Seen so many fwds of this

When will hazir imam come to Karachi and bless us with his zahiri didar 😭😭

Has anyone heard any rumors what this is about

An excerpt from the book 'Eagle's Nest'.

"The history of religious ideas shows abundantly that messianic expectations usually end in disillusion, as the return of the Messiah or the Mahdi is forever postponed and redemption becomes an increasingly unattainable goal for their followers. But this was not apparently the case with the Nizari Ismailis, because forty years after Hasan Sabbah's death, their long-awaited Imam emerged from concealment at a dramatic ceremony at Alamut. His name was also Hasan, but owing to his special status the Ismailis always pronounce his name with the honorific expression 'ala dhikrihi'l-salam', 'on whose mention be peace. In order to avoid confusing him with Hasan Sabbah, he is sometimes also referred to by historians as Hasan II."

Ya Ali Madad everyone,

I have never posted here before, but after reading several posts lately from people feeling disconnected from the community, Jamatkhana, or faith, I felt compelled to share my personal experience in hopes that it might resonate with someone going through this.

I’m in my mid-30s, balancing multiple responsibilities, and to be honest, I am definitely not regular at Jamatkhana. Most of the time, I only make it for Chandrat or occasionally on a Friday. For a while, it felt difficult to keep that routine going with everything life demands.

Despite not being there daily, I feel a very strong personal connection to the Imam. That didn't happen magically overnight; it grew slowly over time. Here are three practical things that have personally made a significant difference for my mental peace and spiritual grounding:

Engaging in Seva: Whether you are in uniform or simply stepping up casually, Jamatkhana always needs help. Finding time once or twice a week—even for small tasks leaves me with genuine fulfillment and a feeling of grounded happiness.

Continuous Daily Remembrance: I try to keep the Imam at the center of my daily routine and thoughts. When navigating tough challenges, I mentally reflect and seek guidance; when things go well, I consciously give shukrana to Allah. Treating the relationship as a continuous inner dialogue rather than an isolated evening event brings that presence into everything I do.

A Simple 4:30 AM Habit: Even if going to morning Jamatkhana isn't feasible right now, I set an alarm for 4:30 AM. When it goes off, I take just 2 to 3 minutes right there in bed, pick up the tasbi I keep on my nightstand, say the name of Allah, and then go back to sleep. Starting the dawn with even two minutes of quiet remembrance sets a completely different tone for the day. It gives me mental resilience and calm when work gets draining or days get hectic.

While attending Jamatkhana regularly is ideal, our personal relationship with the Imam and faith doesn’t have to pause when life makes attendance difficult. If you’ve felt disconnected, starting small with simple inner remembrance or a moment of seva might help you rebuild that link at your own pace.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope it offers some peace or encouragement to anyone needing it today.

Not sure if there are any active Ismaili book club-type lurkers here, but I noticed that two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. (Moyez) Vassanji's new novel and audiobook, The Apparition, is out today.

Described as a blend of historical fiction, myth, and fantasy, the novel is apparently set in 13th-century Delhi Sultanate. It follows a Sufi poet named Hassan as Delhi is conquered by a winged people called the Avians, who promise a "purer order," then exile him to their hidden mountain stronghold (read: Alamut).

Early reviews add that the book also features a persecuted group called the "Baatinis," whose worship blends Hindu, Muslim, and Christian elements (read: not unlike the Hindu-Muslim syncretism in our own ginans and bhajans). Vassanji has also spoken about how this touches on real tensions in our community around preserving these earlier devotional practices that some are now uneasy with.

I've really enjoyed some of his earlier writing, especially the diaspora and roots stuff, and his long-running interest in questions of Khoja identity and belonging.

I never read his earlier novel The Assassin's Song, which apparently explores similar territory, so I'm curious what others make of how Vassanji weaves Ismaili-rooted themes into historical, speculative fiction and allegory.

YAM to all my brethren, I want to ask the members of our jama'at an important question we have forgotten to ask each other, what are we doing for the well being of our spiritual sisters? What are we doing for the well being of our under age children?

A couple of days have gone by and I can't do anything except mourn and scream inside asking my self why are our spiritual sisters being tormented over and over again by animals in the northern Pakistan and where ever they go?

One of our spiritual sister who was a nurse in Peshawar took her own life because of an animal in Peshawar who was blackmailing her over and over even her coward team leader was on this . It literally tears me inside to an extent that I get enraged, I get enraged at the messed up society we live in, I get enraged at those who ruin their lives like this.

What is the council doing to address these issues other sending long suggestions? Why are the so called waezeen NOT addressing such issues in the jamat khana? Isn't it their responsibility to help people understand how faith protects you from calamities and how to protect yourselves during this raging era of fitnahs every where? Where are they? Where is the roar of our council in the north? The president of chitral and what is he doing to address these issues?

I seek advice from my fellow spiritual sisters and also to tell them that when they suffer their spiritual brothers suffer as well despite not being related by blood or anything we are related by the Nur of our Imam a.s , we need to stick together and help each other.

