GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) - Islamic hardliners should take a more tolerant attitude to the different branches of their faith, the billionaire spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims said on Wednesday.

"What I'm hoping is that one day, in the ummah (muslim community), there will be a recognition that pluralism is legitimate. Ethnic pluralism, linguistic pluralism, pluralism of interpretation of faith," the Aga Khan told journalists in Geneva, Switzerland.

"We need in the ummah to move away from what I would call normative attitudes, towards the acceptance of pluralism of the ummah. That pluralism starts from the time of the prophet himself."
The Aga Khan's Ismaili sect split off from mainstream Shia Islam in the 11th century. Its followers are today scattered across east Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and central Asia.

The current Aga Khan became the 49th hereditary imam, or leader, of the Ismailis in 1957, succeeding his grandfather.
The Aga Khan has also led an apolitical, secular development foundation, fuelled by his enormous wealth, since 1967.

The Aga Khan Development Network has branches working in rural development, education, health care, micro credit, financial services, and humanitarian assistance.

On Wednesday it said it also plans to boost its environmental programmes following the creation of a US$10 million fund set up in the memory of the Aga Khan's late uncle Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who died three years ago.

Although many of the network's programmes focus on countries with Ismaili communities, the Aga Khan cautioned that its goal is not just to help his followers or only muslims.
The network says that it aims to help poor communities in general to achieve self-reliance and ultimately assist those in even more need than themselves.

Asked if his charity work was a bulwark against Islamic hardliners' own aid activities, the Aga Khan said: "Poverty and despair are certainly key factors in community reactions to new offers of support."
"And if new offers of support come from the sort of sources you've been talking about, communities will ultimately take that up, whether it's in Africa, Asia or elsewhere."

Mothers can't father

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'