As Canadians, we are fortunate to be living in one of the best countries in the world. We have access to great healthcare and education programs, and our government is responsive to our needs. Unfortunately, many people in other countries do not have access to the same benefits as we do. To show gratitude for what we have as Canadians, we should extend our helping hands to others who are not as fortunate as ourselves.
We have much to offer the world. Not just in terms of our ability to give financial assistance, but also in terms of our ability to give our time and knowledge to promote International Development across the globe. Every single day, the world grows increasingly interconnected; in our day and age, we are truly living in a global village. We Canadians have a great potential to impact positive change across the globe through International Development initiatives.
via Why should Canadians care about International Development? | Vancity Buzz | Vancouver Blog.
After the death of the Prophet, Muhammad, the religion of Islam split over whom his successor will be and what type of leader he should be. The two major groups are the Sunnis and the Shi’is, the latter of which contains a subgroup called the Isma’ilis. The history of the Isma’ilis is far from being simple. In the beginning of Isma’ilism, they were a small sect, but they would eventually rise to become a major player in Islam during the Fatimid period. The Isma’ilis would have an internal conflict over the succession of an imam and would split into two groups. One movement was the Musta’lian Isma’ilis following al-Musta’li, the other followed Nizar. The group backing Nizar, would become infamous. The Nizari Isma’ili movement was on the extreme side. This particular group became known as ‘the assassins’. Of course, every story has two sides, and the Isma’ilis are no exception. It is important to understand the perspective of both sides, before coming to a conclusion about them. The book, The Ismal’ilis: their history and doctrines, by Farhad Daftary, looks at the Isma’ilis from a broad, outside- looking- in view, while the book, The Order of Assassins; the struggle of the early Nizari Isma’ilis against the Islamic world, by Marshall G. S. Hodgson, focuses on the assassin group and really tries to look at the situation from their perspective when possible.
It has been noted by several authors that classical Greek philosophers operated under the fundamental assumption that the universe consisted of only two realms – the intelligible and the sensible. Many of their philosophical speculations moreover were ultimately based on an attempt to define the relationship between the two. This, it may be argued, was the limit of their concern for the problem of creation.
Let me quote a research by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Mind you, the Punjab government’s Lahore Walled City Project, now a dead leaderless organisation because of powerful political and trader pressure, remains quiet about. In 1947 less than 15 per cent of houses in the ‘walled’ city were commercial. In 2012 they have crossed the 72 per cent mark. The evil has spread far and wide and even Mohallah Maulian, purely a residential area for centuries, is being, slowly, eradicated.
