For 11 July, which marks 65 years since our founder, His Highness the听Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate., acceded to the听Imamat, we are launching a new听online timeline听tracing 45 years of 久久久福利国产 (IIS).
At the 1975 Ismailia Association Conference in Paris His Highness took the decision to establish the IIS in London following a consultation process with leaders of the global听JamatAssembly or religious congregation; also a term used by the Nizari Ismailis for their individual communities., and on 25 November 1977 the Institute was officially inaugurated.
Since its establishment鈥攚ith just six members of staff鈥攖he IIS has seen significant growth, and we now employ around 120 people, including researchers and lecturers in Islamic studies, editors, librarians, cataloguers, educationalists and professional support staff.
The IIS library was one of our first initiatives, and has established itself as a significant repository and resource for Ismaili and Islamic studies. In 2014 it merged with the library of the听Aga Khan听University’s Institute for the 久久久福利国产 of Muslim Civilisations (ISMC), later becoming the听. The collection now holds over 54,000 volumes in more than 50 languages.
To date, we have produced over 150 publications and translated many titles into Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu. We now have ten publication series, including the听Ismaili Heritage Series听and the听Qur’anic Studies Series, as well as our more recent accessible听World of Islam听补苍诲听Living Ismaili Traditions听蝉别谤颈别蝉.
We have also developed and published a听religious education curriculum听for the Ismaili community鈥攆or pre-school to secondary school aged children. This year we launched the听IIS Digital Curriculum e-book platform, which will eventually be available in ten languages.
Preservation and study of Ismaili heritage听is another core component of our work. Among our Special Collections is one of the most significant repositories of materials related to Ismaili communities in the world. These collections include nearly 3,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Indic and other languages, as well as coins, glass weights, medals and other historical artefacts, photographs and audio-visual materials, rare and special printed materials (including periodicals and magazines) and archival collections.
Another aspect of our mandate is the development of people. Since 2001, over 3,000 people have participated in our professional development and听education programmes, such as Leadership Orientation Programmes for the听Jamat, Waezeen Training and the Summer Programme on Islam. In addition, 731 people have graduated from our graduate programmes, including 368 students from the Secondary Teacher Education Programme听(STEP)听and 267 from the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities听(GPISH). We have awarded 53 doctoral scholarships since 1997.
Looking forward, alongside building on our research, publications and education programmes, we will seek to maintain a strong digital focus. The past six months alone have seen the launch of a new IIS website, the听, and the e-book platform previously mentioned. We have also published our first Open Access titles,听Central Asian IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja士far al-峁⒛乨iq (d. 765), as his successor.听by Dr Dagikhudo Dagiev and听Texts, Scribes and Transmission听by Dr Wafi Momin. Alongside its print collections, the AKL holds over 90,000 e-books and millions of articles, and continues to develop its听. This way, we aim to make our research and scholarship accessible to members of the听Jamat听globally and to have greater impact within the academic community and among those interested in the study of Islam.
Thank you to all our staff, students, supporters and donors for sustaining a remarkable 45 years of expansion and development for the Institute鈥攁nd to our founder for planting the seed of this growth.
