Prepared, Compiled and Edited by MALIK MERCHANT

A special message by the late 48th Hereditary Ismaili Imam, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed, His Highness the Aga Khan (1877-1957), to the Ismailia Welfare Society on the auspicious occasion of Navroz, March 21, 1954

“Labour for the welfare of others is the best way of improving oneself because the result is sure and certain. If you work for yourself only, you will never be happy. This is not a new idea, but it is the experience of thousands of years of history.” — Al-Misbah magazine, March 1982, page 3, published by the Ismailia Association for the UK.

A special message by the present 49th Hereditary Ismaili Imam, Mawlana Shah Karim Al Hussaini Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan (b. 1936), on the auspicious occasion of Navroz, March 1960, Burma (now Myanmar)

“I say to you all on Navroz, Navroz Mubarak and I want you, at the beginning of this New Year, to try to think a bit ahead in your future. Each Navroz say to yourselves, ‘Have we done our work’? If you have then I will be very happy indeed. I pray that in this New Year, your worldly and spiritual happiness should progress tenfold and that this be the case every year” — Ilm magazine, March 1976, page 1, published by the Ismailia Association for the UK.

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Make Piety a Basic Principle of Life: Time and Life Will Never Come Back

By IMAM MAWLANA MURTAZA ALI

(This piece is adapted from Al-Misbah magazine, December 1982, Vol. 2 No. 2, page 16-17, published by the Ismailia Association for the U.K, now known as the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board or ITREB. The content has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

All praises be to the Lord to Whom everything in nature offers its praise, Whose Might prevails upon everything, controls every aspect of nature, and Whose Glory predominates everywhere.

I praise Him for His Constant Blessings and Great Favours. He is so forgiving and Merciful that He overlooks many of our shortcomings and pardons many sins. His Decisions and Ordinances are based on equity and justice. He knows what has passed and what is going to pass. He gave origin to the universe and made it work according to His Desire. The plan and programme for all of it came from His Supreme Knowledge. He neither followed anybody’s advice or design nor was necessitated to learn anything from anyone. Neither had He models of any architect before Him, nor He once wavered in His plans nor did He commit any mistake.

O creatures of God! I advise you to adopt piety as the basic principle of your life. Remember that piety is a duty made incumbent upon you by God. You seek His help to assume piety in life and seek its help to gain His Blessings. Because ‘Piety’ will act as your shield and defence and in the afterlife as your guide to Heaven. Its ways are clear and straightforward. Those of you who espouse it will benefit from it. And The One Who has imposed it upon you will guard it and will guard you.

When God will recall you and ask you to submit an account of how you have used the power, privilege, position, wealth, and blessing bestowed upon you, you will find that not many have done their duty to man and God. So friends, lend your ears to the call of piety, try your best to remain pious, make it compensate for your past shortcomings and let it act as your defences against the encroachment of sinful ideas and vicious persons. Allow it to bring you out of your morbid ignorance of the proper ways of Islam.

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“Every day is a day that must be lived, and in that day you must fulfill your [material and spiritual] responsibilities to the best of your ability. So do not let time pass without being aware that once it has passed it has gone forever. This is something you should all keep in mind.” Mawlana Hazar Imam, Mumbai 1973 (Ilm Magazine, back cover, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 1976, Ismailia Association for the UK)

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Pass your days as a pious person. Make it a habit of your life. Wipe out your sins with its help. Yield to its cures for your moral ailments. Take a lesson from the lives of those who have disowned and disregarded it, and let not your life be a lesson and warning to those who want to understand how impious persons have faired in this world. Protect it against wild cravings of vicious desires, and let it protect you against failings, frailties and faults. Keep aloof from vices and sins prevailing in this world, and love the next world. Do not let the glitter of this world make you blind to its realities; ignore its (false) praises, and do not be attracted by its charms. Please do not believe that its temporary glare will light your way to success.

This world is such that all that glitters here is not gold. Its praises are misleading, and its wealth and power are subject to quick decay and destruction. Remember that it is a faithless seducer who will turn away from you as soon as it has captured you. It is like a companion of low origin, a liar, obstinate, ungrateful, dishonest, unreliable, backbiting betrayer. Its every movement is fraught with woe, danger and destruction. Honours bestowed by it carry shame and disgrace with them. It is a house of bloodshed, war, subservience and annihilation.

The ways of this world are dubious, confusing, and misleading, and their planning has always been a failure. Once engulfed by its trials and disasters, very few can come safely out of them. Even those who consider themselves safe and secure within its defences are deserted by it. Their nearest relations often disown them, and their worldly wisdom and sagacity prove harmful and dangerous.

They will usually lament over their failures, wringing their hands in sorrow. Time and life will never come back. Life has passed over them, acquiring for them what they had wished for and leaving behind the result of these actions, which are usually injurious. Lamenting and repenting, they passed away, and the world did not feel the loss of their absence, not grieved over their loss.

Date posted: March 17, 2024.

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