The Muslim world, with its history and cultures, and indeed its different interpretations of Islam, is still little known in the West.
AGA KHAN IVThe Muslim world, with its history and cultures, and indeed its different interpretations of Islam, is still little known in the West.
AGA KHAN IVThere are those… who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot.
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 IVThey are all different, in terms of history, and the religious compositions of the populations involved.
AGA KHAN IVWhile the past was a book he had read and re-read may times, the future was just one more literary work of art into which he used to pour himself with deep thought and concentration.
AGA KHAN IVCanada is today the most successful pluralist society on the face of our globe, without any doubt in my mind.
AGA KHAN IVThis means trying to bring values into environments, buildings, and contexts that improve the quality of life for future generations.
AGA KHAN IVA proper home can provide the bridge across that terrible gulf between poverty and a better future.
AGA KHAN IVThere are many interpretations of Islam within the wider Islamic community, but generally we are instructed to leave the world a better place than it was when we came into it.
AGA KHAN IVA secure pluralistic society requires communities that are educated and confident both in the identity and depth of their own traditions and in those of their neighbours.
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 IVWe cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity.
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 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 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 IVIf our animosities are born out of fear, then confident generosity is born out of hope.
AGA KHAN IV