Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

LastOfTheDinosaurs · February 9, 2006, 10:50am

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

And an article about Khojas.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/khoja

James_Bhaand · February 9, 2006, 2:29pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

No I am not

But we used to live in karachi in a community which had a high population of Ismailies. I grew up in that area, so quite a number of my childhood friends are Ismailis.

You are right, its not GOD, its just a human being, they call him the Imam, and the thing about the idols is a made up story. I havent seen anything like that. I mean the Prince Kareem Agha Khan is followed as a LEADER, no worshipped as an IDOL or GOD.

Ghazala_Nasir · February 9, 2006, 2:42pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

for all u losers out there!Stop being the thekedaar of islam!

Live and let live others u sickos!

Geez some ppl!!

LastOfTheDinosaurs · February 9, 2006, 6:19pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

They (Ismailis) remain remote and esoteric as for as their belief system and rituals are concerned. They resort to a practice called "taqya" (literal meaning "concealment" or "keeping secret" ) where they keep their belief secret when among people of other beliefs and pretend as upholder of the dominent belief e.g. Sunni. This may be to avoid antagonism of the dominent religious group.

No one can penetrate their "belief-based" closed-society until one becomes an Ismaili oneself. So it is very hard for an outsider to know what is actually their belief and how are their rituals.

But they are a mild, cultured, and sociable group of people.

Ali_Anzar · February 9, 2006, 8:33pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

No Q.Azam was an ismaeile then converted to fiqa- jafferia......n then when he read the books of Hz Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani on the request of Allam Iqbal he rose so up in his spirtualality where there was no sect.......n he became just an ordinary muslim......

Ali_Anzar · February 9, 2006, 8:41pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

