Aqa Ali Shah, His Highness Aga Khan II was born in 1246/1830 at Mahallat, where he spent the first decade of his age. In the outset of 1256/1840, Aqa Ali Shah had been taken to Iraq, where he stayed a few years with his mother. Under the instruction of Iranian and Arab teachers, eminent for their piety and learning, he had been taught the oriental languages, and he achieved a reputation as an authority on Persian and Arabic literature, as a student of metaphysics and as an exponent of religious philosophy. He mostly spent his time at Baghdad and Karbala in hunting expeditions with the Iranian princes, notably in compnay with Zill al-Sultan, the eldest son of Shah Fateh Ali, who ruled for forty days in Iran.
During the late 1256/1840, Aqa Ali Shah had been permitted by the Qajarid regime to take up temporary residence in Iran. His first marriage actualized with Marium Sultana in Iraq, which had been opposed by certain local ulema, but the Aga Khan's close friend, called Safi Ali Shah (d. 1316/1898) had made the marriage possible after winning the approval of the ulema. From Karbala they had gone to Baghdad where they had a friendly meeting with Major Henry Rawlinson (1810-1895), the then British political agent in Turkish Arabia. He decided to take the Aga Khan's family under his protection.
Aqa Ali Shah and his mother Sarv-i Jahan Khanum (d. 1299/1882) and his wife Marium Sultana, joined Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I in Bombay in 1268/1852. The old book of Bombay Jamatkhana records an entry that he attended the marriage of a certain Ismaili on June 17, 1852 at Bombay and was given a cash prize. Henceforward, Aqa Ali Shah regularly visited different Ismaili communities in Sind, Kutchh and Kathiawar, and lived for some time in Karachi. He had been appointed a member of the Commission in 1874 which was constituted to submit proposals for amendments of law relating to the Ismaili community.
On succeeding to the Imamate in 1298/1881, Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II maintained the friendly relation with the British India that had been cemented by his father. He was granted the title of His Highness by the British government, which was officially informed to him by the then governor of Bombay on August 9, 1882 on behalf of the Governor General.
The Qajarid king of Iran, Nasiruddin Shah (d. 1313/1896) had sent a message of condolence and sympathy to the Aga Khan II on the occasion of his father's death. Later on, a robe of honour and the emblem of Iranian crown studded with diamonds were sent by the king to the Aga Khan in Bombay as a sign of his relationsip with the Aga Khan's family.
He was appointed to the Bombay Imperial Legislative Council from 1880 to 1885, when Sir James Fergusson (1808-1886) was the governor of Bombay. According to Naoroji M. Dumasia in 'The Aga Khan and his Ancestors' (Bombay, 1939, p. 61), 'The nomination to the Council in those days was a rare distinction bestowed only on men of outstanding ability and high social position.' He discharged his responsibilities and onerous duties in a manner which drew admiration of all. He was also the President of Mohammadan National Association at Bombay, and an honorary patron of the Western India Turf Club.
During Lord Ripon's regime a peculiar case arose in 1882, when Sir Courtney Ilbert framed and introduced a Bill, known as Ilber Bill. It intended to invest district magistrates and sessions judges with a limited jurisdiction to try European British subjects, and to empower local government to extend the powers to other officials of certain specified classes. The Ilbert Bill was opposed by the Indians, and a public meeting was held on August 27, 1883, with the participation of the Aga Khan II and other eminent persons. In the history of the nation-building of India, this meeting on the Ilbert Bill was justly regarded as most important, and indeed an epoch making event. In its resolution, a body of distinguished citizens was made in a deputation to Sir C. Baring to present the public opinions. This deputation included the Aga Khan II, Badruddin Tyab Ali (1844-1906), Feroz Shah, Telang, Mandlik, Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai and Premchand Roychand. The storm round the Bill however continued, and at length, the Bill had been amended and was passed on January 25, 1884.
