Spiritual leader of the Ismailis. Lavrov met with Ismaili leader Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. Why do the Pamirs revere Aga Khan IV?

DUSHANBE, July 11 - Sputnik. The spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims of the world, Prince Aga Khan IV, will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee on July 11 - his 60th anniversary as the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims around the world, the press service of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) reports.

In 1957, after the death of Aga Khan III, Prince Karim was proclaimed Aga Khan IV, inheriting the title of Imam of the Nizari Ismailis. In the same year, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain awarded him the title of Highness, and in 1959, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, gave him the title of Royal Highness.

To mark the occasion, an event will be held for the Aga Khan and leaders of the Ismaili community. Ismailis around the world will hold a ceremony to mark this date.

“This celebration will bring together the Ismaili community and partners of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) around the world, as well as government and faith leaders in more than 25 countries around the world,” said an AKDN press release.

Prince Karim Aga Khan IV was born on December 13, 1936 in Switzerland. The imam of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community, he has about 15 million followers in more than 25 countries.

Members of the Aga Khan family are considered direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. One of the family's ancestors was the Persian king Feth Ali Shah, from whom they inherited the title of princes and princesses.

During his school years, the future leader of the Ismailis studied at the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. He then attended Harvard University, where he graduated with honors in 1959 with a degree in Islamic history.

Prince Aga Khan IV is the Hereditary Imam of the Ismaili community. Ismailism is a set of religious movements in the Shiite branch of Islam, dating back to the end of the 8th century. Each movement has its own hierarchy of imams. The title of the head of the largest and most famous Ismaili community - Aga Khan - is inherited.

Prince Aga Khan IV's responsibilities as imam include not only interpreting the faith of the Ismaili community, whose members live in industrializing countries, but also connecting faith with modern realities.

The Aga Khan IV Development Network, headquartered in Paris, was founded by the Ismaili Imamate in 1967. Currently, its branches are located in Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

On the initiative of the Aga Khan, schools and universities were opened in various countries, and various grants were established, including the famous architecture prize.

In Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Foundation owns a controlling stake in Pamir Energy and Tcell and a hotel in Dushanbe. The fund is used to construct schools, hospitals and a university in Khorog.

During the civil war in Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Organization supplied the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and other areas of the republic with food free of charge. In 1993, when hostilities reached the Darvaz region of GBAO, the Aga Khan called on the Council of Pamir Self-Defense Forces to lay down their arms. In 2000, the Organization opened the University of Central Asia in Khorog.

The prince is the creator and sponsor of charitable projects in many countries, including Central Asia. Under his leadership, the Aga Khan Development Network operates, within which a number of socio-economic, educational and cultural institutions operate.

In April, Aga Khan IV visited Moscow. The spiritual leader of the Ismaili-Nizari community, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said that cooperation with Moscow is key for Central Asia.

“This visit to Moscow is important for me, cooperation with Russia is critically important not only for my community, but also for the whole of Central Asia, where we are now creating joint institutions that will be of great importance for the region,” emphasized Karim Aga Khan .

Aga Khan IV. European costume, Asian title.
Photo by Reuters

This summer, the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan became the theater of military operations, accompanied by casualties. The special operation was carried out by government forces after the assassination attempt on General Abdullo Nazarov. It is noteworthy that a person living thousands of kilometers from Gorno-Badakhshan intervened in resolving the conflict situation, and he last visited Tajikistan in November 2008. We are talking about the 75-year-old Prince Aga Khan IV, the head (imam) of all the Ismailis of the world, living between Paris, London and other fashionable places in Europe. The Aga Khan's intervention in Central Asian affairs is explained by the fact that the residents of Gorno-Badakhshan profess Ismailism, one of the branches of Shiite Islam.

Aga Khan is not a proper name, but a title consisting of two Turkish-Persian words - aga (lord) and khan (master). He is not only the spiritual leader of a community scattered around the world, but also a very wealthy man. The President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon turned to him with a request to provide urgent assistance in the peaceful resolution of the conflict. A telephone conversation between the prince and the president took place on July 24.

