The Seat of Ismaili Imamat: From Aiglemont to Lisbon

When the news of Aga Khan moving his headquarters to Portugal was broken to the Ismaili community, no one exactly knew why the move was made. However, the only thing which each and every Ismaili was taught to say was how ‘great’ Portugal was, and that it was now the new ‘home’ to Aga Khan’s Imamate.

Nonetheless, some Ismailis did wonder that why didn’t Aga Khan move his global headquarters to Canada, which not only he has promoted as the new home for his followers, he is also an honorary citizen thereof. He also enjoys close ties with both – Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, as well as Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Canada also hosts the Aga Khan Museum and the Global Center for Pluralism.

Canada would have been the perfect place for the Aga Khan to move his headquarters, or would it?

The reality is, that in recent times, Aga Khan’s name has been in the Canadian media. As opposed to Europe where his name is usually in the media due to his race horses, multi-million dollar divorces and court settlements, the focus here, has been his fortune, tax breaks, and business dealings.

The Aga Khan Museum’s Tax Break

The first huge debate in the Canadian media was about the tax deal which Aga Khan got for the Aga Khan Museum. Toronto city staff assessed the property at $90.9 million, which translated into a $331,700 annual property tax bill. Aga Khan wanted to pay none of it – ever. Due to a prayer hall being part of the property, the property had already been exempted $43.1 million from the base value, Aga Khan also wanted the rest of the property to be exempted. On September 30, 2015, Aga Khan requested support of Toronto City Council to obtain private provincial legislation that would exempt the property valued at $90.9 million dollar property of Aga Khan Museum from municipal and education taxes. This exemption which was supported by the Mayor, costs the government an annual $331,700 and to-date has benefited Aga Khan over a million dollars having availed this exemption for over three years.

Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s Lack of Transparency

When it comes to Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), the Toronto Star blamed it for for “lack of transparency” and as one of the charities which do not release their audited financial statements to the public and refused to provide them to an independent agency that evaluates charities. AKFC was investigated by charityintelligence.ca and it was revealed through Canada Revenue Agency that that AKFC had accumulated so much donations without spending them that they had enough cash-in-hand to operate “for up to 8 years without raising even a single penny.” Moreover, they had a heavily paid CEO with a salary of $350,000 to $400,000 per year. Also, AKFC held significant ‘idle’ property valued at $346.2m in F2013, including $27.3m acquired in F2013 and $43.3m in F2012.

The Global Center for Pluralism Scam

Aga Khan was also highly criticized when he milked the Canadian government to grant him $30 million dollars from the tax payers money to establish the Global Center for Pluralism (GCP). He got the prime piece of real estate, which was formerly the Canadian War Museum for just $1 for a 99-year lease. That wasn’t enough, he later got permission for sub-leasing half of the property at market rate to other tenants, which is generating a handsome income for Aga Khan and the GCP. According to CBC, the only thing which GCP does is that it “hosts an annual lecture and awards ceremony, as well as an annual roundtable discussion. It has also produced some reports and papers, with a focus on Kenya and Kyrgyzstan.” This has obviously irritated the Canadian taxpayers and question the entire policy of cooperation at the state level with the Aga Khan and his institutions, and most importantly, if the $30 million given to the GCP from the tax payers money as well as the lease of the multi-million dollar property for 99 years at just $1 is justifiable?

Snapshot of the CBC report which revealed that Aga Khan paid just $1 for the 99-year lease of the Canadian War Museum site for Global Center for Pluralism and then got permission to rent it out at market rates to Government of Canada itself, with the Canadian Royal Mint being the first tenant.

Aga Khan’s Connections to Off-Shore Tax Havens

Aga Khan’s name came to surface again as a part of an ethics probe when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew in Aga Khan’s private jet to one of the islands in the Bahamas owned by the Aga Khan. When the investigators hit the ground, they found that not only the island in Bahamas, but also Aga Khan’s aircraft which carried Justin Trudeau and his family to Aga Khan’s island – both were registered in the name of off-shore companies. The same notorious off-shore companies which the global capitalist elites use to conceal their wealth. These companies have several layers of ownership – such that each company is owned by another company – which is owned by another company – all registered in different off-shore tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Bermuda, Panama and Cayman Islands – under strict privacy agreements – making it virtually impossible to trace the real ownership of these assets worth billions of dollars.

