating his 50th year as the spiritual leader of a Muslim sect.

Earlier in the day, the leaders are expected to be on hand as the University of Texas signs an agreement with Aga Khan University, which has campuses in Pakistan and other countries, fostering student and teacher exchanges between the institutions.

Jack Plunkett/ASSOCIATED PRESS Rick Perry Governor has been friends with Aga Khan for years. Jan Bauer/ASSOCIATED PRESS Aga Khan Harvard grad is descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Khan, a wealthy, Harvard-educated businessman and philanthropist, leads the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, an offshoot of the Shiite branch of Islam, claiming 12 million to 16 million believers in 25 countries including tens of thousands in Texas.

Perry, 58, and Khan, 71, struck up an improbable friendship nearly a decade ago, resulting in a UT program exposing schoolteachers to Muslim beliefs and culture.

The jet-setting Khan grew up in Kenya and lives in France and owns hundreds of race horses. Perry was born and raised in West Texas before earning a degree at Texas A&M University.

In 2000, Perry, then lieutenant governor, visited the Aga Khan in Paris during a family trip to Europe.

Two years later, Perry and the Aga Khan visited during the opening of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center built in Sugar Land near Houston and at an Austin dinner hosted by Perry.

The Aga Khan Development Network subsequently funded the UT program, which has introduced 80 Texas schoolteachers to Muslim history and culture; 15 teachers have toured the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

In 2006, Perry visited a Pakistan relief center financed by the network. And last year, Perry looked at an unfinished Ismaili center in Dubai that a travel mate described as an architectural and cultural wonder that the Aga Khan is expected to replicate, to a degree, in Houston.

Eric Bearse, an outside adviser to Perry, said Saturday’s “golden jubilee” event at the Texas Disposal Systems Exotic Game Ranch and Pavilion in Buda is “an opportunity for His Highness to be in the presence of a vibrant Ismaili community in Texas as well as to be with his friend, the governor.”

Perry and his wife, Anita, will dine with the religious leader at a downtown hotel tonight.

Shahed Amanullah of Austin, editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, said the Aga Khan has a solid reputation among Muslims because of his good works, partly through the development network. The network spends $350 million a year on economic, social and cultural projects concentrated in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

“There are a lot of non-Ismaili Muslims around the world who wish they had a leader that is as organized and as visionary,” Amanullah said

Perry, who is a member of a Methodist church, and the Aga Khan emphasize the need for the Western world to understand Eastern values and vice versa. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Aga Khan said differences between Muslim-dominated countries and the Christian-dominant West don’t reflect the clash of civilizations so much as clashes of ignorance.

Neither Perry’s office nor members of the Ismaili community said who is paying for Saturday’s invitation-only party nor did they divulge who will attend it. Perry spokesman Robert Black said it would not be financed by the state or from economic development funds.

About 20,000 to 30,000 people are expected to hear the Aga Khan on Sunday in San Antonio. His U.S. schedule also includes stops in Georgia, Illinois and California.

Noor Jehan, whose family owns an Austin dry-cleaning business, intends to spend the weekend in San Antonio for the jubilee. “It’s a big, big occasion for us,” Jehan said.

Asked if Ismaili Muslims liken the Aga Khan’s standing to the stature of the pope for Catholics, Jehan said. “He’s not a pope, who’s elected by cardinals. The Aga Khan is not elected by anybody. … He is a very special leader.”

Jehan was referring to the Aga Khan becoming Imam or spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims in July 1957, succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III, a former president of the League of Nations.

 

Aga Khan

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 13, 1936

Grew up in Nairobi, Kenya

Attended Swiss boarding school before Harvard University, where he graduated with honors with a degree in Islamic history

Succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, as the Ismaili Imamat at the age of 20 on July 11, 1957, becoming the 49th hereditary spiritual leader (Imam) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims

Wealth reportedly exceeds $1 billion

Owns two jets, stud farms and hundreds of race horses

Sources: International Herald Tribune, Ismaili community.
Sources : Austin American Statesman
Related: Texas welcome for Imam

Texas welcome for Imam

By The Editorial Board of Austin American Statesman | Thursday, April 10, 2008, 04:41 PM

Had you read or heard that the governor of Texas was to break bread with a Muslim Imam only 10 years ago, you might have thought it highly improbable. It’s a new Texas, however, and a new world.

Gov. Rick Perry is scheduled to welcome the Aga Khan, a religious leader with a global reach and immense wealth with activities that include a formal dinner on Saturday. The Imam is celebrating 50 years as leader of the world’s Shia Imam Ismaili Muslims with a world tour, and Texas is the first stop on the U.S. leg of it. The current Aga Khan, 71, has led the community since 1957.

His followers number 12 million to 16 million worldwide, including 15,000 to 20,000 in Texas who are engaged in a wide variety of businesses and professions. They don’t generally attract a lot of attention, but the visit by the Aga Khan and the recognition by the state’s top elected official will change that.

The community led by the Aga Khan values self-reliance, tolerance and human worth. He is founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network – a group of nine private non-denominational development agencies, with an annual budget of $350 million.

The immense wealth of the Aga Khan has stirred controversy in the past, including from other Muslims who have disassociated themselves from the Ismailis.

The first of the Ismailis arrived in Texas 40 or so years ago and are concentrated in the state’s metropolitan areas: Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.

The visit to Texas is clearly a message that the Aga Khan wants to pierce stereotypes of Muslims that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by extremist Muslims in the United States. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stoke suspicions of Muslims in this country. Lamenting that climate of suspicion, the Aga Khan – who was educated at Harvard – has described the religious conflict “as a clash of ignorance.”

Though the visit is more symbol than substance to official Texas, the participation by Perry sends a positive message to both the Ismailis and their fellow Texans. It’s a message of understanding and tolerance that we would all be wise to heed: Peace be with all of us.

Source: Statesman.com