He was also well concerned about the welfare of the Ismailis in India, and assisted the needy followers in Sind, Kutchh and Kathiawar. Recalling the events of his childhood, his son and successor the Aga Khan III once said: 'My first recollection is of camping in tents and of travelling with my father. We went through Kutchh, Kathiawar and Sind, and I can never forget the memories of those days when we had to halt every two or three hours in order not to tire the horses and mules and donkeys and camels that carried our luggage. Now, looking back, it seems to me that we led the life of gipsies; we were almost a gipsy family. We carried our food about, as very often we could not get it at the places through which we passed. Even water for drinking was brought, sometimes from Bombay or Karachi, in the form of soda water.'
It seems that the British Parliament almost lost the interest in Indian education between 1854 and 1902, and as a result, the education could not secure liberal and ever-increasing grant. In 1882, however, the Indian Education Commission was appointed by the orders of the Central Government, but it procured no sound result. The population of British India was about 200 million in 1882, in which at 15% the number of school-going children was hardly 300 lacs. It is also remarkable that in 1882, only 1.17% of funds were used by the Municipalities of Bombay from its income. Thus, the Aga Khan II came forward to open The Khoja Ismaili School for the first time at Bombay and elsewhere in 1882. It was perhaps a veritable beginning of a renaissance in Indian Ismaili community, whose tradition is continued upto now in the world.
The Aga Khan II also generated his close contact with the Ismaili communities in Upper Oxus districts, Badakhshan, Samarkand, Burma and East Africa. The growing prosperity of the Ismailis and his own towering position, earned his prestige among the Muslim population of India. He promoted educational and philanthropic institutions for the Indian Muslims with the cooperation of a certain Rahimtullah Muhammad Sayani, a most enlightened member of the community. He spared no pains in raising the social status of his followers. Destitute members of the community received generous help from time to time at his hands.
It must be remembered on this juncture that Abdul Hadi bin Abdul Attash (1320-1383), whose kunya was Jamiyal Shah with the titles, Aqa and Datar, known as Aqa Jamiyal Shah Datar, was an eminent Sufi saint in India. He mostly preached the Hindus in Girnar at Junagadh. He is said to have retired in the mountain of Girnar, known as the 'Mount Datar' (datar'no pahad). He converted a large number of the Hindus of the Aghori tribe. His shrine is located in Junagadh, which is visited by the Muslims and Hindus. It is said that a group of the Ismailis also venerated the saint and visited his shrine. During his visit to Junagadh in 1882 after assuming the Imamate, the Aga Khan II had warned his followers not to visit the shrine of Jamiyal Shah, saying that there was no Aqa (Lord) and Datar (Bestower) on earth except the Imam of the Age. Since then, the Aga Khan II is also called as Aqa Ali Shah Datar (Lord Ali Shah, the Bestower) in the Ismaili orbits.
The Aga Khan II used to visit interior Sind, notably in district Thatta. He liked the climate of Karachi, where he lived in Honeymoon Lodge, lying on the hill near the railway workshop, called Honeymoon Hall. It was bought by the British India in 1859 on the account of the Kolahpur State as a residence for Cheema Saheb, the former Raja of Kolahpur. The government sold it to Mr. Noonan in 1860, and he afterwards sold it to the Aga Khan I, who used it as his residence, known as tekari (hill). After his marriage with Lady Ali Shah in 1867, the Aga Khan II moved to Karachi most probably in 1871-72, where his son and successor was born in 1877. The Aga Khan also built a palace for his another residence at Karachi in garden zone, known as pir'ji wadi (the fertile tract of the pir), which was converted to Aga Khan Gymkhana in 1940 by the Aga Khan III. The palace faced the park, then known as Government Garden, and later it came to be known as Mahatama Gandhi Garden. He sought permission from Heavy Napier Bruce Erskine, the Commissioner in Sind (1879 to 1887) to build a gate of the park in 1882. The Aga Khan II bore its cost, where an existing plate indicates the donation of the space for the gate by him.
