Please Click: Sacred Spaces
Date posted: Sunday, November 20, 2016.
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Silk Road Travelogue: Photos of Historic Kashgar and Spectacular Drive Through the Karakoram Highway to Tashkurgan
Please Click: Photos of Exhilarating Kashgar and Scenic Drive to Tashkurgan
Photo: Ali Karim. Copyright. Please click for more photos.
Date posted: November 15, 2016.
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Part 2 of Silk Road Travelogue by Ali Karim: Turpan and Historic Kashgar
PLEASE CLICK: Ali Karim’s Second Installment Covers Ancient Historic Sites, Vibrant Markets, Beautiful People and Impressive Mosques in Turpan and Kashgar
Please click on image for second installment in a special series on the Silk Road. Photos: Ali Karim. Copyright.
Date posted: November 9, 2016.
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Exclusive Coverage of the Aga Khan Award For Architecture, with Photos and Transcript of Extempore Remarks of Mawlana Hazar Imam in Dubai, UAE
PLEASE CLICK: Special Coverage – Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Visit to the UAE
Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran, one of 6 projects to win the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Photo: Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Barzin Baharlouie. Please click on photo for special report.
Date posted: Monday, November 7, 2016.
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2016 US Presidential Election: An American Reflects on Conversations on Radio, Mart, Street and Travel
BY SARA BADRUDDIN
The word on the street
The words through upstate roads read;
‘Trump & Pence — make America great again’.
Broken parts and broken starts looking for a change.
A shake up! a break up! A nuclear-headed rake up.
Of wall-making, fear-shaking, yet history has shown,
the best way to make ahead, use the pen not the sword.
‘No free lunch’, no free feathers, no easy out from your niche,
you just gotta work hard, get an education, know your holes from your stitch.
‘Female use, it ain’t abuse, No matter what they say’,
Let’s set it straight, no time to wait,
Nov 8th’s election day!
She’s a game, more o’ the same, the white under cover:
more false guise, no paradise, something hidden it does seem.
The word on the radio, the mart, at the gym,
‘Scratch my back,I’ll scratch yours, Forget about him!’
‘She’s experienced, makes a difference, tolerated throughout nations’,
breaking fences, donning graces, success is in the patience.
People jaded, energy faded, Fear mongering, naught will do,
illegals out, immigration in, to rise further than you know who.
Elbow grease, past below your knees, then you’ll better your very lot.
White is right but tan I must, insulate home, not the foreign polyglot.
The clothes in the closet
Ohhhhh, and…
Ahhhhhh, Harlequin you are.
Power. ego. money?
Envenomations.
Elapidae & Crotalidae in guise.
Which poison you reckon, is best disguised?
Venom of power or ego or flair,
slithery? quick-tongued?, which one do you dare?
The danger of rage, blind-sighted and leather,
the devious smirk, quiet slide on shiny bed feather.
Silken and sweet tongues, words we can share,
but mine is the power, alone you can fare.
Yet once home, the snakeskin as all, comes undone,
but I am the President! The powerful one.
The person on the street
Energy drained, folk feeling behind,
Investments external, is there justice in kind?
‘Drain the swamp’, yes, drain swamp do.
Politics done, a new way to brew.
Media blazing, immigrant hazing, create ploys clouding clarity!
If they focus on ruffles, rather than meat of the truffle,
their real work, truly a rarity!
‘Cyber bully, White Nationalist, multiculturalism, she’s Communist’.
Imbalanced see-saw, as a disease, swirling left, right and skelter,
unkempt is our nation, many in frustration,
kind neighbors give some shelter.
Fix our homeland, strengthen friendship,
responsible care and understanding.
Why unconscionable, intelligent people?
Where will we go with these misunderstandings?
Welfare city, 40K pretty, when the rest work so hard,
create jobs, not fancy knobs, civil society is the card.
Date posted: November 4, 2016.
Copyright: Sara Badruddin/Simerg. 2016.
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Sara Badruddin lives north of USA’s southern states. This piece reflects her experiences of conversations on radio, the mart, the street, and the travels on the eastern part of the USA and Canada as pertaining to the election for US President on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
Silk Road Travelogue by Ali Karim: An Invitation to a Great Adventure
Please click on image for first installment in a special series on the Silk Road. Photos: Ali Karim. Copyright.
