Reflections In the context of the continuum of guidance - Farmans from Hazar Imam particularly since 4 February 2025
Hazar Imam has consistently reminded us that the actions and behaviours of leaders and Jamats in any one region influence—and can directly impact—the entire global Jamat of 15–20 million.
Today’s post-fact world shaped by advanced technology, AI, political polarisation, instantaneous communication, and citizen-driven media, nothing remains local.
We live in a reality marked by volatility, uncertainty, post-colonial dynamics, a breakdown of trust, and unprecedented geopolitical challenges—including the real possibility of large-scale conflict. Nothing can be considered isolated in this environment.
What was once local or regional
is now very rapid and inevitably global.
Everyone knows and or can know
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1. A Changing Information Landscape
Since particularly 4 February 2025, an increasing number of issues concerning leaders, Jamats, and institutional entities have become visible to wider audiences—researchers, journalists, major media partners, contractors, civil society actors, and governments. These include:
• governance and transparency failures,
• withholding of Farmans and the Ismaili Constitution,
• unresolved Jamatkhana matters (e.g., Dholka, Versova),
• the closure situation at Prince Aly Khan Hospital, affecting 450 staff,
• failure to teach and actualise pluralism,
• systematic exclusion of Jamat voices, empowerment, and legitimate requests—even for Farmans.
Independent Jamat-led media platforms—created by members of the Jamat—now collectively reach over 1.2 million followers, yet these platforms and their contributors continue to be excluded. This exclusionary culture, maintained by the same cohort of leaders for decades, contradicts Imam’s Farmans.
Instead of enabling local Jamats, leadership processes have become centralised, controlling, and withholding—including the withholding of Farmans themselves.
While mainstream media has not yet fully explored Ismaili institutional matters, citizen media already has, and its reach will only continue to expand.
Leaders managing Jamat entities—AKDN, AKFED, The Ismaili, and others—can no longer control timelines, framing, narrative, or disclosure of facts. Attempts to limit transparency or suppress scrutiny through institutional leverage, corporate alliances, political relationships, or economic partnerships can no longer succeed in a world of decentralised information.
This new environment has direct ethical, governance, fiduciary, and socio-economic implications, especially for vulnerable Jamats and those facing poverty or conflict.
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2. Urgency for Alignment with Imam’s Farmans
Given these realities, both leaders and the Jamat must urgently and sincerely align with:
• Imam’s Farmans,
• the Ismaili Constitution,
• principles of transparency, accountability, and ethical governance,
• and the ethic of pluralism—empowering all local Jamats.
If leaders do not act—or if Farmans remain inaccessible to the Jamat—the resulting harms are foreseeable, measurable, and avoidable.
Hazar Imam has repeatedly emphasised that behaviour and action matter more than words: the action to share guidance, empower the Jamat, and teach the faith fully—especially pluralism, which is both a core value and a practical solution.
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3. A Documented Pattern of Divergence
The Research & Discussion Brief circulated earlier demonstrates:
• decades of divergence by a longstanding group of leaders and their inner circle,
• centralised and autocratic decision-making contrary to Imam’s instructions for decentralisation,
• rejection of pluralism in practice,
• withholding—not sharing, upholding, or enabling—Farmans and the Constitution.
This pattern requires urgent correction:
a return to Imam’s Farmans, the Constitution, pluralism, shared responsibility, and open access to guidance for every murid.
The consequences of continuing this divergence are not only spiritual—they raise significant institutional, fiduciary, and legal concerns for those responsible for governance and stewardship of resources.
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4. The Global Context Intensifies the Need for Change
We are living in a time of severe global instability—wars, rising authoritarianism, political polarisation, unprecedented displacement of people, increased poverty, inequality, and a breakdown of empathy and respect.
The internet exposes everything instantly and globally.
Nothing stays hidden for long.
In such a world, Imam’s Farmans on openness, pluralism (“vital for our existence”), honesty, accountability, and speaking up are not optional—they are essential for the community’s survival and integrity.
If we cannot be transparent, ethical, and united internally, we will struggle even more in a world that is becoming harsher, more divided, and less forgiving.
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5. A Defining Moment — A Chance to Reset the Course
This is a critical moment to transform institutional culture and return to the path Imam has outlined. Action must include:
• pluralism and genuine empowerment of the Jamat,
• leaders upholding and sharing Farmans and the Constitution,
• the Jamat actively reading, engaging with, and implementing Farmans in daily life and institutional practice.
Accountability, transparency, and ethical governance are binding responsibilities for every leader—including members of the Noorani Family and all leadership bodies.
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6. Resources and Evidence
Farmans & Guidance: Lessons from the Past
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https://x.com/chaturmahebub/status/1941 ... 08/video/1
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https://x.com/chaturmahebub/status/1986 ... hqfO552USg
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https://x.com/chaturmahebub/status/1941 ... hqfO552USg
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https://x.com/chaturmahebub/status/1939 ... hqfO552USg
Fatimid History — Lessons Are Clear
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https://x.com/chaturmahebub/status/1948 ... hqfO552USg
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7. Closing
With sincere prayers for clarity, courage, humility, and unity across our global Jamat.
May we all act in full accordance with Imam’s Farmans : share them and uphold the ethical, fiduciary, and spiritual responsibilities & commitments we affirm in our Bay‘ah.
M Chatur
