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Interview: India Today Interview (1st)
As Imam of the Ismaili sect, I am in a position to adapt the teachings of the Qur’an to the modern condition. On the question of modernity the issue is essentially whether one is affecting the fundamental moral fabric of society or whether one is affecting the fundamentals of religious practice. As … Read more
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Interview: Riad Naguib El-Rais Interview – ‘The Critical Time’
God has favoured me with the blessing of Islam. I think that many religions find it difficult to adapt to or to live in an evolving world. Not so with a Muslim who believes in the omnipresence of God. In Islam, there is no dichotomy between the spiritual and the temporal. I have endeavoured all… Read more
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Speech: AKDN Enabling Environment Conference Opening Session
One challenge facing you as participants in this conference is to find specific ways to nurture, and to draw lessons from, these private experiments with quality and efficient management. In particular, I think there are four questions that deserve your attention: Read more
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Video Interview: CBC Interview (1st), Man Alive
One of the most difficult questions I ask and, and I’ve asked it I don’t know how many times, is simply “What is the definition of happiness for a peasant in Asia or Africa?” If we can’t answer that question we don’t know what are the elements that contribute and the priorities of those elements,… Read more
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Speech: Opening Remarks, Tenth Seminar, ‘Architecture Education in the Islamic World’, AKAA
The starting point for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture was a realisation that changing social and economic conditions, coupled with the accelerating pace of technological development, were inflicting upon the world’s 800 million Muslims an environment which often did not reflect their culture, t… Read more
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Interview: Pakistan Television Corporation Interview
I think in terms of, let us say, the philosophical environment in which an individual lives, there is no doubt that the faith of Islam places the individual in society in the world in which he lives, in a position where he is not in conflict with his time and he is not in conflict… Read more
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Video Interview: ITV Interview (2nd)
[O]ne of the questions to which I don’t have an answer, but I would like to find one, is, what is happiness — for rural population in the developing world? And unless the definition of happiness, the definition of a sense of purpose is clear to planners in the developing world, they are never going… Read more
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Speech: Opening Remarks, Ninth Seminar, ‘The Expanding Metropolis’, AKAA
[T]he poor can display considerable ingenuity in improving their own environment and in utilising locally available materials. I was delighted when Hassan Fathy’s work of a lifetime in this direction, reflecting his profound understanding of the virtues and possibilities of vernacular architecture, … Read more
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Speech: Institute of Ismaili Studies and University of London Graduation Ceremony
The Islamic world, as we all know, is being compelled to face two challenges at the same time. That of dealing with the Islamic countries’ own indigenous problems, and that of adapting to twentieth century Western technology to those countries’ development needs. How we meet these challenges will co… Read more
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Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at a lunch given by AKF, Toronto
Date: April 27, 1983 Location: Canada Speaker: His Late Highness Aga Khan IV Source URL: https://the.akdn/en/resources-media/resources/speeches/lunch-given-aga-khan-foundation-toronto-his-highness-the-aga-khan Source: AKDN website Full Text By His Late Highness Aga Khan IV,Toronto, Canada·27 April 1983·8 min Honourable Ministers,Your Excellencies,My Lord Chief Justice,Distinguished Guests,It is a great pleasure both to be here in Toronto and to be addressing an audience whose… Read more