CBC investigative report revealing that Aga Khan’s assets which came under scrutiny during the Trudeau vacation scandal were under the ownership of offshore companies whose names were leaked in Paradise Leaks.

Money Laundering

Aga Khan had a fair share of trouble on the southern end of the Canadian border too, as in the eyes of Federal Buearu of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Services (IRS), Aga Khan’s name is closely linked to the million-dollar ‘religious’ money laundering case of 1990’s, which still has unclaimed money lying with the IRS. All clues have pointed to the fact that Aga Khan was the one smuggling tithe money (which Ismāʿīlis call dasond) across the US-Canadian border with the help of top-ranked Ismāʿīli community officials. The entire case was exposed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in an episode of their long-running weekly investigative program ‘The Fifth Estate’, in the episode titled ‘Gods Money’. 11 members of the Ismāʿīli community were caught red-handed in that case, took all the blame upon themselves and Aga Khan narrowly escaped indictment in the case.

With all of the above baggage, it wouldn’t have been a wise decision at all for Aga Khan to move to the North American region at all. But the question is, why did he leave France?

The French Connection

France had been the headquarters for Aga Khan for a number of years. The decision to leave France was taken in the making when Aga Khan had obvious difficulties in maintaining equal relations with both the French political parties – the conservative UMP and Socialist Party.

‘Exceptional Tax Breaks’ from  Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy, who gave him exceptional tax breaks using his “executive orders”, the opposition party wasn’t too keen on upholding that status and was looking to revoke tax exemptions extended to Aga Khan, as all of Nicolas Sarkozy’s decisions and tax breaks had been linked to corruption cases.

For example, in March 2012, a major criminal investigation into the affairs of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, established that at least 800,000 euros were funded from her secret Swiss bank accounts to Sarkozy’s election campaign in return for future tax breaks for the L’Oreal heiress. Later in July 2014, Sarkozy was put under official investigation for “active corruption”, “misuse of influence” and “obtained through a breach of professional secrecy”. Sarkozy had misused his political position as the president to issue the following tax exemption to Aga Khan:

Letter signed by Nicolas Sarkozy exempting Aga Khan from all kids of taxes.

In the above letter, which was leaked as a result of a corruption inquiry, Sarkozy gave the Aga Khan “exemption from direct taxes, stamp duty and wealth tax”. The French media soon stepped up and exposed Aga Khan’s business empire, calling Sarkozy’s favor an “extraordinary tax gift” and calling Aga Khan the “Golden Imām” for “his taste of private jets, luxury yachts and upscale ski resorts”. French paper “Regards” mentioned that Aga Khan is “head of a financial empire that controls worldwide companies with various activities: banking, telephony, hospitality, air transport and energy” and that Aga Khan is known to “celebrity gazettes for his passion for horse racing and expensive divorces” and therefore the tax exemption to such a rich person was unjustified.

Four years after exempting him from paying taxes, Sarkozy also played a key role in negotiating a divorce deal for Aga Khan , and took on the case when Aga Khan was ordered to pay GBP 54 million to his wife Gabriele Thyssen (also known as Inaara Aga Khan). The original appeal decision, made by a court in Amiens, had attributed all responsibility for the marriage breakdown to the Karim Aga Khan, after ruling that his affair with an airline stewardess, Beatrice von der Schulenburg, was to blame.

Aga Khan with his latest girlfriend, Beatrice von der Schulenburg – possibly his third wife.

Sarkozy’s fall came sooner than Aga Khan would have predicted, but Aga Khan had already found a safe haven in Portugal where the tax treatment he would receive would be predictable and the ruling authority would treat him consistently whether or not the government would be with the Socialist Party or with the Social Democratic Party. When Aga Khan’s news of his move to Portugal broke out, Portugal’s Foreign Minister Rui Machete of the Social Democratic Party mentioned that this move had materialized after six years of negotiations.

The Portuguese Solution

Aga Khan purchased the Mendonça Palace, located right in the center of Lisbon for 12 million euros and has promised to invest 10 million euros in the Portuguese economy.

The move to Portugal is more than anything, a smart business move. While at his French headquarters, Aga Khan did receive a lot of favors from Sarkozy, the deal with Portugal was much sweeter and importantly, not at the risk of reversal by either of the ruling parties.

The agreement gives Aga Khan the status of a diplomat and gives Aga Khan the freedom to to transfer all of his global assets to Portugal (and from Portugal to the outside world) without any restrictions. Under Article 12 “Funds, foreign currency and assets”, it mentions that Aga Khan “may hold funds, securities, gold and other precious metals, or foreign currencies.” It also mentions that Aga Khan “shall be free to receive any such values from within or from outside Portugal and hold and transfer the same within Portugal or from Portugal to any country and to convert any currency held or bought into any other currency.”

Tax exemptions are obviously there exempting Aga Khan from any kind of national and local tax, including transfer or capital gain tax, income tax, wealth tax and stamp duty. Moreover, all gifts and donations given to Aga Khan will be tax deductible. Aga Khan will also not pay any duties on the purchase, ownership, registration, use or sale of land, air or sea vehicles, including spare parts and consumables. Any value-added tax which the Aga Khan would pay, would be fully refundable to Aga Khan.

Under the agreement, Aga Khan would also enjoy ceremonial diplomatic treatment which is given to foreign high entities. He would also be immune from any judicial action and legal proceedings. He also negotiated similar treatment for his family members and senior officials working for him.

The above diplomatic status and tax exemptions would have been impossible to achieve in an open democracy like Canada and would have only been possible in a country like Portugal – which is described as a ‘flawed democracy’ by the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Economist Group.

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What Aga Khan does for the Muslim World

Recently there has been some feeble propaganda attempts by Ismailis to convince Muslims living the in the West and the ‘liberal’ Muslims living in Muslim lands about how ‘philanthropic’ is Aga Khan and how humanitarian are his projects for everyone and not just Ismailis.

Nothing can be further from the truth. All of Aga Khan’s attempts at establishing institutions are strictly, compulsorily and firmly, for-profit institutions. The poster child of Aga Khan’s public welfare institutions is Aga Khan Hospital and the Aga Khan Hospital is also a testimony to the ‘for-profit’ claim which I mentioned above. The Aga Khan Hospital is not just one of the expensive, but the most expensive healthcare institutions in the cities where it is present. In Kenya, the cost of delivering a baby at Aga Khan Hospital is a whopping KSh 400,000. Together with that, it has had an outstanding number of malpractice and medical negligence cases in Karachi, Pakistan and Nairobi, Kenya. These are not mere claims of medical malpractice, but are civil cases against the hospital and it’s trustees and are publicly available for viewing on the internet. Click here for an example.

The newly opened Serena Hotel in Kabul offers rooms starting at $250-a-night, that’s what an average Afghan makes in a year – including the ones employed at the Serena Hotel in Kabul. These Serena Hotels also openly sell alcohol contradictory to what Islam teaches, but that’s another topic and already addressed in the Inside Ismailism blog previously.

The above is a photo of the bar at Kampala Serena Hotel serving a variety of whiskeys, wines and spirits is courtesy of TripAdvisor.

The above is a photo of a promotional campaign from Serena Hotels, sent from their official Twitter account.

An acknowledgement by General Manager of Serena Hotels, of the review posted on TripAdvisor for the Johnny Walker Black Tie Dinner. Courtesy of TripAdvisor.

Aga Khan’s institutions do focus on poverty alleviation, but these programs are only inward-facing – strictly focused towards the Ismaili community. The aim is to get as many family ‘on their feet’ as possible, for each family which is able to feed itself is required to pay 12.5% of it’s monthly income to Aga Khan.

This 12.5% paid by Ismaili families is called ‘dasond’ which means ‘tenth-part’. Modern day Ismaili missionaries claim that this is a combination of zakat (2.5%) and ushr (10%). However, that’s simply not true because zakat is never ever paid on income and is paid on excess and unconsumed wealth which lies with a Muslim for more than a year. The history of dasond is revealed in Ismaili ‘ginans’ or hymns which are written by their ‘pirs’ or saints in gujrati language.

Ismailis at that time were required to pay their dasond (tenth part) to the then present-day Imam (spiritual father), and were required to pay 2.5% to the pir (spiritual mother) – both from their monthly earnings, completely contradictory to Islamic teachings. However, when Aga Khan came into power, he claimed both positions, Imam and Pir, for himself and asked to be paid both of these shares to himself. This is also a reason why Ismaili missionaries, such as Kamaluddin Alimohammad and Abu Aly A. Aziz can be heard calling the Aga Khan as ‘ruhani ma baap’ or spiritual father and mother in their sermons. All of these historical facts are completely hidden from the present-day Ismailis and the dasond is just equated to zakat and ushr.

It’s not just the issue of dasond vs. zakat. It’s also the issue of the Islamic prayer vs. The Ismaili prayer and the issue of Hajj vs. The Glimpse of Aga Khan and the issue of Ramadhan fasting vs. Shukarvari Beej which distance Ismailism from Islam. All Muslims, including Shia and Sunni adhere to the five basic pillars of Islam of the testimony of faith, prayer, zakat, hajj and fasting whereas Ismailis come in and claim that prayer means not praying as the Prophet (pbuh) did, fasting does not mean abstaining from food and drink, zakat is not paid yearly on excess wealth to the poor but monthly on the income to the Imam (Aga Khan), and Hajj is just getting a glimpse of Aga Khan with your very own eyes.

The Ismaili version of Hajj.

Obviously on a religious ground, Ismailis have not feet to stand on, as all their claims of following Islam just do not make any sense whatsoever, and they then cite the Aga Khan Hospital and other highly profitable institutions which are just businesses run by Aga Khan. The list of these business is not small, it’s a HUGE list.

Aga Khan has cleverly banded all of these institutions under AKFED (Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) which on the face of it, sounds very philanthropic, but it’s not. AKFED is nothing but a private holding company under which all of Aga Khan’s highly profitable institutions including banks, insurance companies, telecommunication companies, airlines and hotels operate such as:

Banks and Insurance Companies:
Habib Bank Limited
Development Credit Bank
Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank
Jubilee Insurance
Diamond Trust Bank

Airlines:
Air Mali
Meridiana Fly
Air Uganda

Telecommunication:
Roshan Telecommunications
Mwananchi Communications
Tcell Tajikistan

Hotels:
Kabul Serena Hotel
Faisalabad Serena Hotel
Islamabad Serena Hotel
Quetta Serena Hotel
Swat Serena Hotel
Nairobi Serena Hotel
Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge
Mara Serena Safari Lodge
Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge
Serena Mountain Lodge
Polana Serena Hotel
Kampala Serena Hotel
Lake Victoria Serena Resort
Mivumo River Lodge
Selous Wildlife Lodge
Lake Manyara Safari Lodge
Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Arusha Mountain Village
Zanzibar Serena Inn

Energy:
Azito Energie
Pamir Energy

Auction Houses:
Arqana – One of the world’s largest racehorse auctioning and breeding houses

The Aga Khan Foundation in Canada (AKFC) was recently under investigation and did not reveal it’s audited financial statements to the public. It received $41.9 government funding in 2013 and did not spend that money. In fact, it was found that the AKFC had “enough cash-in-hand to operate for 8 years without even raising even a single penny”. This was reported in Toronto Star and Bloomberg.

Aga Khan’s relationship with the current prime minister was also recently questioned, and is currently under investigation for calling Justin Trudeau’s family to a vacation. Canada has given AKFC $310 million since 2004 and Aga Khan’s vacation call to Trudeau seemed more like a ‘generous cut’ than a generous gift.

