Lessons from the Aga Khan in Canada

One of the world's great leaders is not the head of a national government. He is the leader of a religious faith.  The Aga Khan is the spiritual head of the Ismaili Muslims, a Shia sect reaching back to the days of the Prophet Mohamed.  In this role, and through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), he has addressed issues of the elimination of poverty, access to education, and social peace in a pluralist environment.  He was recently recognized for this and other accomplishments by being invited to address the Canadian Parliament.The speech is a remarkable exposition of the potential power of pluralism in a deeply disturbed world.  It also helps us non-Muslims understand a bit more about the history and divisions and commonalities in this faith, something seldom covered in the mainstream media.  It is on this latter topic that I present some excerpts, as I found it a fascinating and helpful discussion for my understanding of the world:First then, a few personal words. I was born into a Muslim family, linked by heredity to the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him and his family). My education blended Islamic and Western traditions, and I was studying at Harvard . . . when I became the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The Ismaili Imamat is a supra-national entity, representing the succession of Imams since the time of the Prophet. But let me clarify something more about the history of that role, in both the Sunni...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs