The search for justice and security, the struggle for equality of opportunity, the quest for tolerance and harmony, the pursuit of human dignity.
AGA KHAN IVThe search for justice and security, the struggle for equality of opportunity, the quest for tolerance and harmony, the pursuit of human dignity.
AGA KHAN IVOne of the central lessons I have learned after a half century of working in the developing world is that the replacement of fear by hope is probably the single most powerful trampoline of progress.
AGA KHAN IVThis means trying to bring values into environments, buildings, and contexts that improve the quality of life for future generations.
AGA KHAN IVInnumerable people since his death have told me how he used to read in the future, and this certainly was one of his very great strengths.
AGA KHAN IVThey are all different, in terms of history, and the religious compositions of the populations involved.
AGA KHAN IVhe two worlds, Muslim and non-Muslim, Eastern and Western, must, as a matter of urgency, make a real effort to get to know one another, for I fear that what we have is not a clash of civilisations, but a clash of ignorance on both sides.
AGA KHAN IVThere appears to be momentum towards more and more misunderstandings between religions, a degradation of relations.
AGA KHAN IVIn Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect.
AGA KHAN IVUnless these unfortunates can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink back into renewed apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.
AGA KHAN IVTolerance, openness and understanding towards other peoples’ cultures, social structures, values and faiths are now essential to the very survival of an interdependent world.
AGA KHAN IVCanada has an experience of governance of which much of the world stands in dire need.
AGA KHAN IVPluralist societies are not accidents of history. They are a product of enlightened education and continuous investment by governments and all of civil society in recognizing and celebrating the diversity of the world’s peoples.
AGA KHAN IVIt is a world of increasing dissension and conflict in which a significant contribution is the failure of different ethnic, tribal, religious, or social groups to search for, and agree upon, a common space for harmonious co-existence.
AGA KHAN IVThe right to hope is the most powerful human motivation I know.
AGA KHAN IVNone of these situations are identical. You cannot take one set of issues from one country and apply it to another.
AGA KHAN IVCanada is today the most successful pluralist society on the face of our globe, without any doubt in my mind.
AGA KHAN IV