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Speech by Princess Zahra Aga Khan during the opening of the Princess Zahra Pavilion at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

September 6, 2021

President Firoz Rassul. President Designate Sulaiman Shahabudin, Aga Khan University Hospital CEO Dr. Shahid Shafi, generous Donors, Leaders, faculty and staff of the University

It is an honour to share this occasion with all of you today and I only wish we could all be together in person.

THE MOST IMPOkfANT PROBLEM

An extroct from a speech of His Highness The Ago Khan given at Ismailia Association of Pakistan

The most important problem for us today is to create students who are capable of going back and of reading the original texts of our history, of reading these texts in Arabic, of reading them in Persian, of reading them in Urdu, of reading them in Gujarati, of reading them in any language in which they have been written.

Video of Statement by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan at the Press Conference held in Beirut, Lebanon
11 October 1978

May I say first of all, my mission in Beirut is limited in time and in scope.
I have been sent here by the Secretary-General in connection with the hostilities in Beirut in the hope that the visit might contribute to the cessation of bloodshed. Now that we have a ceasefire, although a very fragile one, I am hoping that my visit here and the talks I had today, will contribute in a modest way to the consolidation of that ceasefire.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Our Chief Guest, Melinda French Gates
Chairman Haile Debas and the Members of the Board of Trustees
President Firoz Rasul
Provost, Deans, Faculty and Staff of the University
Generous donors and well wishers of the University from around the world
Distinguished guests
Parents, family members and Graduates​

It is a great privilege to join you today in recognising and celebrating the Class of 2020.

Opening Remarks by Prince Zahra Aga Khan
8th Annual Pluralism Lecture (Virtual event)
May 19, 2021

Bismillah hir Rahmanir Rahim,

Ms Mengiste, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my very great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of His Highness the Aga Khan, and the entire Board of the Global Centre for Pluralism to our 8th Annual Pluralism Lecture

FUTURE OF MUSLIM STATES

True Islam was and is dynamic and not static. Do not look to the third century of Islamic History but to the first.

Speech by H. R. H. Prince Aly Khan

Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the Council of Islamic Affairs,

New York, May 27th 1958.

The late Prince Aly Khan (d. 1960) was the father of the present Aga Khan (IV), and eldest son of the previous Aga Khan (III) — who was also the Chairman of the League of Nations (1933 – 1936).

Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for the honour you have done me by inviting me to be your guest at this luncheon and for the kind words you have said about me.

On behalf of the International Social Development and Sports Foundation, let me welcome you to the International Ismaili Women's Forum. I hope that you have all had safe journeys, and that you are rested and ready for three days of hard work. Before we begin, I would like to thank the Canadian National Council, the International Steering Committee and the many volunteers who have invested countless hours and made tremendous personal sacrifices to prepare this event.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadruddin Aga Khan, stated that it was a privilege for him to attend the conference. The presence of his office on what he termed “This historic occasion” testified to the close and productive cooperation which had always existed between the Government of the Sudan and UNHCR. He expressed appreciation for the moral, political and financial support which Sudan consistently granted his work for refugees both in the General Assembly and in the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s programme in Geneva.

Singapore April 2 2012
SPEECH BY HAZAR IMAM AT THE INSTITUTIONAL DINNER IN SINGAPORE

President Bana, Leaders of the Jamat
I would like first of all to express My very warm gratitude for this wonderful visit to the Far East.

Recent times have been difficult in the Muslim world. They have been difficult in Africa, they have been difficult for some of our Jamats. And in looking at this background, I ask myself where do we find partners? Partners to work with us, partners where we can share thinking, partners where we will find human resources who will work with us.

Your words of praise, Mr President, touch me very much as I have received the warm welcome that has been given to me.

It is indeed with deep gratitude that I have accepted the invitation of the President of the Republic and the Government of Côte d'Ivoire to return to this beautiful country so hospitable and so remarkable for the harmony in which its people live, and which has the pleasure of also benefiting the small Ismaili Community since the very first years of Independence.

This is a translation of the speech made by President Senghor when proposing the health of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan at the dinner given in his honour on Monday evening at the Presidential Palace, as reported in Dakar Matin, 20th March 1968.

Prince,

We are particularly happy to receive you in Dakar on an official visit because you are a friend known to us for a long time, because you are a leader of the Muslim religion and finally because you are a modern gentleman.

Material Intelligence and Spiritual Enlightenment
An Address at the Platinum Jubilee Ceremony

Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan

February 20, 1955 Cairo, Egypt

"I have been most impressed during this short visit, not only with the excellent maintenance of the buildings, but even more so with the appearance of all the children and with the intelligent care and guidance they are receiving. Bravo to All." In the afternoon, His Royal Highness accompanied by Princess Salimah drove to the Prince Aly Khan Boys' Academy at Malir to perform the opening ceremony of the Academy established by the Ismailia Youth Services in memory of Hazar Imam's illustrious father the late Prince Aly S. Khan.

Let me here and now publicly reaffirm the Ismailia Community's decision to build for Karachi a really first class Medical and Nurses' Training College, attached to the finest hospital which modern science can devise.

HIS HIGHNESS ADDRESSES THE TEACHERS OF GYMKHANA SCHOOL

"Are there any problems which you want to raise with me? I haven't got much time, what I mean I'd rather hear what your problems are than make any form of address. Is there anyone who wants to raise any particular problem?......Pause......Are there no problems that you wish to discuss at this stage?'

Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika
24th July, 1945

"In place of various messages read at present daily, bi-weekly, weekly and monthly, only following special message to be read once every week all over Africa to spiritual children after prayers"

July 26, 1982
SPEECH BY HAZAR IMAM IN VANCOUVER

Your Honour,
The Honorable Senator Perrault,
The Honorable Mrs. Grace McCarthy,
Deputy Premier of British Columbia,
His Worship, The Mayor of Vancouver,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
One of the advantages of coming at the end of a long list of speakers is that everybody wants you to stop speaking.

Hotel Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada
April 22, 1983

(During Hazar Imam's Silver Jubilee visit to the Canadian Jamats, a banquet was held in His honour in Vancouver. A plaque was presented to Hazar Imam by the Deputy Premier which "symbolized the love and support and the appreciation of the citizens of British Columbia." The Mayor of Vancouver in his welcome address also announced that this day had been declared "Ismaili Day")

Hazar Imam then made the following speech.

I would like to ABSOLUTELY thank Marta, who has been amazing and inspiring… encouraging and unbelievably supportive throughout.
And for giving me a platform and outreach capacity I never dreamed I might have.

It is such an immense honor for me to be here today… And it always feels like so many other people are more deserving, have been doing
this for longer and are more technically competent.

Never in my life did I dream I would become a wildlife photographer – despite spending hundreds of hours as a child looking at