Date posted: Friday, October 28, 2016.
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National Geographic: Remote Gojal in N. Pakistan where 20,000 Ismailis Live, Is Nothing Like You’d Expect
“Alvi, dressed in low-hanging shorts and a Yankees cap, is far from a fundamentalist: He’s Wakhi, part of an ethnic group with Persian origins. And like everyone else here, he is Ismaili—a follower of a moderate branch of Islam whose imam is the Aga Khan, currently residing in France. There are 15 million Ismailis around the world, and 20,000 live here in the Gojal region of northern Pakistan.” — Matthieu Paley, National Geographic, October 24, 2016.
One of the most striking and beautiful group portraits on Simerg is the one below by world renowned photographer Matthieu Paley that shows Ismaili girls commemorating a visit by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, to the Pamirs in the 1990’s. Paley has just contributed a magnificent story and photographs for National Geographic. See his piece by clicking on the image below or on This Remote Pakistani Village Is Nothing Like You’d Expect by Matthieu Paley.
The photo was taken during Didar (Invitation) – a celebration that takes place on 28th of May every year to commemorate the anniversary of the Aga Khan’s visit to the village in the 1990s. During the celebrations the villagers dress up, dance outdoors to the accordion and drums and sing ginane (religious songs), which tell of him being their Noor (Light). The photograph was taken as these girls, dressed in bright atlas silk fabric with crowns on their heads, were going out to dance. Photo: Matthieu Paley. Copyright.
For Matthieu Paley’s photos on Simerg, please click Matthieu Paley: Journey to the Roof of the World (Portraits of Ismailis).
And, please do not miss our last post, New Video: An Inspiring Moment that Will Never Be Forgotten as Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Blesses Murids in Kyrgyzstan
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STARTING SOON AT SIMERGPHOTOS: ALI KARIM’S SILK ROAD TRAVELOGUE
Later this week, http://www.Simergphotos.com will begin to serialize a travelogue by Ali Karim of his recent visit to parts of the Silk Road, including Xinjiang and Hunza. Do not miss Karim’s memorable post commencing in a few days.
A scene from Kashgar’s vibrant night market. Photo: Ali Karim. Copyright.
Date posted: October 25, 2016.
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New Video: An Inspiring Moment that Will Never Be Forgotten as Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Blesses Murids in Kyrgyzstan
“I wish you all success, good health, happiness, everything you wish, everything you wish for, Best Blessings.” – Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan. Please see one minute video footage from October 19, 2016, below.
LETTER FROM PUBLISHER
By Abdulmalik Merchant
Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, pictured at the Olympia Hall, London, during his weeklong visit to the United Kingdom Jamat in September 1979. Seated next to him on the stage are Mukhi Noordin Jivraj and Kamadia Nizar Dhanani. Photo: Jehangir Merchant Collection.
Some 37 years ago, my dad (Alwaez Rai Jehangir Merchant) wrote a piece for Ilm magazine on Mawlana Hazar Imam’s memorable week long visit to the United Kingdom jamats held at the beginning of September 1979. He mentioned about the unbounded joy originating from the souls of the members of the UK Ismailis when the visit was announced with a talika read in Jamatkhanas on July 7th, 1979. Then, describing the last few moments of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s final day of his seven day memorable stay in England, my dad wrote:
“In his infinite mercy and grace, Mawlana Hazar Imam then blessed the jamat for happiness, good health, unity, success in spiritual happiness, success in worldly happiness and for remaining on the Straight Path. What more would the mu’mins wish? Their Imam, their beloved Mawla had blessed them munificently. Tears were streaming from their eyes in reverence and devotion for their beloved Mawla for the immense love he had shown towards them….Very slowly and graciously, Mawla walked all around the [Olympia] hall to be as near to his spiritual children as possible for the last time during this visit. When he arrived at the exit of the hall, he majestically turned towards his spiritual children, stood there in all his glory for one brief moment, showered his Noor on the whole assembly of souls and then moved away from the sight of his beloved spiritual children who had all made him so very very happy.”
