Also close by are the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College London, the Royal College of Music, the London branch of the Goethe-Institut and the Ismaili Centre.

The Ismaili Centre, the Aga Khan Museum and a public park, will provide an exhibition space for Islamic art and history and will provide a centre for the Ismaili community in Canada.

* Ismaili Centre

* Ismaili Centre

* The Ismaili Nutrition Centre Chicken Samosa recipe includes health and nutritional information and a visual guide to folding samosas.

Of particular significance is the new Ismaili Centre in Toronto, Canada that is to be located in the midst of formal gardens and surrounded by a large park designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic.

In 1991, Hafiz Karmali ( assistant to Peter Brook's protégé Andrei Serban ) directed this version at the Ismaili Centre in London, UK with an ensemble of actors trained at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard.

In 1979, the foundation stone was laid for what was to become the first ‘ Ismaili Centre ’ in London ’ s South Kensington neighbourhood .< ref > See Aga Khan IV, Speech on the occaision of the Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre, London, UK, September 6, 1979.

Available at < http :// www. amaana. org / agakhan / londonctr9-79. htm .></ ref > The high-profile building which was opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ( b. 1925 ; r. 1979-1990 ) in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan in April 1985 was an important chapter in a new era of Ismaili presence in Europe .< ref > See Notes from Press Release titled “ His Highness the Aga Khan in the United Kingdom to mark Golden Jubilee Visit ,” July 2, 2008 and available at < http :// www. akdn. org / Content / 674 .> Photographs and the speech by Margaret Thatcher on the occasion can be found at < http :// www. amaana. org / agakhan / londonctr9-79. htm ..></ ref > Several months later in August, another Ismaili Centre was opened in Vancouver ’ s Burnaby district ( Canada ) by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ( b. 1939 ; r. 1984-1993 ).< ref > The Foundation Stone Ceremony was conducted on July 24, 1982 and the building was officially opened on August 23, 1985.

See “ Voices: Bruno Freschi, Architect of the Ismaili Centre in Burnaby, in Conversation with Simerg ,” at < http :// simerg. com / about / voices-bruno-freschi-architect-of-the-ismaili-centre-in-burnaby-in-conversation-with-simerg /.></ ref > Each architecturally unique, these purpose built centres constructed by internationally reputed architects occupy prominent places in their respective cities and include, in addition to the central prayer hall, spaces to facilitate intellectual and social gatherings, meeting rooms, educational facilities, libraries, gardens and water features.

In 1998, the third such ‘ Ismaili Centre ’ was opened in Lisbon, Portugal .< ref > See Aga Khan IV, “ Speech at the Foundation Stone Ceremony of the Lisbon Ismaili Centre ,” December 18, 1996, available at < http :// www. iis. ac. uk / view_article. asp? ContentID = 101402 .> and Press Release dated July 11, 1998 on the occasion of the inauguration of Centro Ismaili, “ Aga Khan and President Sampaio Speak on Faith and Civil Society ,” available at < http :// www. akdn. org / Content / 527 .></ ref > The Centre draws inspiration from regional influences of the Moorish architectural heritage such as the Alhambra in Granada as well as that of other Muslim cultural forms such as that of Fatehpur Sikri in India .< ref > Richardson, Phyllis.

“ Ismaili Centre, Lisbon, Portugal ,” New Sacred Architecture, pp. 86-91.

" Additionally, Alnaz Jiwa, a Toronto lawyer who describes himself as a " devout " Nizari Ismaili, compared the Aga Khan's role in Nizari Ismailism to that of Jesus in Christianity, as part of motions involving the Aga Khan Copyright Lawsuit in the Federal Court of Canada in August of 2010.

The first of these, and the second such centre to be built in Canada, will be located in Toronto ’ s Don Mills area and follows the pattern of earlier buildings, representing functionally and symbolically the presence of Ismaili communities in Europe and North America.

No contemporary Ismaili account of the events has survived, and it is likely that scholars will never know the exact details of this time.

In 2007, after an interview with the Aga Khan, G. Pascal Zachary, of the The New York Times, wrote, " Part of the Aga Khan's personal wealth by him and his family, which his advisers say exceeds $ 1 billion, comes from a dizzyingly complex system of tithes that some of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims pay him each year of which is called dasond, which is at least 12. 5 % of each Nizari Ismaili's gross annual income – an amount that he will not disclose but which may reach hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

In his will, the Aga Khan III explained the rationale for choosing his eldest grandson as his successor ( which marked the first time in the claimed history of the Nizari Ismaili chain of Imamat that a grandson of the preceding Imam – instead of one of the sons of the preceding Imam – was made the next Imam ):

Further Ismaili Centres, in various stages of development will follow shortly.

Founded in 2002, The Secondary Teacher Education Programme ( STEP ) is a two-year post-graduate programme that seeks to train and sustain teachers who will be instrumental in teaching the Institute ’ s Secondary Curriculum to Ismaili students worldwide.

The first instance of assassination in the effort to establish an Nizari Ismaili state in Persia is widely considered to be the murder of Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk.

After being drugged, the Ismaili devotees were said be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young maidens and beautiful plants in which these fida ' is would awaken.

It is named after Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ( 985 – 1021 ), the sixth Fatimid caliph, 16 th Fatimid / Ismaili Imam and the first to be born in Egypt.

In 1256, Ismaili control of the fortress was lost to the invading Mongols and its famous library holdings were destroyed when the castle ’ s library was condemned to be burned by ‘ Ata-Malik Juwayni, a servant of the Mongol court.

The expansion of Mongol power across Western Asia depended upon the conquest of the Islamic lands, the complete seizure of which would be impossible without dismantling the ardent Nizari Ismaili state.

