Salima Addetia’s new book: Nasco’s Simple Crafts: Craft Activities for the Cognitive Impaired Elderly

By Salima Addetia

Activities geared specifically for those with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Enough craft ideas for an entire year. The crafts are arranged by month. Each activity gives instructions that are meant to aid those at all levels in achieving success in their creation, including how to simplify an activity if needed. A list of required supplies is also provided. 35 pages, 8-1/2″ x 11″. Spiral bound. Copyright 2011.

via Nasco’s Simple Crafts: Craft Activities for the Cognitive Impaired Elderly ~ Books.

Earlier related: The Importance of Recreation in Long Term Care – by Salima Addetia, Recreationist

Contribution to a new book by Alnoor Gova and Yasmin Jiwani

Omar Khadr, Oh Canada

In Spring 2012, MQUP will release Omar Khadr, Oh Canada where over 30 contributors analyze Khadr’s background, his continued incarceration, the passivity of Canadian authorities, and the implications raised by his case. The book includes essays, articles, poems, and other texts produced by such distinguished figures as General Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, Kim Echlin, George Elliott Clarke, Maher Arar, Rick Salutin, and Shadia Drury. While they sometimes disagree on issues such as radical Islam and Canadian multiculturalism, they all write from the conviction that Khadr’s treatment has been – and continues to be – shameful and unjust. -Source. -About the book.

About Yasmin Jiwani
Associate Professor
BA, Psychology, University of British Columbia
MA, Sociology, Simon Fraser University
PhD, Communications, Simon Fraser
Her research interests focus on the intersecting influences of race and gender within the context of media representations and violence against women.

About Alnoor Gova
Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C.
Alnoor Gova is PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education. His research focuses on the present Canadian political scene, largely in the areas of Citizenship, Multiculturalism, Immigration, National Security and Law; and specifically focuses on an instrument of governmentality known as ‘community-government’ employed within the not-for-profit sector.

New IIS Book: Biographical account of one of the most prominent statesmen of the early Fatimid period

This publication, edited and translated by Hamid Haji, brings together a new critical edition of the Arabic text, an introduction and a fully annotated English translation of the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar. It contains oral statements, correspondence and other archival material from a period spanning over sixty years of Fatimid rule, providing a biographical account of one of the most prominent statesmen of the early Fatimid period, Ustadh Jawdhar.

Jawdhar was a confidante of the first four Fatimid Imam-Caliphs who ruled in North Africa (910 – 973 CE). The author of the work, Abu ‘Ali Mansur al-‘Azizi al-Jawdhari, was a private secretary of Jawdhar. Mansur had access to archives held by Jawdhar, including letters he received from the imams, and was also a trusted associate. After Jawdhar’s death in 973 CE, the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz appointed al-Mansur to succeed him. The author cherished the memory of his mentor and wished to commemorate him. With this end in view, he compiled the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar during the time of Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz’s successor, Imam-Caliph al-‘Aziz billah (r. 975–996 CE).

via The Institute of Ismaili Studies – Inside the Immaculate Portal.

Family is key to success of Gujarati businessmen in Britain – New Book by IIS authors

If Gujarati businessmen in Britain made it big over the last three decades as compared to other Asian communities, it was largely because they came as families and did not follow the conventional pattern of pioneer single male migrants, says a book ‘Gujarati Communities Across The Globe: Memory, Identity and Continuity’.

The growth is compared to other British minority communities like British Pakistani and Bangladeshi men.

–snip– The book is edited by Sharmina Mawani and Anjoom Mukadam, both lecturers at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.

via Family is key to success of Gujarati businessmen in Britain – The Times of India.

About Dr Sharmina Mawani – About Dr Anjoom Mukadam – Book link at Amazon

Book Review by Vali Jamal: Race, rail and society: Roots of modern Kenya reviewed

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19438192.2012.675728

Sub-Saharan Africa: Launch of research book: Old Enough to Know

Children in sub-Saharan Africa are highly aware of the sexualised world they live in and are at dire risk falling pregnant or contracting HIV/Aids or both as teenagers if they are treated as mere innocents, a recent Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Cambridge University study has found.

