Note to readers, May 12, 2025: Please see an enlarged version of this post with more remarks by Prince Aly Khan and plenty of photographs. Click Prince Aly Khan, grandfather of His Highness the Aga Khan, on self-effacement, welfare of the Ismailis, and principles of Islam – Barakah

By PRINCE ALY KHAN

“Unity and self-effacement are the greatest contributions we can make individually to the rest of the community.

“By self-effacement, I mean the forgetting of oneself sometimes and making one’s personal interests subservient to those of the largest number. If self-effacement is achieved, the foundation of unity will have been well and truly laid. For, at present, it is the consciousness of one’s self-importance and dignity which is making people forget their duties and responsibilities, and indulge in petty squabbles and bitter trivialities.

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“The welfare of the Ismailis is so near and dear to my heart that I cannot light-heartedly bring myself to overlook the weak points of the community. It is by recognizing our own faults that we can hope to improve. Let us realize that in the matter of helping our brethren we have much to learn from our sister communities, and that if we ever hope to achieve what we have set out to, we must resolutely follow the principles of the faith, be guided by the lives of men like Hasan bin Sabah and Pir Sadar Din and concentrate on the two most important principles of life — namely, Unity and Service of the Imam-e-Zaman and Community.” — Excerpts from Ismaili, India, February 2, 1941.

Last updated: May 12, 2025.

The featured photo at the top of the post is of Prince Aly Khan in Mozambique, 1957. Photograph: Jehangir Merchant Collection.

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