Seveners / Ismaili Islam

Ismailis are Shi’a Muslims who claim that Ismail, the eldest son of Imam Jaffar, was the rightful ruler of all Muslims. They are also known as the “Seveners”, because Imam Jaffar was the seventh and, according to them, the last Imam. An important Shi‘i Muslim community, the Ismailis as an entity emerged in 765 from a disagreement over the successor to the sixth imam, Ja‘far al-Sadiq. According to the Ismailis, starting from Ali, the eldest son has always inherited the right to rule. Shia Twelvers, those who accept the first Twelve Imams, believe that Jafar, the Sixth Imam, passed over his eldest son, Ismail, in favor of Ismail’s brother Musa al Kazim. Ismailis, however, believe that Jafar appointed Ismail to be the Seventh Imam–hence Ismailis are often called Seveners.
Ismaili Shia doctrine closely resembled Twelver Shia Islam with regard to observance of the sharia but also included a system of philosophy and science coordinated with religion that proved the divine origin of the Imamate and the rights of the Fatimids to it. Ubaid Allah al Mahdi, the founder of the Fatimid Dynasty, came to North Africa in the early tenth century and actively promoted the Ismaili faith. The Fatimid rulers proclaimed themselves true caliphs.
Little is known of the early history of the sect, but it was firmly established by the end of the ninth century. From 969 to 1171, an Ismaili dynasty, the Fatimids, ruled as caliphs in Egypt. The Fatimids, unlike the Tulinids and the Ikhshidids, wanted independence, not autonomy, from Baghdad. In addition, as heads of a great religious movement, the Ismaili Shia Islam, they also challenged the Sunni Abbasids for the caliphate itself. The name of the dynasty is derived from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Ali, the fourth caliph and the founder of Shia Islam. The leader of the movement, who first established the dynasty in Tunisia in 906, claimed descent from Fatima.
Under the Fatimids, Egypt became the center of a vast empire, which at its peak comprised North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Syria, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Yemen, and the Hijaz in Arabia, including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Control of the holy cities conferred enormous prestige on a Muslim sovereign and the power to use the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca to his advantage. Cairo was the seat of the Shia caliph, who was the head of a religion as well as the sovereign of an empire. The Fatimids established Al Azhar in Cairo as an intellectual center where scholars and teachers elaborated the doctrines of the Ismaili Shia faith.
The first century of Fatimid rule represents a high point for medieval Egypt. The administration was reorganized and expanded. It functioned with admirable efficiency: tax farming was abolished, and strict probity and regularity in the assessment and collection of taxes was enforced. The revenues of Egypt were high and were then augmented by the tribute of subject provinces. This period was also an age of great commercial expansion and industrial production. The Fatimids fostered both agriculture and industry and developed an important export trade. Realizing the importance of trade both for the prosperity of Egypt and for the extension of Fatimid influence, the Fatimids developed a wide network of commercial relations, notably with Europe and India, two areas with which Egypt had previously had almost no contact.
Egyptian ships sailed to Sicily and Spain. Egyptian fleets controlled the eastern Mediterranean, and the Fatimids established close relations with the Italian city states, particularly Amalfi and Pisa. The two great harbors of Alexandria in Egypt and Tripoli in present-day Lebanon became centers of world trade. In the east, the Fatimids gradually extended their sovereignty over the ports and outlets of the Red Sea for trade with India and Southeast Asia and tried to win influence on the shores of the Indian Ocean. In lands far beyond the reach of Fatimid arms, the Ismaili missionary and the Egyptian merchant went side-by-side.
In the end, however, the Fatimid bid for world power failed. A weakened and shrunken empire was unable to resist the crusaders, who in July 1099 captured Jerusalem from the Fatimid garrison after a siege of five weeks.
Ismailis accept many Shia doctrines, such as the esoteric nature of truth and the inspiration of the Imams. Although holding their Imams to be of divine origin, as the Shia do, Ismailis have a dual Imamate. They believe the succession of visible Imams has continued to the present. There are, however, two imams, the visible and the hidden, the speaker and the silent. The identity of the hidden imam is not known to the community but it is believed he will return to lead the faithful. Ismailis generally follow the religious practice of the Shia Twelvers in prayers, fasts, and Quranic prescriptions, but in their conservatism they resemble Sunnis on some points. For example, they do not observe the tenth of Muharram in the impassioned way of the Shia.
Ismaili beliefs are complex and syncretic, combining elements from the philosophies of Plotinus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, gnosticism, and the Manichaeans, as well as components of Judaism, Christianity, and Eastern religions. Ismaili conceptions of the Imamat differ greatly from those of other Muslims and their tenets are unique. Their beliefs about the creation of the world are idiosyncratic, as is their historical ecumenism, tolerance of religious differences, and religious hierarchy. There is a division of theology into exoteric (including the conservative Shariah) and esoteric (including the mystical exegesis of the Quran which leads to haqiqa, the ultimate realty). These beliefs and practices are veiled in secrecy and Ismaili place particular emphasis on taqiya meaning to shield or guard, the practice that permits the believer to deny publicly his Shia membership for self-protection, as long as he continues to believe and worship in private. Taqiya is permissible in most Shia, and some Sunni, sects. The Ismailis who number 15 million, are divided into several main branches. One, who call themselves Bohras, have their headquarters in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. Another branch – known as Khojas – are headed by the Agha Khan and concentrated in Gujarât State, India.

Source:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-ismaili.htm

Peshow · February 9, 2006, 8:42pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

hmmm never heard abt em ...

RoCKiSTaN · February 10, 2006, 1:50am

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

It’s our job to help misguided muslims back to the stright path. I think I should start with you.

LastOfTheDinosaurs · February 10, 2006, 9:45am

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

Probably, this is the position of official biographers and historians and is highly doubtful. What the encyclopedia article has said is to some degree correct i.e. non-practicing ...Political compulsions of that time should also be taken into account. Madar-i-Millat was an Ismaili till last breath. As for Rumi's poetry that argumet is simply untenable on many grounds.

Sit Agha Khan was a sophisticated man very close to British.

LastOfTheDinosaurs · February 10, 2006, 9:55am

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

There were some Ismailis from Chitral. And they publically announced their conversion from Ismaili belief to Islam when they converted.

But they are a very nice people with a strong communal sense and highly inclined to industry, business, and culture.

Nilu · February 10, 2006, 6:37pm

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

Me neither i know about Shia Sunni Ahmadiya ect.
But not about the Ismailis.. hmmmm...

RoCKiSTaN · February 11, 2006, 4:57am

Re: Anyone know anything about AGA KHAANI people?

yea its wierd stuff mang.