Note: The post is now in the Essays and Letters category; please click: An Ismaili Reflects on the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
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An Ismaili Reflects on the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and Asks Community to Peep Into Its Recent Past by Ameer Janmohamed
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Ismailis have always remained loyal citizens of the countries of their adoption. With the guidance of the Imam of the Time we have sought to implement the ethics of Islam and tried to live in peace, and avoid conflicts.
Lovely article, beautifully written and very informative – as a British-Canadian, I wish I was there to celebrate in all the pomp, celebrations and street parties but I too will be glued to the television. Long Live the Queen.
This article is very timely and well written to remind us of the nostalgic celebrations of Jubilees in our community. However, I would have liked some reference to the Golden and Diamond jubilees of Hazrat Imam Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan III in Hasanabad and Brabourne Stadium in Bombay.
Thank you. Links to other jubilee pieces have been incorporated into Mr. Janmohamed’s article.
Nice. Ameer talks about our good fortune on being citizens of United Kingdom, with its freedoms and rule of law, and rightly so. All anniversaries are times for nostalgia and thanksgiving. At this particular one, we remember shedding tears as the young Princess Elizabeth came down the aeroplane (as we said in those days) steps in her dark coat and of course we remember that it was in Kenya at the parks where the news was broken to her. In those days we cried lots at funerals. I think most of us cried at the death of King George VI, reading the traditional headline, “The King is Dead, Long Live the Queen”, and rather wondered that the Princess looked quite composed coming down those steps.
This year is the Golden Jubilee of Uganda’s independence and the 40th anniversary of our expulsion from Uganda. It’s time for nostalgia and thanksgiving. Not just by our community but all Ugandans in Uganda and the diaspora – and by all Uganda Asian communties who came to UK and Canada. Uganda is unrecognizable compared to 1972 and Africans play important roles in the economy. Uganda Asians in UK give thanks to Edward Heath that he bowed to the inevitable and recognized the UK’s responsibility to accept her citizens. Year-long festivities are planned in UK, much cause for celebrations as Uganda Asians in UK did immensely well, by all accounts much better than those who went to Canada.
If I may say so, one jubilee Ameer failed to mention is the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee, the relevance of it being that he actually recounted that in 1957 there were less than 100 Ismailis in UK. In 1952 I believe the figure was half that. 1972 changed all that when the Uganda refugees arrived.