The fact is that the Pamiris do not consider themselves Tajiks, who, unlike them, adhere to Sunni Islam and the Hanafi madhhab. In addition, the inhabitants of the Pamirs speak their own languages ​​- Rushan, Yagnob, Yazgulem and others.

Imam is worth his weight in gold

If someone had visited the city of Bombay (today's Mumbai, India) on March 10, 1946, and wanted to visit the Braeburn Cricket Stadium, they would have been able to witness a curious spectacle. The huge stadium was filled to capacity; there were probably at least 100 thousand people sitting in the spectator seats. But that day the spectators did not gather for a sports match. In the center of the stadium stood an unusual structure for this place. These were large scales, on one bowl of which a large man in a turban sat, and on the second bowl, people, under the direction of the manager, instead of weights, poured gold, platinum and precious stones until the hands of the scales were equal. For reference: the weight of a person in a turban reached 95 kg.

Our traveler would soon learn that the man being weighed was the Ismaili Imam Aga Khan III, Sultan Muhammad Shah (1877–1957), a figure who played an important role in the political life of British India. The weighing ceremony of the Aga Khan took place approximately every four to five years. In 1946, for briefly sitting on the scales, the Aga Khan received a gift of gold and jewelry equal to $2.5 million.

However, the official meaning of the ceremony of the scales was explained differently: the Aga Khan, they say, was actually performing an ancient Indian religious ritual, celebrating the main anniversaries of his imamate. He invested the money collected during these ceremonies in cooperative enterprises, credit funds and other organizations, the help of which could be used by all Ismailis. This may be true, but the newspapers of the time, not only Indian ones, relished the details of the ceremony. The Aga Khan arrived at the stadium dressed in a long white robe embroidered with silver patterns. He was accompanied by his two sons, Ali Khan and Sadruddin, and his wife, who wore a white sari adorned with 1,200 diamonds, worth £45,000.

The next weighing took place in 1950, but Aga Khan III realized that this archaic ritual, reminiscent of the customs of the ancient eastern satraps, no longer corresponded to the spirit of the times and seemed offensive to the millions of dispossessed masses in the Third World. Therefore, despite attempts to socially justify such magnificent rituals, the hero of the occasion himself announced that the weighing of 1950 would be the last. Just in 1950, the personal property of the third Aga Khan was estimated at 600 million pounds sterling, which at that time corresponded to 2 billion dollars.

The next ceremony in Karachi (Pakistan) in 1954 was indeed purely symbolic, although it had the added significance of almost coinciding (minus one year) with the 70th anniversary of the Imamate of Aga Khan III.

Worth his weight in gold and diamonds, the man was the grandfather and predecessor of the living Aga Khan IV, Prince Karim Shah, who was born on December 13, 1936 in Geneva and assumed office on July 11, 1957, at the age of 21. The ceremony of his enthronement took place not in Karachi, but in another center of the Ismaili universe - Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanganyika (today Tanzania) in East Africa.

Although there was no weighing of gold bars this time, the enthronement ceremony of Karim Shah was no less solemn and luxurious. Around the neck of the 21-year-old young man was placed a chain made of pure gold, which weighed almost 3 kg and consisted of 49 plates, meaning that the new imam was the 49th since approximately 1400 years ago in the depths of Shia Islam gave birth to the Ismaili religion.

The sons of Aga Khan III, Ali and Sadruddin, were distinguished by a carefree and dissolute lifestyle, which prompted the old spiritual leader to exclude Ali’s son from the hereditary line and appoint his grandson Karim, whose name was not associated with so many scandals, as his successor. But despite these scandals and thanks to their incredible wealth, the family found opportunities to engage in charity work and play an important role in the politics and diplomacy of first British India and then Pakistan.

Seven or twelve?

Let's see how Ismailism arose and developed, numbering about 20 million adherents in Pakistan, India, East and South Africa, Central Asia, and also having a large diaspora in Europe and the USA. Ismailism is a branch of Shiite Islam. This type of Islam is dominated by a movement called “isnashariyya,” that is, “followers of the 12 Imams,” who live mainly in Iran and Azerbaijan. The Ismailis belong to the Sabiya movement, that is, to the “followers of the seven Imams.”