When Rukn al-Din arrived in Mongolia with promises to persuade the prevailing Ismaili fortresses to surrender, the Great Khan Mongke no longer believed the Imam to be of use.

The first instance of assassination in the effort to establish an Nizari Ismaili state in Persia is widely considered to be the murder of Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk.

After being drugged, the Ismaili devotees were said be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young maidens and beautiful plants in which these fida ’ is would awaken.

They hold the latter to be superior and eternal and this is reflected in their understanding of both the universe and humanity ( This view can also be found in Ismaili Islam — see Batiniyya ).

Aga Khan (; also transliterated as Aqa Khan and Agha Khan ) is said by author Farhad Daftary to be the hereditary title of the Imam of the Nizari Ismaili community ( although in a legal proceeding, the Aga Khan III noted that Aga Khan is not a title, but instead a sort of alias or " pet name " that was given to the Aga Khan I when he was a young man ).

The Aga Khan IV is the 49th Nizari Ismaili Imam and claims to be a hereditary descendant of Ali, a cousin of the Prophet Muhamad, and his wife Fatimah, the Prophet Muhammad's first daughter.

During satr the Imam could only be accessed by his community and in extremely dangerous circumstances, would be accessible only to the highest ranking members of the Ismaili hierarchy ( ḥudūd ), whose function it was to transmit the teachings of the Imam to the community.

During the Dawr al-Satr ( period of concealment ), the Imams resided in Salamiyya and its environs to avoid arrest by the Abbasids. On occasions when the soldiers threatened, the Imams were whisked up via underground tunnels. There is a famous story of Ismaili fidais claiming to be the Imam and risking arrest in order to confuse and delay the soldiers, giving the Imam time to flee.

By contrast the more later founded Ismaili and Ithna Ashariya Shi ' as claimed that the Imam must be divinely appointed, something Zaidis absolutely reject.

This attempt appeared to be unsuccessful and the Ghaznawids continued to attack other Ismaili strongholds in Sindh to suppress any resurgence of the community in the region.

This violence continued as when Muhammad of Ghor attacked the city and drove out the remaining Ismailis whom he deemed to be heretics, in stark contrast to his predecessor, the Ghurid Sultan ' Ala ' al-Din who welcomed numerous envoys from the Ismaili state of Alamut and according to the historian Juzjani, gave them " great reverence "

The private ‘ wisdom sessions ’ ( majalis al-hikma ) devoted to esoteric Ismaili doctrines and reserved exclusively for initiates, now became organized so as to be accessible to different categories of participants.

It is also said by later sources that the Ismaili Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir informed Hassan that his elder son Nizar would be the next Imam.

In view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world has provoked many changes, including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the best interests of the Nizari Ismaili community that I should be succeeded by a young man who has been brought up and developed during recent years and in the midst of the new age, and who brings a new outlook on life to his office.

However, since a certain number of undefined years after the formation of the independent country of Pakistan ( a major hub for Nizari Ismailis, as indicated earlier ) in 1947, and particularly since the advent of the 49th Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, the Aga Khan IV, in 1957, the bulk of the public information available on the position of the Imam in Nizari Ismailism indicates that the position may be viewed as ' less divine ' than during the lives of previous Nizari Ismaili Imams – or, even, not divine altogether.

The largest Shia sect in the early 21st century is the Ithna ashariyya, commonly referred to in English as the Twelvers, while smaller branches include the Ismaili (" Seveners ") and Zaidi (" Fivers ").

Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ismaili religions, such as the world's 15 million Nizaris and in particular the 2 million Druze of the Levant whose eponymous founder Ad-Darazi proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018.

Since his ascension to the Imamate of Nizari Ismailis in 1957, the Aga Khan has been involved in complex political and economic changes which have affected his Nizari Ismaili followers, including the independence of African countries from colonial rule, expulsion of Asians from Uganda, the independence of Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan from the former Soviet Union and the continuous turmoil in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The term jamatkhana is also used to refer to spaces used by a number of other Muslim communities with bases in South Asia, such as the Chisti Sufi tariqa, and various branches of the Musta ’ li Ismaili community including the Dawoodi Bohras and Alevi Bohras.

14th century ), emissaries appointed by the Ismaili Imam in Persia and sent to the South Asia in the service of the faith, established the first such spaces for the nascent Nizari Ismaili communities in Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir and China during their lifetimes.

The first Ismaili Centre in the Middle East was opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on March 26, 2008 by the Aga Khan in the presence of senior members of the ruling family of Dubai .< ref > See < http :// www. theismaili. org / cms / 252 / Opening-of-the-Ismaili-Centre-Dubai > which includes links to speeches, press releases and photographs covering the event .</ ref > The Centre, built on land donated by the Shaykh Mohammed b. Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai ’ s ruler in 1982, is the first such Centre in the Middle East.

The Institute of Ismaili Studies offers a variety of different programmes from the graduate level to preparatory programmes for Ismaili students who have not previously studied English, such as the Khorog English Programme and the Syrian Preparatory Program.

Mixtures occur in certain areas such as Bamyan Province where Sunni, Twelver and Ismaili may be found.

According to the Institute of Ismaili Studies ( Ismailism is a branch of Shīʻa Islam ), " In mystical literature, such as the writings of al – Tirmidhi, Abd al – Razzaq and Ibn al –‘ Arabi ( d. 1240 ), or Kutb refers to the most perfect human being ( al – insan al – kamil ) who is thought to be the universal leader of all saints, to mediate between the divine and the human and whose presence is deemed necessary for the existence of the world.