Aga Khan III

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ismaili religion
In office
August 1885 – 11 July 1957
Preceded byAga Khan II
Succeeded byAga Khan IV
Permanent President of the All-India Muslim League
In office
1906–1957
Member of the Assembly of The League of Nations
In office
1934–1937
President of the Assembly of The League of Nations
In office
1937–1938
Preceded byTevfik Rüştü Aras
Succeeded byÉamon de Valera
Personal
Born(1877-11-02)2 November 1877[1]
Karachi, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died11 July 1957(1957-07-11) (aged 79)[1]
Versoix, near Geneva, Switzerland
Resting placeMausoleum of Aga Khan, Aswan, Egypt
ReligionShia Islam
Spouse
  • Shahzadi Begum
  • Cleope Teresa Magliano
  • Andrée Joséphine Carron
  • Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (birth name: Yvonne Blanche Labrousse)
Children
Parents
Denomination
Nizari
Imām

Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah (

Two Nation Theory'. Even after he resigned as president of the AIML in 1912, he still exerted a major influence on its policies and agendas. He was nominated to represent India at the League of Nations in 1932 and served as President of the League of Nations from 1937 to 1938.[4]

Early life

He was born in

Persia. After Eton College, he went on to study at the University of Cambridge.[6]

Career

In 1885, at the age of seven, he succeeded his father as

Isma'ili Muslims.[1][4]

The Aga Khan travelled to distant parts of the world to receive the homage of his followers, with the objective either of settling differences or of advancing their welfare through financial help and personal advice and guidance. The distinction of

Shah of Persia, and other potentates.[10]

In 1906, Aga Khan was a founding member and first president of the

All India Muslim League, a political party that pushed for the creation of an independent Muslim nation in the north-west regions of India, then under British colonial rule
, and later established the country of Pakistan in 1947.

During the three Round Table Conferences (India) in London from 1930 to 1932, he played an important role in bringing about Indian constitutional reforms.[1]

In 1934, he was made a member of the

Privy Council and served as a member of the League of Nations (1934–37), becoming the President of the League of Nations in 1937.[4]

Imamat

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Under the leadership of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, the first half of the 20th century was a period of significant development for the Ismā'īlī community. Numerous institutions for social and economic development were established in the Indian Subcontinent and in East Africa.

Ismāʿīlī Imām and its followers. Although the Jubilees have no religious significance, they serve to reaffirm the Imamat's worldwide commitment to the improvement of the quality of human life, especially in developing countries.[11]

The jubilees of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, are well remembered. During his 72 years of Imamat (1885–1957), the community celebrated his Golden (1937), Diamond (1946), and Platinum (1954) Jubilees. To show their appreciation and affection, the Ismā'īliyya weighed their Imam in gold, diamonds, and, symbolically, platinum, respectively, the proceeds of which were used to further develop major social welfare and development institutions in Asia and Africa.

In India and later in Pakistan, social development institutions were established, in the words of Aga Khan III, "for the relief of humanity". They included institutions such as the Diamond Jubilee Trust and Platinum Jubilee Investments Limited, which in turn assisted the growth of various types of cooperative societies. Diamond Jubilee High School for Girls was established throughout the remote northern areas of what is now Pakistan. In addition, scholarship programmes, established at the time of the Golden Jubilee to give assistance to needy students, were progressively expanded. In East Africa, major social welfare and economic development institutions were established. Those involved in social welfare included the accelerated development of schools and community centres and a modern, fully equipped hospital in Nairobi. Among the economic development institutions established in East Africa were companies such as the Diamond Jubilee Investment Trust (now Diamond Trust of Kenya) and the Jubilee Insurance Company, which are quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and have become major players in national development.

Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah also introduced organisational reforms that gave Ismāʿīlī communities the means to structure and regulate their own affairs.[11] These were built on the Muslim tradition of a communitarian ethic on the one hand and a responsible individual conscience with the freedom to negotiate one's own moral commitment and destiny on the other. In 1905, he ordained the first Ismā'īlī Constitution for the social governance of the community in East Africa. The new administration for the community's affairs was organised into a hierarchy of councils at the local, national, and regional levels. The constitution also set out rules in such matters as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, guidelines for mutual cooperation and support among Ismā'īlīs, and their interface with other communities. Similar constitutions were promulgated in India, and all were periodically revised to address emerging needs and circumstances in diverse settings.[11]

In 1905, the Aga Khan was involved in the Haji Bibi case, where he was questioned about the origin of his followers. In his response, in addition to enumerating his followers in Iran, Russia, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Syria and other places, he also noted that “In Hindustan and Africa there are many Guptis who believe in me… I consider them Shi’i Imami Ismailis; by caste they are Hindus”.[12]

Following the

Ismāʿīlī population on the continent resided, including Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire
, had attained their political independence.

Religious and social views

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The Aga Khan was deeply influenced by the views of

Islamic modernist and an intellectual of the Aligarh movement.[15]

From a religious standpoint, the Aga Khan followed a

modernist approach to Islam.[15] He believed there to be no contradiction between religion and modernity, and urged Muslims to embrace modernity.[16] Although he opposed a wholesale replication of Western society by Muslims, the Aga Khan did believe increased contact with the West would be overall beneficial to Muslim society.[17] He was intellectually open to Western philosophy and ideas, and believed engagement with them could lead to a revival and renaissance within Islamic thought.[17]

Like many other Islamic modernists, the Aga Khan held a low opinion of the traditional religious establishment (the ʿUlamāʾ) as well as what he saw as their rigid formalism, legalism, and literalism.[18] Instead, he advocated for renewed ijtihād (independent reasoning) and ijmāʿ (consensus), the latter of which he understood in a modernist way to mean consensus-building.[19] According to him, Muslims should go back to the original sources, especially the Qurʾān, in order to discover the true essence and spirit of Islam.[19] Once the principles of the faith were discovered, they would be seen to be universal and modern.[20] Islam, in his view, had an underlying liberal and democratic spirit.[21] He also called for full civil and religious liberties,[22] peace and disarmament, and an end to all wars.[23]

The Aga Khan opposed sectarianism, which he believed to sap the strength and unity of the Muslim community.[24] In specific, he called for a rapprochement between Sunnism and Shīʿism.[25] This did not mean that he thought religious differences would go away, and he himself instructed his Ismāʿīlī followers to be dedicated to their own teachings.[26] However, he believed in unity through accepting diversity, and by respecting differences of opinion.[26][27] On his view, there was strength to be found in the diversity of Muslim traditions.[28]

The Aga Khan called for social reform in Muslim society, and he was able to implement them within his own Ismāʿīlī community.[29] As he believed Islam to essentially be a humanitarian religion, the Aga Khan called for the reduction and eradication of poverty.[30] Like Sir Sayyid, the Aga Khan was concerned that Muslims had fallen behind the Hindu community in terms of education.[31] According to him, education was the path to progress.[32] He was a tireless advocate for compulsory and universal primary education,[33] and also for the creation of higher institutions of learning.[34]

In terms of women's rights, the Aga Khan was more progressive in his views than Sir Sayyid and many other Islamic modernists of his time.[35] The Aga Khan framed his pursuit of women's rights not simply in the context of women being better mothers or wives, but rather, for women's own benefit.[36] He endorsed the spiritual equality of men and women in Islam, and he also called for full political equality.[37] This included the right to vote[37][38] and the right to an education.[39] In regards to the latter issue, he endorsed compulsory primary education for girls.[40] He also encouraged women to pursue higher university-level education,[39] and saw nothing wrong with co-educational institutions.[41] Whereas Sir Sayyid prioritized the education of boys over girls, the Aga Khan instructed his followers that if they had a son and daughter, and if they could only afford to send one of them to school, they should send the daughter over the boy.[42]

The Aga Khan campaigned against the institution of purda and zenāna, which he felt were oppressive and un-Islamic institutions.[43] He completely banned the purda and the face veil for his Ismāʿīlī followers.[44] The Aga Khan also restricted polygamy, encouraged marriage to widows, and banned child marriage.[43] He also made marriage and divorce laws more equitable to women.[43] Overall, he encouraged women to take part in all national activities and to agitate for their full religious, social, and political rights.[37]

Today, in large part due to the Aga Khan's reforms, the Ismāʿīlī community is one of the most progressive, peaceful, and prosperous branches of Islam.[45]

Racehorse ownership and equestrianism

He was an owner of Thoroughbred racing horses, including a record equaling five winners of

Tulyar) and a total of sixteen winners of British Classic Races. He was a British flat racing Champion Owner thirteen times. According to Ben Pimlott, biographer of Queen Elizabeth II, the Aga Khan presented Her Majesty with a filly called Astrakhan, who won at Hurst Park Racecourse
in 1950.