The Muslim Ummah was divided into Sunnis and Shiites after the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. e. died without leaving any instructions regarding his successor. An argument began. One group of Muslims believed that power in the community should belong exclusively to the descendants of the Prophet (ahl ul-bayt, “people from the House”), that is, the children of Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, and Ali, his cousin. The right to the imamate was supposedly assigned to the clan of Ali by divine decree (shi'at-u Ali, "Ali's party"), from where the word "Shiites" comes.

The Shiites of the “12 Imams” believe that from a certain moment the Imam, the heir of Ali, miraculously went into “hiddenness”, from where he rules the world through his messengers. After the “hiding” there was no longer any “earthly” Imam. In their opinion, the 12th, Muhammad al-Mahdi (868–?), became the “hidden” Imam, who, at the time prescribed by Allah, will return to Earth precisely as the Mahdi (Messiah) to restore peace and justice.

And here is how things developed for the Ismailis. In 760, Jafar al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia Imam and ruler of the Fatimid state in Egypt, deprived his eldest son Ismail of the right to legitimate succession to the Imamate, after which Ismail died soon after, in 762. His followers argued that Ismail was not killed, but was hiding from enemies, and after a certain period they declared him (the seventh in the line of succession) a “hidden” Imam, who at the right moment would appear as the Mahdi. For this reason, the group began to bear the name Ismailis. Some followers of Ismail, on the contrary, believed that he actually died, so his son Muhammad, who died in 765, should be declared the seventh Imam. For their part, supporters of the “12 Imams” recognized his youngest son, Musa al-Kazim, as Jafar al-Sadiq’s heir, and continued counting the Imams. Both groups believed that the Mahdi, according to hadith (tradition), would “fill the earth with truth and justice, just as it is now filled with injustice and violence.”

In the 9th century, the Ismailis split into Fatimids and Qarmatians. After the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir in 1094, the Ismailis once again split into the Nizaris (eastern Ismailis who now live in the Pamirs), who supported the rise to power of al-Mustansir's eldest son, Nizar, and the Mustalites, who recognized the Fatimid caliph al-Mustali as the Imam. . By the way, the assassins known throughout the Middle East belonged to the Nizari sect, who left their mark in such words as the Italian assassino and the French assassin, that is, “killer.”

It must be said that after the “hiding” of the 7th or 12th Imams, the succession (silsila) of the heads of Ismailism and Shiism as a whole continued on a dynastic or other basis. However, the new Imams do not have the sacred charisma of their predecessors and are considered rather safirs, or vakils (messengers) of the “hidden” Imam. For example, many in Iran considered Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was also called Imam, to be such.

Khan from Switzerland

The title "Aga Khan", which today is worn by the leaders of the Ismaili-Nizaris, was established relatively recently. In the first half of the 19th century, when the Nizari imams still lived in Iran, the honorary title of Aga Khan was awarded to Agha Hassan Ali Shah, the 46th Safira of the Ismailis, by the Persian monarch Fath Ali Shah Qajar. Later, in 1887, the Governor General of British India, the Earl of Dufferin, recognized the Aga Khan as a prince in gratitude for services rendered to the British during the Afghan War of 1841–1842 and other military operations. Thus, Hasan Ali Khan became the first Aga Khan. After him, this title was received by Ali Shah Aga Khan II, Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, and his grandson, the now reigning prince Karim Shah al-Husseini, Aga Khan IV, who is also the 49th imam in the silsila Ismaili-Nizaris.

The current holder of the title of Aga Khan, Karim Shah, is undoubtedly a complex, contradictory and multifaceted personality. In his youth, he led a wasteful and free lifestyle. But at the same time he is an educated person. He studied at the Institut Le Rosey school (Switzerland) and in 1959 graduated with honors from Harvard University (USA) with a degree in Islamic history. However, at the same time, he “worked” in large Western resorts, in entertainment venues, at horse races and among young rising movie stars. But he did not lose sight of his financial interests. One of the most brilliant enterprises of the Aga Khan is the Costa Smeralda resort complex, located on the Italian island of Sardinia. Here the Aga Khan clan bought large plots of land on the seashore and turned them into an expensive resort closed to a wide range of people.

