Ismaili volunteer « Simerg – Insights from Around the World

Rajabali Mecklai served in numerous capacities as a volunteer both in Uganda and Canada for many years but he registered as a badged Ismaili volunteer over 30 years ago. His late wife, Maleksultan, was a motivating force of his volunteering activities. She passed away in Vancouver’s downtown Drake Jamatkhana at the call of prayer on Friday, August 16 1996. Rajabali’s deep affection and closeness to Maleksultan is shown by the love letters he wrote in her memory, many of which he shares with his friends and youth of the Jamat….Read more of this first piece in Simerg’s new series

Please click for article on Rajabali Mecklai, the first piece in Simerg’s special series on Ismaili Volunteers from Around the World. Image: Simerg.

Please contribute your stories, see STORIES OF ISMAILI VOLUNTEERS.

In History in Quotations, which reflects five thousand years of World History, authors M. J. Cohen and John Major write as follows:

“Muhammad said:

‘He of whom I am the Mawla (patron), Ali is his Mawla. O God, be the friend of him who is his friend and be the enemy of his enemy.’

“This became the proof text for the Shia claim that Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, was the Prophet’s rightful successor after the Prophet’s death in 632. The meaning of Mawla here probably implies the role of patron, lord or protector.”

The authors then sum up by stating that through the use of the term Mawla, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) was giving Mawlana Ali (a.s.) the parity with himself in this function. Dr. Aziz Kurwa, a long serving member of the Ismaili community, takes us to the beginning of Islamic and Ismaili history and imaginatively constructs the role he played as a volunteer on that eventful and historic occasion, a day which was described by one of our readers as “an introduction to a new world order”. Aziz Kurwa was among the thirty-one who contributed to Simerg’s highly acclaimed series I Wish I’d Been There.

Please click on image below or: Volunteering at the Dawn of the Age of Imamat

London, 1979: His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismailis and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s) receiving Fatimid Gold dinars from Dr. Aziz Kurwa, a long serving leader of the Ismaili community who was at the time President of the Ismailia Association for the U.K.