Investigation into the Trudeau-Aga Khan relationship resulted in the striking discovery that the island at which Aga Khan hosted Justin Trudeau was owned by an off-shore company. The Panama Leaks database contained the name of this company through which it was found that this company is owned by two other companies. Even the helicopter which was used for transport was owned by an off-shore company. This is the modern way of weaving private property ownership into layers and layers of companies registered in off-shore tax havens. It is impossible for anyone to determine wealth of individuals who use these off-shore companies.

 

Above: Ismaili priest Nasiruddin Hunzai performing a Ismaili religious ritual with Ismaili women. Nasiruddin Hunzai was the leader of Ismailis in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan areas and frequently toured globally. He passed away in 2017.

A few weeks into this and the Paradise Papers were revealed in which Aga Khan’s name was prominently featured. Aga Khan was found to hide the ownership of his expensive multi-million dollar yachts under an off-shore company called Bravo Romeo. Just one of the yacht he owns was valued at 200,000,000 British Pounds in 2014.

Aga Khan was also highly criticized when he milked the Canadian government to grant him $30 million dollars from the tax payers money to establish the Global Center for Pluralism. Moreover, Aga Khan got the premises for the Global center for Pluralism against just $1 for a 99-year lease and later got permission for sub-lease half of the property at market rate to other tenants. This prime piece of real estate was formerly the Canadian War Museum.

Aga Khan and his Ismaili community were also under investigation, this time by the FBI for money laundering when Ismaili community members were found smuggling dasond money (yes, the same 12.5%) across the US-Canadian border. Fortunately for Aga Khan, the Ismailis involved took the blame and the prison sentence upon themselves. The entire saga was covered by CBC’s Fifth Estate documentary called “God’s Money”.

Aga Khan was also revealed to have funded Tajik separatist terrorists against the current Tajik government and the story was published as ‘West plans new country for Ismaelites’ [sic] in Press TV.

The Aga Khan also owns a $100 million island in the Bahamas, a superyacht with which he breaks speed records, racehorses which win him derby money and settles record million-dollar divorces with Western supermodels who go back to Christianity after ‘accepting Islam’ while married to Aga Khan. But that’s a another bunch of topics.

Above: Aga Khan enjoys a vacation on one of his yachts in the Summer of 2017. Just one of his yachts was valued at 200 million pounds in 2014.

Whether you are a Ismaili or a Muslim, whenever you are giving your ‘time and money’ to anything owned and operated by Aga Khan, know where you time and money is going, as the money trail always leads to the truth behind the façade.

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Majālis, Mandlis and the Rejection of Zakāt in Ismā‘īlīsm

Like other pillars of Islam, zakat is rejected in Ismailism. Instead, the followers of Aga Khan are required to pay something called dasond (دسوند). Unlike in Islam, where zakat is paid yearly on savings at the rate of 2.5% per annum, dasond is paid to Aga Khan monthly on earnings at the rate of 12.5% – 25% per monthdepending upon the level of membership a Ismaili holds in the Jamat.

1. What is Dasond?

The word dasond is a derivation from das-ans or das-ant, which means “tenth part”. A contribution of 10% means dasond. To this, a share of 2.5% is added for the current pir (پیر). In Ismailism, the shah (شاہ), which means the current Imām, is responsible for collecting the 10% dasondwhile the current pir is responsible for collecting 2.5% of his share. The present Aga Khan claims to be both the shah, as well as the pir. Hence he collects both of these which comes to 12.5%.

Aga Khan III sent the following reply to a letter by Dr. Pir Mohammad Hoodbhoy, declaring that he held both the offices of the Shah and the pir.

16th October, 1954

My Dear Hoodbhoy,

In reply to your letter of 8th October, the colors of our family are, as you know, red and green, the reason being that we represent both the (offices of) shah and the peer.