However, all this in itself does not explain why, many years ago, all of the Aga Khan’s enterprises brought in $1.5 million in income per year. According to many analysts, the bulk of the Aga Khans' wealth is in the secret safes of Swiss or offshore banks in the form of securities that can be the subject of financial transactions. They form a veritable storehouse of wealth, hidden from public view, since the general public does not know which shares of which enterprises are stored in these safes.

Later, after becoming Aga Khan, Karim Shah actually invested part of his enormous wealth in socially relevant projects carried out in many countries, including the states of post-Soviet Central Asia. The Aga Khan paid a lot of attention to the social problems of Pakistan. In Karachi, he owns the largest and most modern hospital in the city. Under his leadership, the Aga Khan Development Network operates, within which a number of socio-economic, educational and cultural institutions operate. Aga Khan IV also visited Russia, where on April 30, 2002 he met with President Vladimir Putin. In addition, the head of the Ismailis visited Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan three times (in 1995, 1998 and 2008) and sent humanitarian aid there. According to the Aga Khan, the real contribution to the development of education in Tajikistan was the creation of the University of Central Asia in Khorog (the administrative center of Gorno-Badakhshan) and its branches in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The university was founded in 2000 by the governments of the three republics and the Aga Khan Foundation.

Ismailis also live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, the Aga Khan's attempts to gain a foothold in the Chinese Pamirs failed. The Chinese authorities politely but firmly told him that they did not need humanitarian assistance.

In the Aga Khan Empire

During my stay in Pakistan, where I worked as a journalist, I wanted to take a look at the “empire” of the Aga Khan, whose center of activity is located in this country. I focused on the aforementioned Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), which brings together other institutions under its tutelage.

The AKF headquarters is in Islamabad, an unfinished city where the only completed quarter is the government quarter. And that’s where the AKF representative office is located. It is located in the center of one of Islamabad's few boulevards, Khayaban-e Suhrawardy, named after the famous 12th century Islamic philosopher, directly opposite the Convention Center multi-purpose hall. I went there, having agreed by telephone with the secretary to meet with the director of the information department, Matinuddin Shahsi. He sat in a modern, bright and air-conditioned office, behind a large semi-circular desk. All this was very different from the squalid environment of ordinary workplaces in Pakistan. First, he asked me in detail, where I was from, what kind of education I had, what my faith was, what languages ​​I spoke. I answered him in detail, and he began to prove to me that, despite the Ismaili background, AKF is an international non-religious public organization. To make his words more convincing, Shahsi named a number of fund employees who belong to different nationalities, profess different religions and speak different languages.

The foundation still exists today. Newsletters say it was founded in Switzerland in 1967. The organization's mission is to find "sustainable solutions to the world's long-standing problems such as poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease." Over the years, ACF has been developing the idea of ​​“self-sufficiency as one of the ways to reduce dependence on external sources of assistance.” ACF helps its beneficiaries “develop capacity, build confidence, and gain experience in actively participating in program design, implementation, and sustainability.”

ACF has branches in 18 countries, mainly in Central Asia, the Middle East, East and West Africa, as well as in Southeast Asia. Is there a representative office of AKF in Russia? It turns out there is. The Russian office of AKF began its work in 2007. What does this office do? “Currently, the fund is implementing social assistance projects for migrant workers, immigrants from the CIS countries of the Central Asian region in Moscow and some other regions of Russia,” the fund’s bulletins say.

Probably, in light of recent events, the Aga Khan and the staff of his foundation will once again turn all their attention to Gorno-Badakhshan in order to intervene in the difficult social and political situation in this remote region of Tajikistan.

“You are our frequent guest, good friend. “We appreciate the assessments you offer not only on Afghan issues, but also on many other problems of our time,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry began negotiations with the Aga Khan. “Your insightful, wise view of an experienced person is very important to us.”

According to Lavrov, 80-year-old Prince Karim Aga Khan IV “is driven not only by the desire to ensure the interests of the Ismailis, wherever they live, but also by the desire to help solve problems that, unfortunately, have been accumulating quite dangerously in the international situation over the past ten years.” . The counterpart of the Russian diplomat, in turn, emphasized that he greatly values ​​cooperation with Russia, since it is important not only for the Ismailis, whose interests the Aga Khan represents, but also “for the whole of Central Asia.”

