Ashif Kassam: Aga Khan taught us the value of giving
As Vice President of the National Aga Khan Council, Ashif Kassam had many close encounters with the Aga Khan IV. He shares with Nation reporter Steve Otieno his thoughts and memories on the 49th spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims:
What did you learn from His Highness the Aga Khan IV?
The first virtue I learnt from him was the care for humanity. It was not just about the Ismaili Community but looking at what the people needed. One critical aspect of every Ismaili is that while you are loyal to your faith, there are also roles that you have to play for your country.
In Kenya, look at how Jubilee Insurance started, it was the first company that offered insurance to the coloured people. The Aga Khan Hospital was the first high-tech hospital that catered to everybody without specific reference of class, colour or creed. All these were founded by our 48th Imam, Aga Khan III.
The whole aspect of Aga Khan’s work was looking at what a country needed and then investing to provide what the people needed.
Serena Hotel for example, Aga Khan was not in the hotel business but he realised that Kenya had tourism potential and that that would bring in foreign exchange for the country. This became a driving force in his discussion with the then president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
That is how the idea of Serena came to be, and all these investments are making an impact in the country.
One other big thing that I took from him is the need for education. In Islam, the major role of education as we look at it, is to understand God’s creation. But for Aga Khan, the service part was critical and he opened several schools across the world to ensure education was accessed by everyone.
How did you take the news of his death?
The news of his death was really tragic but the institution of the Imamate does not die because the Nur– the spiritual light– passes on to the next Imam. This is a 1,400-year belief that we hold. Every person that is born must die, that is a concept.
Prince Shah Karim Aga Khan IV was the 49th Imam and look at what he has done through his love and compassion for the world.
We were sad with his death but in the next moment, we already had another Imam in Prince Rahim Aga Khan V and it was a celebration and we moved from sadness to congratulations within seconds and that is the beauty of the way our community is organised.
Spirituality that drives the faith has been alive for 1,400 years and there is no gap in it.
What is Aga Khan IV’s legacy to you?
If you look at our 48th Imam, he created several institutions during his jubilees. He created many instances where the community was socially governed by the Council. At that time, there was only one Council in Africa for the Ismaili Community.
During those times, some 75 years ago, he left a legacy of education. He told our community, if you have a boy or a girl in the family, educate the girl because the girl raises a family. He told us things that we never saw through his eyes in those times. When he passed on, Shah Karim became the 49th Imam and he built on that legacy and took whatever his grandfather had created and formalised the structure.
He created the Aga Khan Foundation which became one of the biggest and most trusted development organisations in the world. He created the Institute of Ismaili Services which is one of the largest literature institutions for Shia Muslims.
He created organisations that looked at areas where the private sectors were not likely to invest and he invested in such areas. For instance, in this part of the world, one of the most impactful investments he made is in the Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ruzinzi (at the border of Rwanda and DR Congo) which will benefit four countries.
“Would anybody make such an investment in an area that is so difficult to invest in? It is very difficult.
Shah Karim, our 49th also formalised the structure at the seat of Imam where he said the Imam is an individual but the seat of the Imam is an institute and set a structure of seamless transition.
He also created a structure of development and lastly, he created a deep concern for humans in the Ismaili community including the Aga Khan hospital, which is not just a preserve for the Ismaili.
What are your thoughts on Aga Khan’s involvement in press freedom in Kenya?
Prince Aga Khan IV was a champion of freedom of expression. His main reason for creating the Nation Media Group was because there was no voice of mwananchi, there was no voice of independence and he found it critical to bring this voice to the forefront.
It was a risky investment and who bore that risk to invest? Shah Karim himself. He knew why he was doing it. To create a fair and independent media system. It was all about the service to the people. To him, what one does for the community was intertwined in his work and religion, it is not a separate thing where you put some portion of money to philanthropy and keep the others. It is one pot.
You earn revenues and dividends and the dividends are reinvested in other good works and these reinvestments are what created the institutions that are here today.
The most important aspect from a community perspective is that we all give wealth as donations, but during his golden jubilee in 2007/8 he introduced the concept of time and knowledge. He acknowledged that his people might not give resources but have expertise that might be more worthy than tithe and money. So, he encouraged people to give their time and knowledge, people committed two or three years out of their work to come and give back to the Aga Khan Development Network and to the Community and it has become one of the biggest ways of giving back by asking professionals to contribute to things.
If you look at the heart and cancer centre, the brain and mind institute at Aga Khan University, the key people running it have actually given their time and money without a single cent as remuneration.
That knowledge concept is one of the greatest things that any leader can learn as one can get equally mobilised resources by saying when you give your time, then I give you the resources to create impact and that was a master stroke in how people saw giving.
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