The Shah was Hussein, the pir was Hasan. Hasan had the pir’s color of green, but Hussein’s martyrdom was so enormous in events and was so opposed to even the smallest laws of war that the color of his holy blood, namely red, was accepted with the green of the Prophet’s flag as a souvenir and remembrance of that terrible day.

Ismailis consider the Imām to be their spiritual father and pir to be their spiritual mother, even though both of them have historically always been male. As mentioned above in his official letter, Aga Khan III claimed both the positions of spiritual motherhood as well as spiritual fatherhood.

2. Dasond to be Paid Directly into Jamatkhana and Not as Charity to the Poor

It is general knowledge among Muslims that the eight permissible recepients of zakat are clearly spelled out in the Quran in Surah at-Taubah (The Repentance), Chapter 9, Verse 60 as follows:

إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةً مِّنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

Translation:

Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler – an obligation [imposed] by Allah . And Allah is Knowing and Wise.

Now let us see how vast is the difference is in Ismailism:

This summer, I had the pleasure of meeting an influential Ismaili social worker that  had just returned from his tour of India and Pakistan. He had one very important and valid question on his mind. Since I have lived in Pakistan, he imagined that I would be in a better position to answer his query or else elucidate on the subject. His question was in connection with the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

One of the senior administrators of the Age Khan Hospital, who keeps on visiting continent after continent, collecting millions of dollars for the hospital project had informed the Jamat that in Pakistan, that the “Muslims” (a term used by Ismailis for non-Ismailis) are contributing theirzakat to the hospital.

The question of the visitor was that if that was the case, then could he adjust his past donations to the Aga Khan Hospital against his future contributions of dasond? Alternatively, can he funnel his dasond money to the Aga Khan Hospital, in the future, or to any other lsmaili “Boarding School” (term used for Orphanages)?

He also mentioned that back home it was not difficult to collect cash under the table. In Canada, paying of the dasond in cash to mukhi (minister of the Aga Khan) without obtaining a receipt poses accounting problems. The amount contributed cannot be deducted as expenses on his income tax returns. Physical cash has to be withdrawn from a bank and handed over personally to the ministers of the Aga Khan in the Jamatkhanas every month. At times, there are long queues at the banks and also in the Jamatkhanas to submit the dasond money. Finally, there is a question of savings. Contributions paid to a registered institution having a tax exemption means a big saving in the income tax.

My response was that the senior administrator he had named was not only a roving ambassador but also a very highly paid kingpin at the Aga Khan Hospital. I had no reason to doubt the statement made by him in public or before the Jamat. If “Muslims” can regard their donations to the Hospital as Zakat, then Ismailis can offset their donations to the Hospital as dasond.

In principle, a Ismaili should be able to pay 2.5% to Aga Khan as the share of pirand the balance of 10% can be offset against his contributions as poor-dues to charitable hospitals and orphanages if he so chooses. However, this is not permissible in Ismailism and all dasond has to be paid directly into the Jamatkhana by every Ismaili.

3.  Dasond Rates and Mandli Memberships

Every Ismaili is supposed to pay 12.5% of his gross income as dasond. There are thousands of Ismailis in Canada who pay 25% of their gross income to Aga Khan. They pay this higher contribution because they are members of an exclusive mandli(group) called ‘Mubarak Mandli‘ or ‘One-fourth Mandli‘. They hold secret monthly meetings called “One-fourth Majlis” in Jamatkhanas throughout the world. They pay their dasond of 25% in their Majlis to the mukhis of their Mandlis and not to themukhi of the Jamatkhana.

An Ismaili who is not a member of the ‘Mubarak Mandli’ cannot participate in their Majlis. Aga Khan gives members of the Mubarak mandli private audiences and makes special farmans. He also gives them special blessings. My wife was a member of a Mubarak Mandli. She paid 25% of her personal income, or pocket money received from me and also on the gifts and prizes received by her. My wife would not tell me the farmansmade for ‘Mubarak Mandli‘. She had a book of ‘Private and Confidential Farmans’ for her group which I was not allowed to touch. I believe they consider Aga Khan as their “Partner” or vice verse. I am told there is a group above the Mubarak. The members of these groups, I am told, pay 33.3% of their income to Aga Khan. I have not met any member of this Mandli because they would not reveal their identity, nor would anyone confirm their existence.

