Posted by Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah succeeded his father to the Imamat on August 17, 1885 reigning for seventy-two years, longer that any of his predecessors.
Among the eventful years of his Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah’s Imamat were the Jubilees. Upon the completion of fifty years of Imamat, the Ismailis wished to pay a special tribute by weighing him against gold and gifting it to him, as a mark of their love and gratitude for his guidance. The value of the gold was re-gifted to the community to establish education and investment companies for the welfare of the community. Similar ceremonies were held to mark sixty years of his Imamat by weighing him in diamonds, the value of which was once again returned to the community to establish institutions in education and economic spheres.
Platinum Jubilee Ceremonies
To mark seventy years of his Imamat, Ismailis wished to weigh Imam in platinum. The first ceremony was held on February 3, 1954 in Karachi, Imam’s birthplace. The value of the platinum was again gifted to the community to establish finance and investment companies. In his message to “Ismaili Souvenir,” on this occasion, Imam said:
“In these 70 years of my Imamat men’s material condition has totally changed. There has been an immense increase in power over nature but, as we see, with strifes everywhere spiritual power has not increased. It is my hope that my spiritual children, the Ismailis, will, by example of their own higher enlightenment and helpful co-operative movement amongst themselves, set to the world an example of better fraternity and brotherhood which alone can free men from the fear and dangers of moral and mental discord which leads to disaster for all” (Ilm p 15).
A token commemoration ceremony was held in Cairo on February 20, 1955.
In his message, Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah said:
“On this unique occasion when you make this wonderful offering of platinum and its equivalent as an unconditional gift, I must immediately tell you that I give it to the Diamond Jubilee Investment Trust as further addition to its capital. You have referred to my seventy years Imamat which, indeed, is unique in the history of the 48 Ismaili Imams by its long duration, but also it began in another world, the world of horse carriages and candle lights, and today we are in the world of nuclear power, physics, jet air-travel and serious discussion amongst the most learned as to how and when we can visit the stars and the moon.
But, as I have explained in my Memoirs for the whole world to understand there are two worlds – the world of material intelligence and the world of spiritual enlightenment. The world of spiritual enlightenment is fundamentally different from the world of material intellectualism and it is the pride of the Ismailis that we firmly believe that the world of spiritual enlightenment has come as a truth from the inception of Islam to this day with the Imamat and carries with it as one of its necessary consequences love, tenderness, kindliness and gentleness towards first, our brother and sister Muslims of all sects and, secondly, to those who live in righteousness, conscience and justice towards their fellow men. These religious principles of Ismailism are well known to you for you have heard them from me and through your fathers and grandfathers and from my father and grandfather until I fear that by long familiarity with these teachings some of you forget the necessity of re-examination of your heart and religious experience.
But, as I started by telling you, there is also the world of matter and intellect which go side by side with reason and deductive and inductive powers. I have never, as you say in your own address, neglected to encourage schools and universities, and by welfare societies for the health of children, maternity, and more and more up to date needs that you may have, as far as it is possible in the areas in which you live, to get both mental and physical training that will make you capable of meeting the more and more difficult conditions of life and competition.”
Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah
Address at the Platinum Jubilee Ceremony, Cairo, Egypt, February 20, 1955
Due to Imam’s poor health, the Jubilee celebration in Bombay, India on February 2, 1957 was officiated by Prince Aly Khan, and restricted to token presentations. From February 20 to 26, similar commemorations were held in other countries.
Legacy of Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah’s Jubilees:
- Jubilee Insurance Company (a Golden Jubilee initiative incorporated in 1937) now operating in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Mauritius, and Burundi.
- Diamond Jubilee Schools for girls were established throughout the remote Northern Areas of what is now Pakistan. (See Aga Khan Schools in Gilgit-Baltistan, and Aga Khan Schools in Pakistan) .
- Diamond Jubilee Investment Trust (incorporated in Kenya in 1945), providing low-interest loans for affordable housing and entrepreneurship (See Commemorating 75th anniversary of Diamond Jubilee Investment Trust).
- Diamond Jubilee High School for Girls (1947) and Diamond Jubilee High School for Boys (1947), both in Bombay, India.
- Diamond Jubilee School, Hyderabad (1949), India
- Platinum Jubilee Investments Limited (incorporated in 1952), which has assisted the growth of various types of co-operative societies.
- Platinum Jubilee High School in Warangal, India (1953).
- Platinum Jubilee Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya (1958), now Aga Khan University Hospital.
Sources:
K.K. Aziz, Selected Speeches and Writings of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Volume I, Kegan Pau International, London, 1998
Bashir Ladha, “A Tribute to Hazrat Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah,” Ilm, Centenary Issue, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 1977
Aga Khan Education Services
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