-Excerpt- [Sharlene Swartz, research director of Human and Social development at HSRC] was speaking after the launch of the sex education book Old Enough to Know in Pretoria on Monday. The book is based on work by researchers from the HSRC, Cambridge University, and the Aga Khan University in Tanzania who analysed the sources and content of pupils’ community-based sexual knowledge and how these interact with sex and Aids education programmes in schools.

The research was set against the backdrop of sub-Saharan Africa being the region of the world most severely impacted upon by HIV/Aids and HIV-related education as a “social vaccine”.

via It’s time we had a talk about sex, say SA schoolkids – News – Mail & Guardian Online.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=169742

New Volume on Qur’anic Commentary of al-Qushayri: Lata’if al-isharat (Subtleties of the Subtleties)

The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of Sufi Master and Qur’an Scholar: Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri and the Lata’if al-isharat by Martin Nguyen. This volume, the eighth in the Qur’anic Studies Series, examines the Qur’anic commentary (tafsir) entitled, Lata’if al-isharat (Subtleties of the Subtleties), written by Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri, a scholar from Nishapur (Khorasan) who lived in the 11thCentury CE. Sufi Master and Qur’an Scholar is the first extensive study in English of the Lata’if al-isharat and provides the first detailed biography of Qushayri’s life.

via The Institute of Ismaili Studies – IIS Publishes Volume on Qur’anic Commentary of Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri.

World events spark local author to write book on Ismaili Muslims

A couple of major world events prompted Mansoor Ladha to write his book.

The first was 9/11: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

The second was the publication of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark which drew angry responses from Muslims around the world.

“They kind of pressed all Muslims in a negative limelight,” says Ladha, of Calgary, whose booked is titled A Portrait of Pluralism: Aga Khan’s Shia Ismaili Muslims.

via http://www.calgaryherald.com/news.
Author pens book on the Aga Khan- by Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
All related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/tag/mansoor-ladha/

New Book: Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis, by Farhad Daftary

The Ismaili Muslims, who belong to the Shia branch of Islam, live in over 25 different countries around the world, mainly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Their history has typically been linked to the history of the various countries in which they live, but the worldwide community is united under Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader and 49th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. Few fields of Islamic studies have witnessed as drastic a change as Ismaili studies, due in part to the recent discovery of numerous historical texts, and author Farhad Daftary makes extensive use of these new sources in the Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis.

This comprehensive new reference work is the first of its kind on the Ismailis and presents a summary of the findings of modern scholarship on the Ismaili Shia Muslims and different facets of their heritage. The dictionary covers all phases of Ismaili history as well as the main doctrines of the community. It includes an introductory chapter, which provides a broad historical survey of the Ismailis, followed by alphabetical entries on all major aspects of the community, such as key figures, institutions, traditions, and doctrines. It also contains a chronology, genealogical tables, a glossary, and a substantial bibliography. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Ismailis.

http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Dictionary-Ismailis-Dictionaries-Cultures/dp/081086164X
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810861640
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/747331877

President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni commends Dr Vali Jamal’s Book

The book’s called Uganda Asians: Then and and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute. It should be forthcoming by August 2012.

All related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/tag/vali-jamal/

“Temple and Contemplation” hits Iranian bookstores – Tehran Times

TEHRAN — The Persian version of “Temple and Contemplation” by Islamic scholar Henry Corbin has been released by the Sufia publications in Tehran.

The book has been translated for the first time in Persian by Ensha’alleh Rahmati who has also written a preface to the book.

The book includes five lectures given by Corbin in meetings of Eranos, an intellectual discussion group dedicated to the study of psychology, religion, philosophy and spirituality, in Switzerland.

“The Realism and Symbolism of Colors in Shiite Cosmology”, “The Science of the Balance and the Correspondences between Worlds in Islamic Gnosis”, “Sabian Temple and Ismailism”, “The Configuration of the Temple of the Kabeh as the Secret of Spiritual Life” and “The Imago Templi in Confrontation with Secular Norms” are the chapters of the book.

via “Temple and Contemplation” hits Iranian bookstores – Tehran Times.
Temple and Contemplation at Institute of Ismaili Studies

University of Central Asia Publishes “Ancient Monuments of Tien-Shan”

Publication Based on 20 Years of Archaeological Research by Kubat Tabaldiev

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, 5 March 2012 – The University of Central Asia (UCA) has launched its latest publication, Ancient Monuments of Tien-Shan in Bishkek.

