The word ansar (pl. of nasir) means

There are many places around Mecca of this name, the best known is that between Mina and Mecca. It is a mountain-road, or a place difficult of ascent on a hill or acclivity. Here the Prophet had secret meetings with the men from Medina at the pilgrimage of the year 621 and 622 A.D. In 621 A.D., twelve persons from Medina were present and they gave the Prophet an undertaking known as the pledge of Aqaba and at the second in 622 A.D., seventy three and two women took oath of allegiance.

The word aql (pl. uqul) is derived from the verb aqala, meaning to keep back (a camel by tying it forelegs), to detain, confine, to be restricted, be reasonable, understand, have intelligence or realize. This implies that true reason and intelligence can only be realized by keeping back the lower self. In this contect, the aql keeps the human being steadfast on the straight path by preventing him from going astray.

"The word arab or arabah is probably derived from a Semitic root related to nomadism. In the Arabic language, the word arab (derived from i'rab), means those who speak clearly as contrast with ajam (those who speak indistinctly).

The word arsh occurred seven times in the Koran (7:54, 10:3, 13:2, 20:5, 25:59, 32:4 and 57:4). It literally means a thing erected for shade or anything roofed. The royal court or the sitting place of the monarch is also called arsh on account of its eminence. Raghib writes in al-Mufridat fi Gharibi'l Koran that, "The arsh of God is one of the things which mankind know not in reality but only by name, and it is not as the imaginations of the vulgar hold it to be

The word asas literally means base or foundation, referring to the successor of the Prophet. The institution of the Imamate is a cornerstone and paramount position in Ismaili tariqah, and according to their theory, the seven millennial periods (adwar'i azam) form a part of a great cycle of 360,000 years. At its end, during the last period of 7000 years, there were six natiqs (speakers, pronouncers or law-givers), viz. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, the last Prophet.

The word sabab (pl. asbab) means reason or cause, and nuzul means revealed. The term marifah asbab al-nuzul is the knowledge about the reason of the revelation, i.e., knowledge about the particular event and circumstances that are related to the revelation of particular passage from the Koran. The Koran revealed piece by piece in the period of 22 years, 5 months and 24 days.

Ashab al-Suffa or Ahl al-Suffa was a group of the Prophet's Companions. The suffa or zulla (bench or banquette) was a long, covered portico or vestibule, which formed part of the mosque at Medina. This was the sole home of these men, and they spent their time in study and worship. They are sometimes said to have been as many as four hundred.

The word sifa'a (pl. sifat) is not found in the Koran, but the verbal noun wasf does appear once in 6:139, and the imperfect of the first form of the verb occurs 13 times in the sense of "to ascribe or uphold a description or to attribute."

"The Nizari Ismailis were designated with a misnomer, Assassins in mediaeval Europe. This is an abusive term that had been given a wide currency by the Crusaders and their occidental chroniclers, who had first come into contact with the Syrian Ismailis in the Near East during the early decades of the 12th century. Charles E.

The word award-burd means controlling of the breath. The Koran says, "I swear by the breath of the morning" (81:18). The Prophet said, "Do not abuse the wind, for the wind is the breath of God" (la tasubbur riha fa innaha min nafsir rahmani). The control of the breath was an early characteristic to practice irk in the Sufism. Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 874) is reported as saying, "For Gnostics, worship is observance of the breaths." Abu Bakr ash-Shibli (d.

"The word aya (pl. ayat) means sign, symbol, token or mark of distinction, thus it refers to the verse of the Koran. The word aya occurs 400 times in the Koran. The Koranic ayat are long as well as short. Among the longest aya is the one known as Ayat al-Kursi (2:255) and the short one is "inclining to blackness" (55:64).

According to the Koran: "God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of Imran above all (His) creatures. Offspring, one from the other"(3:33-34). The word dhurriya means direct descendants, family or lineage. It occurs 32 times in the Koran in the context of the prophets, indicating that their mission was assigned to their direct descendants to carry on.

"The succession to the Prophet is the key question in Shi'ite Islam, and a principal factor separating them from the Sunni majority. It is seen that the Prophet had nominated Ali bin Abu Talib as his successor by rule of nass (investiture) and nass wa-ta'yin (explicit investiture).