I mention this anecdote because something remarkable and inspiring happened a few days ago on October 19, 2016 in Kyrgyzstan as Mawlana Hazar Imam visited the new Naryn campus of the University of Central Asia. An amateur video footage that we have received captures the excitement, uncontrollable joy, happiness and emotion from a group of Ismaili murids as Mawlana Hazar Imam most graciously walks over to them, and from a very close distance, with hands stretched out, graciously and lovingly blesses them with the following words:
“I wish you all success, good health, happiness, everything you wish, everything you wish for, Best Blessings.”
The voices that we hear in the footage as Mawlana Hazar Imam steps in the direction of his followers (“Ya Hazar Imam”), and when he leaves them after fulfilling their dreams and filling their hearts, minds and souls with peace and unbounded spiritual happiness is a testament to the faith and love that each and every Ismaili around the world holds for his or her beloved Imam.
WATCH FOOTAGE OF MAWLANA HAZAR IMAM BLESSING MURIDS IN KYRGYZSTAN ON OCTOBER 19, 2016
Inshallah, the jamats all over the world will be blessed with the Imam’s Holy Deedar during the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee Celebration as we commemorate 60 years of his glorious and magnificent reign as our 49th Imam on July 11, 2017.
It is not in vain that Ismaili Pirs and missionaries wrote how fortunate the Ismaili people are to attain the recognition of the Imam of the Time, who is the direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.). Pir Sadardin wrote:
Eji Anand anand kariyo rikhisaro,
Awwal Shah tamey paya
Rejoice! O you who are on the True Path, rejoice!
For you have the Supreme Master.
On that note, we convey our heartiest felicitations and mubaraki to everyone who was present in Naryn to gain the Imam’s blessings, and wish to express our heartful thanks to the individual who has shared this video with us for the benefit of all our readers.
Date posted: October 21, 2016.
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Supreme Knowledge: A Sublime Gift of Ismaili Ginans – A Commentary on Pir Sadardin’s Ginan Karshanaji Bhanare Arjun Sambharo by Shiraz Pradhan
PIR SADARDIN SAYS:
The True Guide is the Sustainer of the Universe
Channel your devotion to this (True) Guide
And you shall attain to the Eternal Station….translation, verse 8
PLEASE CLICK: Supreme Knowledge: A Sublime Gift of Ismaili Ginans
Gujarati text of ginan Karsanaji Bhanare Arjun Sambharo composed by Pir Sadardin. Image: Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Please click on image for commentary and link to recitation.
Date posted: Friday, October 21, 2016.
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Forthcoming: Silk Road Travelogue by Ali Karim
Ali (right) and Dilshad at a Pakistani restaurant in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. Ali’s travelogue on the couple’s trip to China and Northern Pakistan will be seriaized in Simergphotos commencing week of October 24, 2016. Photo: Ali Karim. Copyright.
My wife Dilshad and I had been dreaming about travelling along the Silk Road in China and Pakistan for years, and so when we had an Expo we needed to attend in Shanghai, and since the season was right, we decided to make this trip happen in May/June this year. Since Western China and Northern Pakistan are remote and non-touristy places, we had to spend several months researching and planning the trip; what to see and what to do.
The trip was absolutely worth it and we highly recommend that everyone do this trip if they can. I hope you enjoy my trip blog and pictures which will be serialized in http://www.simergphotos.com commencing week of October 24, 2016.
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Photo Essay: The Dargah of Nizamuddin Aulia and Its Basti Through the Lens of Muslim Harji
“The dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia is the unquestionable historic, religious, and geographic origin of the neighborhood, the reason it came into existence, and the reason it continues to draw visitors from the world over.” — Michael Snyder, Columbia Undergraduate Journal of South Asian Studies
PLEASE CLICK: The Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
While walking deeper inside the Nizamuddin basti, the bursting aroma of sandalwood agarbattis (incense) mingle with the smell of the city and the open courtyard of the dargah is gradually filled with men and women. The agarbattis and diyas brightens up the dark closure, with each person lighting up to 20 agarbattis at a particular time in order to get purified of the evil and to clean the air of the surrounding negativity. It is said that the saint’s powers can cure people from all the djinns and negativity surrounding their bodies and hence leave them purified. Photo: Muslim Harji. Copyright. Please click on image for story and photos.
Date posted: October 13, 2016.
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Simerg - Insights from Around the World 