Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph

Anwar Ali Merchant Congratulates the Cabinet and Excellency Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Text of the message of congratulations for Excellency Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani:

Islamabad, March 31, 2008
Excellency Yousuf Raza Gilani
Prime Minister
Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Sir,

On the happy occasion of your 24-member cabinet sworn in by His Excellency President Musharraf, I send you my warmest hearty congratulations with prayers for success in all your future endeavors.

I send my hearty felicitations and best wishes individually to each of the honorable ministers sworn in today:
Shah Mehmood Qureshi (Foreign Minister), Sherry Rehman (Information Minister), Syed Naveed Qamar (Minister for Privatisation/Port and Shipping-additional), Raja Pervez Ashraf (Minister for Water and Power), Syed Khursheed Shah (Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis), Qamar Zaman Kaira (Minister for Kashmir Affairs), Senator Farooq Naek (Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights), Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar (Minister for Defence), Nazar Muhammad Gondal (Minister for Narcotics), Najamuddin Khan (Minister for States and Frontier Region) and Mir Humayon Aziz Kurd (Minister for Population Welfare), Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (Senior Minister), Senator Ishaq Dar (Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs and Commerce), Ahsan Iqbal (Minister for Education), Tehmina Daultana (Minister for Women Development), Sardar Mehtab Abbasi (Minister for Railways), Khawaja Asif (Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources), Rana Tanveer Hussain (Minister for Defense Production), Shahid Khakhan Abbasi (Ministry of Trade), Khawaja Saad Rafiq (Minister for Youth Affairs), Ghulam Ahmed Bilour (Minister for Local Government and Rural Development), Khawaja Mohammed Khan Hoti (Minister for Social Welfare), Rehmatullah Kakar, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, and Rehman Malik.

I also take this opportunity to congratulate President Musharraf for having successfully put Pakistan on the roadmap of democracy and welfare of the people of Pakistan.

Excellency, once again I congratulate you and the honorable ministers from the bottom of my heart with prayers for welfare, happiness, independence and sovereignty of our great nation – Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Anwar Merchant
Founder Chairman – President
Muslim Democracy League

Islamabad 44000
Pakistan
+923455086313
Email: nuslimdemocracy@gmail.com

NOTES:

Formed on the auspicious birth anniversary of Holy Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him and his family] Rabi ul Awwal 12, 1429 ME, Friday March 21 2008, Muslim Democracy League is the political forum and thinktank of Pakistan, contributing knowledge, consultation and insight related to promotion of faith based consensus democracy in Pakistan.

The norms and assumptions that characterise belief and action in Islam have their initial inspiration in two foundation sources. One is the message revealed by God to the Holy Prophet [peace be upon him and his family] and recorded in Quran. The second is Sunnah, the recording of the Prophet’s life, his words, actions and habits, his character, struggle, piety, modesty and success that has come in time to represent for Muslims, a timeless pattern for daily life. And this is true both for the state and the individual. Accordingly, Muslim Democracy League supports to enhance theological and political consensus among different stake holders for the development of good governance in Pakistan.

Muslim Democracy League is the continuation of the original theme and format of Muslim League [1906]. It works to build confidence between West and Muslims, and facilitates collaboration between people, civil society and government to address some of the development needs in Pakistan today.

Muslim Democracy works to historically deliver, both for Pakistan and world community so to speak about civil society and democracy, knowledge and learning, health, housing and economy, technology, industry and commerce, heritage and environment, alleviation of the sufferings of the poor, the sick and the needy, women emancipation and good governance, theological and political consensus, protection and welfare of minorities, support for responsible media, independence of judiciary, indigenous rule of the people, dignity and integrity of the government, Muslim Caliphate, Armed Forces, Law Agencies, and Islamic ethics of discipline, tolerance, knowledge, development, pluralism, interfaith harmony and global peace.

Aga Khan Muslim University: His Highness Aga Khan is establishing a Muslim University with a total cost of US $ 500 million, the president of Aga Khan Council, Iqbal Waljee, said in Karachi on Thursday, 24 January 2008.. He said 1,000 acres of land has been acquired for the purpose on Super Highway in Karachi. The Aga Khan will inaugurate the ground ceremony shortly, he said adding that acadamic activity will start from 2011. Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Imamat Caliphate of Aga Khan is being marked in Pakistan with high profile programmes including lecture series by Karen Armstrong on intellectual traditions in Islam. His Highness Aga Khan considers Pakistan, his second home.

