The Aga Khans during the 19th- 20th Century - Documents
The Aga Khans during the 19th- 20th Century - Documents
This section has been created to share and discuss the migration of Aga Hassanali Shah from Persia to India and the relation of the first Aga Khan, Mowlana Aga Ali Shah up To Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah and the present Imam with the British from a historical perspective but also with other countries.
Last edited by Admin on Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:04 am, edited 6 times in total.
This thesis is available on the net:
EXALTED ORDER: MUSLIM PRINCES AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE
1874-1906
KRISTOPHER RADFORD
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN
PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN HISTORY
YORK UNIVERSITY
TORONTO, ONTARIO
OCTOBER 2013
© KRISTOPHER RADFORD, 2013
here is an extract of interest to us:
Outside of Great Britain, where bishops of the Church of England sat in the House of
Lords, it was unusual for religious figures to be so completely integrated into political
structures by the British, the sole other example was the Aga Khan. In 1906, the year
Muhammadu Attahiru II was made a CMG, His Highness Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah,
Aga Khan III was made a GCIE by the Government of India who to all intents and
purposes treated him like an Indian prince.157 However, unlike an Indian prince he ruled
over no territory, but was instead the hereditary Imam of the world’s Ismaili Muslims,
and great number of whom, including the Aga Khan himself, lived in India. The place of
the Aga Khan was anomalous in India just like the place of the Sultan of Sokoto was in
Nigeria. The British, however, when faced with the challenge of integrating the heads of
important religious communities did not conceptualise them in a novel or unique fashion,
but rather sought to integrate them into an existing model of indirect rule as if they were
analogous to hereditary temporal rulers.158
EXALTED ORDER: MUSLIM PRINCES AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE
1874-1906
KRISTOPHER RADFORD
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN
PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN HISTORY
YORK UNIVERSITY
TORONTO, ONTARIO
OCTOBER 2013
© KRISTOPHER RADFORD, 2013
here is an extract of interest to us:
Outside of Great Britain, where bishops of the Church of England sat in the House of
Lords, it was unusual for religious figures to be so completely integrated into political
structures by the British, the sole other example was the Aga Khan. In 1906, the year
Muhammadu Attahiru II was made a CMG, His Highness Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah,
Aga Khan III was made a GCIE by the Government of India who to all intents and
purposes treated him like an Indian prince.157 However, unlike an Indian prince he ruled
over no territory, but was instead the hereditary Imam of the world’s Ismaili Muslims,
and great number of whom, including the Aga Khan himself, lived in India. The place of
the Aga Khan was anomalous in India just like the place of the Sultan of Sokoto was in
Nigeria. The British, however, when faced with the challenge of integrating the heads of
important religious communities did not conceptualise them in a novel or unique fashion,
but rather sought to integrate them into an existing model of indirect rule as if they were
analogous to hereditary temporal rulers.158
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/n ... chill.html
The wisdom of Aga Khan and his friend Churchill
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Hassan Al Mustafa
“One of the facts that I learned in life is that the importance of the bargain lies in providing a passageway for difficult times, where you could use this passageway later on to implement comprehensive reforms that would have been impossible without the bargain in the first place.”
The “Political bargaining” between opponents and reaching common ground solutions, which was mentioned by Sultan Mohammed Shah Husseini, in his book “The Memoirs of Aga Khan”, is one of the features of this leader, who carried out very sensitive missions during and after the critical era of the British rule of India and the World war I in 1914.
Aga Khan III had a realistic vision towards the occurring events because he was responsible of leading several millions of Muslims distributed in a number of countries in the world, speaking different languages, and having diverse traditions and cultures. Aga Khan did not count on “violence”; he was well aware of his potentials as well as the weaknesses of others. We cannot disregard the historical side of this matter, especially that he spoke about his love for reading in his memoirs, which gave him a vision from the experiences of his predecessors; he turned these experiences into a practical approach. He said: “I admit that I have worked all my life according to the principle that settlement is better than the intransigent dispute that does not lead us to anywhere.”
Aga Khan was not a weak leader and Churchill did not lack of strength, but rather the wisdom that politics needs to be comprehensive
Hassan Al Mustafa
This “flexible mentality” of Aga Khan III allowed him to play important roles. In 1905, King Georges V sent him more than one message “urging and encouraging him to carry on his efforts to find a solution to the differences between Hindus and Muslims, and thus they would be able to focus on scientific, economic and social reforms.”
Sultan Mohammed Shah, had friendship ties for more than half a century with Sir Winston Churchill. The “political realism” marked both men. Sultan Aga Khan wrote: “every time I discussed political issues with Sir Winston, I got influenced over and over again with the practical realism, which is characterized in his point of views. He is not locked in his previous ideas, wishes or dreams as he controls all of them.”
In this regard, Churchill has once said to his friend that “half a loaf is better than nothing,” when Sir Churchill accepted the fact “that India shall remain within the Commonwealth as a republic that has its own terms.”