Like his father, the Aga Khan II was closely associated with the Nimatullahi Sufi order. Before going to India, he had generated close ties with Rahmat Ali Shah, the head of the Nimatullahis, who had been the guest of the Aga Khan I in Mahallat in 1249/1833. Subsequently, the Aga Khan II maintained his relation with Rehmat Ali Shah (d. 1278/1861). He also maintained relations with Munawwar Ali Shah (d. 1301/1884), the uncle and the successor of Rehmat Ali Shah. The Aga Khan II also entertained several notable Iranian Nimatullahis in Bombay, including Rehmat Ali's son, Muhammad Masum Shirazi, Naib al-Sadr (d. 1344/1926), the author of the 'Tara'iq al-Haqa'iq', who visited Bombay in 1298/1881 and stayed with the Aga Khan for one year. Safi Ali Shah (d. 1316/1898), an eminent Nimatullahi also enjoyed the Aga Khan's hospitality in 1280/1863.
The Aga Khan II had wedded with Marium Sultana in Iraq, who died at Bombay after leaving behind two sons, Pir Shihabuddin Shah (1268-1302/1851-1885) and Aga Nur Shah (1272-1302/1855-1885). These two sons had been brought up in Hasanabad at Bombay. Aga Nur Shah, aged 30 years, was a good sportsman. He once fell down from his horse while riding, and sustained serious injuries, which proved fatal, and his death took place three months before the death of his elder brother. The Aga Khan II had appointed his elder son, Pir Shihabuddin Shah as a pir on 1299/1882. He was a learned scholar, a good philosopher, and is best known for his piety. He died at the age of 33 years on December 15, 1885 due to chest disease at Poona, and was buried at Karbala. 'On the day he heard of the death of my elder half-brother, Aga Shihabuddin Shah,' says the Aga Khan III while recollecting his memory of childhood, 'my father was terribly shaken and , though he tried to hold his own, as a man in his position would do, so great was his grief that I think it led to his early death a few weeks later. I honestly believe that it was the death of my two half-brothers that brought about my father's end when he was apparently in good health.' For his further biography, the readers may refer 'Pir Shahabu'd-Din Shah al-Husayni' (cf. 'The Great Ismaili Heroes', Karachi, 1973, pp. 100-1) by Mumtaz Ali Tajddin Sadik Ali.
The second wife of the Aga Khan II belonged to a Shirazi family, and after her death, the third marriage was solemnised with Shamsul Mulk Lady Ali Shah, the mother of the Aga Khan III.
The Aga Khan II was a skillful rider and great sportsman. He was very fond of hunting, but never made use of shelters in the hunting field for big game. Standing exposed to danger he took a sure and steady aim at wild animals. In this way he had bagged no less than forty tigers.
He died on August 17, 1885 of pneumonia contracted in a day's hunting near Poona. Writing the causes of the death of the Aga Khan II, his son and successor states in 'The Memoirs of the Aga Khan' (London, 1954, p. 11) that, 'My father's death was occasioned not by any mishap when he was out after tiger, but by a long day's water-fowling near Poona in August 1885. There were several hours' heavy rain, the going underfoot was heavy and wet, and my father was soaked to the skin. He caught a severe chill which turned swiftly and fatally to pneumonia. He was dead eight days later.'