Khan against terror

Aga Khan is a title that has been assigned to the spiritual leaders of the Nizari Ismailis since the 19th century. This is one of the currents of Shiite Islam, which originated in the 11th century.

It is typical for Shiism to consider the leader of its spiritual community - the imam - as a special mediator between Allah and the faithful, whose blessing is inherited. In this context, the figure of the Aga Khan has great religious significance for the Ismailis.

The number of Nizari Ismailis living in many countries of the Islamic East is today estimated at 20 million people. They play a prominent role in Gorno-Badakhshan, which is shared by Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

“Ismailism is widespread among the Tajiks of Gorno-Badakhshan on both sides of the border,” Arkady Dubnov, an expert on Central Asia, told Gazeta.Ru. “In this context, we need the Aga Khan more than he needs us.”

In 2012, the Aga Khan already played a positive role from the point of view of Russian interests during the internal conflict in the Tajik Gorno-Badakhshan. Then a conflict broke out between the central authorities of Dushanbe and local Badakhshan clans, including Ismailis. As a result, the head of the local national security department was killed, and the Tajik Armed Forces conducted military operations in Gorno-Badakhshan for more than a day to suppress separatist sentiments.

At this time, Aga Khan IV acted as one of the main negotiators proposing a peaceful solution to the problem. The Ismailis, apparently, listened to the authoritative opinion of the spiritual leader, and civil war in Tajikistan was avoided.

Now, in the spring season of aggravation of terrorist activity on the border with Afghanistan, Russia again needed the help of the Aga Khan in Gorno-Badakhshan. According to Dubnov, the Afghan part of this region is of particular concern to the security services, since it is especially noticeable here how the terrorist Islamic State (IS) is displacing the radical Taliban movement (both groups are banned in Russia).

This Afghan trend is dangerous because the leaders of the Islamic State, unlike the Taliban, are striving for active territorial expansion and are already looking for ways to advance to Tajikistan and other countries of Central Asia.

“The fact that the Aga Khan was invited to Moscow is a significant event,” added Dubnov. “Russia obviously recognizes his role as the supreme authority who can influence the course of events in the region.”

Contacts between the Aga Khan and the Russian leadership have been developing for decades. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Aga Khan at least once, in 2002. Then “during a long and frank conversation, the prospects for peaceful construction in Afghanistan and further steps to consolidate the efforts of the international community in the socio-economic revival of this country were discussed,” the Kremlin press service reported.

Money for Palmyra

Afghanistan and Central Asia are far from the only points of contact between Russia and the Nizari Ismaili leader. The Aga Khan Foundation is actively investing in the future of Syria, and in close cooperation with the Russian authorities.

In March, the director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, spoke in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta about the creation of a fund dedicated to the restoration of Palmyra, a city that was captured several times by militants of the Islamic State, and then retreated several times under the pressure of the forces of official Damascus.

According to Piotrovsky, the Hermitage agreed on the creation of the fund with the government of Canada, with the Louvre, and also with the Aga Khan Foundation.

The same fund was mentioned in the context of the Geneva diplomatic process to end the military conflict and create a government of national unity in Syria.

“Over the past 20 years, the Aga Khan has spent billions of dollars in Central Asia. Parallels immediately come to mind, for example, with Fethullah Gülen (the Turkish theologian whom Ankara accuses of organizing the coup in July last year) or with George Soros,” says Daniil Kislov, editor-in-chief of the Fergana.Ru portal, which tracks political processes. in Central Asia.

However, according to Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor, there is a significant difference: so far the Aga Khan has not been seen in attempts to actively influence political processes.

The main direction of the Swiss Aga Khan Foundation is educational and cultural projects. Aga Khan schools are funded in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Kislov added.

Nevertheless, contacts with the Aga Khan this year caused one high-profile political scandal - in Canada - due to suspiciously close ties between the country's Prime Minister Trudeau and the Ismaili leader.