Aga Khan was not a weak leader and Churchill did not lack of strength, but rather the wisdom that politics needs to be comprehensive.
This article was first published in Al Riyadh.
___________________
Hassan AlMustafa is Saudi journalist with interest in middle east and Gulf politics. His writing focuses on social media, Arab youth affairs and Middle Eastern societal matters.
Last Update: Saturday, 11 February 2017 KSA 10:26 - GMT 07:26
The wisdom of Aga Khan and his friend Churchill
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Hassan Al Mustafa
“One of the facts that I learned in life is that the importance of the bargain lies in providing a passageway for difficult times, where you could use this passageway later on to implement comprehensive reforms that would have been impossible without the bargain in the first place.”
The “Political bargaining” between opponents and reaching common ground solutions, which was mentioned by Sultan Mohammed Shah Husseini, in his book “The Memoirs of Aga Khan”, is one of the features of this leader, who carried out very sensitive missions during and after the critical era of the British rule of India and the World war I in 1914.
Aga Khan III had a realistic vision towards the occurring events because he was responsible of leading several millions of Muslims distributed in a number of countries in the world, speaking different languages, and having diverse traditions and cultures. Aga Khan did not count on “violence”; he was well aware of his potentials as well as the weaknesses of others. We cannot disregard the historical side of this matter, especially that he spoke about his love for reading in his memoirs, which gave him a vision from the experiences of his predecessors; he turned these experiences into a practical approach. He said: “I admit that I have worked all my life according to the principle that settlement is better than the intransigent dispute that does not lead us to anywhere.”
Aga Khan was not a weak leader and Churchill did not lack of strength, but rather the wisdom that politics needs to be comprehensive
Hassan Al Mustafa
This “flexible mentality” of Aga Khan III allowed him to play important roles. In 1905, King Georges V sent him more than one message “urging and encouraging him to carry on his efforts to find a solution to the differences between Hindus and Muslims, and thus they would be able to focus on scientific, economic and social reforms.”
Sultan Mohammed Shah, had friendship ties for more than half a century with Sir Winston Churchill. The “political realism” marked both men. Sultan Aga Khan wrote: “every time I discussed political issues with Sir Winston, I got influenced over and over again with the practical realism, which is characterized in his point of views. He is not locked in his previous ideas, wishes or dreams as he controls all of them.”
In this regard, Churchill has once said to his friend that “half a loaf is better than nothing,” when Sir Churchill accepted the fact “that India shall remain within the Commonwealth as a republic that has its own terms.”
Aga Khan was not a weak leader and Churchill did not lack of strength, but rather the wisdom that politics needs to be comprehensive.
This article was first published in Al Riyadh.
___________________
Hassan AlMustafa is Saudi journalist with interest in middle east and Gulf politics. His writing focuses on social media, Arab youth affairs and Middle Eastern societal matters.
Last Update: Saturday, 11 February 2017 KSA 10:26 - GMT 07:26
Aga Khan III - Times of India 1946-03-10
Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah's interest in education and particularly science and technology for the sub-continent in 1946:
Received from Vazir Sherali Alidina in 1994.
Received from Vazir Sherali Alidina in 1994.
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I began the modern phase in the history of the Nizari Ismailis
Imam Hasan Ali Shah was born in Kahak in 1804 and succeeded to the Imamat at the age of 13, after his father was murdered in Yazd, Persia. His mother Bibi Sarkara (d. 1851) went to the court of the ruling Qajar monarch Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834) to seek justice for the murder of her husband and support for her family. Fath Ali Shah eventually punished the perpetrators of the crime and compensated the family by granting Hasan Ali Shah additional lands in Mahallat, which had been the family’s residence for some time.
Imam became involved in the public life of his native province. In time, Fath Ali Shah appointed him governor of the district of Qumm and bestowed upon him the honorific title of Aga Khan (Aga Khan) – a title that has remained in use by his successors to the present Imam.
By the time of Fath Ali Shah’s death, Imam had established a military force and a strong presence among the Persian nobility. In 1835, Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-1848), Fath Ali Shah’s grandson and successor, appointed Imam governor of the province of Kirman. At the time, there was much political unrest in the province and Imam brought calm to the region. However, despite his successes, he was informed that he would be replaced by one of the monarch’s brothers. Imam refused to accept his dismissal and was confined to the citadel of Bam along with his family and his army; he surrendered after 14 months when the accusations against him in the civil unrest were proven false. Imam was taken to Kirman in captivity, eventually being permitted to return to Mahallat.
Owing to further political unrest, Imam migrated to Qandahar, Afghanistan in 1841, marking the end of the Persian period in Nizari Ismaili history that had lasted some seven centuries since Alamut time.