The body of the Aga Khan II was brought to Bombay by train and shipped for interment in Najaf. Mukhi Kassim Musa (d. 1314/1896), the then estate agent, was entrusted its responsibilities from Bombay to Najaf. He left behind a very important description of 25 days' journey, and his manuscript was copied by Itmadi Hussain Ali Kassim Ali Javeri of Surat. The narrator describes that the ship Mobalo of the Persian Navigation Co. carrying the coffin of the Aga Khan, sailed from Bombay on October 28, 1885 with 50 persons belonging to Aga Khan's family headed by Mukhi Kassim Musa and Nur Muhammad Ratansi. The ship anchored at Karachi, Gwadar, Port Abbas, Linga, Bushire and Basra. The caravan proceeded from Basra to Kazamain by a steamboat. The Turkish authority issued a special order that the bier must be accorded royal salute and honour at the port of Kazamain, and accordingly, about 500 soldiers paid tribute with musket shootings. Tajmah, the Aga Khan's sister had also come at the port with her people. The Iranian ambassador of Baghdad also attended with his staff. The processional crowd of over 15 thousand people trudged with the bier, and pursued the road leading to Karbala. A huge multitude of people flocked from the opposite side and joined the procession at a distance of five miles from Karbala. The narrator writes that the bier began to sail as if a vessel on the heads of the people. Prince Amyn, the nephew of the Aga Khan also joined with his sons in Karbala. The narrator describes that he had seen a school in Karbala, conducted with the funds of the Aga Khan for the education of the poor Sayed children, who got free scholarship and provision. The students and other people of Iraq also joined the procession. They alighted at Karbala for seven days, and the bier was placed in the shrine of Hazrat Abbas, then of Imam Hussain and finally it was carried to the courtyard of the tomb of Aga Khan's son, Aga Nur Shah, where the funeral service was offered. Thence, the caravan proceeded for Najaf, accompanied by a thousand people and 300 Turkish soldiers. Tajmah, the father-in-law of Pir Shihabuddin Shah, the people of Sayed Jawad Mutawali and Aga Mustapha Khan also joined the caravan. When they alighted at the vicinity of Najaf, a huge crowd dashed all of a sudden to receive the bier alongwith the guardians and Mujtahid of Najaf. The funeral rites were offered at the outskirts of Najaf. The narrator mentions that the whole business and transaction in Najaf were totally closed, where the multitude was more than that of Karbala. The bier was placed in the vault of Pir Shihabuddin Shah's shrine, and afterwards was buried with great honour. Writing about the shirne of the Aga Khan, the narrator adds that it had been built in advance. It was walled by the Chinese moulds with golden grating and a dome. The local cupolas and chandelier were hung in the middle, and the floor was fully matted with the Iranian carpets. It resembled the shrine of Imam Hussain and surmounted by an elegant workmanship. The narrator also describes the shrine of Hazrat Ali and its workmanship. He also describes a list of the graves of Aga Khan's relatives, such as Bibi Sarcar Mata Salamat, Shah Abul Hasan Shah, Imam Shah Khalilullah Ali, Aga Shuja, the brother of the Aga Khan, Pir Shihabuddin Shah and his mother and Sardar Aga Abul Hasan Shah etc. Mukhi Kassim Musa concludes his travel-account in these words: 'We tarried for 25 days in Najaf and made secret charity of the bags of gold and silver coins in the name of Aga Ali Shah. About 30,000 townsfolk were repasted on the last day. Rs.70,000 incurred from Bombay to Najaf, and we returned after a voyage of 25 days.'
Shamsul Mulk, the daughter of Mirza Ali Muhammad Nizam ad-Dawla, the grandson of Muhammad Hussain Khan Ispahani, the Prime Minister of Shah Fateh Ali Qajar (d. 1250/1834) of Iran; was born in Ispahan. Khurshid Kulah, the mother of Shamsul Mulk was the daughter of Shah Fateh Ali through one of his queens, Taj ad-Dawla Ispahani by name. Lady Ali Shah was thus related to the Iranian royal family through her mother. Queen Taj ad-Dawla was educated under the care of Motamid ad-Dawla Abdul Wahab Khan Nishat Ispahani, an eminent scholar of her time and her daughter and grand-daughter were equally recipients of a select and high education.The Aga Khan II had married Shamsul Mulk in 1867, who became known as Lady Ali Shah. Soon afterwards, they came to Karachi, where their son, Aga Khan III was born in 1877. She used to give names to the newly born babies in the Jamatkhana mostly in Karachi. It is worthwhile to illustrate that on December 25, 1876 a child was born in Karachi in Poonja family. The parent took him to Lady Ali Shah, who held court in the Kharadhar Jamatkhana. In keeping with Ismaili norms, Lady Ali Shah blessed the newly born child with the name of Mahomed Ali by alphabetizing the two words in English in the anglicised form. He was Mahomed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, who, throughout his lifetime, adopted the same spelling of his name that was on the record of the Jamatkhana. Lady Ali Shah had been in Bombay in 1881 with her son on the death of the Aga Khan I, and then made her residency at Poona.