Written by Kubat Tabaldiev, the book is based on twenty years of archeological research in the Naryn and Issyk Kul regions. It presents evidence of a rich heritage dating from different historical eras encompassing the Stone Age, Bronze Era, Early Iron Age and the Middle Ages. In the book, Tabaldiev introduces a new designation for this geographical area – Tenir Too.

via General News: University of Central Asia Publishes “Ancient Monuments of Tien-Shan”.

Book: High Achieving Schools of Aga Khan University Examination Board by Atai Karim

The School Leadership can play a significant role both directly and indirectly through pedagogical and distributed leadership for high student achievement. The School Leadership can support high student achievement by reinforcing and articulating school’s vision, goals, providing resources, building capacity, empowering staff members, developing plan, leading implementations and restructuring the school. The School Leadership can also support high student achievement by ensuring effective teaching, learning and accountability and recognizing school’s achievement. Moreover, the factors that can facilitate School Leadership in the enactment of their roles for high student achievement includes high quality human resources, team work, school infrastructure, support from educational institutions, support from school executive board/committee and community and inter schools collaboration. Finally, As a teacher and school leader I believe that the success of students and achievement of schools depends on the roles and the best practices of School Leadership.

via High Achieving Schools of Aga Khan University-Examination Board: Amazon.ca: Atai Karim: Books.

Book: A Modern History of the Ismailis | Sindhi Studies Group

Farhad Daftary (Ed.), A Modern History of the Ismailis. Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community, London New York, I. B. Tauris Publishers in association with The Institute of the Ismaili Studies, 2011.

The book edited by the well-known scholar Farhad Datary, the co-director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, is a welcome one. It is indeed the first synthesis proposing academic papers on a number of Ismaili traditions in the Modern period. The 400 pages book is divided into four parts: Nizari Ismailis in Syria, Central Asia and China; Nizari Ismaili in South Asia and East Africa; Nizari Ismaili in Contemporary policies, institutions and perspectives; and Tayyibi Mustalian Ismailis.

via Book: A Modern History of the Ismailis | Sindhi Studies Group.

Keeping the genius of Khusrau alive: Book on ‘khanaqahi qawwali’ launched in collaboration with Aga Khan Trust for Culture

New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) If one sets about the task of reviving 14th century Sufi legend Amir Khusrau’s legacy, his pioneering contribution to the devotional musical artform of ‘qawwali’ is where much of the work begins.

One of the most revered Sufi legends of Delhi — Khusrau is one of the major subjects of the revival and preservation efforts in Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti area, where the qawwali tradition is being discussed, debated and compiled in its purest form. ‘Jashn-e-Khusrau’ — a collection in book form of the events of a 2010 festival that celebrated the mystical poetry of Khusrau as performed in the genre of qawwali, was released today by Minister of Culture Kumari Shelja.

The book not only compiles the discussions, debates and lectures that were conducted during the 2010 festival, but also elaborates in detail on the vast repertoire of ‘khanaqahi qawwali’, with essays on the history, tradition, and literature of the genre. “We not only should celebrate Khusrau but we also have to take him out to this world. We owe it to the rest of the world to keep him alive…. We should familiarise the world with Khusrau,” said Shelja, before the historic monument of Chausanth Khamba came alive with Wajahat Hussain Badayuni Qawwal and his group’s rendering of Khusrau’s kalam. Shelja said while the commercial aspect of tourism was important, efforts should also be made to link tourism to the desire to share the rich history and legacy of the capital with active participation from the local population. “I feel very strongly that being proud of our heritage, we should be happy sharing it with the outside world,” she said while commending the efforts of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture to revive the heritage of the area with active participation of the local people.

The book comprises of essays that introduce the history, and literature of ‘khanaqahi qawwali’ as attributed to Khusrau, a beloved disciple of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. It also compiles his Sufi poetry that has been kept alive for over 750 years by the qawwali singers of the Chishtiya tradition, in calligraphy along with transliterations and translations. What also comes with the book are three music discs, that would be a delight to ears of lovers of Sufi tradition.

The compilation is part of a larger effort by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture to document, revive, disseminate the 700 years of intangible living cultural heritage of Nizamuddin Basti

via Keeping the genius of Khusrau of alive, IBN Live News.

Ali Velshi’s event on Feb 15 at Chapters

Meet Ali Velshi, CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent and host of Your Money as he signs his new book, How to Speak Money: The Language and Knowledge You Need Now.