In Afghanistan, Imam Hasan Ali Shah associated with the British offering his services to them. He subsequently migrated to Sind in the Indian subcontinent where he resided in Jerruck (now in Pakistan), continuing to offer his services to the British. In 1844, Imam travelled to Karachi, Cutch, Kathiavar, and Calcutta, eventually settling permanently in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1848. This began the modern phase in the history of the Nizari Ismailis, and an era of regular contact between Imam and the widely dispersed communities. Imam continued to maintain a close relationship with the British who came to addressed him as His Highness.
Imam Hasan Ali Shah continued the communal organisation established by Pir Sadr al-Din in the 15th century. Pir Sadr al-Din converted large numbers of Hindus giving them the Persian title khwaja, meaning lord or master, corresponding to the term thakur by which the Hindus were addressed. Pir Sadr al-Din is credited with establishing the first jamatkhana in the fifteenth century in Kotri, Sind, with additional ones in Panjab and Kashmir, and subsequently extending the da’wa to the State of Gujarat.
While many Khoja Ismailis in the subcontinent acknowledged Imam Hasan Ali Shah as their spiritual leader, several others challenged the authority he claimed, taking their grievances to court. During the 18th and 19th centuries, there were several communities in the subcontinent who had developed in isolation from the Imamate due to the need for the Imams to practice concealment (taqiyya) for centuries, in order to escape persecution. A number of communities in the subcontinent traced their allegiance to Nizari Ismaili pirs and had developed their own models of governance and forms of leadership. In addition, the British had established direct rule over most of the subcontinent seeking to govern a heterogeneous region by classifying the people based on religion. To clarify the situation for the Khoja Ismailis, Imam Hasan Ali Shah circulated a document in 1861, in Bombay and elsewhere, stating the Khojas were Shi’i Ismailis, and included the beliefs, customs, and practices, and his role as the leader of the community. Those who accepted the terms in the document were asked to sign it. A minority group challenged the terms and filed a lawsuit.
The case, referred to as the Aga Khan Case, was tried by Sir Joseph Arnould in 1866 at the Bombay High Court. The judgement “legally established the status of the community, referred to as ‘Shia Imami Ismailis’ and of the Imam as the murshid or spiritual head of that community and heir in lineal descent to the imams of Alamut” (Daftary, The Isma’ilis Their history and doctrines p 56). The ruling also legally endorsed the Khojas as a single united group of the Raj, whose leader’s role was to govern their affairs and define their religious practices. The ruling was profound, considering that only a few decades earlier, Imams and members of the community were living in concealment.
During the three decades of his residence in the subcontinent, Imam Hasan Ali Shah organised the community through a network of officers called mukhi and kamadia for jamats of a certain size. He also attended the jamatkhana in Bombay on special occasions and led the public prayers of the Khojas. Every Saturday, when in Bombay, he held darbar, giving audience to the jamat.
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I died in 1881 after an eventful Imamat of 64 years, and was buried at Hasanabad in the Mazagaon area of Bombay. He was succeeded by his son Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II.
Aga Khan Hasanabad Bombay Mumbai
Imam Hasan Ali Shah’s mausoleum in Mumbai. Source: Raiba Anjali Dileep, The Unknown Mumbai
Sources:
Farhad Daftary, Zulfikar Hirji, The Ismailis An Illustrated History, Azimuth Editions in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ilis, Their history and doctrines, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/30/imam-hasan-ali-shah-aga-khan-i-began-the-modern-phase-in-the-history-of-the-nizari-ismailis/?utm_source=Direct
Imam Hasan Ali Shah was born in Kahak in 1804 and succeeded to the Imamat at the age of 13, after his father was murdered in Yazd, Persia. His mother Bibi Sarkara (d. 1851) went to the court of the ruling Qajar monarch Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834) to seek justice for the murder of her husband and support for her family. Fath Ali Shah eventually punished the perpetrators of the crime and compensated the family by granting Hasan Ali Shah additional lands in Mahallat, which had been the family’s residence for some time.
Imam became involved in the public life of his native province. In time, Fath Ali Shah appointed him governor of the district of Qumm and bestowed upon him the honorific title of Aga Khan (Aga Khan) – a title that has remained in use by his successors to the present Imam.
By the time of Fath Ali Shah’s death, Imam had established a military force and a strong presence among the Persian nobility. In 1835, Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-1848), Fath Ali Shah’s grandson and successor, appointed Imam governor of the province of Kirman. At the time, there was much political unrest in the province and Imam brought calm to the region. However, despite his successes, he was informed that he would be replaced by one of the monarch’s brothers. Imam refused to accept his dismissal and was confined to the citadel of Bam along with his family and his army; he surrendered after 14 months when the accusations against him in the civil unrest were proven false. Imam was taken to Kirman in captivity, eventually being permitted to return to Mahallat.
Owing to further political unrest, Imam migrated to Qandahar, Afghanistan in 1841, marking the end of the Persian period in Nizari Ismaili history that had lasted some seven centuries since Alamut time.