On the other hand, I was a member of ‘Noorani Mandli’, of which my wife was not a member. I was not allowed to tell my wife what transpired in our Majlises nor what was revealed by Aga Khan to our private group of elite. To become a member of “Noorani” I had to pay a considerable sum, to the treasurer of Aga Khan, as an entrance fee. I was not issued a receipt for the amount tendered nor a membership card or a certificate. When I attended the first Majlis of my Noorani Mandli, I was surprised to see that practically every well-to-do Ismaili was in the group. Non-members – usually those who could not afford the entrance fees – were not allowed to participate in our Majlises. After the Majlis they were invited to help as volunteers, to serve our lunches and dinners. Every Ismaili is virtually segregated from another Ismaili, or a husband segregated from his wife and vice verse, based on memberships of these mandlis.

Before joining the ‘Noorani‘ I passed through half a dozen smaller segregated Groups or Mandlis; each having their own designated place in the community. After my joining the Noorani Mandli, I was told of a few other Mandlis that were above my group. I have no idea where this hierarchy of elite and super elite Ismailis come to an end. All I know is that the higher the Mandli, the higher the entrance fee and the more segregated you become. Aga Khan gives separate audiences to each Mandliand makes appropriate farmans. The more you pay the closer you are considered to be to Aga Khan. His farmans give you that sense of elevation. The names designated to these Mandlis also identify the class distinctions. Surprisingly, the only requisite for it is, how much you can afford to pay in “cash”. There are Mandlis which are equivalent to clubs of the recipients of “Purple Heart” or “Victoria Cross“. The Membership criteria is money. In other words money is the root of all elevations and distinctions.

4. Triple Taxation

From my personal experience I can say that an Ismaili bread-earner would pay 12.5% of his income to Aga Khan. He then would give his wife pocket money to buy her clothing and other needs. Then his wife would pay 25% of the pocket money, as her Mubarak Mandli dues to Aga Khan. Then, she would give her children a weekly allowance. Each child would pay 12.5% to Aga Khan out of his or her allowance.

I have often asked missionaries, “Why should the wife pay 25%, if the husband has already paid 12.5% prior to the payment of pocket money?” Since I was not a member of the Mubarak, it was not an appropriate subject for me to discuss, and missionaries are not allowed to discuss matters pertaining to “Mubarak” with non-members. A childhood friend of mine is a member of “Mubarak” and so is his wife. In their family, the rate of “triple Dasond” is 25% – 25% – 12.5%. That gives me some consolation that in my family the rate was 12.5 – 25% and 12.5%.

During the period of his Imamat, Aga Khan III had made very strict Farmansfor Dasond. Some of his Farmans suggested that losses may occur by fire and sickness if Dasond was not paid in full, and also mentioned that without the Dasondthere was no foundation for the religion. An Ismaili cannot attain “Noorani Deedar” (spiritual glimpse of Aga Khan) or make any progress in his esoteric meditation if he defaults in his payment ofDasond. On the other hand, contributors of Dasonds will be repaid here, and hereafter in the ratio of 1:125,000.

The present Aga Khan has not made any specific Farmans for Dasonds, but by the same token has not stopped collecting Dasond or has not stopped giving his “special blessings” to members of the Mubarak Mandli.

5. Dasond is Also Due to be Paid by Recipients of Charity

On the evening of February 8th 1970, Karim Aga Khan was sitting on a sofa in the Prayer Hall (Jamatkhana) of Muhammadi Girls’ Academy Karachi, with his shoes on. I was standing beside him with my shoes off and nearly 200 resident boarders of the Academy and staff members were sitting on the floor facing the Aga Khan. They all were reciting ‘Salwat’ with their hands clasped and raised.

