Religion

Ismailis gather for tariqah (those practices associated with the Ismaili persuasion) in a jamaat khana, a simple room in smaller communities and a building in larger centres. There are seventy to seventy-five such meeting places in Canada. Most are spaces purchased and converted for this purpose, but ten have been built by the community. The largest, with room for one thousand congregants, is located in Burnaby, British Columbia. Ismaili community life, both religious and secular, is administered by a number of national councils and tariqah boards, whose work is coordinated by the imam’s personal secretariat, located at Aiglemont, near Paris, in France. All these institutions are responsible to the final authority of the Aga Khan. The religious affairs of each jamaat (community) are administered by two men and two women, who serve for two- to three-year terms. They are the representatives of the imam in their local communities. While they must know the rituals, they are not necessarily learned in the tradition. Men and women still sit separately in the prayer hall, but unlike in traditional Islamic practice, where women are placed at the back, Ismailis are divided by a central aisle. Either a man or woman can officiate.

Religious services are generally closed to outsiders, reflecting in part the historical role of defensive secrecy in Ismaili tradition. There are a few occasions that are celebrated jointly with other Muslims, but generally Shiite Imami Ismailis practise their faith separately. At the national level, guidance is provided by the Religious Education Board of Canada, located in Burnaby. Expert advice is also available from the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, England. For the future, the community’s priorities include the construction of proper jamaat khanas to replace temporary buildings around the country. Those that have been built reflect the Aga Khan’s interest in imaginative architecture that incorporates Islamic tradition but also that of the local environment. A larger issue that informs Ismaili programs in Canada and throughout the world concerns the challenges to Islamic religion, customs, and values in the modern Western context.

The imam is central to Ismaili social order and spiritual life. The divine guidance that Shiite theology argued was the essential attribute legitimizing Ali’s inheritance of both spiritual and temporal power after the death of the Prophet has, for over twelve centuries in the Ismaili line, been passed on to the present imam, the Aga Khan. He plays a unique mediating role, providing access for his followers to the inner meaning of the Prophet’s message. While Ismailis have a distinctive interpretation of Muslim law (shariah), they share the basic tenets of the faith with other Shiite Muslims. As well, they have in common with mystically inclined Shiite and Sunni communities an esoteric emphasis on the role of the intellect and of personal search.