In Afghanistan, Imam Hasan Ali Shah associated with the British offering his services to them. He subsequently migrated to Sind in the Indian subcontinent where he resided in Jerruck (now in Pakistan), continuing to offer his services to the British. In 1844, Imam travelled to Karachi, Cutch, Kathiavar, and Calcutta, eventually settling permanently in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1848. This began the modern phase in the history of the Nizari Ismailis, and an era of regular contact between Imam and the widely dispersed communities. Imam continued to maintain a close relationship with the British who came to addressed him as His Highness.
Imam Hasan Ali Shah continued the communal organisation established by Pir Sadr al-Din in the 15th century. Pir Sadr al-Din converted large numbers of Hindus giving them the Persian title khwaja, meaning lord or master, corresponding to the term thakur by which the Hindus were addressed. Pir Sadr al-Din is credited with establishing the first jamatkhana in the fifteenth century in Kotri, Sind, with additional ones in Panjab and Kashmir, and subsequently extending the da’wa to the State of Gujarat.
While many Khoja Ismailis in the subcontinent acknowledged Imam Hasan Ali Shah as their spiritual leader, several others challenged the authority he claimed, taking their grievances to court. During the 18th and 19th centuries, there were several communities in the subcontinent who had developed in isolation from the Imamate due to the need for the Imams to practice concealment (taqiyya) for centuries, in order to escape persecution. A number of communities in the subcontinent traced their allegiance to Nizari Ismaili pirs and had developed their own models of governance and forms of leadership. In addition, the British had established direct rule over most of the subcontinent seeking to govern a heterogeneous region by classifying the people based on religion. To clarify the situation for the Khoja Ismailis, Imam Hasan Ali Shah circulated a document in 1861, in Bombay and elsewhere, stating the Khojas were Shi’i Ismailis, and included the beliefs, customs, and practices, and his role as the leader of the community. Those who accepted the terms in the document were asked to sign it. A minority group challenged the terms and filed a lawsuit.
The case, referred to as the Aga Khan Case, was tried by Sir Joseph Arnould in 1866 at the Bombay High Court. The judgement “legally established the status of the community, referred to as ‘Shia Imami Ismailis’ and of the Imam as the murshid or spiritual head of that community and heir in lineal descent to the imams of Alamut” (Daftary, The Isma’ilis Their history and doctrines p 56). The ruling also legally endorsed the Khojas as a single united group of the Raj, whose leader’s role was to govern their affairs and define their religious practices. The ruling was profound, considering that only a few decades earlier, Imams and members of the community were living in concealment.
During the three decades of his residence in the subcontinent, Imam Hasan Ali Shah organised the community through a network of officers called mukhi and kamadia for jamats of a certain size. He also attended the jamatkhana in Bombay on special occasions and led the public prayers of the Khojas. Every Saturday, when in Bombay, he held darbar, giving audience to the jamat.
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I died in 1881 after an eventful Imamat of 64 years, and was buried at Hasanabad in the Mazagaon area of Bombay. He was succeeded by his son Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II.
Aga Khan Hasanabad Bombay Mumbai
Imam Hasan Ali Shah’s mausoleum in Mumbai. Source: Raiba Anjali Dileep, The Unknown Mumbai
Sources:
Farhad Daftary, Zulfikar Hirji, The Ismailis An Illustrated History, Azimuth Editions in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ilis, Their history and doctrines, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/30/imam-hasan-ali-shah-aga-khan-i-began-the-modern-phase-in-the-history-of-the-nizari-ismailis/?utm_source=Direct
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573083
From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1945: Seventy-five years ago: Aga Khan’s view
Dawn Delhi 07 Aug 2020
LOURENCO MARQUES: The fear that establishment of an Indian Central Government might be impracticable was expressed by the Aga Khan on his arrival at Lourenco Marques en route to the South African Union.
“It must be remembered that the territories of British India were brought together by British conquest within the last 150 years, and there are wide historical language and racial differences,” he said. “It will be easy to unite them as a Commonwealth but, on the other hand, I have great fear that a Central Government for them may not be practical politics.”
Asked if he thought that world peace would be maintained, the Aga Khan said that if it is possible to bring about in Europe, Asia and later Africa, confederation of vast economic units with equal facilities for movement of population, goods and wealth such as existed in the United States of America, he believed, a permanent world peace was possible. If [not], sooner or later, difficulties in obtaining the necessities for bare living would lead to friction, enmity and hostilities. The Aga Khan thanked the Portuguese Government and people for kindness always shown to the Indians especially his own followers, the Ismailis.
Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2020
From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1945: Seventy-five years ago: Aga Khan’s view
Dawn Delhi 07 Aug 2020
LOURENCO MARQUES: The fear that establishment of an Indian Central Government might be impracticable was expressed by the Aga Khan on his arrival at Lourenco Marques en route to the South African Union.
“It must be remembered that the territories of British India were brought together by British conquest within the last 150 years, and there are wide historical language and racial differences,” he said. “It will be easy to unite them as a Commonwealth but, on the other hand, I have great fear that a Central Government for them may not be practical politics.”
