AGA KHAN

Aga Khan is the title inherited by the modern imams of the

Shi_a Nizari Isma_ili Muslims. The title was first granted by

the Iranian ruler Fath _Ali Shah to Imam Hasan _Ali Shah

(1804–1881), who also served as governor of Qum, Mahallat,

and Kirman. Forced to leave Iran, he settled eventually in

British-ruled India. His son, Shah Ali Shah, Aga Khan II

(1830–1835), was imam for four years and was succeeded

after his death by his eight-year-old son who became well

known internationally as Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga

Khan III (1877–1957). He guided the community into the

twentieth century by locating social welfare, educational,

economic, and religious institutions within the framework of

a structured community constitution to promote better organization

and governance. His leadership played a crucial

role in enabling the community, some of whose members had

migrated from India to Africa, to adapt successfully to historical

change and modernity.

In addition to his responsibilities as imam and spiritual

leader for the welfare of his followers, Aga Khan III played an

Ahl al-Bayt

I s l a m and the Muslim World 25

Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah Aga Khan, known as Aga Khan III,

became the leader of the Shi_a Nizari Isma_ili Muslims of India in

the late nineteenth century at the age of eight. As the Indian

subcontinent evolved politically in the beginning of the twentieth

century, Aga Khan spoke out for education, social change, and

women’s rights. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, THE

important role as a statesman in international and Muslim

affairs. He was president of the League of Nations from 1937

to 1938 and also played an important role in the political

evolution of the Indian subcontinent. Deeply committed to

social reform and education among Muslims of Africa and

Asia he assisted in the creation of several institutions such as

schools, hospitals, and the East African Muslim Welfare

Society. He was also an eloquent advocate for the education

of women and the advancement of their social and public role.

In addition to other writings and speeches, he wrote two

books, India in Transition (1918) and his Memoirs (1954). He

died in 1957 and is buried in Aswan, Egypt.

Aga Khan IV, Shah Karim al-Husayni, was born in 1936

and was educated in Europe and at Harvard University.

During his leadership, a worldwide community emerged

successfully through complex and turbulent changes. The

Ismailis, who live in some thirty countries and represent

cultural and geographical diversity, acknowledge the spiritual

authority of the imam and have responded actively to his

guidance. This has enabled them to build further on inherited

institutions and to create common purpose in their endeavors

through well-coordinated local, national, and international

institutions.

Aga Khan IV also created the Aga Khan Development

Network, to promote a humanitarian, intellectual, and social

vision of Islam and tradition of service to society. Its international

activities have earned an enviable reputation for their

commitment to the development of societies, without bias to

national or religious affiliation, and to the promotion of

culture as a key resource and enabling factor in human and

social development. The Award for Architecture and the

Trust for Culture promote concern and awareness of the

built environment, and cultural and historical preservation.

Various institutions of higher education, such as the Aga

Khan University, Central Asian University, and the Institute

of Ismaili Studies promote scholarship and training in a wide

variety of fields.

The Aga Khan’s leadership and vision continue to be

reflected in the increasingly significant global impact that

these community institutions and the network are having in

the fields of social, educational, economic, and cultural

development.

See also Khojas; Nizari.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aziz, K. K., ed. Aga Khan III: Selected Speeches and Writings.

London: Kegan Paul International, 1998.

Daftary, Farhad. The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines.

Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Azim Nanji

AHL AL-BAYT

Ahl al-bayt, or “people of the house,” is a phrase used with

reference to the family of the prophet Muhammad, particularly

by the Shi_a. In early Arabian tribal society, it was a

designation for a noble clan. It occurs only twice in the

Qur_an, once in regard to Ibrahim’s family (11:73), but more

significantly in a verse that states, “God only wishes to keep

uncleaness away from you, O people of the house, and to

purify you completely” (33:33). The context suggests that this

statement pertains to women in Muhammad’s household, a

view held by Sunni commentators. Some authorities have

applied it more widely to descendants of Muhammad’s clan

(Banu Hashim), the Abbasids, and even the whole community

of Muslims. Since the eighth century C.E., however, the Shi_a

Ahl-e Hadis/Ahl-al Hadith

26 I s l am and the Mus l im Wor ld

and many Sunnis have maintained that Qur_an 33:33 refers

specifically to five people: Muhammad, _Ali b. Abi Talib

(Muhammad’s cousin), _Ali’s wife Fatima (Muhammad’s

daughter), and their two children, Hasan and Husayn. Ulema

invoke hadiths in support of this view, as seen in Tabari’s

Jami_ al-bayan (c. tenth century C.E.). Thus, in South Asia,

they are called “the five pure ones” (panjatan pak). They are
also known as “people of the mantle” (kisa_) in remembrance

of the occasion when the Prophet enveloped them with his

mantle and recited this verse.

Belief in the supermundane qualities of the ahl al-bayt and

the imams descended from them form the core of Shi_ite

devotion. They are the ideal locus of authority and salvation

in all things, both worldly and spiritual. As pure, sinless, and

embodiments of divine wisdom, they are held to be the

perfect leaders for the Muslim community, as well as models

for moral action. Many believe that they possess a divine light

through which God created the universe, and that it is only

through their living presence that the world exists. Twelver

Shi_ite doctrine has emphasized that the pain and martyrdom

endured by ahl al-bayt, particularly by Husayn, hold redemptive

power for those who have faith in them and empathize

with their suffering. Moreover, they anticipate the messianic

return of the Twelfth Imam at the end of time, and the

intercession of the holy family on the day of judgment.

During the middle ages, Nizari Isama_ili da_is in northern

India even identified the ahl al-bayt with Hindu gods (Brahma,

Vishnu, Kalki, Shiva, and the goddess Shakti) and the Pandavas,

the five heroes of the Mahabharata epic. The Shi_ite ritual

calendar is distinguished by holidays commemorating events

in the lives of the holy family, and it is common for the “hand

of Fatima,” inscribed with their five names, to be displayed in

processions and to be used as a talisman.

Sunnis also revere the ahl al-bayt, attributing to them

many of the sacred qualities that the Shi_a do. This is

especially so in Sufi tariqas (brotherhoods), most of which

trace their spiritual lineage to Muhammad through _Ali.

Several tariqas hold special veneration for the holy five and

the imams, such as the Khalwatiyya, the Bektashiyya, and the

Safawiyya, which established the Safavid dynasty in Iran

(1502–1722). In many Muslim communities, high social

status is attributed to those claiming to be sayyids and sharifs,

blood-descendants of the ahl al-bayt. Indeed, many Muslim

scholars and saints are members of these two groups, and

their tombs often become pilgrimage centers.

Although the Saudi-Wahhabi conquest of Arabia (nineteenth

to early twentieth centuries) led to the destruction of

many ahl al-bayt shrines (including Fatima’s tomb in Medina),

elsewhere their shrines have attracted large numbers of pilgrims

in modern times. These include those of _Ali (Najaf,

Iraq), Husayn (Karbala, Iraq and Cairo, Egypt), _Ali al-Rida

(the eighth imam; Mashhad, Iran), and also of women saints

such as Sayyida Zaynab (_Ali’s daughter; Cairo) and Fatima

al-Ma_suma (daughter of the seventh imam; Qom, Iran).

Nizari Isma_ilis (Khojas) make pilgrimages to their living

imam, the Aga Khan, also a direct descendent of the Prophet’s

household.
Contemporary heads of state in several Muslim countries

have claimed blood-descent from the family of the Prophet to

obtain religious legitimacy for their rule: the _Alawid dynasty

of Morocco (1631–present), Hashimite dynasty of Iraq

(1921–1958) and of Jordan (1923–present), and many of the

ruling mullahs in Iran, including the Ayatollah Khomeini (r.

1979–1989), whose tomb has become a popular Iranian

Shi_ite shrine. Even former President Saddam Husayn of Iraq

(r. 1979–2003) has claimed descent from ahl al-bayt.