“Jaw-dropping” — that’s how Sameen Motani describes her walk-through of the Ismaili Centre, Toronto last week.

As a Lead Tour Guide for the Centre, Motani is among the first to see the nearly completed facility. She and 80 others — mostly youth and young professionals — will show visitors around the magnificent building when it opens.

“It’s just a moment where it all comes into perspective,” she observes. “We’ve waited so long for this!”

The Ismaili Centre, Toronto is the sixth such building in the world, and joins a global network of centres in Vancouver, London, Lisbon, Dubai, and Dushanbe. In addition to being representational buildings of world-class stature, the Ismaili Centres foster dialogue within and beyond the Jamat — about faith, culture and the issues of our time.

Convergence of the spiritual and the intellectual

“There are a number of goals that the centres are meant to achieve,” explains Nazir Mulji, the Coordinator for Ismaili Centres. As a place for the community, “the primary goal is the development of the Jamat — spiritually, culturally, and educationally.”

Indeed, situated on the most prominent part of the site, the prayer hall is the crown jewel of the building. “It was like stepping into a diamond,” recalls Yasmin Meralli of her first time walking into it. Since the spring of 2013, Meralli and Shiraz Mawani have been in charge of the tour guide training programme.

Other spaces in the building allude to further aspirations: the vast social hall with acoustic panelling for musical performances, a wifi-equipped lounge, and an exhibition space. The Ismaili Centre is designed to be a forum for knowledge exchange on everything — from economics, to health, to other matters of human concern.

“We have in our tradition, the convergence of the spiritual and the intellectual,” notes Mulji.

As ambassadors for both the building and the community, tour guides play an essential role in fulfilling the vision of the Ismaili Centres. Their training curriculum spans a variety of subjects, from history, to architecture and communications. It reflects the importance of the Ismaili Centre as an expression of the Ismaili Muslim community today — its ethical outlook, and the legacy of past and ongoing contributions to the societies in which it lives.

Sparking conversation

With the help of the guides, visitors should be able to discover the building the way the architect, Charles Correa, intended it. “We use the phrase that you ‘follow the light’,” explains Mulji, “meaning that there are various skylights, from the smallest to the largest. And if we follow that light, we will end up seeing this building unveiled to us in the proper regard.”

“You’re helping the building come alive for each visitor,” explains Sarah Pirani, another tour guide in the training programme. “You are trained, [but] also have to use your own curiosity, interest, and passion to help convey the message of the architects, as well as the purpose of the building, to each visitor.”

But the ambassadorial role that each of them takes on is not limited to the tour guides alone, stresses Meralli: “Each one of us has a role. It’s our space. It’s up to the broader Jamat to spark conversations that will spark other conversations.”

As the finishing touches are put on the building, the tour guides polish their speaking notes and practice their route. Motani is eager for the doors to finally open: “I cannot wait until other people see this building, and see what it’s all about,” she says. “When you walk in, only then can you determine what it means.”

For those that do walk in once the Ismaili Centre opens, the Lead Tour Guides will be ready to provide a warm welcome.