Asked if he thought that world peace would be maintained, the Aga Khan said that if it is possible to bring about in Europe, Asia and later Africa, confederation of vast economic units with equal facilities for movement of population, goods and wealth such as existed in the United States of America, he believed, a permanent world peace was possible. If [not], sooner or later, difficulties in obtaining the necessities for bare living would lead to friction, enmity and hostilities. The Aga Khan thanked the Portuguese Government and people for kindness always shown to the Indians especially his own followers, the Ismailis.
Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2020
The transformation of the Khoja Ismaili community into a distinct, cosmopolitan one was due to the vision of the Aga Khans
BY NIMIRA DEWJI POSTED ON DECEMBER 28, 2021
Named after the sixth Imam, the Ismailis, during the course of history, have, under the guidance of their Imams, made significant contributions to Islamic civilisations, the cultural, intellectual, and religious life of Muslims. Ismailis had their own states twice during their history – the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) centred in Cairo, and the state of Alamut (1090-1256) in Persia. Since the beginning of the twelfth century, the Ismailis have existed in two main branches – the Nizaris and the Tayyibi Musta’lians who have been respectively designated as Khojas and Bohras in South Asia.
Often during their complex history, the Ismailis have resorted to taqiyya (conciliatory measures) for extended periods of time in order to escape persecution, appearing outwardly as Sunnis, Twelver Shi’is, or Sufis.
For centuries after the collapse of Alamut (1090-1256) the Isma’ili tradition virtually disappeared from view, although its intellectual influence remained considerable, especially in Iran.
Alamut
The back of the fortress of Alamut. Image: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
In Persia, the forty-fifth Ismaili Imam Shah Khalilullah enjoyed the protection of the ruler Fath Ali Shah, but was murdered in 1817 at the instigation of a jealous mullah. The Imam was succeeded by his son Hasan Ali Shah, who was thirteen years old. His mother went to the Qajar court to seek justice for her murdered husband. By way of compensation Fath Ali Shah presented to Imam Hasan Ali Shah, crown lands, and awarded him the title of Aga Khan (‘Great Chief’), which has remained among Imam’s successors (Ibid. p 376). Imam rose to political prominence and was appointed governor of the province of Kirman, a post previously held by his grandfather. At the time, there was much unrest in the province, and Imam quickly restored law and order.
Due to tensions between Imam and Fath Ali Shah’s successor Muhammad Shah, Imam migrated to Afghanistan in 1840, marking the end of the Persian period of Ismaili Imamat, which had lasted some seven centuries since Alamut times. Eventually Imam settled permanently in Bombay in 1848, beginning the modern period in Nizari Ismaili history, initiating the process of consolidating the community. Ruthven states that “the transformation of the Nizari Ismaili community into one of bourgeois industriousness and respectability was largely due to the efforts of the last four Imams who since the 1840s have been known to the outside world as the Aga Khans” (Ibid. p 374).
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I, Imam Agha Ali Shah Aga Khan II, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV. Images: The Ismaili Imams and Canadian Ismaili July 1989
In the Indian subcontinent, there were Ismailis settled or converted during the Fatimid era (909-1171), but the majority were Khojas converted to Ismailism by pirs beginning in the eleventh century.
When Aga Khan I settled in the region, the sudden appearance of the Present Imam among a prosperous community of Bombay merchants was not universally welcomed. When the Imam was inaccessible in Persia, authority inevitably devolved on local community leaders. Furthermore, several Khojas challenged the authority of the Aga Khan claiming Sunni or Ithna’ashari heritage of the Khoja Ismailis owing to the the practice of taqiyya. In addition, colonial identification of communities based on differences rather than commonalities, fracturing the multivalent identity of Khojas into various sectarian groups.
Development of Satpanth tradition
The pirs who propagated Ismail doctrines in the region, referred to their teachings as Satpanth, ‘true path.’ Hence their followers identified themselves as Satpanthis rather than Ismailis. The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical currents to articulate its core concepts. Consequently those who followed Satpanth understood it through multiple lenses and were not confined to rigid or conventionally defined doctrinal and theological boundaries” (Asani, “From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim: The Articulation of Ismaili Khoja Identity in South Asia published in Farhad Daftary, A Modern History of the Ismailis, I.B. Tauris, p 96).
The presence of these multiple strands became problematic … as new socio-political frameworks, associated with the establishment of British imperial rule and the emergence of religiously based nationalisms, became increasingly dominant in South Asia. Notions of religious identity and the categories ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ were contested and also rigidly and narrowly demarcated, hence, the Khojas, like many other Indian communities, were pressured to reshape their identity to better conform to externally defined norms” (Ibid. 101-102).