Ali Velshi is CNN”s Chief Business Correspondent and host of Your Money. His in-depth reporting on the auto industry was honored with a National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer reporting in 2010. He anchored CNN”s coverage of the attempted terror attack on a flight into Detroit, for which CNN was nominated for a 2010 Emmy. He is the author of Gimme My Money Back: Your Guide to Beating the Financial Crisis.

via How to Speak Money: The Language and Knowledge You Need Now: Ali Velshi, Christine Romans: Books | chapters.indigo.ca.

“Regional Histories, Critical Thought and the University of Central Asia”, by Jeff Sahadeo

Chapter 5: Regional Histories, Critical Thought and the University of Central Asia

Excerpt:

The inspiration for UCA emerged from AKDN’s work among Ismaili Muslims in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Discussions between the Aga Khan and the President of Tajikistan, Emomail Rahmon ( then Rahmonov), on an institute of higher learning in the region began in 1994-95. Both envisioned a university based in the Pamir mountain city of Khorog and designed specifically to serve the highland peoples of Tajikistan and Central Asia. An international commission struck by the two leaders recommended an institution that would simultaneosly meet the practical needs of mountain communities, driving employment and sustainable development, and foster a broader liberal arts and science education to develop more general skills important in an evolving economy.

via Google Books: http://books.google.ca/

Vali Jamal: Canada and the Imam’s role in the 1972 Uganda expulsion crisis

Dr Vali Jamal writes from Kampala, Uganda. His book has been long in the writing and promises of good things to come.

Attached are 6 pages from my book Uganda Asians: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute (1,111 pp; $71.11, forthcoming June 2012) about Canada and the Imam’s role in the 1972 Uganda expulsion crisis. I have summarised from the 80-pp diary of the Chief of the Canadian refugee mission, Roger St Vincent, Quebequios, whose deputy was Mr Mike Molloy (seconded from the Beirut office; later on went on to be Canada’s ambassador to Jordan). In other pages not shown are contained discussions about the criteria used in selecting the applicants, were Ismailis favoured, etc. Who got the first visa is noted – Miss Semin Muradali Kassam on Sep 11. It’s like a movie and on the final page (shown) the statistics are rolled out, ending with THANK YOU CANADA MERCI INFINIMENT. Keep tissues handy.

In the other attachments shown here I look at what was going on in Canada at that time. Our hero Trudeau is there. One series of events had repurcussions for us – the World Series of Hockey between USSR and Canada. It is Canada’s WWYW moment for anyone >50 today. From several accounts I piece together the final 37 minutes of the game when Hendersen scoooored and whole of Canada erupted. Did hockey intervene in our favour? Read on! And who when I was researching this book had just been appointed Executive Producer of Hockey Night in Canada? Uganda Asian Sherali Najak, from a humble family, who couldn’t tell apart a puck from Puck the Fairy in 1972.

Click here to view: https://docs.google.com/document/

Nadir Noor Ali Budhwani: The role of human resource development in the Ismaili community in Minnesota

By Nadir Noor Ali Budhwani, University of Minnesota

Excerpt at page 45:

History of Ismailis in Minnesota

In Minnesota, a Jamat Khana for the Ismaili community started in 1968 in an informal manner. A community member’s house was used. With the number of Ismailis increasing steadily, partly because of incoming international students, permission for a formal Jamat Khana was granted by Aga Khan in 1972, according to participant D. However, the Ismaili community did not have a designated place for this purpose. Thus a hall was rented in one of the community centers of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul so that members could gather on Fridays for both religious ceremonies and social activities. It was not until October, 1998, that the Ismaili community acquired a permanent place for a Jamat Khana….

via Google Books: http://books.google.ca/

A life long friendship with classmate Jimmy Verjee

-Excerpt-

At the parochial school, I struck a life long friendship with a classmate. His name was Jimmy Badrudin Suleman Verjee and when the school closed at 3:00 p.m., we would make a beeline to a small refreshment stall on River Road where we would refresh ourselves on a big glass of faluda and ice cream….