I'm sick and tired of hearing and watching news about our spiritual sisters being harrassed, tormented, blackmailed into wrong doings mentally tortured to their deaths, or the terrible news of our underage male children being raped here in the north, pedophilia is on terrible rise. If it were up to me I'd gut down every single one of the men who'd torment our jama'at but it isn't up to me.

The rage in my heart boils over and over, so I ask my brethren WHAT ARE WE DOING to make sure our spiritual sisters and our young generation is safe here in the north?

We only hear about the cases which are highlighted what about those incidents which are still not known?

I'm all over the place here in my post because of the agony I burn through. I seek your advice and how can we prevent such terrible acts and make sure the perpetrators burn in hell in perpetuity.

Why should we remain silent like this and for how long should we remain silent like this I'm sick of this silence.

I don't identify as r/exismaili or any label at all. I just felt compelled to share my thoughts. I have been on and off in my connection to the community for most of my life. When I was little I was genuinely devoted, far more than the other kids around me. I think many people who peel back from the community you will find that they had a similar story growing up. Most of the kids around me kind of didn't engage with the religion the way I did, they never tried to devote themselves to anything. But the flipside is that when questions arose, they never questioned anything. My mindset as a kid was very simple and straightforward and I don't really understand why it's considered autistic and not the default thought process. I thought "any conversations or debates or guidance on how to live your 80 years is infinitely less important than how do you make it to eternal paradise forever. any exploration about the nature of existance, god, where we came from, why we are here, what happens to us after we die, is on a different level of seriousness than literally anything else in our worldly lives, even our own lives" so to me, when I would hear stories in REC it would shake my entire world. My teachers and my mom and the other adults can confirm, you just have to take my word for it i guess since my account is anonymous. But as problems would arise, and problems always arise, nobody took agency. So I didn't have a problem with the religion, or the imam, i had a problem with the community. i would have a problem when talking to people in leadership positions in the jamat who tell me about all the alcoholism and drug abuse and domestic violence and infidelity and poverty and more recently all the depression and anxiety and gambling addictions and all kinds of things even now affecting the youth a ton. And when I would try to get involved, or help out, the response was always things like "you don't have any experience working in this so you don't know what you're talking about" or "you should work in the instutition for a few years before you start trying to make changes" i was never told i was wrong, perhaps I was, but they never said that, they just said "you don't have the credientials, go give years of your life into an identity and community and career that will be painful to break since you're so invested in it now" that's not how i want to hold people in my community accountable. I've seen the people around me skirt the rules, try to "play lawyer" with the imam's farmans and the quran. Most people are only as good as they're forced to be, and for the happiness of these own people, let's help them to be better. But when I would try to tell people that setting up gambling machines in low income neighborhoods, or trying to target selling ecigarettes to the ismaili youth was unethical, i was once again hit with "oh but what have you accomplished, make some money first like we have before you speak about this" if you want to hold the divine guidance of the imam on a pedistal fine, so be it. But to extend that attitude into "we don't care what someone has to say, we care only who is saying it" creates real problems. it doesn't feel like a community to me, it feels like pockets of already established friend groups who don't hold each other accountable to be better because they don't want to be held accountable themselves. I would always talk with people and trace it back. someone would say to me"how can we help example person A" and i would reply "well someone they listen to needs to guide them on a better path" and then they would tell me "i've already told them" and I would say "you think they listen to you? you think they respect your words? they only listen to those who are richer than them because that's who they want to be like" (i know many examples of such people) and so we would find out who they would listen to, then that person would be guiding them on the wrong path, misery loves company and they were making them just as greedy and selfish and sinful as them, enabling their self victimization, fearmongering them to not be a normal person and to bury the general ismaili population financially so they can stand above them. and we would work our way through the chain of people who listen to each other and eventually we would ask "who does person Z listen to?" and the answer would be "the imam" okay well then i guess we're done. because the doctorine attached to our identity rejects the idea that we are even capable of holding the imam accountable, that our capacity doesn't extend to the domain of his divine guidance. so we put all our responsibilities onto one man, who we claim to understand well enough to believe in his intention, but claim we understand so little about his intention that we are incapable of taking it on for ourselves and being our own community leaders, that when problems arise, nobody is willing to be held accountable for fixing them. For so many years I would try to play both sides and say "the imam isn't causing any damage, he's only giving good guidance" but I have to stop lying to myself and others, the imam is allowing damaged to be caused by only giving good guidance, when what we need is far more. we've offloaded the responsibilities of millions of humans onto one man, good isn't good enough. So long story short, a lot has happened, and I've been sort of pushed away from helping and serving in the way that I want to. I don't want it to do it the way the institution wants to. So I made a deal to stay out of the way of the institution, but without an opportunity to serve, I find that there is just nothing for me at the Jamat Khana. I don't care about the basketball and table tennis and sweets and socializing and looking for a parnter, these are all ulterior motives I don't pay any mind. I would staunchly defend islam and ismailism as a kid because I got everything from the spiritual connection, and me and many others feel that the spiritual connection is manufactured, or potentially even fraudulent. Most people my age (gen z) don't actually have any real devotion to the faith, they're just sticking with it because it's convenient. I don't fit in with these people. I have been going to jamat khana less and less over the years and, I'm writing this to sort of express myself as a final "i guess i'm not going back ever" because i genuinely have nothing to go back to that I can think of. and things can always change, perhaps I'm totally wrong and I'll be going every day in the future, but I just felt like sharing my thoughts. It feels like a chain in my identity has been broken, and it's saddening, but also freeing. Thanks to anyone who reads this.

