Golden Jubilee : Visits : portugal visit

Portugal visit



Portugal and the Ismaili Imamat strengthen international cooperation efforts to foster pluralism and build stronger civil societies


Some five centuries ago, Portuguese seafarers set off from the city of Lisbon, overlooking the Tagus River and the Atlantic Ocean, in search of new continents and new routes for world trade. Vasco da Gama, who discovered the sea route from Europe to India (1498) – helped by the famous Muslim navigator and cartographer, Ahmad bin Majid -, and Fernão de Magalhães, who undertook the first circumnavigation of the globe (1521), stand amongst some of the more prominent Portuguese seafarers who contributed to shortening distances between different peoples and cultures. According to some historic and contemporary sources, even Christopher Columbus, seafarer and explorer who sailed across the world to America, may have been Portuguese.
The Portuguese discoveries during the Renaissance period paved the path towards creating a more open and tolerant society in a country that is today known for its pluralistic attitude towards other cultures and which has a natural disposition towards building bridges with communities with whom they reside. Today, the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) includes peoples in four different continents: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, and East Timor.
Signifying this very strengthening of partnerships across faiths and countries, a landmark Protocol of Cooperation between the Government of the Portuguese Republic and the Ismaili Imamat was signed in December 2005. At the signing, Mawlana Hazar Imam drew a parallel between Portugal and the Ismaili community.
“What brings us together is not only our historical similarities and our mutual respect for our past, but our wish to work together better to address the opportunities and the problems which will confront us in the decades ahead. Our respective histories have taught us to place our trust in human values and to root them in an ethical view of life,” said Mawlana Hazar Imam.
“Portugal is rooted in the centuries old Christian world, whereas the Ismaili Imamat is rooted in the centuries old Muslim world… Our histories have taught us the value of dialogue … Our world view is to engage with the problem of social exclusion in our societies and to contribute to building bridges across faiths and across nations, by linking diverse parts of the world” he said.
The signing of the agreement saw the relationship with Portugal grow from strength to strength. Whether Mawlana Hazar Imam was speaking of the importance of building strong ethical frameworks of tolerance and respect, as he did on the occasion of the conferment of his Honoris Causa doctorate degree by Évora University; or whether the Aga Khan Foundation was signing an agreement with the Patriarchate of Lisbon, the message was clear: progress is made when societies are more tolerant and accepting to different faiths and cultures.
Building on this strong partnership, Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Golden Jubilee visit to Portugal from 10th to 14th July, witnessed the signing of yet another agreement, possible through the culmination of years of Imamat institutional presence in the country. The agreement of International Cooperation between the Ismaili Imamat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Republic, signed on Imamat day, 11th July 2008, is significant because it establishes a framework of cooperation in Asia and Africa areas considered to be of strategic and historic interest by the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, and where the Network has a strong and established presence.
“Portugal has some very important factors: in Portuguese society, pluralism is a functioning social construction and that is relevant to any society, be it industrial or of another kind. Portugal has an extraordinary history and the country understands pluralism. The majority of Portuguese history has been its involvement in pluralism over centuries, in your history, there is an acceptance of difference.... We want to build bridges, from the Portuguese society, to build civil society outside Portugal”, said Mawlana Hazar Imam to a leading Portuguese newspaper in an interview he granted during the visit.
The visit also provided an opportunity to reinforce the partnerships with institutions of the Catholic Church, namely the Portuguese Catholic University, one of Portugal’s premier institutions of higher learning, established by the Congregation of Catholic Education, under the Concordat between Portugal and the Apostolic See, and recognised by the Portuguese State in 1971.
In what was a historic signing ceremony attended by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Eminence D. Jose Policarpo, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon and Chancellor of the Catholic University, the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Secretary of State for Education, the Aga Khan University (AKU) and the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) signed an agreement of academic collaboration as part of their efforts to foster international understanding and scholarly cooperation between diverse cultures and faiths. Professor Manuel Braga da Cruz, Rector of the Portuguese Catholic University and Firoz Rasul, President of the Aga Khan University, signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the Ismaili Centre in Lisbon on behalf of the respective universities. Areas of collaboration between the two universities will include culture, law, religion, ethics, health sciences, education and human development through joint research, training initiatives, and exchange programmes for faculty and students.
“We have the conditions and also the common wish to start a noteworthy cooperation not only in inter religious dialogue, as this initiative will also be important to peace building in the scope of international relations, but also in the promotion of human dignity in the development of our societies, for which so many institutions belonging to our respective religious confessions are so committed and engaged, working in fields such as education and health services” noted the Rector of the Portuguese Catholic University.
In reference to the collective commitment of both institutions to go beyond common boundaries to build bridges between diverse faiths and peoples by connecting different parts of the world together through the universal language of scholarship, Firoz Rasul observed that “this partnership is an opportunity to address shared concerns, identify common interests and foster greater understanding and to develop capacity to address the issues of global concern such as poverty alleviation, environmental degradation, the building of civil society, democracy, social inclusion and human development.”
At the Institutional dinner held in Lisbon prior to his departure, Mawlana Hazar Imam again underlined the significance behind the agreement signed in Portugal. “The new initiatives will bring together people of Christian backgrounds and Muslim backgrounds to work together, to try to solve some of the issues that are ahead of us,” he said. “This is a very serious engagement, which if successful, will be of very great meaning to the future of the Jamat around the world.”
Also during his visit to Portugal, Mawlana Hazar Imam met with Portugal’s President Cavaco Silva who received him at the Presidential Palace upon his arrivial in the country, as well as Prime Minister José Sócrates, Foreign Minister Luís Amado, Minister of Justice Alberto Costa, the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations, Jorge Sampaio and the President of the Assembly of the Republic Jaime Gama, who hosted a lunch in honour of Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Assembly building.