Ismaili and Aga Khan in History: Today 0805

Today in History: August 5

1905, August 5: The first official Jamatkhana in Africa was built in Zanzibar where Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah made his first visit to Africa in 1899. The early Ismaili pioneers settled in zanzibar before migrating to other parts of East Africa. The Jamat Khana is located at Hurumzi Street, Old Town, Zanzibar and was officially opened by Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah during his second visit on 5th August 1905.

1908, August 5: Juma Bhagat arrived in Bombay and took a leading part as a witness in Bombay High Court during the Haji Bibi Case. He surprised the court while producing old manuscripts of the ginans of some 343 years and another dating 1576 A.D. His ancestors were the custodians of the shrine of Pir Tajuddin in Sind, and they inherited the oldest manuscripts of the ginans, which ultimately came into the possession of Juma Bhagat.

1923, August 5: The Aga Khan III took his first visit in the Recreation Club Institute on August 5, 1923 and inspected its activities. He also wrote a Persian verse in the diary of Ali Muhammad Mecklai with his own hand, the only known verse written by the Aga Khan III, which is as under:- Aatish bejan afrokhtan, az bahree jaanan sukhtan, Az man baist amukhtan, en karha karee man ast. meaning, "How to kindle a fire in the soul and burn oneself for one's beloved, should be learnt from me as this is one of my jobs."

1965, August 5: On his way to Europe, Mowlana Shah Karim stopped at Ougadougou, capital of Upper Volta. The President conferred on him the highest national title, the "National Order".

1994, August 5: Start of a 10 day visit by Mowlana Shah Karim to London, England. General Deedar was held on August 5th and Darbar on the 14th at the Earls Court Centre.

2004, August 05: THE RECENT DEATH of Ronald Reagan led many in the West to celebrate once again the fall of the Soviet Union 13 years ago. But in Khorog, a town of around 25,000 on the Tajik-Afghan border, that historic event is remembered with less happy feelings. Abandoned cranes, half-finished cement buildings and the hulls of Soviet tanks all hark back to an era when subsidies ran rich to this distant corner of Moscow's empire. Over lunch, Zebo, a local university student, frankly describes what holds up the economy: "Without the Aga Khan we would all be dead. There would be nothing to eat." [EER]

2004, August 05: Tajikistan - The Swiss Fela company has recently delivered satellite equipment for a monitoring system and for early warnings at Lake Sarez. The total cost of the World Bank project on reducing the risk of Sarez Lake overflow is 4.22m dollars. Of this sum, 1m dollars is from the Aga Khan Foundation. [AVESTA] [Related link]