                                                  www.ismaili.us

On the auspicious occasion of Eid ul Azha, Fatimid Heritage Foundation, Geneva Peace Development Centre and Mountain Girls Education Development Program extend hearty Eid Greetings to His Highness Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, and the Ummah.

www.ismaili.us 

Muslims regard Qur’an as being the unique culmination of series of divine revelations. It elaborates the evolution of both mankind and the universe in that it is an eternal book of guidance that must be understood and followed if it is to serve as the moral and spiritual guide for human conduct and progress. It also reflects the social economic, religious and state situation of seventh century
Arabia. It is reflective of the circumstances of the life of the Holy Prophet and his community, and that of his preceding communities and Prophets.The earliest revelations of the Holy Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad evoke powerful symbols of learning and knowledge. The value placed on knowledge in the Holy Qur’an became the foundation for the development of education in all its different expressions throughout Muslim history.In Quran there are 704 verses in which either the word ilm or the words of the same derivation are used in the following order: a’lam 49 times, al-ilm 80 times, a’lamu 11 times, alim 162 times, a’lim 13 times, ilman 14 times, i’lamu 27 times, ma’lum and ma’lumat 13 times, ya’lamun 85 times, ya’lamu 93 times, ta’lamun 56 times. Pen and books are essential aids of knowledge, and for them, the qalam occurs 2 times and al-kitab 230 times. In addition, a number of words related to writing, like kataba, katabna, kutiba, katib, yaktubu, naktubu are used in a number of verses. In Quran the total number of verses using the words related to writing is 319, and the word kitab for the Quran is used on 81 different occasions.  His Highness the Aga Khan on October 19, 2003 speaking of the Qur’an at the opening session of “Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its creative expressions” said that our time is now calling us for enlightened encounters among faiths and cultures. Whatever its vernacular forms, the language of art, more so when it is spiritually inspired, can be a positive barrier-transcending medium of discourse, manifesting the depths of the human spirit. 

“The discourse of Holy Qur’an, rich in parable and allegory, metaphor and symbol, has been an inexhaustible well-spring of inspiration, lending itself to a wide spectrum of interpretations. This freedom of interpretation is a generosity which the Qur’an confers upon all believers, uniting them in the conviction that All-Merciful Allah will forgive them if they err in their sincere attempt to understand His word. Happily as a result the Holy Book continues to guide and illuminate the thought and conduct of Muslims belonging to different communities of interpretation and spiritual affiliation, from century to century, in diverse cultural environments.” “Noble Qur’an” the Aga Khan went on to say,” extends its principle of pluralism also to adherents of other faiths. It affirms that each has a direction and path to which they turn so that all should strive for good works, in the belief that, whatsoever they may be, Allah will bring them together.” 

“The Qur’an acknowledges that people upon whom wisdom has been bestowed are the recipients of abundant good; they are the exalted ones, hence Islam’s consistent encouragement to Muslim men and women to seek knowledge wherever it is to be found. Poetising the Prophet’s teaching, Nasir Khusraw, the 11^th century Iranian poet-philosopher, also extols the virtue of knowledge. For him, true jihad is the war that must be waged against the perpetrators of bigotry, through spreading knowledge that dispels the darkness of ignorance and nourishes the seed of peace that is innately embedded in the human soul.” 

“The Qur’an” Aga Khan said “may not propound a doctrine of Islamic art or material culture it does offer imaginative scope in this direction. From early on, its passages have inspired works of art and architecture, and shaped attitudes and norms that have guided the development of Muslim artistic traditions. Scientific pursuits, philosophic inquiry and artistic endeavour are all seen as the response of the faithful to the recurring call of the Qur’an to ponder the creation as a way to understand Allah’s benevolent majesty. As Sura al-Baqara proclaims: ‘Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah’. 

“Does not the Qur’an invite the artist, as much as the mystic, to go beyond the physical – the outward – so as to seek to unveil that which lies at the centre but gives life to the periphery? Is not a great work of art, like the ecstasy of the  mystic, a gesture of the spirit, a stirring of the soul that comes from the attempt to experience a glimpse of, and an intimacy with, that which is ineffable and beyond being?” he enquired hypothetically. 

“The famous verse of ‘light’ in the Qur’an, the Ayat al-Nur, inspires among Muslims a reflection on the sacred, the transcendent. It hints at a cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah’s creation and mercy. Many other verses of the Qur’an have similarly inspired calligraphy in all its forms, reminding us of the richness and vitality of Muslim traditions in the Arts.” 

“The Holy Qur’an as a message encompasses the entirety of human existence and effort. It is concerned with the salvation of the soul, but commensurately also with the ethical imperatives which sustain an equitable social order. The Qur’an is an inclusive vision of society that gives primacy to nobility of conduct. It speaks of differences of language and colour as a divine sign of mercy and a portent for people of knowledge to reflect upon.” 

“Ours is a time when knowledge and information are expanding at an accelerating and, perhaps, unsettling pace. There exists, therefore, an unprecedented capacity for improving the human condition. And yet, ills such as abject poverty and ignorance, and the conflicts these breed, continue to afflict the world. The Qur’an addresses this challenge eloquently. The power of its message is reflected in its gracious disposition to differences of interpretation; its respect for other faiths and societies; its affirmation of the primacy of the intellect; its insistence that knowledge is worthy when it is used to serve Allah’s creation; and, above all, its emphasis on our common humanity” asserted Prince Karim Aga Khan.