Jama'at Khana
However, communal memory, oral traditions and individual Ginans (Indo-Muslim religious poems) narrate that Pirs Shams (fl.
14th century),[21] emissaries appointed by the Ismaili Imam in Persia and sent to the South Asia in the service of the faith, established the first such spaces for the nascent Nizārī Ismā'īlī communities in Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir[22] and China[23] during their lifetimes.
Jannatpuri, a long composition known as a granth and belonging to the genre of the Ginans, by Sayyid Imamshah (d. after 1473) situates one of the earliest of these Jamatkhanas to a place by the name of Kotda, which is thought to be in modern-day Sindh in Pakistan.
[citation needed] These diverse groups, each with their own histories, identities and social organization identified themselves using various names such as Momin (or Mumna),[26] Shamsi,[27] Khoja[28] and Gupti.
[Note 2] By the mid-19th century, as Nizārī Ismā'īlī communities migrated from towns and villages to urban centres throughout the Indian Ocean littoral, the khana seems to have become a distinct space housed in a separate structure, usually located within a mohalla, or enclave, of Satpanthi believers.
[citation needed] More modest examples that date from this period can also be found throughout Kutch and in Jerruk in interior Sindh, the residence of Aga Khan I upon his arrival to the South Asia.
[32] During the seven decades of Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III’s (d. 1957) Imamat, formal relationships with Ismaili communities living in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, the Northern Areas of Pakistan, Persia and Syria, were strengthened.
[33] Ismailis of the Northern Areas of Pakistan, namely Chitral, Ghizr, Gilgit, Hunza, as well as the border regions of China, were some of the first communities to adopt the Jamatkhana into their ritual life.
[38][39] Several months later in August, another Ismaili Centre was opened in Vancouver's Burnaby district (Canada) by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (1939–2024; r.
[Note 5] Each architecturally unique, these purpose built centres constructed by internationally reputed architects occupy prominent places in their respective cities and include, in addition to the central prayer hall, spaces to facilitate intellectual and social gatherings, meeting rooms, educational facilities, libraries, gardens and water features.
The buildings were not only meant to act as symbolic markers of the Ismaili community's presence in England and Canada, but also as an ambassadorial bridge which would continue to help them develop and maintain relationships with other faith groups and civil society organizations.
[43][44] The Centre draws inspiration from regional influences of the Moorish architectural heritage such as the Alhambra in Granada as well as that of other Muslim cultural forms such as that of Fatehpur Sikri in India.
[citation needed] The building draws its inspiration from Cairo's Fatimid architecture heritage, a dynasty founded by the Aga Khan's forefathers and previous Imams of the Nizārī Ismā'īlī community in the tenth century.
[50][51] Opened on October 12, 2009, by Republic's President, Emamoli Rahmon and the Aga Khan, its architecture blends a diverse range of artisanal and craft traditions of the region and draws upon as inspiration of the grand courtyards of Samarkand and Khiva in Uzbekistan as well as the tenth century Samanid mausoleum.
