Aga Khan I (Hasan Ali Shah)
(1800-1881) was the governor general of the important province of
Kerman in southern Persia and son-in-law of Fath Ali Shah. Hasan fell
out with the next ruler, Mohammed Shah (r. 1834-1848), because of
a palace intrigue. A futile recourse to arms and attempt to seize
the throne in 1840 forced him to flee to Bombay. En route, with several
hundred followers, he rendered signal service to the British in their
campaigns in Afghanistan and Sind and as a reward was granted a large
pension and permitted to settle permanently in Bombay (the home of
a major colony of Ismailis known as Khojas). He was confirmed in his
title of Aga Khan and position of world leader of the Ismailis by
the Bombay High Court in 1866. He continued to be of great service
to the British by helping to subdue the frontier tribes and by the
enormous influence he wielded over his coreligionists in India and
throughout the East. He was given the title of ``His Highness'' by
the British government and continued to exercise his priestly functions
until his death in 1881.
Aga Khan II (Ali Shah)
(d. August 1885) succeeded his father in 1881 but died four years
later. He remained faithful to his father's beliefs and practices,
strengthening the British tie by accepting a post on the Bombay Legislative
Council.
He is remembered for his hunting skill and his scholarship in Persian
letters. His wife, the mother of Aga Khan III, was a sister of the
last of the absolute Persian monarchs, Nasr-ed-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896).
Aga Khan III (Aga Sultan Sir Mohammed Shah)
(1877-1957) was born in Karachi, India (now Pakistan), on Nov. 2,
1877. Eight years later, on his father's death, he became the 48th
imam or religious leader of the Ismailis.
The pro-British tradition of the family was deepened first by his
English tutors and later by his close association with major political
personalities, including Queen Victoria. His Islamic training was
also carefully attended to, and the resultant blend of two cultures
equipped him for both the sacerdotal and social functions of his position.
Owing to his early assumption of responsibility and the strong influence
of his highly educated mother, Aga Khan III became an essentially
serious, reflective person whose primary concern was for the welfare
of his people. In 1906 he was one of the founders and first president
of the All-India Muslim League which later helped to create the independent
nation of Pakistan. He rendered outstanding service to the Allied
cause in World War I and worked energetically for the League of Nations.
He was appointed India's chief representative three times and was
Assembly president in 1937. Throughout his life he sought to advance
the cause of Indian independence as well as Pakistani nationalism.
His love of sports and horse racing (he won the Epsom Derby five times)
and the massive wealth he had inherited obscured his contributions
to Islam, for example, the vast expansion of the Muslim University
at Aligarh and the upbuilding of the material status of his coreligionists.
The famous ceremonies in which he was weighed against gold (1936),
diamonds (1946), and platinum (1954) were misinterpreted by foreigners.
Actually, the Aga Khan used an ancient Indian religious ritual to
celebrate the principal anniversaries of his imamate and donated the
money raised from them to cooperative business ventures, low-interest
funds, etc., available to all Ismailis. This was consistent with his
belief that self-help and financial independence were the foundation
of human dignity and that charity is one of an Ismaili's first duties.
By living mostly in Europe Aga Khan III felt he avoided giving preference
to any one group of Ismailis. He was married four times; his first
wife was a cousin, his second an Italian, his third and fourth were
French. He published his memoirs in 1954. In 1956 he endowed the Aga
Khan Professorship of Iranian Studies at Harvard University. He died
on July 11, 1957, in Geneva, Switzerland, and was buried in Aswan,
Egypt.
Aga Khan III set forth his political views in India in Transition
(1918), where in several respects he anticipated the British Commonwealth
concept. Perhaps the truest clue to his thinking may be found in the
reasons he gave for designating his grandson Prince Karim, rather
than one of his two sons, to succeed as Aga Khan IV. Prince Aly Khan,
the older of the two sons of Aga Khan III and the father of Prince
Karim, was noted as a habitué of international society and for a second
marriage to the American actress Rita Hayworth. Prince Aly was Pakistan'
s chief representative at the United Nations from 1958 until his death
in an automobile accident near Paris in 1960. Before Prince Aly's
death, Aga Khan chose Prince Karim as his successor, he said, because
he thought it in the best interests of his people to be led ``by a
young man brought up ... in the midst of the new (atomic) age, and
who brings a new outlook on life to his office.''
Aga Khan IV (Prince Karim al Hussaini Shah),
(1936- ), the elder son of Prince Aly Khan, was born on Dec. 13,
1936, in Geneva, Switzerland. When chosen 49th imam of the Ismailis
in 1957, he was a student at Harvard majoring in Oriental history.
After investiture in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, and travels to make
contact with his people, he resumed his studies at Harvard in 1958.
Upon graduating in 1959, he set up a ten-year scholarship for African
students at Harvard. In 1979 he established the Aga Khan Program for
Islamic Architecture at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.