Pir, spiritual guide

The true guide and the Jamat

"In August, 1935, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah completed 50 years of his spiritual leadership and the Ismailis decided to pay a memorable tribute to their Imam by weighing him against gold and making a present of it, as a mark of their love and gratitude. For this grand program, an All-India Golden Jubilee Celebration Committee had been formed, which was inaugurated by Lady Aly Shah on October 16, 1935 at Bombay.

The Prophet left Medina for performing his farwell pilgrimage on Saturday, the 25th Zilkada, 10. He reached Mecca on Wednesday, the 7th Zilhaja, 10, and performed the pilgrimage. He left Mecca on 14th Zilhaja, 10. His caravan reached a little before noon to a pond (ghadir), known as Khum, on 18th Zilhaja, 10/March 16, 632. It is situated about 3 miles north-west of Mecca in the heart of the desert, called Sahara'i Huja, about 3 miles from the town, al-Jahfa.

The plural noun maghanim is used in the Koran (4:94, 48:15, 19:20) for the booty, and the verb ghanima (8:41,69). The Koran mentions the word ghunm or its derivatives on nine occasions as ghanamo, ghanomi, ghunm, ghanimtun, maghanimo and maghanima. The wars waged by the Prophet were purely for the purpose of security or defence. In the battles, the unbelievers left their means and materials in the field.

The guru is composed of two Hindi words, gu (darkness) and ru (light), and thus, guru means one who provides light in darkness. The tradition of guru has been quite strong in Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. It does not mean merely a teacher, but also a religious guide to his disciples. In the Indian tradition of the Ismailis, the word guru has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. First, guru stands for the Imam. Secondly, it stands for the Pir.

"Abbas Shah, surnamed Shah Gharib or Gharib Mirza, was also known as Gharibu'l-lah and Mustansir billah III, and assumed the Imamate in 899/1493. Imam Gharib Mirza seems to have left Shahr-i Babak few months after assuming Imamate. He seems to have repaired for about one year out of Shahr-i Babak, leaving behind his hujjat, called Badiuddin Khwaja Kassim, and at length settled down in Anjudan, most possibly in 900/1494. Pir Shihabuddin Shah (d.

"The two connotations of the root are ghaba'an, meaning to be absent and ghaba fi, meaning to be hidden. In current usage, ghayb signifies absence. More frequently ghayb indicates what is hidden, inaccessible to the senses and reason, thus at the same time absent from human knowledge and hidden in divine wisdom. It is to this second meaning that al-ghayb refers, as a technical term of the religious vocabulary.

Ghibah is the verbal noun (masdar) of ghaba and also that of ightiyab means backbiting. Jawahari writes, "It is said ighatabahu ightiyaban when one falls into backbiting. The noun is al-ghibah, and it means saying such things about an absent person. If it is true it is called ghibah and if false, buhtan (slander)." The Koran specifies the varieties of evil speech, which violate the dignity of others and seek to expose their weakness.

The Koran speaks on one occasion, of the presence in paradise of ghilman (pl. of ghulam meaning a boy), and on two occasions of wildan (pl. of walad meaning a son or a child): "And round them shall go boys (ghulman) of theirs as if they were hidden pearls" (52:24); "And round about them shall go children (wildan) never altering in age" (56:17, 76:19).

"In about 488/1095, the Ismailis of Alamut took possession of one of the most important strongholds, Girdkuh, the old Diz Gunbadan (the domed fort) in Qumis. The valiant garrison of Girdkuh however continued to resist its Mongol besiegers for 13 years after the reduction of Alamut.

The Present Imam founded the Global Centre for Pluralism on April 18, 2005 in Ottawa. The Global Centre for Pluralism will be a non-denominational, not-for-profit, Canadian organization with global reach. The Government of Canada said it would contribute CAD$30 million to the Centre. The initial investment by the Aga Khan Development Network will be CAD$40 million.

The Ismailis in Punjab are known as the Shamsi, the followers of Pir Shams. They professed their faith secretly, and were also known as the gupti (secret ones). They were tinged with the Hindu social customs, and called the prayer-hall as dharamshala and the Imam as dharam guru. The gupti Ismailis spread over 73 different villages of Punjab, having 35 Jamatkhanas. In 1912, there was a riot between the Hindu and the Shamsi Ismailis in Amritsar, and several Ismailis lost their lives.

220 A.H. - 315 A.H. (Pir during 242 A.H.).Born at Mohamedabad; named by Imam Raziyudin Abdullah who sent him to Magreb where hewitnessed the birth of the Fatimide empire. He had 4 sons.

See GANGJI, VAZIR ISMAIL

City where Pir Shams met the Wanriyo *"Sanji",* the Bhramin DevRam and DevChand Golaranra who were splashed by Vimras and Surbhaantaking their bath. Jodilo 8

(end of 4/10th Century) Dai and philosopher whose famous Ismaili Qasida were commented by Mohammed Sork* of Nisahpour* and Nassir Khusraw .