Clarification from Ismaili's

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jugdish
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:27 pm

Clarification from Ismaili's

Post by jugdish »

Hi there, firstly I am an ismaili and I would like input o&shy;n this much needed question!<BR><BR>If someone were to ask you what or who you are in a religious or secular connotation, would you not refer to yourself as a member of the ismaili community?<BR><BR>this serves a huge purpose so your answers should be quite thorough.<BR><BR>I consider myself of member of the Ismaili Community and our beloved HH Aga Khan has referred to this in many speeches etc as does the media o&shy;n various topics covered.&nbsp; <BR>Please share your thoughts.......
kmaherali
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Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

Yes, I would certainly refer to myself as an Ismaili Muslim in every manner. I do not see any reason to hide my identity. Al Hamdulillah we are not living in a situation whereby we must conceal our identity or our beliefs. On the contrary, we should do everything possible to express that identity and thereby contribute towards a correct understanding of Islam.

"To all Ismaili here today, I would say this. There is nothing exclusive about you. While your religious faith will always preserve a special identity, your secular loyalty is solely to India and to its elected government. I urge my community to keep this constantly in their minds."(SPEECH AT THE TAKHT NASHINI CEREMONY,BOMBAY, INDIA
TUESDAY, MARCH 11th 1958)
jugdish
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:27 pm

Clarification from Ismailis

Post by jugdish »

thank you and I truly agree, our faith prevails us not to be hidden in our identity. MHI has done so much across the world to bring about the awareness of who we are as the Ismaili Community, herein to say that the Aga Khan is now getting worldly reknown as the Leader of the Ismaili Community.

keep the comments coming! I would like to see more examples of where we can refer ourselves as Members of the Ismaili Community. In short, one of our council members has clearly stated that we should not be utilizing this sentence to project that we are members of the ismaili community and to that I say then what or how are we to address when asked the question:

"what community do you belong to" my answer is I am a member of the Ismaili Community, am I wrong in saying this.

Now I put this question to all of you?
star_munir
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Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:55 am
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Post by star_munir »

Ofcourse the corrct answer would be that I am Ismaili. Why to hide or tell a lie?
jugdish
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:27 pm

clarification of the term "member of Ismaili Community&

Post by jugdish »

I feel that the message originally posted is being construed in a variance of the initial jist.

I mean to ask the question: "As an ismaili, if someone were to pose the question to you in identification of what you are, would it not be correct in saying that I am a member of the Ismaili Community?"

Recently we held a Tsunami Benefit show in our town, being initiated by us (me and my partner) collaborated with 9 other East Asian Organizations like Tamil, India Canada, East Indian etc etc. In almost all the cases our shows are attending by mostly Ismaili's, however, this time were directly told not to refer to ourselves as "members of the Ismaili Community" To this I was quite disturbed that for such a humanitarian cause, being that our beloved Imam has worked so hard over many years to ensure our true Identity as his Ismaili Murids, being a sect or parcel of the Islamic Faith, we were only doing this for all the right reasons. I totally feel that our local councils have too much beauracracy and thus cannot achieve such plights like building bridges amongs other east asian and ethnic communities for the sole purpose of mankind. However, our beloved Imam can collaborate amongst various entities across the world to put up a super Al-Azhar park structure for all the world to see.

Your thoughts on this as this is quite an open forum!
unnalhaq
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 8:20 pm

Re: clarification of the term "member of Ismaili Commun

Post by unnalhaq »

jugdish wrote:I totally feel that our local councils have too much beauracracy and thus cannot achieve such plights like building bridges amongs other east asian and ethnic communities for the sole purpose of mankind.
I think as an Ismaili it is the Imam's clear and direct Farman that was given recently (in 2000 or 01) in East Africa to stand up for beliefs and not to hide but to share what is your interpretation of Islam, your Faith. May be someone can post the exact Farman.

My Religion is Islam and my faith is Ismaili.
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