Our Savior's Birthday

Celebration of a Savior

Today, December 13th, in a one-roomed wooden house in the Tajik mountains, a small neighbourhood will crowd around a metal pechka (stove), caring little for the numbness in their crossed legs, or the cold at their backs. The lights will be off, the sun having set behind the mountains that close in on all sides, and the only sound will be the exicited anticipation of young children. Suddenly, to the sound of loud cheers and applause, a single light will flash on a, picking out the picture of a smartly dressed, benevolently-smiling man:

The Aga Khan. God's representative to mankind and hujja (proof) of His mercy. Sent to this world to guide his followers on the right tariqaha and to forgive them for their sins.

The giddy children will sing a song extolling the virtues of this, their savior.

Just 12 days later similar scenes will repeat themselves in a smaller gathering in a large home in Houston, Texas. Children, parents and grandparents will be scattered comfortably around the living room. Colored lights will hang from an evergreen conifer, as the family lights the final of four large candles below a model of animals and shepherds surrounding father and mother with a new born baby:

Jesus Christ. God's representative to mankind and hujja (proof) of His mercy. Sent to this world to guide his followers on the right tariqaha and to forgive them for their sins.

The excited children will sing a song, learned years ago, celebrating the birth of this, their savior.

Cultural or Committed?

In fact, both festivals - the celebration of the births of the Aga Khan and Jesus Christ - will be observed, in fashions as varied as the cultures they occur in, across the world.

The level of devotion, too, will differ. Since the end of 1992, the Ismailis of Tajikistan have revered the Aga Khan as their very literal, physical savior. When civil war broke out following the collapse of the Soviet Union, government forces blockaded the Pamirs, all but starving the population to death. Although a number of aid agencies broke the blockade with supply convoys, it is the Aga Khan who is remembered as the spearhead of the operation. The belief is, even, that the Aga Khan's relationship with Gorbachev is the only reason the Pamiris were saved from being carpet bombed by the regime.

For obvious reasons, self-made Ismailis, affluent, second generation immigrants to the West, have less physical attachment. The spiritual nature of the salvation offered by the Aga Khan is still believed, but somehow it's more ethereal. For many, Ismailism is simply a cultural norm.

Such dichotomoy is present in the Christian world, too. For many, Christmas is simply a cultural festival, an excuse to take time off work, eat well and enter into the 'spirit of the season'. These are those who society may label 'Christian' but for whom church is simply a place to visit at weddings and funerals and Jesus was a good man, but dead now and largely irrelevant.

For some, however, Christmas is Christ-oriented. Gift-giving is understood as a symbol of the gift from God that Jesus was to us, the Image of God taking on the form of a man. They remember that God did not abandon us, but instead sent Jesus to rescue us from our shame and be the light we need for our salvation. For those who have experienced the freedom Jesus promises, who have each had mehmani with Jesus himself, Christmas is more than a holiday.

“For where your treasure is, your heart is also”

— Jesus Christ

“If one’s faith is to be part of one’s life then it has to come under questioning.”

— Aga Khan IV

Consider

Years swing swiftly by and festivals can come and pass unnoticed. Christian or Ismaili, often we find ourselves simply going through the motions, making dhikr without really concentrating on its meaning. We may pray or meditate on the light, distracted by life's concerns and never really believing we have a chance of achieving tajalli, englightenment, salvation.

As we celebrate Salgirah or Christmas, we have a chance to reflect on our beliefs. We consider whether what we are investing in with our actions accurately reflects the beliefs of our heart. We can meditate on the state of our heart and the resonance of our spirit and our hands. Let our dua be the same as that of the prophet Dawud who sang,

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

As we celebrate the birth of these men, may we give thought to the genuineness of our response to God, body, soul and spirit, and ask Him, as Hazrati Dawud did,

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”

— Psalm 139:23-24