Canada's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson launched an investigation in January. It stems from the fact that Trudeau used the Aga Khan's private helicopter while on holiday with his family in the Bahamas over the New Year holidays. The Canadian Prime Minister is still trying to prove that the Aga Khan's helicopter was the only transport that could be used at that time. Meanwhile, Canadian legislation prohibits the prime minister from using private transport.

"Spiegel": Your Highness, in his famous speech, Pope Benedict quoted Emperor Manuel, who said: “Show me what Muhammad brought new and you will see only the evil and inhumane...”, which, as you know, caused a violent reaction in the Muslim world. What is your reaction to it?

Aga Khan: I am very alarmed by this incident because it has brought a fair amount of confusion to the Muslim world. Today we already have enough misunderstandings between religions, and there is a degradation of interreligious relationships. I believe that we should not add even more wood to the fire of an already difficult situation.

But Benedict XVI clearly distanced himself from the quoted words of the medieval emperor. The position of the pope personally is to maintain dialogue between religions, and therefore he several times expressed his respect for world religions, including Islam.

- So what happened - an unfortunate mistake, or the pontiff was misunderstood?

I cannot and do not want to make any semblance of a verdict on this issue. It would be unreasonable for me to claim that I know what Dad meant. But the Middle Ages, as far as I know, was a period of intense theological disputes between Islam and Christian Byzantium. a significant time, and the emperor’s words cannot be taken out of the context of this time. Although the topic of the pope's speech was completely different - the relationship between faith and reason, the harmonious combination of which, according to the pontiff, means the exclusion of any connection between religions.

- Do you agree with this statement?

- If we emphasize that the papal speech was about faith and reason, then I think that its discussion in this context will be very constructive for both the Islamic and non-Islamic world. I can even say about my ambivalent reaction to this speech - yes, on the one hand, I see the degradation of interreligious relations, but on the other, I see a chance. A chance to talk about an important and serious issue - the relationship between logic and faith.

If the pope invites you and other religious leaders to dialogue on the issue of faith, reason and violence, will you accept such an invitation?

Yes of course. I must note, however. that ecumenical discussion at a certain point faces certain limitations. That is why I would prefer to talk on the basis of some common cosmopolitan ethical basis, linked to all the great religions of the world.

- Does Islam have problems with rational thinking?

Not at all. Moreover, I will say that among all the Abrahamic religions, Islam is perhaps the only one that pays such attention to knowledge. The goal is to understand the Divine plan of creation and thus this religion is full of logic. Islam is a religion of reason.

- What, in your opinion, are the roots of modern terrorism?

Unresolved political conflicts, general stagnation and above all, cultural ignorance. Terrorism in no way has a theological justification.

- What conflicts are you talking about?

For example, about the Middle East and Kashmir. They have remained unresolved for decades now. Their consequences continue to grow like a cancerous tumor. And this is a disease, as you know. if not treated early, it may be incurable. Likewise, delaying conflict resolution creates a breeding ground for terror.

The question also arises about the spread of religion by the sword. All religions of the world throughout their history have turned to violence in order to either protect or spread themselves through military action. But Islam never called for this; our religion is a religion of peace.

“The West must stand against the rest of the world,” writes Professor Huntington in his book on the clash of civilizations. Is such a conflict possible?

- If we talk about a conflict, it will be a conflict of ignorance. Conflict is dangerous and destructive.

- And which side is responsible for it?

Both. But first of all, the Western world. You believe that a modern person in the 21st century should know a lot about Islam. But look at the education system in the West - it lacks complete knowledge about Islamic civilization. What was known about Shiism before the Iranian revolution? What was known about Wahhabism before the Taliban? Nothing. We must overcome this state of affairs. Rather than shoot at each other, it is better to learn to listen to each other. And this will be the greatest achievement of our civilization.

Among the least democratic and most backward countries in the world, countries with predominantly Muslim populations predominate. Are democracy and Islam really incompatible, as many claim?

Let's first of all look at things honestly. Many political leaders have inherited problems that are not directly related to religion. Making innovative management decisions takes time. And it is already noticeable that among the countries with the greatest economic growth there are also Muslim countries. But as for the growth of democracy... My personal democratic beliefs are not based on Greek or Roman philosophers, but on what happened 1400 years ago. These are the principles underlying my religion. During the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the process of political consultations continued continuously. And the first imam of the Shiites, cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Ali, emphasized: “There is no greater honor than knowledge, no greater strength than patience, and no more reliable basis than consultation (shura).”