In 1926, the Aga Khan gave a cup (the Aga Khan Trophy) to be awarded to the winners of an international team show jumping competition held at the annual horse show of the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, every first week in August.[46] It attracts competitors from all of the main show jumping nations and is carried live on Irish national television.

Marriages and children

  • He married, on November 2, 1896, in Pune, India, Shahzadi Begum, his first cousin and a granddaughter of Aga Khan I.
  • He married in 1908,
    Prince Aly Khan (1911–1960). She died in 1926, following an operation on December 1, 1926.[48]
  • He married, on 7 December 1929 (civil), in Aix-les-Bains, France, and 13 December 1929 (religious), in Bombay, India, Andrée Joséphine Carron (1898–1976). A co-owner of a dressmaking shop in Paris, she became known as Princess Andrée Aga Khan. By this marriage, he had one son, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003).[49] The couple was divorced in 1943.[50]
  • He married, on October 9, 1944, in Geneva, Switzerland, Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (Yvonne Blanche Labrousse) (15 February 1906 – 1 July 2000). According to an interview she gave to an Egyptian journalist, her first name was Yvonne, though she is referred to as Yvette in most published references. The daughter of a tram conductor and a dressmaker, she was working as Aga Khan's social secretary at the time of their marriage. She converted to Islam and became known as Om Habibeh (Little Mother of the Beloved). In 1954, her husband bestowed upon her the title "Mata Salamat".[51]

Publications

He wrote a number of books and papers two of which are of immense importance, namely (1) India in Transition, about the prepartition politics of India and (2) The Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time, his autobiography. The Aga Khan III proposed "the South Asiatic Federation[52]" in India in Transition that India might be re-organized into some states, and those states should have own autonomies. He was the first person who designed a detailed plan of such a federation of India.

Mausoleum of Aga Khan – Aswan, Egypt.
Mausoleum of Aga Khan, on the Nile.

Death and succession

Aga Khan III was succeeded as Aga Khan by his grandson

Ismaili Muslims. At the time of his death on 11 July 1957, his family members were in Versoix
. A solicitor brought the will of the Aga Khan III from London to Geneva and read it before the family:

"Ever since the time of my ancestor Ali, the first Imam, that is to say over a period of thirteen hundred years, it has always been the tradition of our family that each Imam chooses his successor at his absolute and unfettered discretion from amongst any of his descendants, whether they be sons or remote male issue and in these circumstances and in view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world in very recent years due to the great changes which have taken place including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the best interest of the Shia Muslim Ismailia Community that I should be succeeded by a young man who has been brought up and developed during recent years and in the midst of the new age and who brings a new outlook on life to his office as Imam. For these reasons, I appoint my grandson

Aly Salomone Khan
to succeed to the title of Aga Khan and to the Imam and Pir of all Shia Ismailian followers"

He is buried in the Mausoleum of Aga Khan, on the Nile in Aswan, Egypt (at 24°05′18″N 32°52′43″E / 24.088254°N 32.878722°E / 24.088254; 32.878722).

Legacy

Pakistan Post issued a special 'Birth Centenary of Agha Khan III' postage stamp in his honor in 1977.[53] Pakistan Post again issued a postage stamp in his honor in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series in 1990.[4]