"The ayat al-kursi (the verse of the throne or sedile), is also known as ayat al-hifz. It is a single verse of the Koran (2:255) of more than average length, consisting ten sentences, is one of the principal verses of refuge and protection. It is the loftiest verse of the Koran, and according to George Sale, "It is a magnificent description of the Divine Majesty and Providence".

"Imam Hasan Ali Shah had to face periodical troubles from certain dissident members of his community. In 1243/1827, while the Imam was in Iran, a group led by Habib Ibrahim in Bombay refused to pay tithe and forced others to do so. The leaders of the Bombay jamat reported to the Imam in Iran at the end of 1244/1828.

It is a group of institutions working to improve living conditions and opportunities in specific regions of the developing world. The Network's institutions have individuals mandates that range from the fields of health and education to architecture, rural development and the promotion of private sector enterprise. Together they collaborate in working toward a common goal

In social development, the Network is particularly active in health, education, housing and rural development. The purpose of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is to promote creative and effective solutions to problems that impede social development. AKF provides funding and technical assistance for many social development projects carried out by both Network institutions and other agencies.

Founded in 1967, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is now a major non-governmental organization (NGO) active in health, education and rural development. With roots in the third world and support in the West, it cooperates with more than thirty other national and international agencies to finance programmes, primarily in Africa and Asia.

With the faculty of Health Sciences and the Institute for Educational Development in Pakistan, the Aga Khan University (AKU) occupies a pivotal place in the Network's social development activities. Inaugurated in 1985, its purpose is to provide higher education and stimulate research pertinent to Pakistan and the developing world, while maintaining internationally accepted academic standards.

The Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) is one of the most comprehensive non-profit health care systems in the developing world. Building on the Ismaili community's health care efforts during the first half of the century, AKHS now provides primary health care and curative medical care in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and Syria. It includes five general hospitals, the Aga Khan University Hospital in Pakistan, six maternity homes and more than 230 health centers.

The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) provides schooling and other educational services in over 300 facilities in the developing world, ranging from day care center to higher secondary schools. With roots in the Ismaili community's traditions of educational activity, national service companies in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh now manage these schools and centers

The goal of the Aga Khan Housing Boards (AKHB) in India and Pakistan is the improvement of housing design and living conditions, especially through better water supply and sanitation. They give technical advice and provide construction management services to organizations that build housing for both urban and rural communities.

"He was the son of Imam Hasan Ali Shah. Marium Khanum, also called Khanum Baji, who died on May 21, 1894 was the third wife of Imam Hasan Ali Shah. She was the mother of Aga Jhangi Shah and Bibi Saheba, the wife of Suleman Khan.

The first of a planned network of Aga Khan Academies dedicated to expanding access to education of an international standard of excellence in Asia and Africa was inaugurated in Mombasa, Kenya on December 20, 2003 in presence of the President of Kenya, Mr. Mwai Kibaki. The network of Academies will feature a curriculum based on the framework of the International Baccalaureate (IB).

The phrase in the first verse of the 105th Koranic chapter, Sura al-Fil, from which al-fil (elephant) provides the term by which the sura is known. The verse directly addressed to the Prophet: "Have you not seen how your Lord has dealt with the People of the Elephant (ashab al-fil)?" The short sura of five verses describes an expedition in which one of the mounts was an elephant, which was miraculously annihilated by God, Who sent flocks of birds against the invading host.

It means the year of grief. Soon after the annulment of the social boycott in the tenth year, i.e. 619 A.D. of the mission, the Prophet suffered two severe calamities in the death of his uncle, Abu Talib, which was followed by that of his wife, Khadija. With the death of Khadija, the lamp of the Prophet's house was extinguished. One protected him with the influence that derived from his noble rank, while the other guarded him with her material and wealth.

In 41/661, Hasan bin Ali bin Abu Talib had relinquished the power in favour of Muawiya after ruling for 6 months and 3 days. Thus, the year of his abdication became known as A'am al-Ja'ma (the year of the community), and prevented a bloody military solution of the conflict.

It is a sonorous word intoned by the faithful at the end of the every dua as a confirmation or its corroboration. It means be it so. When one recites the dua, the listeners uttered a'amin (be it so)

The word is derived from the verbal root ta'abbada means what remains for a long time or eternity. The word abad occurs thrice in the Koran, means post-eternity, ever-lastingness or that which has no end.

Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet had a son, Abdullah, who never tried to establish his own caliphate. Abdullah and his son, Ali bin Abdullah resided in Humayma. It was the latter's son, Muhammad bin Ali to have taken the charge of Kaysaniya sect from the dying Abu Hashim. Thus, the house of Abbas inherited the party and organization of Abu Hashim along with his claims.

"Mahmud Shah, surnamed Abdus Salam or Salam Shah, whose exact date of birth is not known. But the evidence is in favour of his having been born in 859/1456 in Shahr-i Babak, where he mostly passed his early life. He is also called Shah Salamullah. He ascended to the office of Imamate at the age of 21 years.

"The word ab-i shafa in Persian means healing water, and its synonymous in Arabic is ma'ush- shafa. The word shafa occurs six times in the Koran (9:14, 26:80, 10:57, 16:69, 17:82 and 41:44), which literally means remedy, recovery, healing or convalescence. One of the names of the Koran itself is shafa (healing): "And We revealed the Koran which is a healing (shifaun) and a mercy to the believers" (17:82). The word ma' (pl.

The word abjad means chronogram, which is a mode of reckoning numbers by means of the Arabic letters of the alphabets, counting alif for one; bay for two; jim for three, etc. It may be noted that in English, only seven letters have of this chronogram, viz. C for 100, D for 500, I for 1, L for 50, M for 1000, V for 5 and X for 10.

"Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i was hailed from Kufa. He espoused Ismailism by the hand of da'i Firuz. Imam Radi Abdullah sent him to Ibn Hawshab in Yamen for further training in esoteric doctrines as well as affairs of the state, where he stayed for a year. Ibn Hawshab then sent him towards Maghrib.

"Abu Ali ibn Sina, Ibn Sina or Avicenna, known in the West as Prince of Physicians, was born in 370/980 in the village of Afshana near Bukhara. He was an encyclopeadist, philosopher, physiologist, physician, mathematician, astronomer, logician and poet. He gained the titles of Shaikh al-Ra'is (leader among the wise men) and Hujjat al-Haq (proof of God), displayed a remarkable aptitude for learning from an early age.

Abu Bakr, the son of Abu Qahafa was born in the Qoraish family. When he was born he was taken to the Kaba, dedicated to the gods, and named Abdul Kaba. In his early age, he liked to play with the young camels, which earned him the surname of Abu Bakr, i.e., the father of the foal of the camel. He did not receive any formal education.

"Abu Hatim ar-Razi was born near Ray around 260/874. He was the hujjat of Ray, and conducted the mission with great efficiency and promptness. He studied Ismaili doctrines, also Arabic poetry, and the religious science of Islam, comparative religion and indeed the natural and mathematical sciences. He succeeded to bring the ruler of Ray, Ahmad bin Ali (307-311/92O-924) to the Ismaili fold, who was formerly aggressive to the Ismailis.

"Abu Yaqub Ishaq bin Ahmad as-Sijistani, nicknamed "cotton-seed" (Iranian, panba-dana, Arabic khayshafuj) was born in 271/883 in Bandan, a district in north of Sijistan and was trained in Yamen. He was a great philosopher and scholar and considered to be one of the major Ismaili thinkers whose share in the development of the Ismaili system of thought is considerable. Paul E. Walker writes in Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary (London, 1996, p.

"Imam Abul Hasan Ali was also known as Syed Shah Muhammad Hasan Shah, Hasan Beg and Abul Hasan Ali Shah. He was born in Shahr-i Babak. The Iranian sources called him, Abul Hasan Kaheki, a name mostly was popular among the inhabitants of Kahek, whom he generously helped for about two times. One of the ways he utilized his wealth was to serve delicious dishes strewn with ample varieties of food to the hungry and needy while he himself would seldom taste it.

Pir Shihabuddin Shah (d. 1301/1884) married to Bibi Arus Khanum, who gave birth of a son, Abul Hasan Shah and six daughters, viz. Talah, Nushi, Turan Malek, Khadija, Tuman Malik and Zarin Taj. Upon the death of Pir Shihabuddin Shah, Imam Aga Ali Shah declared his infant son, Abul Hasan Shah as a next Pir. In this context, the farman follows:

"Muhammad Abuzar Shah, surnamed Abuzar, was also called Nuruddin. He is also known as Shah Nuruddin bin Gharib Shah in the Syrian works. Like his father, he also passed a darwish life in Anjudan. He had however advised his followers to exercise precautions in view of new religious tendency and political cataclysm in Iran.