Lady Ali Shah took the reins of the Ismaili community affairs during the time his son ascended as 48th Imam, and she administered the affairs efficiently through a Council, consisting of the prominent members of Kutchh, Kathiawar, Gujrat and Sind, until the Aga Khan III attained puberty in 1893.
Lady Ali Shah was indeed a benevolent woman, and famous for her charity and generosity, and her fame reached the fringes of the Muslim lands. In 1880, she had established a school in Karbala for the education and welfare of poor orphans of Sayed families. She also donated a land of 3000 square meters and constructed a building for the Iranian residents at Kazamain. In 1905, she had gone on pilgrimage to Mecca, and on that occasion, she was lavishly charitable that the people forgot all that they had heard of the charities of persons of high rank.
Lady Ali Shah gave a historical evidence in the Bombay High Court during the proceeding of Haji Bibi Case of 1908 before Justice Louis Pitman Russell, who was greatly struck by her evidence. As he observed in his judgement, she displayed an extraordinary memory.
While the Aga Khan III was away from India during the World War (1914-1919), Lady Ali Shah was tremendously active in his stead. Reference has already been made to her command and ability for organization; she now developed this to the fullest extent by adding to her work of keeping in touch with the Ismaili community. She also placed her services at the disposal of Lord and Lady Willingdon and under her direction, the Ismaili and Iranian ladies rendered great services to the wounded soldiers brought to Bombay from Iraq during the first World War. Under her inspired leadership, the community was able to collect large funds and procured necessary supplies. She kept in constant correspondence with the ruler of Hunza and the influential Iranians, advising them to help the Britain during War. Her nephews and relatives fought on the side of the Allies in Iraq, and one of them notably was Aga Hamid Khan, who was ranked C.I.E.
In 1917, His Majesty, the King was graciously pleased to grant Lady Willingdon the Order of the Crown of India. On that occasion, the historic house of the Aga Khan at Nesbit Road, Bombay was the scene of a very influential and picturesque gathering of the Muslim ladies, when an address of congratulation was presented to Lady Willingdon under the leadership of Lady Ali Shah. It was a unique gathering when she read the address to Lady Willingdon in Persian. She also had a nice meeting with Lady Wilson on February 9, 1924.
On the recommendation of Lord Willingdon, the honour of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India was conferred upon Lady Ali Shah in 1932. She visited Beirut in the same year for treatment, where she was well received by the Syrians. She had also gone to Palestine, Damascus and other holy cities, and returned to Bombay on October 3, 1930. On November 30, 1930, she inaugurated the conference being presided by Lady Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah at Poona, being attended by the Muslim ladies of Bombay and Sind.
Being an ardent Iranian scholar and well grounded in oriental history, Lady Ali Shah was a woman of great piety. She was universally respected through the Muslim world. In 1934, she visited Syria with her grandson, Prince Aly S. Khan. When she had visited Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi was the vizir and commander-in-chief. By his order, she was accorded warm welcome befitting a grand-daughter of Shah Fateh Ali. He presented her two Iranian carpets, which she gifted to His Highness of Dharampur.
Lady Ali Shah encouraged the Ismaili girls to take education and it was through her influence that the social reforms were introduced in the community. So profound was her wisdom and so great the confidence in the soundness of her opinion that several Indian princes sought her advices. The Begum of Bhopal was an intimate friend of Lady Ali Shah. She also came in close contact with Lord Reay and other governors and their wives, and also with the Earl of Dufferin and the Countess of Dufferin, who entertained a very high opinion of her. In 1934, she intended to visit Iran after meeting with Lord and Lady Willingdon at Karachi, but her sudden illness prevented her to make tour, and under medical advice, she made a second visit to Europe. Despite her impairing health, she continued to serve the community. She had an honour to inaugurate the All India Golden Jubilee Committee on October 16, 1935 at Bombay.
