Mowlana Kauser Niazi, Your Excellencies, Eminent Scholars.

    When Mowlana Kauser Niazi invited Me to preside at today's gathering of the Seerat Conference, I felt both trepidation and joy, trepidation because few subjects could be more awe inspiring for any Muslim to speak on, joy as few subjects could give greater happiness to be involved with. Let Me add that I am also deeply appreciative of the occasion offered to Me by Mowlana Kauser Niazi to meet and greet you all. Few Conferences can, have gathered so many men of outstanding intellect, who have devoted so much time and wisdom to the study of Islam and the life of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

      In addressing you shortly today, I will begin by making a request: One hundred and seventy two eminent scholars from 48 countries have gathered in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi to present the results of their research and reflection on various aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet. From all these exchanges, from all the private debates which have preceded and succeeded the presentation of each paper, will have come an immense range of new thoughts, new ideas and new understanding of the Prophet's life. 

    I have observed in the Western world a deeply changing pattern of human relations. The anchors of moral behaviour appear to have dragged to such depths that they no longer hold firm the ship of life. What was once wrong is now simply unconventional, and for the sake of individual freedom must be tolerated. What is tolerated soon becomes accepted. Contrarily, what was once right is now viewed as outdated, old-fashioned and is often the target of ridicule.

    In the face of this changing world, which was once a universe to us and is now no more than an overcrowded island, confronted with a fundamental challenge to our understanding of time, surrounded by a foreign fleet of cultural and ideological ships which have broken loose, I ask, "Do we have a clear, firm and precise understanding of what Muslim Society is to be in times to come?" And if, as I believe, the answer is uncertain, where else can we search than in the Holy Quran, and in the example of Allah's last and final Prophet?

    There is no justification for delaying the search for the answer to this question by the Muslims of the world, because we have the knowledge that Islam is Allah's final message, the Quran His final book and Mohammed His last Prophet. We are blessed that the answers drawn from these sources guarantee that neither now, nor at any time in the future will we be going astray.

     As the demands on his time increase, every Muslim will find it more and more difficult to seek for himself the answer to the fundamental question of how he should live his life for it to be truly Muslim. It is men such as you who will have to bring forth the answers. Answers which will have to be practical and realistic in the world of today and tomorrow. Rather than let force of circumstance impose upon us through our default in not having suitably prepared ourselves for the future ways of life, which are not, or should not be ours, we must ourselves design the path we should tread.

      The Holy Prophet's life gives us every fundamental guideline that we require to resolve the problem as successfully as our human minds and intellects can visualize. His example of integrity, loyalty, honesty, generosity both of means and of time, his solicitude for the poor, the weak and the sick, his steadfastness in friendship, his humility in success, his magnanimity in victory, his simplicity, his wisdom in conceiving new solutions for problems which could not be solved by traditional methods, without affecting the fundamental concepts of Islam, surely all these are foundations which, correctly understood and sincerely interpreted, must enable us to conceive what should be a truly modern and dynamic Islamic Society in the years ahead. 

Friday, March 12, 1976 --  end of the speech  --

  A Question that needs to be addressed:

       Nearly 27 years have passed since the above Speech was made. Everyday in the Ismaili Jamatkhanas the agents of Karim Aga Khan, their wives, the title holders, and a man or a woman who leads the Prayer, sit in the front row and face the congregation. With the result that Jamaati Members prostrate to those sitting in the first row, instead of the direction of the Sacred Mosque in Mekkah. And, these Jamaati Leaders prostrate before the Jamaat. 
As a former practicing Ismaili, I can vouch for this strange pattern.

      Do the Jamaati Leaders, have any pronouncement from Karim Aga Khan that they are making the Ismaili Jamaat to follow this INNOVATION? Or, blindly following their fore fathers?

     Have they found any Command within the verses of the Qur'an or an example from the Life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that authorizes them to enforce this INNOVATION? 

     The Qur'an Commands the Muslims to face the direction of Sacred Mosque in Mekkah (see verses 2 :149 -150). Even the non Muslims know that the followers of Islam all over the world face Mekkah while praying.   How come they don't know that Truth? 

     What if on the Day of Judgment, Karim Aga Khan was to claim before his Creator, these followers of mine were NOT following me but were following their fore-fathers.  I had spoken the TRUTH.
 

When it is said to them: "Come to what Allah hath revealed; come to the Apostle". They say: "Enough for us are the ways we found our fathers following." What! even though their fathers were void of knowledge and guidance?  Glorious Qur'an 5 : 104

  Question for Karim Aga Khan:
     As a Harvard graduate in Islam you probably know that Allah (s.w.t.) has not given the authority of forgiving of the SINS to anyone including His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). 

The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) did not appoint such agents to FORGIVE the SINS OF MUSLIMS. Nor, he himself sprinkle "Holy Water" 
on the faces of MUSLIMS and forgave their sins, during his life.

    In view of your above quoted speech you should immediately STOP your designated agents and their wives from collecting cash from your followers on your behalf and forgive their sins. When the followers admit being "sinful from their heads to their feet" -- while kneeling before them with their joined palms -- your appointed agents sprinkle "Holy Water" on their faces and forgive their sins in the name of "Shah-Pir"  i.e. YOU the Living Imam of Ismailis.

       In Karachi, the same city in which you had made this speech, YOU personally sprinkled "Holy Water" on the face of my wife and mine and then spoke in our ears that all our sins were forgiven.
The fact is there are tens of thousands of followers living today, on whose faces YOU have sprinkled "Holy Water" and forgiven sins.

And those who, having done something to be ashamed of or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind and ask for forgiveness for their sins, -- and who can forgive sins except Allah? -- And are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in 
(the wrong) they have done.  Glorious Qur'an 3 : 135

THINK!!!
If Karim Aga Khan has indeed uttered a Falsehood, why follow him?
If Karim Aga Khan has indeed spoken the Truth, why NOT follow that Truth? 

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