SALGIRAH MUBARAK TO ISMAILIS AROUND THE WORLD

A portrait of His Highness the Aga Khan. Photo: Jean-Marc Carisse. Copyright.

Introduced by Abdulmalik Merchant
(Editor: Simerg, Simergphotos and barakah)

Spread in various countries around the world, the Shia Imami Ismailis have their own innumerable ways for celebrating important religious occasions according to their various cultural, social and religious traditions and backgrounds. One very important occasion in the annual calendar of the Ismailis is the Salgirah, or the birthday of their Imam. His Highness the Aga Khan is their present Imam, and Ismailis around the world are  marking his 80th Salgirah on December 13, 2016.

His 80th birthday makes Mawlana Hazar Imam’s lifespan the longest in the chain of forty-nine Imams who have succeeded as hereditary Imams after Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.). The previous Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan III, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah (November 2, 1877 – July 11, 1957), lived almost 80 years! Combined, the reigns of the successive 48th and 49th Imams have lasted and incredible 131 years! Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah became Imam at the age of 7, and reigned for 72 years while Mawlana Shah Karim al-Hussaini became Imam on July 11, 1957 at the age of 20, and has already reigned for 59 years. Simerg has dedicated a special website, http://www.barakah.com, to celebrate his Diamond Jubilee, and extensive material will be added to barakah during the next several months leading to the Diamond Jubilee next July.

For this historical and singularly auspicious Salgirah, we extend our heartiest congratulation to Mawlana Hazar Imam and the Noorani family as well as to all Ismailis around the world. We join with all our readers to offer prayers for Mawlana Hazar Imam’s long life and good health and pray that every Ismaili may have barakah and spiritual peace through his blessings. We also pray for jamati members who are facing hardships and difficulties in many parts of the world, such as in Syria, with hope that peace and security may return to their homelands.

The following excerpts from Mawlana Hazar Imam’s farmans and articles will enhance the readers’ understanding about the occasion as well as the special relationship that binds the Imam of the Time with his spiritual children.

Hazar Imam’s Profound Birthday Wish

“I would like my Jamat to think what is the meaning of a birthday in an individual’s life and what is is the meaning of a birthday in Imam’s life. What can a jamat give to Imam on his birthday and what would really make him happy, and, after all, this, in an individual’s life and in Imam’s life, should and must be a day of happiness.

“Jamat can give me one happiness; that is that they should be united, that they should be regular in all jamat work and that they should live in the best tradition of my spiritual children.  My East Pakistan [now Bangladesh – ed.] jamats have given me this gift for nine days and I want you to know that today is not only a symbolic birthday but it is a real birthday, it is a day of real happiness for me.”

“….My jamat should accept in all matters nothing but the best; this means that you should seek to improve your worldly conditions by every means possible so long as you remain within our faith. Spiritually this means that you have to be regular in prayer, regular in service, regular in attendance in jamatkhana.” — Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Farman Mubarak, Dacca, December 9, 1964. [1]

Imam’s Guidance and Love Through Noor (Light) of Imamat Guides His Community to Worldly and Spiritual Satisfaction

“You have gathered here today to wish me a happy birthday and to reaffirm your loyalty and love to your Imam. My happiness at being with you on this occasion is deep and pure; all my thoughts, all my hopes and all my prayers are for you.

“Since the 11th of July 1957, all my aims and ambitions have been devoted to help and guide my spiritual children in spiritual and worldly matters. The happiness which I have gained from my work, the encouragement to carry more and more responsibility and undertake more and more projects, the continuous search for truth in all matters, all this has been due to you.

“For hundreds of years, my spiritual children have been guided by the rope of Imamat; you have looked to the Imam of the Age for advice and help in all matters and through your Imam’s immense love and affection for his spiritual children, his Noor has indicated to you where and in which direction you must turn, so as to obtain spiritual and worldly satisfaction.” Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Farman Mubarak, Karachi, December 13, 1964 [2]

Faith and Spiritual Humility in a Rapidly Advancing Material World

“During the next generations, you will be living in a world of increasing material plenty, of voluminous material activity, and where a large part of man’s intelligence and thought will be devoted to providing material benefits to you.

“In the minds of some, there may be one day, some confusion as to the meaning and necessity for faith and if my spiritual children were ever to manage their lives in such a way as to come to believe that their minds create rather than having been created and that their material comfort is such that spiritual humility is  no longer warranted, I can tell you now that the true and real happiness, which I pray it should be your blessing to experience will never touch your hearts.

“Any rapid change in your material surroundings will impose upon you immense unhappiness, immense worry and frustration. You will fall to understand that the material benefits will have produced in your hearts only dissatisfaction and disillusionment, when in fact you have in front of you every day from sunrise to sunset, from this world to all the others, from the smallest material particle to the creation of life itself, a visual and intellectual proof that as yet man has succeeded only in a minute manner to influence the world in which he lives and that this influence has been exercised only on what some misguided believe to be the significant aspect of human life on earth and that is the material one. Our concept has always maintained worldly matters where they belong and I am convinced that as a whole my jamat is a great deal happier than many others who have unlimited material wealth but who know not from where this wealth comes, what is its value, and why it is, even in practical terms, tending to become more and more of a burden rather than a blessing.” Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Farman Mubarak, Karachi, December 13, 1964. [2]

Blessings

“On this happy day I rejoice in being with my spiritual children and in the knowledge that their spiritual and moral strength is such as to allow them to benefit from many more worldly goods without forsaking the remembrance of, and the submission to, ‘He from whom we have come and to whom we will return’.

“I give on this occasion to each and every spiritual child here and every spiritual child today living in this world, my most affectionate paternal maternal loving blessings: Khanavadan, Khanavadan.” Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Farman Mubarak, Karachi, December 13, 1964. [2]

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References:

[1]. Hikmat, His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismailia Association for Canada [now Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board, ed.], Salgirah issue, December 13, 1986, Vol. II, No. VIII, p. 3.
[2]. Ismaili Mirror, Pak Ismailia Publication, Garden Jamatkhana, 13 December 1974, Karachi, Pakistan, p. 5. Also see Hikmat, Vol II, No. VI, February/March 1986, p. 1.

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READINGS ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SALGIRAH

	Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Salgirah and the Depth of His Love for the Jamat The term Salgirah is of Persian origin. Sal means anniversary and girah means knot and hence Salgirah literally means ‘an anniversary knot added on to a string kept for the purpose’. This article approaches the subject of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s birthday in terms of the Imam’s love for his murids and the love and devotion of the murids for their Imam.
	In Salgirah Ginan Pir Sadr al-Din Asks Mu’mins to Act Righteously and Gain Spiritual Recognition of Imam-e-Zaman + Listen to ginan at Ginan Central Eji Dhan Dhan Aajano has attained a very special status because it is primarily recited during the festivities marking the birthday of Mawlana Hazar Imam. The appropriateness of reciting the ginan during Salgirah will become apparent as we try to understand the ginan and its underlying spiritual teachings. To listen to various renditions of Eji Dhan Dhan (#160),  as well as over 760 other ginans please click http://ginans.usask.ca/recitals/ginans.php?id=0.
	The Preamble Of “The Constitution of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims” The new Ismaili Constitution was ordained, signed and sealed by His Highness the Aga Khan on December 13th, 1986, his 50th birthday. His Highness did this with the belief that the Constitution would provide a strong institutional and organizational framework for his Ismaili community to contribute meaningfully to the societies among whom they live.
	His Highness the Aga Khan and the Ismailis . On the occasion of His Highness the Aga Khan’s 75th birthday on December 13, 2011, Simerg published a three-part photo essay tribute to the 49th Ismaili Imam. For those who may have missed, the series has been consolidated into a captivating one piece photo essay, which can be read by clicking on the above link.

Date posted: December 12, 2016.

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