Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Your Excellency, members of Kamar Education Trust:

Let me begin by saying how very happy I am to be amongst you today and how honoured I am that you should have invited me to lay the Foundation Stone of this Hostel. The kind words which you have spoken about my late Grandfather have touched me deeply as he was not only a great Muslim but the revered head of my family for over three quarters of a century.

If I have been able in some small way to be of use to the Muslims in general and to my community during these last few years, it is thanks not only to the example of my late grandfather, but also to the guidance which I received from him from my youngest age until the time of his death.

There are times in life when one is asked to perform a ceremony or to make a speech when one does not have much to say. This is not only embarrassing but one needs a good library of stories to get out of the situation. Today however, I would like to congratulate the members of Kamar Trust for their great courage and foresight in creating this Hostel.

One of the greatest reasons for which I have paid so much attention to education is that I have the impression that in many cases the so called backward areas tend to look at the advanced areas and to say – we want to be like you. I do not think that any of us could argue against the fact that the leading areas of the world are outside the Asian and African zones of this earth.

Though we may try to emulate the advanced areas, I have often been worried that emulation would tend to mean full scale copying or even the closest identification possible. I cannot say that I would ever approve of our losing our true identity and I think that one of the greatest ways to avoid this danger is to see that our children are equipped with the most advanced intellectual weapons possible but that they should receive this equipment in their own homes against the background of their own society, their own traditions and their own beliefs. It is this great service which I am sure the members of Kamar Trust are endeavouring to fulfil, and I am sure that they will achieve outstanding results.