This is the story of an East African Ismaili Muslim, Hussein Karmali Rattansi (1914 – 1989). It is a story of ideas and experiences of Hussein Karmali as they make up his essential personality traits. The inherited genetic map combined with memories and experiences conditioned Hussein’s perceptions of the world he lived in. How he responded to changing times characterized his Ismaili and religious identity. As a human agent, Hussein was an active spectator of changing times. This story may be extended to all humans in understanding their nature. Such a story helps understanding oneself and others – an important ingredient in promoting pluralism and diversity.

Hussein’s Indian ancestors were witnesses to a transition from Muslim rule and ideologies to British colonialism and later to the early fermentation of Indian and African independence movements. The religiosity of Mughal rulers in India weakened their hold against the strategic encroachment of British scientific, naval, and commercial advancements. Colonialism can thus be characterized as the beginning of modernism. In this sense, modernism may be characterized by some as synonymous with western culture. Many argue that science and knowledge, two main ingredients of modernism and the industrial revolution does not belong to east or West. More significantly, modernism, like science, is continuously evolving regardless of its origin.

The Ismaili attempt at adapting to the modernist trends was carried out within the Shia Imami traditional infrastructure, in which lay the location of God’s authority. The secular social and economic reforms of the Ismaili community were directly related to, and justified by, this centrifugal and absolute religious authority whose edicts, or firmans, acted as a vehicle for social and economic changes.

Migrating from British India to British East Africa and Zanzibar not only significantly contributed to the formation of personality traits associated with adjustment to the new environment, but it also changed the religious and socio-economic trajectory of the Ismaili community. This, in turn, undoubtedly led to the building of the community’s social and educational institutions within a strengthened religious identity.

Hussein Rattansi’s high self-esteem lent him the courage to leave home at the age of twelve and venture penniless but with religious fervor to mainland Tanganyika. His attempts to survive by picking up odd jobs added a wealth of experiences that shaped his personality.

His physical and mental development prepared him to start his duka, or a small retail shop, and raise his family with Fatma Sumar. He witnessed British colonialism, African nationalism, and the eventual third migration to Canada. His Canadian experiences have a common stream of thought patterns shared by his migrating Ismaili community, which attempted to revive their religious traditions. These traditions not only gave the community pillars to lean on while adjusting to the unfamiliar environment but also augmented their resolve to tolerate the pangs of racism amidst the overwhelming brilliance of an advanced civil society.

How he coped with life-altering circumstances was concomitantly related to his feelings and propensities acquired from the impact of history and ideas in defining himself.

His demise in Toronto was the beginning of his family’s journey in a new country where life and death have gotten many meanings and begged the age-old question – Who am I?