Legal affirmation of Aga Khans as head of the Nizari Ismailis
Aga Khan I experienced difficulty in establishing his authority as head of the Nizari Ismailis. Dissidents claimed Sunni or Ithna’ashari heritage of the Khoja Ismailis. Consequently, in 1861, Aga Khan I circulated a document in Bombay, and elsewhere, that specified the religious beliefs of the Nizari Ismailis, requesting every Khoja to sign it, pledging their loyalty to the Imam and their Shia Ismaili Muslim faith as interpreted by him. This document was a landmark in asserting Nizari Ismaili identity. The majority of the Khojas signed the document, however, a group refused to accept the Ismaili identity of their community and filed a legal suit in Bombay High Court in 1866, which came to be known as the Khoja case (Daftary, A Short History of the Ismailis, Edinburg University Press, p 198) .
The plaintiffs claimed that taqiyya, in effect, was not simply a survival tactic – or even a strategy – but was orthopraxy per se. In resisting the Aga Khan’s claims to leadership and ownership over communal property, they sought to prove in court that Pir Sadruddin had been a Sunni all along…” (Ruthven, New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam, p 380).
Mausoleum pf Pir Sadr al-Din (Sadruddin) in Uchch, in modern-day Pakistan. Image: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
The judgement, in favour of the Aga Khan, legally established in British India the status of Aga Khan’s Khoja followers as a community of “Shia Imami Ismailis,” also recognizing Aga Khan “as the spiritual head of the community and heir in lineal descent to the Imams of the Alamut period” (Ibid. p 198). Aga Khan I exerted control over the community, organizing them through a network of appointed officers (mukhi and kamadia) for communities of a certain size, and encouraged a revival of literary activities among the Ismailis.
Hasanabad, Mazagaon
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I’s mausoleum, Hasanabad, Mazagaon, India. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II, during his brief reign, initiated the collection of ginans, charging a group of Khojas to collect the manuscripts in circulation, eventually resulting in the creation of a ‘standardised’ corpus of ginans, effectively amounting to the closure of a centuries-old tradition of ginan compositions (Asani).
The Khojas underwent profound changes during the Imamat of Aga Khan III, who also faced a legal suit in 1905 filed by his cousin Hajji Bibi, which came to be known as the Hajji Bibi case. As with the 1866 Khoja case, the Hajji Bibi case revealed the extent to which taqiya was still practiced by the Khojas, enabling dissenters to challenge the authority and legitimacy of the Imam. A British judge presiding over the case gave further legal validation to the Aga Khan’s authority and reaffirmed the Ismaili identity of the Khojas.
As a result of these schisms and legal decisions, the identity of the Khojas was clearly defined as ‘a religious community,’ and differentiated from that of the Sunnis and the Ithnaʿasharis alike, the cornerstone of which was allegiance to a living Ismaili Imam.
Changes introduced
Following the court cases, changes were introduced – the batin, previously concealed within or behind the zahir, now came to the fore. Aga Khan III also removed some of the Hinduistic elements from Isma’ili ritual. In this area he appears to have moved cautiously, perhaps in deference to the conservatism of the wealthy Khojas on whom he depended for his organization… firmans issued between 1934 and 1939 direct Ismailis to project an Islamic identity for the sake of Muslim unity by attending mosques on Fridays and mingling with other Muslims (p 383 note 39).
Foremost among the goals ordained by Aga Khan III are social welfare, health, and education. He organised the community through a Constitution, a hierarchy of councils for self-governance, and founded a network of schools and medical centres, emphasizing the education and participation of women.
Rules and Regulations Book issued by Aga Khan III in 1905 that served as the first constitution. Image: The Ismailis An Illustrated History.
As the leader of a recognised community whose distinctive identity he helped to forge Aga Khan III “carefully nurtured distinctive aspects of the Satpanth or Khoja Isma’ilism of India and East Africa … only Arabizing key aspects of ritual when the retreat of British power made it prudent to bring Isma’ilism closer to the Islamic mainstream” (p 392).
Aga Khan IV strengthened institutions found by his grandfather and established new ones to meet the changing needs of the Ismails, now residing all over the world.
Daftary states the present Imam Aga Khan IV, “as a major Muslim leader fully congnisant of the challenges and issues facing contemporary Muslims, has devoted a good share of his time and resources to promoting a better understanding of Islam, not only as a religion with a set of theological doctrines but as a major world civilization – or even a conglomerate of civilisations with their multiplicity of expressions and interpretations (The Ismaili Imams, I.B. Tauris, London, 2020 p 226-239).
Asani notes “while an institution in British colonial India played a facilitating role in defining in legal terms Khoja identity as being Ismailis, it was the hereditary Islamic institution, the Ismaili Imamate, that navigated the Ismaili Khojas through the whirlpools of cultural and political changes…” (From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim).
