Aga Khan-Who Builds Bridges

The first time I saw His Highness the Aga Khan, he was playing soccer and I was getting ready to play cricket at Harvard. The Aga Khan was a Harvard student in 1957, the year when he became Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. I was enrolled in Harvard's Business School, just across the fence. We shared playing fields and I saw him from a distance but I don't think we ever met at this time.
Over the past 20 years, the Aga Khan and I have grown to become close friends. We came into contact first when I was directing the Rockefeller Foundation, and later at the World Bank. The Aga Khan's vision for humanity to help the most marginalized people was very much in line with the work I was doing to alleviate poverty. The Aga Khan has persevered, through his foundation, to promote the well being of, not only his own followers, but also communities at large - from all faiths and all backgrounds, especially in the developing world.

In our early years, both of us realized that the differences between rich and poor were not going to continue unaddressed and that people in poverty - who constituted more than half of the world's population - were not going to remain silent. There was also a sense that proactively tackling the issue of poverty and deprivation was a matter of doing what was morally right; for those who were more religiously-inclined, aiding those in need was the result of religious teachings and religious practices. The Aga Khan, as a leader of his faith, is a unique example of a visionary committed to promote human welfare.
It is one thing to address spiritual values, which I am sure the Aga Khan has always done in a remarkable manner, but nurturing the spirit alone is not enough. What is extraordinary about the Aga Khan is that he addresses the whole person: he looks at the question of how you can encourage poor families to live a better life by giving them opportunities ranging from providing education for their children so that there is no limitation on the possibilities for their future, to giving them access to better healthcare so that they can live longer and enjoy a healthier - qualitatively better - life.

The Aga Khan understood the need for development very early on. His record, for the past fifty years in terms of the number of schools, hospitals, and local jobs he has created, is nothing but outstanding. Given my experience at the World Bank, I can say there is no other community leader that I know of who has done better. More importantly, he has done so in a multi-country environment dealing with different political leaders and he has done it through the sheer force of his personality, his goodness and his practical wisdom.
Being Muslim and being a Muslim leader has been tough in recent years. The Aga Khan's pursuit for pluralism is commendable and much needed. Tolerance and dialogue are essential in our world and it is important that we recognize that there is great strength in differences. In this time of conflict and uncertainty, we must continue building bridges across countries, creeds, cultures and communities faster than ever before - to understand our differences and develop their creative potential. I believe a look at the Aga Khan's life can serve as an example of how one can do so.

I congratulate the Ismailis and the Aga Khan at the time of his Golden Jubilee and I congratulate Shamir Allibhai for persevering with this film with a vision to help dispel prejudiced myths in the current climate where many are associating Islam with terrorism. I look to the future with hope that we will be able to bring about a confluence of cultures and faiths that will realize the best in humanity - a goal shared by my friend, the Aga Khan.

Foreword by James Wolfensohn,
Former President of the World Bank

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