"SPIEGEL" (Translation )

Yesterday, December 13, the Ismaili community in Tajikistan celebrated the 80th birthday of its spiritual leader, Prince Shoh Karim al Husaini, Aga Khan IV.

Aga Khan IV - spiritual leader of the Ismailis of Tajikistan; photo: Facebook

The Ismaili Center in Dushanbe is hosting holiday performances this week, organized by communities in Dushanbe's districts and suburbs. The events will last until December 25.

The Imam’s birthday is also celebrated in GBAO (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region), where the Ismailis live, where celebrations began on December 7 and will last until December 20. There are exhibitions of folk craftsmen, artists, sports competitions, scientific and cultural conferences, games for children and teenagers.

As part of religious events, meetings with theologians and Maddosaroi (odes on the Almighty) evenings are held.

Community members living in Moscow also celebrate. On December 11, a concert with the participation of Tajik performers was held in the Rossiya concert hall.

They also celebrate in other cities of Russia - in the Ismaili communities of St. Petersburg, Tolyatti, Ivanovo, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Tver.

Why do the Pamirs revere Aga Khan IV?

Aga Khan IV is considered a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and the 49th Imam (spiritual leader) of one of the branches of the Shiite madhhab (religious movement) - Ismailism. He led the community in 1957 at the age of 21. The title passed to him from his grandfather Sulton Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III.

The Ismaili community today numbers more than 20 million people around the world. More than 200 thousand of them live in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan - they are more often called Pamirs there.

Holiday in every home

For the Ismaili community, the Imam's birthday is not just an official celebration, it is a holiday that is celebrated in every home.

From the very morning, women on the streets begin to beat out rhythms on doiras (a type of drum).

Doira in the Pamirs is considered a symbol of joy; the beating of drums announces general celebration. On this day, it is customary to congratulate and bless each other, set a rich table, and do good deeds.

Transport in the Pamirs on the Imam’s birthday is free. On this day, private drivers who carry out transportation put “Free” signs on their cars.

On the Imam’s birthday in the Pamirs, public transport is free, as the sign says; photo: Facebook

Savior of the Pamiris

Residents of the Pamirs are very kind to their spiritual leader.

During the year, Ismailis celebrate three holidays associated with their spiritual leader. This is the holiday “Didor” (“Meeting”) - May 24 and 25.

These days in 1995, the first meeting of the Aga Khan with Tajik murids in Dushanbe and GBAO took place; July 11 is the day of the current spiritual leader’s ascension to the throne of the Imam and his birthday is December 13.

Ismailism came to the Pamirs in the 11th century, but until the 90s of the last century, the Pamirs did not see any of the spiritual leaders of their madhhab. For many centuries, Ismaili imams hid in Iran and India.

During the Soviet period, the authorities prevented the Pamiri people from communicating with spiritual leaders under pain of arrest and execution.

Aga Khan IV is the first Imam whom the Pamir Ismailis saw with their own eyes. He appeared in their lives in the 90s, when the Civil War was going on in Tajikistan and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region was under blockade.
It was then that Aga Khan IV sent humanitarian aid to the region. He first visited Tajikistan in 1995.

Aga Khan and his development institutions

The Aga Khan also helped other regions of Tajikistan. The Aga Khan Institutes were opened in the country, in particular the Aga Khan Development Foundation, whose activities are aimed at developing the social and economic spheres - medicine, education, agriculture.

Over the past 20 years, the Aga Khan Foundation has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support to Tajikistan.

The Aga Khan Institute for Economic Development in GBAO completely reconstructed and launched the Pamir-1 hydroelectric power station, which makes it possible to provide electricity to most of the region. The Serena hotel chain was built.

The Aga Khan Foundation in Khorog is currently building one of the campuses of the University of Central Asia, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2017. A similar campus built in Naryn (Kyrgyzstan) began operations this year, and construction is also underway in Tekeli (Kazakhstan), scheduled for completion in 2019.