Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

FACE TO FACE WITH THE AGA KHAN

L'EXPANSION NO.33

MARCH 1975

INTERVIEWED BY ROGER PRIOURET

(TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY DR.ABDUL SULTAN HASSAM)

I expected the Aga Khan to be a Parisian at heart, like his grandfather and father before him, with "high society" manners, living in luxury and idle for most of the time.

The Industrialized world really has developed in the Judeo-Christian context of society and the Islamic world has been significantly absent from general education. I am not pointing at Canada. I am saying generally in the Western world.

If ever East meets West, it could be said to do so at Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan's 17th-century home, the Château de Bellerive on the shores of Lake Geneva. Flanked by two square towers, the
stone façade of the château with its tiled roof, wooden shutters and arched doors of studded oak is austere but arrestingly beautiful.

While the outside may be simple, the rooms inside are crammed with exotic bibelots, orchids, oriental

THE CRITICAL TIME

AL MOSTAKBAL, CAIRO

DECEMBER 20, 1986

INTERVIEWED BY RIAD NAGUIB EL-RAIS

The Aga Khan

Who is this man called the Aga Khan? One question among dozens of others which invaded my mind while on my way to meeting that "man-riddle" who has pre-occupied the Western world for many years as no other Muslim leader did before him, and stimulated in it as much curiosity as romantic, imperialistic feelings since the days of the British Raj in India and the legends of the Maharajas and Sultans in the days of a thousand and one nights.

H.H The Aga Khan Interview on CNN: Building boom in the Middle East

Doha is a city that welcomes a slower pace – despite its breakneck pace of development – and it is where I sat down with the Aga Khan, the Imam of the largest branch of the Ismaili followers, for an exclusive interview. The window of time was limited – 10 minutes to be precise – but precious in its outcome.

Pour la troisième année consécutive, la princesse Salimah Aga Khan a fait le voyage à Tahiti, pour rendre visite au village d'enfants dont elle est la marraine. Une action humanitaire qui a vu le jour au moment où sa vie prenait une nouvelle direction.

"Lorsque l'ombre de la nuit, Déchire mon coeur d'enfant, Dans le noir, la solitude qui m'attend, Et pourtant tu est là près de moi, Très chère maman, belle princesse, Ton amour est une caresse, J'ai besoin de toi, oui de toi".

November 13, 1978.

Q. As spiritual leader of the world's 20 million Ismailis, the Aga Khan is a direct descendant of Mohammed. As a political and a social leader He is a man of enormous wealth and responsibility. The Aga Khan is a friend of the Shah of Iran. Many of His followers live there. I asked Him in Ottawa yesterday what someone in his situation might do when a country such as Iran is thrown into the turmoil and crisis.

Michael Charlton: Your Highness, how did the Ismaili sect acquire its importance in the first place?

The quiet revolutionary
By Akbar S. Ahmed
The (Manchester) Guardian Weekly, August 18, 1991
Picture caption: The Aga Khan: paradox

His Highness Prince Karim, the Aga Khan, is many things.

“Virtually a one-man state,” as Vanity Fair once put it, he’s the spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims and a unique embodiment of the potential for East blending with West. He inherited from his Indian-born grandfather a dynasty that spans the Muslim world, but he is a British citizen, born in Switzerland, raised in Kenya, educated at Harvard, and lives in a French chateau.

Hazar Imam speaking with Peter Mansbridge in an interview 2014-02-28

THE AGA KHAN'S VISION - To him, architecture is not the mother of the arts; it is the mother of civilization

(Interview on 29 January 2019)

In 1957, the Aga Khan succeeded his grandfather as the leader of the Ismailis. He is the 49th Imam of a community estimated at between 12 and 15 million believers living in 25 countries. Prince Karim Al-Husseini (his birth name) created the Aga Khan Development network (AKDN), committed to development in the world, regardless of whether there is a community in the country in question. Grand Croix of the Legion of Honour, this discreet man, aged 82 years old, welcomed us for one of his rare French interviews in his property in Gouvieux, Oise.

A rare portrait of an intent young ruler who rejects the temptations of an idle life in order to carry on his dynasty's sporting tradition. He runs a huge racing stable, is building a vast Mediterranean resort and skis with Olympic skill

• 29 October 1960
• Interview to Radio Pakistan
• Source : Speeches book II – pg 47 – 50

(In September / October 1960 His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan toured whole of Pakistan for about 40 days. At the conclusion of this tour, he gave an interview to the Radio Pakistan’s representative and explained how it is possible to live a modern life and at the same time a religious life.

His message to the world’s largest Muslim State, Pakistan was “Islam and Work”)

{On October 9 1960 His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan opened a colloquium on the “Present day Students’ Problems” sponsored by the Punjab University Students’ Union at Lahore in Pakistan. On that occasion he announced award of 5 post-graduate scholarships for one year study in Europe or the Middle East. Opening the colloquium His Royal Highness said:

In September/October 1960, His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan toured all over Pakistan. Many foreign and local correspondents and photographers accompanied him on this colourful tour made in a Special Train called the ‘Aga Khan Express’ in West Pakistan. In the northern-most picturesque part known as Hunza Valley, His Royal Highness went in jeep and on horse-back. In East Pakistan the tour was done mostly by air and river transport.

Press Interview in Iran
November 1st , 1959
Source: Speeches II (pg 5 – 7)