A QUANTUM LEAP

By Farouk B.K.S. Verjee

Parliament Hill

27th February, 2014 will be etched as a momentous day in Ismaili history with Mawlana Hazar Imam becoming the first faith leader in 75 years to address the Joint Session of the Parliament of Canada, at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Our group of invitees who travelled to Parliament in a coach proudly sang “O Canada,” and as we reached the snow-covered lawns of the Parliament Building we saw the Imamat flag flying on the hill. We had truly arrived!

The Chamber of the House of Commons was filled to capacity. Shortly after 11 a.m as Mawlana Hazar Imam entered the House to rousing applause from both sides of the House, my eyes welled up in tears as I travelled back in time to the Silver Jubilee.

I had been the Hon. Secretary of the Ismaili Council for Canada during Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Silver Jubilee visit, and was thinking back to how far we had come since his first visit to the House during the Jubilee in April, 1983. Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister, and Zulficar Lalji our National President. During that visit, Mawlana Hazar Imam was recognised from the Distinguished Visitors’ Gallery by the speaker of the House, Madame Jeanne Sauve.

After a raucous question period relating to a budget leak, the late Prime Minister invited Hazar Imam, Prince Amyn Muhammad and the accompanying Ismaili leaders to his office. He immediately asked if we would like to have a picture taken (see photo above). It was like being in seventh heaven! Prime Minister Trudeau praised our jamats’ engagement in all aspects of National Life, having arrived here only a decade earlier. It is a well know-historical fact that the Prime Minister facilitated the settlement of thousands of stateless Asians, including Ismailis, after they were forced to leave Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Referring to the rowdy question period earlier, the Prime Minister jokingly said it was like going to the dentist every day! The charismatic Mr. Trudeau with his usual panache was always at his very best with his sharp wit.

At one point I quipped that hopefully by the next Jubilee we would have Ismailis in the House. The Prime Minister with his typical shrug said, “Why not earlier?” Until recently we had Yasmin Rattansi (Liberal — Toronto) and Rahim Jaffer (Conservative — Edmonton) as Federal MP’s. Mobina Jaffer sits in the Senate.

Last week’s address by Mawlana Hazar Imam to both houses was extensive, and was punctuated by numerous applauses. It ended beautifully with the following quote from the Holy Qur’an:

“Oh Mankind, fear your Lord, who created you of a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them scattered abroad many men and women.”

Following the joint session of Parliament, Prime Minister Harper and Mawlana Hazar Imam signed an important Protocol of Understanding with the Government of Canada and the Ismaili Imamat in the Hallway of Honour, which was draped with our National flag and the Imamat flag. As part of this historical visit Mawlana Hazar Imam also signed the distinguished Visitors Books of the House of Commons and the Senate.

Massey Hall

On the following day, a very large gathering of some 2500 people from all walks of life attended Massey Hall in Toronto to hear both the Prime Minister and Mawlana Hazar Imam.

As we huddled outside the iconic 120 year old building in extreme weather with a temperature of around -28c with windshield, to go through the security checks, I was impressed by the number of non-Ismailis who were lining up in good cheer to hear our Imam. One individual got a large canister of Starbucks coffee and handed it out freely to the freezing crowd!

Our jamat can be truly proud of the events at the Parliament and Massey Hall and we can now all look forward to the opening this year in Toronto of the magnificent Ismaili Centre, the Aga Khan Museum and the Park.

Date posted: Friday, March 7, 2014.

Copyright: Farouk Verjee/Simerg. 2014.

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Click on  Aga Khan Signs Visitors Books to watch a brief 1 minute video of the signing ceremony.

Other related links at Simerg:

• Photo Collection and Stirring Speech Excerpts of His Highness the Aga Khan at Simergphotos
• His Highness the Aga Khan at the Parliament of Canada: Selected Excerpts from the Live English Translation of Remarks Made in French

About the writer: Farouk B.K.S. Verjee served as the Honorary Secretary of His Highness the Aga Khan Ismaili Council for Canada for a period of 5 years from 1979-1984, following which he became its President until 1987. His terms of office saw the foundation laying ceremony of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre (a Silver Jubilee Project) by the Honourable Henry Bell-Irving, Lieutenant-Governor General of British Columbia, as well as its opening in 1985 by Canada’s Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney. Both the ceremonies took place in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam and members of the Noorani family. In a farman made to the jamat on the opening day, Mawlana Hazar Imam declared the jamatkhana as Canada’s darkhana. 

Watch short 1 minute video of the signing ceremony, please click on story:  Conservatives Harvested Emails