Lady Aly Shah was taken seriously ill in November, 1937. The Aga Khan III hurried to India by air and landed at Jodhpur, and after greeting His Highness Maharaja Umedsinhji, he left for Bombay by train. As doctor had anticipated, his presence acted as a tonic on Lady Ali Shah and she recovered from the serious illness. She left for Iraq in January, 1938. She proceeded to Baghdad via Karachi and Basra by S.S. Vasna which sailed from Bombay on January 27, 1938. She, realizing that her end was near, told to Kamadia Khan Bahadur: 'Send my love to all the members of the Ismaili community. I may not return to India, but wherever my spirit be I will eternally watch their peaceful progress and prosperity, as I have done all my life.' The Aga Khan III had made every arrangement for his mother's comfort at Baghdad, and for that reason, he took with him Kamadia Khan Bahadur's son, Hussain Ali, by air to Basra, where, under Aga Khan's instructions, he made all possible arrangements for a quiet landing. A saloon car was ready to convey Lady Ali Shah from Basra to Baghdad, where a bungalow, belonging to her nephew, Aga Hamid Khan, was placed at her disposal. She arrived at Baghdad on February 4, 1938 at 1 pm. True indeed it is, that the Aga Khan III's association with the West increased, causing his longer stay away from India. His mother had felt the pangs of this separation, and once she said to her son: 'Death is inevitable, but if it comes to me in your absence, it will be unendurable.' The Aga Khan's reply brought her great solace, who said: 'Do not worry. You will breathe your last with your head in my lap.' Consequently, the Aga Khan III and his wife reached Baghdad by air from Cairo on February 5, 1938 at 3 pm., and Lady Ali Shah passed away at 5.15 pm on the same day, breathing her last in the lap of her son. She was buried on the evening of February 6, 1938 at Najaf next to the tomb of her husband as per her will in presence of thousands of people. Her death occasioned deep grief not only among the Muslims, but in all other communities in India among whom she was very popular. Reference to her death was made at the meeting of Bombay Municipal Corporation on Monday, the February 7, 1938 and as a mark of respect to her memory, the House adjourned without transacting any business.
In the course of an intimate sketch of her life, the 'Daily Mail' of London published the following description of her, only a few days before her death.
'For all her burden of years, she is still one of the most vital personalities in India; clear thinking, forth-right, imperious - a strict warden of the past, who sees little that is worthy or desirable in the fruits of the present.'
'I do not mingle with the world of today, but I am not ignorant of it,' she has often said.
'Her physical vitality has been as remarkable as her strength of mind. In her home she wears always the silken trousers and soft draperies such as the women of Persia wore centuries ago. And although that home is a palace famed for its splendour, her way of life has been as simple as that of the humblest of the Prophet's followers. Her fare is frugal, her drink water. She fasts.'
The Aga Khan III was deeply affected by the death of his dear mother. 'In this difficult and saddest moment of my life', wrote the Aga Khan to a friend, 'the consolation I have is that the sadness and sorrow is tempered by the fact that she lived to be, at least 90 years of age. She had a large and happy family and very happy grand-children whom she always wanted. She died where she wanted to die. She had the satisfaction of seeing her grand- children happy and prosperous in day when prosperity is getting rare. But all this does not reconcile me to losing her. She had been to me more than father and mother combined, since I lost my father at the age of 8. No loss, not even that of my son who died in infancy which was a terrible blow to me as a father, has been quite so terrible as this.' Such was the deep affection between the Aga Khan and his mother. To mark his devotion, he had heretofore dedicated his book 'India in Transition' to his beloved mother in 1918.