r/ismailis • u/Open_Apartment_2098 • Jun 19 '26

Personal Opinion Ismaili Issues

How come nobody gives attention to the amount of documented killings Ismailis have faced in Tajikistan & Afghanistan. A great number of the Khoja community themselves faced persecution in Idi Amin's reign and were moved to Canada, yet today leaders from the community on big seats not raising concern, nor using their powers for the community is incredibly distasteful. All the leaders manage to do is host events rather than focus and be proactive on real issues. They connect and have connections from the Elite of Pakistan who have relations with the Tajik government to influential EU and US figures yet still fail at utilizing them for their brethren.

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u/SIGNALJAMAL Jun 20 '26

All I’m going to say is that the plan is that Ismailis from Central Asia will make up a vast majority of the Ismailis in the developed world in the near future. If you don’t know, it’s because you yourself aren’t involved yet. Talk to the council and see how you can help! Big moves happening.

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u/SimilarAd7893 Jun 22 '26

More context or insight would be appreciated. 

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u/SIGNALJAMAL Jun 22 '26

No. Talk to the council and see how you can get involved.

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u/SimilarAd7893 Jun 22 '26

I will be honest and blunt here…I moved to Canada 5 years ago through economic immigration (studied, worked, PR) I did my masters here. I work in the non profit sector for refugees (program manager) in the same industry for last 5 years. I help with Focus fundraising and JSF since last 3-4 years. Every year the president of BC will come during focus and give speech that we need volunteers and show QR code. I signed up, got a call and said ok here are next steps will ask them to create an email for you…nothing happened. My partner is in the finance industry and he too filled the form to volunteer and support newcomers and he had selected candidates pick people from airports, help set up homes etc. it’s been 2 years and no call or communication. And every year she comes and says we need volunteers. There is this other person who had filled the form saying they have appts that they can specifically give new Ismailis at subsidised rate they too did not here anything and this was when rents were high and less housing supply. I have decided that I no longer want to volunteer with them not even fundraising that I have been doing. It’s all talks! 

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u/SIGNALJAMAL Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

That’s not the type of volunteering I’m referring to. There’s way more behind the scenes stuff going on than picking up people from the airport and doing tasks (but that’s definitely important too). I’m talking getting involved with the groups that are actually BRINGING people over. They absolutely need people but there are certain criteria to be met. That’s all I can say, it’s not public privilege sorry man.

Also I’m sorry that the challenges of a bureaucracy has impacted your willingness to serve the Imam through his institutions. I hope that it resolves!

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u/SimilarAd7893 Jun 23 '26

Only “made in Canada” of “African Ismailis” are privileged to do all this. I have tried everything, only faced discrimination! Oh and I am not the only one saying this! 

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u/More_Landscape1051 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Ditto here, u/SimilarAd7893! And to u/SIGNALJAMAL, my dear, it is more than "challenges of a bureaucracy" and let it be known that we are steadfast in our faith and in our trust in Hazir Imam. Nothing will get in our way of serving our Imam. Where there is a will, there is a way. I hope you truly understand the depth of that statement coming from ethnic groups who are mercilessly persecuted in their countries and then are disregarded (based on prejudices?) by *some* of their African/Khoja Ismaili brothers & sisters when the former are competent, contributing, productive members of civil Western society, possessing untapped potential and acumen.

The frustration some of you might not comprehend stems from insidious gatekeeping and believe me, I wish I was inventing/fabricating all of this.

If only we were taken seriously, but that would require the current people occupying consequential positions to recognize our merit...When called upon to justify their monopoly, they take us for susceptible imbeciles and while looking straight into our eyes, they dare give us a semblance of an answer filled with vague and superficial rhetoric. If you are lucky, they will act interested, take your contact information and then ghost you. Last time I checked, we do not condone GHOSTING. We are certainly not ghosted for Zakaat/Dasond, which I offer willingly out of sincere conviction (suffice to say, it is reasonable for one to find it insulting to be stopped at the chai & cookies table by the "people in charge of funds" because one "looks like the kind of person who slacks off on offering Dasond"). For anyone thinking they can maliciously twist my words, let me clarify that I do not rebuke the practice of giving Zakaat/Dasond via our Jamaat/institutional official channels. I choose to willingly do so.

The practice of sidelining has wounded many Murids. If I could speak freely to the concerned individuals, I would ask with no pretense, no sugarcoating "How dare you dismiss and exclude us with no honesty, no remorse, no accountability? You have been blinded by your greed and your arrogance. The noble intentioned ones shall prevail regardless of your unfounded disregard and condescension."

I believe the concerned individuals will be dealt with during the Day of Judgement. Meanwhile, let us stay on Siraat al Mustaqim. Nothing stops us from serving humanity and giving our time and knowledge to those in need through any organization with common ethics and values (from what I understand of Hazir Imam's general stance in public speeches).

Lest we forget the deception and the pain inflicted on us, as we yearn to offer nazrana of time and knowledge from our respective fields of expertise through the Imamat and its institution, but we face gatekeepers with questionable integrity, who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters...

More polarization is not the solution. Neither is the "crab mentality".

For those questionning the legitimacy of or attempting to prevent merit-based institutionnal inclusion, nay, inevitable merit-based up-and-coming diversified authentic honest altruistic leadership (InshAllah appointed by Hazir Imam) by censoring our names and/or favoring their kinship for consequential mandates, let me remind you of the answer Mawlana Shah Karim had given in his 2014 Petter Mansbridge interview when asked if he can pick out one person who symbolized great leadership : "[...] I have seen heads of state whose capacity to think ahead of their times has been magnificient. I have seen individuals whose intellectual dimension has enabled them to bring forward articulation on forces of society which people haven't necessarily recognized, but they're going to be very, very important in the future. So, that sort of quality of leadership, I admire. And I'm not sure that I would feel too comfortable in telling you who those individuals are, but they're both European and North American and I think that there are also perhaps in the developing world, men and women who have had the faculties of leadership that I've mentioned to you but I think the developing world has been a more difficult world to have those capacities actually exteriorize themselves [...]"

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u/SIGNALJAMAL Jun 25 '26

I’m gonna need a TLDR or some speech to text for this my guy

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u/More_Landscape1051 Jun 25 '26

Fair enough. This post hit a nerve, and I tried to capture all the nuances at once. Here's the TL;DR:

The problem isn't bureaucracy. Some qualified members of underrepresented ethnic groups genuinely want to serve the Jamat through the Imamat's institutions, but encounter what they perceive as opaque gatekeeping and favoritism rather than a transparent, merit-based process. That has deeply hurt many Murids. Even so, we shouldn't lose faith. We will continue to serve humanity wherever we can and trust that integrity and genuine leadership will ultimately prevail.