Adapted from Aga Khan III and the Ismaili Renaissance by Malise Ruthven published in New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam by Peter B. Clark, Luzac Oriental, London, 1998
~*~*~
Contributed by Nimira Dewji. Nimira is an invited writer at Ismailimail, although she has contributed several articles in the past (view previous articles). She also has her own blog – Nimirasblog – where she writes short articles on Ismaili history and Muslim civilisations. When not researching and writing, Nimira volunteers at a shelter for those experiencing homelessness, and at a women’s shelter. She can be reached at [email protected]
https://ismailimail.blog/2021/12/28/the ... aga-khans/
BY NIMIRA DEWJI POSTED ON DECEMBER 28, 2021
Named after the sixth Imam, the Ismailis, during the course of history, have, under the guidance of their Imams, made significant contributions to Islamic civilisations, the cultural, intellectual, and religious life of Muslims. Ismailis had their own states twice during their history – the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) centred in Cairo, and the state of Alamut (1090-1256) in Persia. Since the beginning of the twelfth century, the Ismailis have existed in two main branches – the Nizaris and the Tayyibi Musta’lians who have been respectively designated as Khojas and Bohras in South Asia.
Often during their complex history, the Ismailis have resorted to taqiyya (conciliatory measures) for extended periods of time in order to escape persecution, appearing outwardly as Sunnis, Twelver Shi’is, or Sufis.
For centuries after the collapse of Alamut (1090-1256) the Isma’ili tradition virtually disappeared from view, although its intellectual influence remained considerable, especially in Iran.
Alamut
The back of the fortress of Alamut. Image: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
In Persia, the forty-fifth Ismaili Imam Shah Khalilullah enjoyed the protection of the ruler Fath Ali Shah, but was murdered in 1817 at the instigation of a jealous mullah. The Imam was succeeded by his son Hasan Ali Shah, who was thirteen years old. His mother went to the Qajar court to seek justice for her murdered husband. By way of compensation Fath Ali Shah presented to Imam Hasan Ali Shah, crown lands, and awarded him the title of Aga Khan (‘Great Chief’), which has remained among Imam’s successors (Ibid. p 376). Imam rose to political prominence and was appointed governor of the province of Kirman, a post previously held by his grandfather. At the time, there was much unrest in the province, and Imam quickly restored law and order.
Due to tensions between Imam and Fath Ali Shah’s successor Muhammad Shah, Imam migrated to Afghanistan in 1840, marking the end of the Persian period of Ismaili Imamat, which had lasted some seven centuries since Alamut times. Eventually Imam settled permanently in Bombay in 1848, beginning the modern period in Nizari Ismaili history, initiating the process of consolidating the community. Ruthven states that “the transformation of the Nizari Ismaili community into one of bourgeois industriousness and respectability was largely due to the efforts of the last four Imams who since the 1840s have been known to the outside world as the Aga Khans” (Ibid. p 374).
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I, Imam Agha Ali Shah Aga Khan II, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV. Images: The Ismaili Imams and Canadian Ismaili July 1989
In the Indian subcontinent, there were Ismailis settled or converted during the Fatimid era (909-1171), but the majority were Khojas converted to Ismailism by pirs beginning in the eleventh century.
When Aga Khan I settled in the region, the sudden appearance of the Present Imam among a prosperous community of Bombay merchants was not universally welcomed. When the Imam was inaccessible in Persia, authority inevitably devolved on local community leaders. Furthermore, several Khojas challenged the authority of the Aga Khan claiming Sunni or Ithna’ashari heritage of the Khoja Ismailis owing to the the practice of taqiyya. In addition, colonial identification of communities based on differences rather than commonalities, fracturing the multivalent identity of Khojas into various sectarian groups.
Development of Satpanth tradition
The pirs who propagated Ismail doctrines in the region, referred to their teachings as Satpanth, ‘true path.’ Hence their followers identified themselves as Satpanthis rather than Ismailis. The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical currents to articulate its core concepts. Consequently those who followed Satpanth understood it through multiple lenses and were not confined to rigid or conventionally defined doctrinal and theological boundaries” (Asani, “From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim: The Articulation of Ismaili Khoja Identity in South Asia published in Farhad Daftary, A Modern History of the Ismailis, I.B. Tauris, p 96).
The presence of these multiple strands became problematic … as new socio-political frameworks, associated with the establishment of British imperial rule and the emergence of religiously based nationalisms, became increasingly dominant in South Asia. Notions of religious identity and the categories ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ were contested and also rigidly and narrowly demarcated, hence, the Khojas, like many other Indian communities, were pressured to reshape their identity to better conform to externally defined norms” (Ibid. 101-102).
Legal affirmation of Aga Khans as head of the Nizari Ismailis
Aga Khan I experienced difficulty in establishing his authority as head of the Nizari Ismailis. Dissidents claimed Sunni or Ithna’ashari heritage of the Khoja Ismailis. Consequently, in 1861, Aga Khan I circulated a document in Bombay, and elsewhere, that specified the religious beliefs of the Nizari Ismailis, requesting every Khoja to sign it, pledging their loyalty to the Imam and their Shia Ismaili Muslim faith as interpreted by him. This document was a landmark in asserting Nizari Ismaili identity. The majority of the Khojas signed the document, however, a group refused to accept the Ismaili identity of their community and filed a legal suit in Bombay High Court in 1866, which came to be known as the Khoja case (Daftary, A Short History of the Ismailis, Edinburg University Press, p 198) .
