Forum Pakistan

[Admin]

Ismaili
Ismailis are followers of a *Shia sect founded in the 18th century and named after Ismail (d. 762), the elder son of the sixth Shia *Imam, Jafar as-Sadiq. The Ismailis established the Fatimid Caliphate, first in Rakkada, North Africa in 909, and in Egypt in 969. The Is~ailis believed in Batini or esoteric doctrines by which the Imam was authorized to interpret dogma. At the turn of the 9th century, the Ismailis broke into several branches. One of them, Karmatiya, seized Multan in the early 10th century; they created their own state that was eliminated by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi (see Ghaznavid) in 1010. Following the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir in 1094, Ismailiya divided into Nizari (see 'Khoja' and 'Aga Khan') and Mustalites (see 'Bohra'). Ismailiya appeared in South Asia at the tum of the 9th century.

Ispahani, Mirza Abul Hasan (1902-81) Politician/Businessman. Mirza Abul Hasan Ispahani belonged to a business family that played a major role in industrializing the eastern part of *Bengal. He was born in Madras and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, from where he obtained his MA and LLB degrees and was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple. His political career began when he founded the United Muslim Party in Bengal in the mid 1930s. However, when the 1937 elections were approaching, he was persuaded to join the * All-India Muslim League. He corresponded with and became a confidant of M.A. *Jinnah and, along with the Raja of *Mahmudabad; he contributed to the party funds. From 1941 to 1947, he was a member of the AIML Working Committee. He helped set up Orient Airways and * Dawn newspaper. He was thereafter elected to the Pakistan *Constituent Assembly. M.A.H. Ispahani was sent as Ambassador to the United States immediately after Independence in 1947 and, during his tenure until 1952, he largely bore the expenses for running the embassy himself. He was Ambassador at the initial and crucial stage of PakistanAmerican relations when the Cold War had just begun. Thereafter, M.A.H. Ispahani was High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1952-54). He became Minister of Commerce and Industry in 1954.