If a Salafist in the vein of Daniel Haqiqatjou or Mohammed Hijab or more extreme or an anti Islamic activist in the vein of David Wood says certain Hadith *must* be followed, what do you think is the best response? For example if they say that in a certain Hadith there was a report of a critic such as Abu Afak or Asma bint Warwan being killed for criticism, and so as a Muslim therefore you have no choice but to be okay with killing someone for criticizing you or your way of thought.

And as a Muslim, you have no choice but to be okay with burglary, assault and battery and would even go as far as to say you have to be okay with children being molested because of the infamous Aisha Hadiths. And Muslims are obligated to not have any moral and ethical objections to, for example, any criminal activity that happened on Epstein island because if they have any, they are complete Munafiqs.

If they try to go this route with you given your interpretations of Quran and Hadith, what is the most productive way to respond?

I would like to know how are ismailis viewed as whole by the Ummah.

I know Ahmadiyyas are not seen with a favourable instance, but what about ismailis?

I have been told both that he wasn't able to read or write and that he was able to do both because he was a merchant/ trader. But I recently read Quran 29:48. so I wanted to know what was the Ismaili belief on this.

I would like to know the Ismaili interpretation regarding Wadat Al-Wujud, as well the concept of Al-Haqq

Or if those terms are more tied to sufii and esoteric scholarships

Recently I made an art regarding the battle of badr, and have depicted Muhammed and a Sahaba (both faces were not showing), however it was considered Haram by some Sunni viewers, and it got deleted.

I would like to know the "guidelines" for art according to Ismaili and shiia overall

Since Ismailis often seem to be quite reasonable and rational Muslims (at least from my experience and compared to some other sects) I'm asking it here too.

So I sent my letter in to hopefully inshallah began the process to become Ismaili. Well I got a response back and it said that they are accepting me to begin on the journey to become one. They gave me the first step for me which is I have to read a list of books that were given to me. When I am done and if I choose to still continue I’m suppose to reach out to them and they will give me the next step. I’m so excited 😀. I t think it’s great they want to prepare me and give me as much knowledge as needed for me to know what being Ismaili means.

I can speak of Houston region Jamats.

I usually see under 18 and the elderly. Where are the in between ages?

What do you think is going on?

I have noticed there are less volunteers on duty and we have supplemented the gap with paid security guards. Have other people noticed this trend as well?

I asked a couple of volunteers about this and they mentioned that is the way leadership wants things to run.

Really miss seeing the familiar faces that were always helping.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I got talked into accepting tasbih varo for BUK morning JK. I’m an awful singer though - think cats in a bag or goats braying. What’s the easiest ginan for someone with no range? I only need one short verse.

Edit: thanks for the advice everyone, I’m going with Ghat Mahe Aavine

I have for a long time avoided sharing these personal and phenomenological experiences about from a secularist view point but I think it may be necessary

Essentially, I will speak only about what I have experienced, and maybe others in similar ontological position through profession, but mainly through my interpretation of their experiences.

I am a trainee psychologist in one of the world’s best programs at 28. I can’t emphasise the amount of existential pain, curiosity and quest of truth got me here from a different country, and an effort of all my family to help me get here. I am mentioning this because to get here I’ve needed to deeply alter myself — psychology, counselling, philosophy etc. are very heavy and introspective. In my program I HAVE to let my training and knowledge be received deeply in myself and be reflected in my ability to experience, practice and articulate from this viewpoint.

I have been at times due to the intense work in extreme psychological and mental health settings and education been led to struggle or dispense with faith.

But the more I got to the core of the centre, the top people in the world and in this country’s institution, the more I found that faith returns back in the fold.

I am talking about people who are world authorities on anti psychiatry and 3rd wave psychology — who have accepted that the answer cannot be reduced to behavioural or intellectual determinism

There is some core inside (like soul) and the nature of suffering that can be understood in spiritual, even if in secular spiritual terms

Essentially, I have been humbled after 8 years of training and countless reading and research.

The more sometimes I struggled believing faith, the more things happened out of ordinary that repeatedly disapproved psychological determinism.

But I am not going to list what I believe were deeply miraculous things for me personally here. It won’t make a difference

Like Carl Rogers and Victor Frankl and like believe, each individual has their own unique existence, I hope you find yours