The plaintiffs claimed that taqiyya, in effect, was not simply a survival tactic – or even a strategy – but was orthopraxy per se. In resisting the Aga Khan’s claims to leadership and ownership over communal property, they sought to prove in court that Pir Sadruddin had been a Sunni all along…” (Ruthven, New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam, p 380).
Mausoleum pf Pir Sadr al-Din (Sadruddin) in Uchch, in modern-day Pakistan. Image: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
The judgement, in favour of the Aga Khan, legally established in British India the status of Aga Khan’s Khoja followers as a community of “Shia Imami Ismailis,” also recognizing Aga Khan “as the spiritual head of the community and heir in lineal descent to the Imams of the Alamut period” (Ibid. p 198). Aga Khan I exerted control over the community, organizing them through a network of appointed officers (mukhi and kamadia) for communities of a certain size, and encouraged a revival of literary activities among the Ismailis.
Hasanabad, Mazagaon
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I’s mausoleum, Hasanabad, Mazagaon, India. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan II, during his brief reign, initiated the collection of ginans, charging a group of Khojas to collect the manuscripts in circulation, eventually resulting in the creation of a ‘standardised’ corpus of ginans, effectively amounting to the closure of a centuries-old tradition of ginan compositions (Asani).
The Khojas underwent profound changes during the Imamat of Aga Khan III, who also faced a legal suit in 1905 filed by his cousin Hajji Bibi, which came to be known as the Hajji Bibi case. As with the 1866 Khoja case, the Hajji Bibi case revealed the extent to which taqiya was still practiced by the Khojas, enabling dissenters to challenge the authority and legitimacy of the Imam. A British judge presiding over the case gave further legal validation to the Aga Khan’s authority and reaffirmed the Ismaili identity of the Khojas.
As a result of these schisms and legal decisions, the identity of the Khojas was clearly defined as ‘a religious community,’ and differentiated from that of the Sunnis and the Ithnaʿasharis alike, the cornerstone of which was allegiance to a living Ismaili Imam.
Changes introduced
Following the court cases, changes were introduced – the batin, previously concealed within or behind the zahir, now came to the fore. Aga Khan III also removed some of the Hinduistic elements from Isma’ili ritual. In this area he appears to have moved cautiously, perhaps in deference to the conservatism of the wealthy Khojas on whom he depended for his organization… firmans issued between 1934 and 1939 direct Ismailis to project an Islamic identity for the sake of Muslim unity by attending mosques on Fridays and mingling with other Muslims (p 383 note 39).
Foremost among the goals ordained by Aga Khan III are social welfare, health, and education. He organised the community through a Constitution, a hierarchy of councils for self-governance, and founded a network of schools and medical centres, emphasizing the education and participation of women.
Rules and Regulations Book issued by Aga Khan III in 1905 that served as the first constitution. Image: The Ismailis An Illustrated History.
As the leader of a recognised community whose distinctive identity he helped to forge Aga Khan III “carefully nurtured distinctive aspects of the Satpanth or Khoja Isma’ilism of India and East Africa … only Arabizing key aspects of ritual when the retreat of British power made it prudent to bring Isma’ilism closer to the Islamic mainstream” (p 392).
Aga Khan IV strengthened institutions found by his grandfather and established new ones to meet the changing needs of the Ismails, now residing all over the world.
Daftary states the present Imam Aga Khan IV, “as a major Muslim leader fully congnisant of the challenges and issues facing contemporary Muslims, has devoted a good share of his time and resources to promoting a better understanding of Islam, not only as a religion with a set of theological doctrines but as a major world civilization – or even a conglomerate of civilisations with their multiplicity of expressions and interpretations (The Ismaili Imams, I.B. Tauris, London, 2020 p 226-239).
Asani notes “while an institution in British colonial India played a facilitating role in defining in legal terms Khoja identity as being Ismailis, it was the hereditary Islamic institution, the Ismaili Imamate, that navigated the Ismaili Khojas through the whirlpools of cultural and political changes…” (From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim).
Adapted from Aga Khan III and the Ismaili Renaissance by Malise Ruthven published in New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam by Peter B. Clark, Luzac Oriental, London, 1998
~*~*~
Contributed by Nimira Dewji. Nimira is an invited writer at Ismailimail, although she has contributed several articles in the past (view previous articles). She also has her own blog – Nimirasblog – where she writes short articles on Ismaili history and Muslim civilisations. When not researching and writing, Nimira volunteers at a shelter for those experiencing homelessness, and at a women’s shelter. She can be reached at [email protected]
https://ismailimail.blog/2021/12/28/the ... aga-khans/