For Mawlana Hazar Imam His Highness the Aga Khan’s 85th Birthday, a Feast of Twilight Photos for the Enjoyment of the Worldwide Ismaili Jamat and Friends of the Ismaili Community

The Qur’an refers very often to nature as a reflection of Allah’s power of creation, and it says, look at the mountains, the rivers, the trees, the flowers, as evidence of Allah’s love for the people whom He has created. Today, I look at the environment and I say to you, I believe Allah is smiling upon you, and may His smile always be upon you.

Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, Gorno Badakhshan (Tajikistan), May 27, 1995

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Salgirah Mubarak to Ismailis Around the World

By MALIK MERCHANT
Publisher/Editor  Simergphotos, Barakah and Simerg

Toronto’s Karim Ismail has sent me numerous renditions of the beautiful calligraphy he created during the past week for the auspicious 85th birthday of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan. In his latest rendition, he has included a quote from a Syrian Ismaili poet Ismail Adra that reads: “The sky is clear…O lovers come! Prepare a feast for his noble birthday.”

I wake up fairly early every morning, and the first thing I do is to look out of the window to decide if I should drive to a location on Lake Ontario, in or close to Toronto, to view the morning sunrise and take photographs. Actually, the twilight hour preceding the sunrise or after sunset in the evening is the most beautiful time of the day, as are the moments when the sun first begins to rise in the horizon. Clear skies certainly make the twilight sky very beautiful but when there is cloud cover in the horizon or in the sky above, the sky and the clouds look breathtakingly different, making each visit unique. One day you see light clouds, and then on the following days you may see stormy clouds, with a major thunderstorm developing in the horizon. The effect of the twilight on the sky is simply amazing, and one has to see it to truly appreciate it. That is one moment in the morning when I thank Allah. To see and feel the beautiful nature around you is, as Mawlana Hazar Imam says, “evidence of Allah’s love for the people whom He has created.”

For Salgirah, I am not quite capable of preparing a feast, as Ismail Adra has proposed. Instead, I am happy to treat you with this special “feast of twilight photographs.” In conjunction with the photographs, I invite you to read an insightful new post Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, is the Present Bearer of the Noor of Imamat published in Barakah.

My family joins me in wishing everyone Salgirah Mubarak, with a humble prayer that Mawlana Hazar Imam may bless us with spiritual strength and happiness.

Note: Please visit this post later during week of December 13, 2021 for the exact date and time each photo was taken, as well as the corresponding sunrise time.

Twilight and Sunrise

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The Joyful Geese: Listen to their Happy Sounds

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“Next I would place appreciation and enjoyment of the glories of nature. All those sunrises and sunsets – all the intricate miracle of sky colour, from dawn to dusk….then comes night – “a night of stars.” I look up at night and I know – I know the glory of the stars. It is then that the stars speak to us. All that splendid spendthrift beauty…As a very rich man treasures the possession of some unique picture, so a man should treasure and exult in the possession – his individual possession – of the sights of this unique world.”

Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah, His Highness the Aga Khan III (1877-1957)

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Sunset Twilight

Date posted: December 12, 2021.

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