The Aga Khan on Pluralism: A Global Political Philosophy for Humanity's Future?

[panchguy]

deviated sect which abandonned the sunna of prophet(as) and his family(as)

[uhertz]

This boy obviously hasn't spent any time with Orientals or he wouldn't be supporting "pluralism"

[Klingschor]

That was a really interesting video. May I ask if you know of any online english websites that cover Ishma'ili Fiqh?

[Tioliah]

@Klingschor I'm afraid I don't know of any - as far as I know, though, there is no Ismaili 'fiqh' in the same way there are for other denominations of Islam, since the Aga Khan as living Imam has supreme authority on matters of religious jurisprudence - any rules/laws relating to the faith are prescribed by him (so there's less of a reliance on scripture/theology for this). The closest related "school" of jurisprudence would be Jafari, but certainly not in any strict sense.

[Klingschor]

@Tioliah

What about the dictats of the Imams, like Jafar al-Sadiq? Do their decrees count for anything?

[Tioliah]

@Klingschor Only in more of an historical sense. The overarching theology of Ismailism is based on reason through argument/debate (kalam), so the approach to revelation is relative rather than absolute (i.e. always evolving). Which elements of the old schools are maintained and which are adapted are at the discretion of the current Imam, whose role is to successfully guide the community to prosperity (and he is supposed to be divinely suited to this task). At least that's how I understand it.

[Tioliah]

@Klingschor Here's a reference that should help if you'd like to know more:

THE ISMA'ILIS, THEIR HISTORY AND DOCTRINES 2nd ed. Farhad Daftary. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

[johnnystorm28]

Ismailis are the second largest branch of Shia sect. They are not the "smallish" branch of Shia sect.

[Tioliah]

@johnnystorm28 I apologize - bad wording - I meant relative to Muslims in general (the greater percentage of which are Sunni). Thanks for catching that - I've adjusted the sentence :-) Even though Ismailis are the 2nd largest Shia denomination in a relative sense, I thought the Twelvers largely dominated Shia Islam (over 80%?), but I could be wrong...

[aknakjagu]

@Tioliah thank you for the interaction..........I was indeed enlightened,just to mention the social and economical structure we lead our lives on don;t allow ismaili community to explode and be significant as it is an individual spiritual search and over decades peoples have either splite out or faded in the background.......as this fiqr is of conviction and not convineance as we tend to use.....socially or economicaly.so to speak. The splits. I would personally stick to 'smallish' .......!

[aknakjagu]

@Tioliah thank you for the interaction..........I was indeed enlightened,just to mention the social and economical structure we lead our lives on don;t allow ismaili community to explode and be significant as it is an individual spiritual search and over decades peoples have either splite out or faded in the background.......as this fiqr is of conviction and not convineance as we tend to use.....socially or economicaly.so to speak. The splits. I would personally stick to 'smallish' .......!...

[venkyhyundai]

@aknakjagu search for

"aga khan vacation" on youtube

or "aga khan enamorado" on google

and see what aga khan is all about!!

[whistlingdust]

Oh my what a wonderful video. I'm featuring this on my page ASAP. Just brilliant. Enjoyable and educational. Bravo!

[AtheistInTheHat]

I'm sure pluralism could work, to varying degrees, in many stiruations. I'm not sure it could work all that well within global religious circles, if only because some of the differences in culture/law (both secular and religious in nature) are so fundamentally different that an over-arching system could not take both into account and please both parties (I don't think anyway...). But certainly the more cooperation and multiculturalism that CAN be had, the better in most cases.