Honours

References

  1. ^ a b c d https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aga-Khan-III, Biography of Aga Khan III on Encyclopedia Britannica, Updated 18 September 2003, Retrieved 31 March 2017
  2. ISBN 9780802137975
    .
  3. ISBN 9780520298408
    .
  4. ^ a b c d "Agha Khan III". findpk.com. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. ISBN 0-521-42974-9
    .
  6. ^ "Aga Khan, Fashionable Londoner, Holds Enormous Power in Islam", The New York Times,8 July 1923, p. XX5.
  7. ^ "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5.
  8. ^ a b "No. 27448". The London Gazette. 26 June 1902. p. 4197.
  9. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36908. London. 25 October 1902. p. 8.
  10. ^ Bhownagree 1911.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-7486-0687-4
    .
  12. S2CID 143431047
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-674-06639-7
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-107-15408-7
    .
  15. ^
    OCLC 927147288.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  16. OCLC 874557726.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  17. ^
    OCLC 39678354.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  18. ^ Rattansi, Diamond (August 1981). The Nizari Isma'ilis of Pakistan: Isma'ilism, Islam and Westernism Viewed Through the Firmans: 1936-1980. McGill University (Thesis). p. 65.
  19. ^ a b Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1183
  20. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 1345-1346
  21. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 211
  22. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 876
  23. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1415
  24. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 210, 803
  25. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1184
  26. ^ a b Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1407
  27. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 842 & 1063
  28. ^ Rattansi 1981, p. 207
  29. OCLC 230345942.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  30. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 216
  31. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 235
  32. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 208
  33. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 217
  34. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 212-213
  35. OCLC 1022084628.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  36. ^ Khoja-Moolji 2018, p. 31
  37. ^
    OCLC 34545670
    .
  38. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 593 & 645
  39. ^ a b Aga Khan III 1998, p. 586
  40. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1117
  41. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 587
  42. ^ Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1211-1212
  43. ^
    OCLC 794701243.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  44. ^ Khoja-Moolji 2018, p. 32
  45. S2CID 142953052
    .
  46. ^ The Aga Khan Trophy, Dublin Horse Show, accessed 9 July 2007
  47. ^ "Marriages of the Aga Khan III". Ismaili.net. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  48. ^ "Aga Khan's Wife Dies As He Buys Big Gem", The New York Times, 2 December 1926, p. 2
  49. ^ "Aga Khan Again a Father", The New York Times, 18 January 1933, p. 9.
  50. ^ "Princess Andrée", The New York Times, 30 December 1976, p. 19.
  51. ^ "The Begum Aga Khan III", The Daily Telegraph, Issue 45115, 3 July 2000.
  52. ^ The Aga Khan; India in Transition, Bombay,1918, pp.45-46.
  53. ^ "Pakistan Philately". pakistanphilately.com. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  54. ^ "No. 26969". The London Gazette. 21 May 1898. p. 3230.
  55. ^ "No. 27291". The London Gazette. 5 March 1901. p. 1576.
  56. ^ "No. 28559". The London Gazette. 12 December 1911. p. 9357.
  57. ^ "No. 32830". The London Gazette. 2 June 1923. p. 3947.
  58. ^ "No. 34010". The London Gazette. 1 January 1934. p. 1.
  59. ^ "No. 40366". The London Gazette. 1 January 1955. p. 4.

Sources

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
    Bhownagree, Mancherjee Merwanjee (1911). "Aga Khan I. s.v. Aga Khan III.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica
    . Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 363.
  • Brown, Frank Herbert (1922). "Aga Khan III" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
  • Daftary, F., "The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines", Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  • Khoja-Moolji, Shenila. “Redefining Muslim women: Aga Khan III’s reforms for women’s education.” South Asia Graduate Research Journal 20, no. 1, 2011, 69-94.
  • Khoja-Moolji, Shenila. Forging the Ideal Educated Girl. The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia. Oakland: University of California Press, 2018.
  • Naoroji M. Dumasia, A Brief History of the Aga Khan (1903).
  • Aga Khan III, "The Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time", London: Cassel & Company, 1954; published the same year in the United States by Simon & Schuster.
  • Edwards, Anne (1996). "Throne of Gold: The Lives of the Aga Khans", New York: William Morrow, 1996
  • Naoroji M. Dumasia, "The Aga Khan and his ancestors", New Delhi: Readworthy Publications (P) Ltd., 2008
  • Valliani, Amin; "Aga Khan's Role in the Founding and Consolidation of the All India Muslim League", Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society (2007) 55# 1/2, pp 85–95.

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Born: 1877 CE Died: 1957 CE
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