After the usual ceremonies of Niaz, Memanis, Blessings and Farmans, Karim Aga Khan was about to get up from his sofa when the innocent young girls of the Academy, who were dressed in white, began crying. Tears started rolling down their tiny cheeks. The girls were seeking forgiveness, but for what? Aga Khan was surprised. He asked me what was the problem. I asked Mukhiyani the reason. She began talking to Aga Khan in her usual manner and language, which Aga Khan could not understand. She was speaking about ‘Dasond‘ and was pointing at her wrist. With a look of bewilderment, Karim Aga Khan – the one “who has the knowledge and authority of every thing” – asked me to explain what the Mukhiyani had related.

Before I continue further, I wish to inform you that the Ismailia Youth Services – a parent body of Muhammadi Girls’ Academy and Prince Aly Boys’ Academy had hired an Ismaili lady-missionary to teach Ismailism to the girls of the Academy. She was a member of special Mandli mentioned before. She had probably indoctrinated the girls about ‘Dasond’ to be paid from the charitable donations collected. I clarified before Karim Aga Khan that the girls of the Academy who were crying, had certain concepts about Dasond. Because the 12.5% Dasond was not being paid from donations collected, they felt that the food prepared from the money was not pure. Pointing to the veins on her hand the Mukhiyani tried to describe the fact that the blood produced from the food also was impure. Consequently the girls could not progress in their Bandgi‘ (meditation) every morning.

Thereupon, Aga Khan made a Farman to the girls which stated that any money received by him as Dasond is returned. If they paid the Dasond it will be paid back. This was not a simple Farman, to pay or not to pay the Dasond.

In the following meeting of the Ismailia Youth Services I was bombarded with questions. I was requested to strain my memory and repeat theFarman verbatim precisely, because it could be misinterpreted. Unfortunately, no other member of the Youth Services or of the Academy was present at that moment. I could not be precise as I did not make notes. During their two hours tour of boys’ and girls’ Academies, I must admit I answered dozens of questions and heard that many remarks, advises and jokes from their Highnesses.

The issue was delicate and concerned the fundamental aspects of Ismaili religion. The members could not come to a unanimous decision as to the paying of theDasond , out of charity money. It was resolved that a guidance be sought from Aga Khan by writing a letter.

Aga Khan replied that the Ismaili Youth Services should pay a token amount, every month, in the Jamatkhana as a dasond. Now came the real problem, how to pay theDasond in cash without any written acknowledgment of the payment? The treasurer would not release funds every month without a voucher because the auditors would not pass such withdrawals. The second question was about justifying to the donors the payment of dasond. Some of them were giving donations in lieu of thedasond  and they would not like their contributions channeled to the treasury of Aga Khan.

Finally, a member of the Youth Services agreed to pay the sum demanded by Aga Khan in the Jamatkhana every month, for a period of one year out of her pocket. Before the year was over I was nominated as President of the Council and had to relinquish my post with the Ismailia Youth Service and Muhammadi Girls’ Academy. I am not sure, but I believe that the farman of the Aga Khan to pay dasond, from the charitable donations, is still being diligently followed. The money continues to go from the pocket of the Youth Services or its members into the collection bag of the mukhi.

Today, the girls of the Academy who were crying must be grown and perhaps, they may be wondering was it necessary to pay “poor dues” (dasond) out of charity money? Was non-payment a reason for not gaining progress in their ‘bandgi‘? “Do we have to follow the teachings of our teachers, missionaries or parents, if they are teaching us or asking us to practice a belief that is sinful in the eyes of Allah?”

Allah mentions in Surah al-Ankabut (The Spider), Chapter 29, Verse 8:

وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حُسْنًا ۖ وَإِن جَاهَدَاكَ لِتُشْرِكَ بِي مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا ۚ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

Translation:

And We have enjoined upon man goodness to parents. But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them. To Me is your return, and I will inform you about what you used to do.

The above is an improvised extract from Akberally Meherally’s Understanding Ismailism: A Unique Tariqa of Islam. Download the complete book from here for free.

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