OTTAWA – The spiritual leaderof the world’s 15 million ShiaIsmaili Muslims called onCanadians Thursday to join himin making the world a more tolerant,peaceful place, reportedCanadian Press.”Canada is a leader in the communityof nations,” the 77-yearoldAga Khan told MPs andsenators in a joint session ofParliament.He was welcomed with repeatedstanding ovations in the packedHouse of Commons.The audience in the galleriesincluded many Ismaili Muslimrepresentatives invited for theoccasion.The Harvard-educated religiousleader spoke elegantly in bothofficial languages, mixinghumour and history as heoffered a solemn plea for peacein a badly divided world.He opened by paying tribute toCanada’s recent gold-medalOlympic hockey victories andjoked that, as an honoraryCanadian citizen, he would haveliked to have played for theteam.”The Dalai Lama and I wouldhave been a formidabledefence.”The Aga Khan, hereditary holderof his religious office, is a regularvisitor to Canada, with hismost recent trips coming in2008 and 2010.He was granted honoraryCanadian citizenship during the2010 visit.He said his foundation wouldhelp Canada celebrate its 150thanniversary in 2017.The Aga Khan made a plea forgreater understanding of theworld’s Muslims saying howthey are viewed in the world isshaped by “the lens of war.” He lamented the growing divisionsamong Shia and SunniMuslims around the worldespecially in war zones such as aIraq and elsewhere, sayingthose differences are not basednot on any profound differencesin religious faith.”It is becoming a disaster,” hesaid. He also said the worldneeds to pay more attention tothe role of civil society, saying itrepresents “voices for changewhere change is overdue …voices of hope for people livingin fear.” Religious intoleranceand hostility seems to be on therise around the world and canbe countered by vigorous civilsociety, he argued.He closed by quoting a versefrom the Qur’an saying thehuman race was born from a”single soul” — again inspiringanother sustained standing ovation.He also commendedHarper for establishing anOffice of Religious Freedom,saying it could be a model forother countries. However, theOpposition wasn’t so kind toHarper and his Conservativesfor snubbing them by keepingthem off the guest list at afunction following Aga Khan’sappearance in parliament