My mother always grumbled and scolded me at my late arrivals from school, but I never mentioned a word about going to the pictures. Instead I used to say that I was at Jimmy’s place, revising lessons and homework together. Jimmy and his parents conveniently lived two streets away from us at Parklands and I was always welcomed. Jimmy’s father Mr. Rajabali Suleman Verjee owned a sweet factory and the sweet making machineries therein were imported from England, and he would give me bags of sweets which I would share out.

Book: Reflections of Twelve Decades – By Frank Morgan

Tazim Kassam: Balancing Acts – Negotiating the Ethics of Scholarship and Identity

Source: Google Books

Identity and the Politics of Scholarship in the Study of Religion
Editor: Jose Cabezon, Sheila Greeve Davaney
WorldCat: World’s largest network of library content and services

Institute of Ismaili Studies Publishes A Companion to Muslim Cultures

The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of A Companion to Muslim Cultures, edited by Dr Amyn B. Sajoo. The third in the Muslim Heritage Series, this volume embarks on a journey that celebrates the many ways in which Muslims live and understand their faith.

At the heart of A Companion to Muslim Cultures is the idea that culture frames the relationship between God and the believer, as well as how believers relate to one another and to those amongst whom they live.

-snip- The contributors include Abdullahi An-Na’im, Jonathan Bloom, Elena Caprioni, Morgan Clarke, Carl Ernst, Karim H. Karim, Hussein Keshani, Eva Sajoo, Amyn B. Sajoo, Jonathan Shannon, Earle Waugh and Mai Yamani.

via The Institute of Ismaili Studies – IIS Publishes A Companion to Muslim Cultures.

Book Review: The Revolutionary Shias by Malise Ruthven | The New York Review of Books

Review of the book Shi’ism: A Religion of Protest, by Hamid Dabashi

Excerpt: A larger criticism of the book is that Dabashi fails to address Shiism as comprehensively as his project demands. For example, while he celebrates the Ismaili variant of Shiism in the work of Nasir Khusraw, he is silent on the survival of this tradition for nearly a millennium in the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia (now Tajikistan), followed by seven decades of Communist rule. He is also silent on the remarkable spread of Ismailism in South Asia (mainly Sindh, Gujarat, and Mumbai).

With its unique language and literature, for which the Khoja Ismailis of India invented a special language and script, and its genius for translating Hindu concepts and symbols into the Islamic religious vernacular, Ismailism may be seen as a significant inheritor of the Safavid version of Shiism that Dabashi admires. An impressive model of an enlightenment tendency within the Islamic fold, Ismailis are engaging creatively with contemporary architectural practice, commerce, public health, women’s rights, social empowerment, and a range of contemporary concerns, not just in the developing world but in Europe and North America.

I suspect that Dabashi neglects this quiet Islamic revolution because it does not fit his theme of a tragic bifurcation between artistic creativity and juridical scholasticism that afflicted Iranian Shiism in the post-Safavid era. As a Shiite minority living in the diaspora but with a strong centralized leadership, the Ismailis have preserved the integrity of their tradition while advancing public engagement with the countries in which they reside.

via The Revolutionary Shias by Malise Ruthven | The New York Review of Books.

Review of the Aga Khan’s “Where Hope Takes Root”

Writes Dr. Nizar Motani in his review of His Highness the Aga Khan’s work:

“A compelling argument for reading his thirteen speeches and the interview is made by Adrienne Clarkson, the former Governor-General of Canada, in the introduction: ‘In these remarkable speeches collected in Where Hope Takes Root, the Aga Khan explains the principles that inform his profound belief that civil society, democracy and mutual understanding must be encouraged and strengthened in order for the world to be a better place’.”
A Review of His Highness the Aga Khan’s “Where Hope Takes Root” « Simerg.
Click here for related search at Ismailimail

The Institute of Ismaili Studies – Fortresses of the Intellect – Ismaili and other Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad Daftary

Dedicated to the achievements of Dr Farhad Daftary, a leading authority on Ismaili Studies and eminent scholar of Islamic history, this volume brings together a number of studies on Islamic intellectual and political history, particularly in the three areas where his scholarship has had the greatest impact – Ismaili Studies, Persian Studies and the wider context of Shi‘i Studies.

The volume covers issues in the fields of history, thought and language focusing, though not exclusively, on the intellectual contributions of the Ismailis and their role in broader Islamic history.

via The Institute of Ismaili Studies – Fortresses of the Intellect – Ismaili and other Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad Daftary.