ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mohammad N. Miraly is a Canadian scholar and art collector. He holds a PhD in Religion, Ethics, and Public Policy from McGill University and his research focuses on the interactions between religious ethics and liberal values in contemporary culture.
WHAT'S INSIDE the book
Speaking About Ismailism
The Contemporary Ismaili Historical Narrative
Ismaili Approaches to the Qur'an
The AKDN in Afghanistan: Ethos & Praxis
Democracy, Secularism, and Social Ethics
Pluralism and Civic Culture
Knowledge and Learning
Closing: The Transnational Ismaili in Canada
LEARN MORE
Past
THE CONTEMPORARY ISMAILI HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
The contemporary Ismaili self-narrative locates liberal values throughout the history of Ismaili thought.
This self-narrative creates a continuity that provides today's Ismaili tradition with a strong identity, giving it an ethical framework that allows it to be at once liberal and Muslim.
PRESENT
CONTEMPORARY ISMAILI SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ETHICS
Contemporary Ismailism views liberal values like democracy, pluralism, and education as essential Islamic ethics deriving from the Qur’anic ethics of justice, co-operation, and knowledge.
FUTURE
TOWARD A GLOBAL ISMAILI IDENTITY
Through the refinement of Ismaili images and history, today's Ismaili institutions are attempting to create a unified ethical and spiritual identity that binds the various Ismaili global communities, transcending their cultural idiosyncracies.
AN ETHICAL BIFRöST
The present is reflected in the past.
It is linked via an ethical bridge that connects the divine realm with the world, like the ‘rainbow bridge’ of Norse mythology: ‘an ethical Bifröst’.
The ethical Bifröst allows contemporary Ismailism to use its history to support liberal values like democracy, pluralism, and education.
AGA KHAN IV AND THE SPHERES OF FAITH & WORLD
As the 49th Imam of the Ismailis, Aga Khan IV understands the Islamic institution of the Imamate as combining the spheres of faith and world in order to ensure fulfillment in both the material and the spiritual realms. This ethic is the driving force of the Imam’s mandate to ensure that the economic, civic, and psychological needs of the Ismaili community are met to their fullest extent.
