Note: A downloadable PDF file is now available containing all the 31 narratives in this series. Please click Download Complete I Wish I’d Been There Series – PDF
Please click links or images below for individual articles
- Ghadir-Khumm and the Two Weighty Matters
- Ikhwan al-Safa
- The Love for Ali
- The Eid-i Qiyama!
- Al-Qahirah: Then and Now
- Khawja Nasir Tusi’s Tales
- Pir Satgur Nur: Miracles in Ginan ‘Putla’
- Ismaili Penmanship in 1906
- Discourses of Hazrat Ali
- Ibn Ridwan and Supernova 1006
- Light the Candle of Wisdom in the Heart
- A Fida’i Mission: Into Saladin’s Tent
- His Name is Jawhar
- Inferno of Alamut
- Fatimid Power and Learning Spirit
- A Young Murid Aspires to Understand Commonalities Between Past and Present
- Hazrat Ali’s Example: What We Can Do Today
- Varas Ismail Gangji: The Turning Point
- The Three Kings Without Crowns
- “Riding Forth to Open the Canal” with Nasir Khusraw
- Weaving a Web of Silence, Only to Know
- A Christian Envoy at the Ghadir Khumm Campsite
- Volunteering at the Dawn of the Age of Imamat
- The Unveiling at Sijilmasa
- Beginnings….
- Another Shalimar
- A Unique Moment in the Life of the Punjab Jamat
- The Faith of My Forefathers
- 13th-14th Century “Avatar” Discourses; 1885 – Aga Khan III Investiture; 1907 – Aga Khan III in New York
- The Mind of Yazid, the Faith of Hussein
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IMAGE: A DESERT SCENE
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IMAGE: HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN III INSTALLATION
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IMAGE: A FOLIO FROM A GINAN MANUSCRIPT AND A SCENE ON THE FRONT COVER OF TAZIM KASSAM’S BOOK “SONGS OF WISDOM AND CIRCLES OF DANCE”
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IMAGE: TWO BOATS TO REFLECT IMAM SULTAN MUHAMMAD SHAH’S GUIDANCE TO THE PUNJAB JAMAT (IN QUOTES)
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IMAGE: SHALIMAR GARDENS, LAHORE, PAKISTAN
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IMAGE: A DESERT SCENE
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IMAGE: MAP OF CURRENT DAY MOROCCO SHOWING THE RELATIVE LOCATION OF SIJILMASA WHERE IMAM AL-MAHDI REVEALED HIMSELF
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IMAGE: A REPRESENTATION OF THE KAABA SHOWN ON THE COVER OF A EUROPEAN EDITION OF ONE OF BARNABY ROGERSON’S BOOK
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IMAGE: A ‘SPIDER’ WEB AND A PHOTO TO REFLECT THE NARRATIVE OF THE PROPHET’S MIGRATION TO MEDINA AND THE AGA KHAN’S VISIT TO BADAKSHAN
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IMAGE: A VINTAGE PRINT ILLUSTRATING THE NILOMETER IN CAIRO
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IMAGE: A PORTRAIT OF VARAS GANGJI ALONGSIDE HIS MOTHER’S QUOTE ON TRUTH
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IMAGE: AN ISMAILI CROWD IN BADAKHSHAN AS THEY LISTEN TO THEIR 49TH IMAM, HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN
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IMAGE: A MODERN DAY PAINTING DEPICTING THE ALAMUT VALLEY
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IMAGE: A SIGN REFLECTING THE WRITER’S TOPIC
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IMAGE: A VINTAGE PRINT OF THE AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY
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IMAGE: A MODERN DAY CASTLE ON FIRE
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IMAGE: FATIMID ARMY AND ARMORY BASED ON AVAILABLE DESCRIPTIONS, WITH A PORTRAIT OF JAWHAR
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IMAGE: A STATUE OF NASIR KHUSRAW IN BADAKHSHAN
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IMAGE: A MEDIEVAL SCENE – ARMY AND TENTS SET IN A VALLEY IN THE MIDST OF MOUNTAINS.
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IMAGE: JUST OVER A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, THE STELLAR EXPLOSION KNOWN AS SUPERNONVA SN 1006 WAS OBSERVED AND RECORDED BY FATIMID ASTRONOMER IBN RIDWAN. THIS COMPOSITE VIEW INCLUDES X-RAY DATA IN BLUE FROM CHANDRA OBSERVATORY, OPTICAL DATA IN YELLOWISH HUES AND RADIO IMAGE DATA IN RED.
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IMAGE: A FOLIO FROM HAZRAT ALI’S NAHJ AL-BALAGHA (PEAKS OF ELOQUENCE). PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA.
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IMAGE: AN ANTIQUE PEN, A THUMBNAIL PHOTO OF ALI VELJI AND A LINE FROM HIS GUJARATI NOTEBOOK
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IMAGE: THE MAUSOLEUM OF PIR SATGUR NUR IN NAVSARI, GUJARAT, INDIA, AND A THUMBNAIL DEPICTING A PUTLA (IDOL).
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IMAGE: TOP LEFT IS IMAGE CROPPED FROM AZERBAIZAN STAMP COMMEMORATING TUSI’S 800TH ANIVERSARY, THEN CLOCKWISE: TUSI WITH STUDENTS, MARAGHA OBSERVATORY, MONGOL SIEGE AT ALAMUT, CONTEMPORARY ART WORK OF THE ALAMUT CASTLE AND ADJOINING VALLEY
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IMAGE: AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY, A PLATE OF EGYPTIAN PASTRY KAHK, PLANET MARS, IMAM MUI’ZZ FATIMID GOLD DINAR, A VIEW OF CAIRO FROM AL-AZHAR PARK
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IMAGE: HASAN-I SABBAH ACQUIRED THE FORTRESS OF ALAMUT FROM A CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL NAMED MAHDI, AND GAVE A DRAFT OF 3,000 GOLD DINARS AS THE PRICE OF THE CASTLE. THE VELLUM DOCUMENT IN THE CENTRE OF THE IMAGE IS DEEMED TO BE A LATER COPY OF THIS DRAFT. PHOTO: THE INSTITUTE OF ISMAILI STUDIES.
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IMAGE: A MODERN COMPUTER-AIDED SHI`ITE CALLIGRAPHIC DESIGN, WITH THE NAME OF `ALI IN THE CENTER. CALLIGRAPHY HAS THE PROPHET’S WORDS “DHIKR ALI IBADA” (REMEMBRANCE OF ALI IS AN ACT OF WORSHIP).” SOURCE: AL-ISLAM.ORG
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IMAGE: THE EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT (LEFT) OF THE RASA’IL IN THE INSTITUTE OF ISMAILI STUDIES COLLECTION PROBABLY ORIGINATES FROM SYRIA AND WAS COPIED IN THE MID-THIRTEENTH CENTURY; OTHER MANUSCRIPTS IN THE COLLECTION WERE COPIED BETWEEN THE SIXTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES IN PERSIA AND INDIA. CREDIT: THE INSTITUTE OF ISMAILI STUDIES.
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Design and Art Work by Nurin Merchant, Grade 12, Colonel By Secondary School Ottawa. Copyright: Simerg.com.
Thumbnail images in outer border depict scenes from Ismaili history.
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