Ismaili Center, Houston
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Ismaili Center, Houston
The Ismaili Center Houston will be the seventh Ismaili Centre worldwide, the first in the United States and the third in North America, after Vancouver and Toronto.   Establishment Aga Khan Foundation USA has owned the eleven-acre site since 2006. The establishment of an Ismaili Center was announced by His Highness the Aga Khan during his Golden Jubilee visit to the USA in 2008. A design preview was held on November 15, 2021, where architect Farshid Moussavi discussed the project with KTRK-TV’s Melanie Lawson. In July 2022, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. announced that it had begun construction. As of this date, no formal ground-breaking had taken place but construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2024. A topping out ceremony was held in October 2023 with Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner Sylvester Turner (September 27, 1954 – March 5, 2025) was an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from January 2025 until his de ...
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Ismaili Centre
The Ismaili Centres are symbolic markers of the permanent presence of the Nizari Ismailis in the countries and regions in which they are established, characterised by the Aga Khan IV as 'ambassadorial buildings'. Each building is architecturally unique and functions as a jamatkhana (place of worship), but also incorporates spaces for social and cultural gatherings, intellectual engagement and reflection, as well as spiritual contemplation. They facilitate mutual exchange and seek to foster understanding between diverse peoples, communities and faiths. Collectively and individually, the Centres represent the Nizari Ismaili community’s intellectual and spiritual understanding of Islam, as well as the community’s social conscience, outlook and attitude towards the societies in which it lives. Locations Ismaili Centres have been established in London (1985), Vancouver (1985), Lisbon (1998), Dubai (2008), Dushanbe (2009),
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Ismaili Centre, Vancouver
The Ismaili Centre, Vancouver is an Ismaili Jama'at Khana, located in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, in British Columbia, Canada. Completed in 1985, it is one of six Ismaili Centres worldwide. and was the first purpose-built jamatkhana and Ismaili centre in North America. The centre has been the subject of sustained, dedicated academic analysis, and presented as a case study of modern Islamic architecture in the West. Foundation and establishment Established by His Highness Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, the Ismaili Centre, Vancouver was the first of such centers in North America and the second in a series of six Ismaili Centres currently situated in London, Lisbon, Dubai, Dushanbe, and Toronto. The foundation ceremony for the new building was held on 26 July 1982, and construction was completed in 1985. During the silver jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan, the new building was opened by the former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ...
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Ismaili Centre, Toronto
The Ismaili Centre, Toronto is a Jama'at Khana (place of worship) for the Shia Ismaili Muslim community as well as a space for social, educational and cultural activities and is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 2010, it is the sixth Ismaili Centre in the world. Situated in a park that it shares with the Aga Khan Museum adjacent to the Don Valley Parkway in North York, the Centre represents the permanent presence of the Ismaili Muslim community. Construction and development This Ismaili Centre is situated along Wynford Drive in Toronto's Don Mills neighbourhood. It is visible from the adjacent Don Valley Parkway, and shares a site with the Aga Khan Museum. The two buildings are surrounded by a landscaped park. In November 2002, the Aga Khan Foundation acquired the site and announced plans to demolish the Bata Shoes Head Office in order to construct it. The Ismaili Centre had its foundation ceremony on May 28, 2010. The ceremony was performed by Canadian Prim ...
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Aga Khan Foundation
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a private, not-for-profit international development agency, which was founded in 1967 by Shah Karim Al Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th Hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. AKF seeks to provide long-term solutions to problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill health in the poorest parts of South and Central Asia, Eastern and Western Africa, and the Middle East. In these regions, the needs of rural communities in mountainous, coastal and resource poor areas are given particular attention. The Foundation's activities often reinforce the work of other sister agencies within the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). While these agencies are guided by different mandates pertaining to their respective fields of expertise (the environment, culture, microfinance, health, education, architecture, rural development), their activities are often coordinated with one another in order to "multiply" the overall effect that the Network has in any g ...
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Aga Khan IV
Prince Karim al-Husseini (13 December 1936 – 4 February 2025), known as the Aga Khan IV, was the 49th Imamah, imam of Imamate in Nizari doctrine, Nizari Isma'ilism from 1957 until his death in 2025. He inherited the Imamate in Nizari doctrine, Nizari imamate and the title of Aga Khan at the age of 20 upon the death of his grandfather, the Aga Khan III. During his imamate, he was also known by the religious title Mawlānā Hazar Imam by his Isma'ili followers.His Highness the Aga Khan's interview with Henri Weill; translated from La Cohorte 2019-01-29
– website of the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database
Al-Husseini's net worth was estimated at over US$13.3 billion by ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'' ...
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Farshid Moussavi
Farshid Moussavi (born 1965) is an Iranian-born British architect, educator, and author. She is the founder of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA) and a Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The work of Moussavi's London-based practice, FMA, is celebrated for projects that integrate an inventive approach to space and materials and a strong social awareness, whether they are a cultural centre such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland or a community centre such as the Ismaili Center Houston (currently under construction), a social housing project in Montpellier, or an elementary school in Saclay (under development), both in France. Prior to founding FMA, she was co-founder of the London-based Foreign Office Architects or FOA (1993-2011), recognised as one of the world's most creative design firms, integrating architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture in a wide range of projects internationally. Mouss ...
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Sylvester Turner
Sylvester Turner (September 27, 1954 – March 5, 2025) was an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from January 2025 until his death in March 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Turner served as the List of mayors of Houston, 62nd mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024 and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 to 2016. Born and raised in Houston, Turner graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor's degree in political science and from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor. He was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1988 and continued to serve in the Texas House until 2016. Turner ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Houston in 1991 Houston mayoral election, 1991 and again in 2003 Houston mayoral election, 2003. Turner won the 2015 Houston mayoral election, defeating Bill King by a margin of under two percent in the closest mayoral election in Houston histo ...
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Islam In Houston
As of 2012, the city of Houston has the largest Muslim population in Texas and the largest Muslim population in the Southern United States. That year, Kate Shellnut of the ''Houston Chronicle'' wrote that "Some estimate that Muslims make up 1.2 percent of the city's population."Shellnutt, Kate.U.S. sees rise of Islamic centers" ''Houston Chronicle''. March 8, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2014. In 2025, Muslims are now estimated at over 3%. As of 2012 the estimated population of Muslims in Houston was around 63,000. As of today, there are over 209 mosques and storefront religious centers, with the largest being the ''Al-Noor'' Mosque (Mosque of Light) of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH).Badr, p193 In 2007 Barbara Karkabi of the ''Houston Chronicle'' wrote that the Sunni and Shia Muslims "generally enjoy good relations in Houston."Karkabi, Barbara.The two faces of IslamArchive. ''Houston Chronicle''. February 24, 2007. Retrieved May 3, 2014. The University of Houston has sep ...
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Ismaili Centres
Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kazim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the true Imām. After the death of Muhammad ibn Isma'il in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismailism further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning () of the Islamic religion. With the eventual development of Usulism and Akhbarism into the more literalistic () oriented, Shia Islam developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical Ismaili, Alevi, Bektashi, Alian, and Alawite groups focusing on the mystical path and nature of God, along with the "Imam of the Time" representing the manifestation of esoteric truth and intelligible divine reality, with the more literalistic Usuli and Akhbari groups focus ...
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Religious Buildings And Structures In Houston
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or religious organization, organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendence (religion), transcendental, and spirituality, spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. It is an essentially contested concept. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sac ...
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