Islamic spiritual leader, Prince Karim al-Husseini known as Prince Karim Aga Khan, died on Tuesday aged 88, leaving millions of followers in mourning across the world.
Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini was born on Dec. 13, 1936 in Geneva and spent his early childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. He later returned to Switzerland, attending the exclusive Le Rosey School before going to the United States to study Islamic history at Harvard.
When his grandfather Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan died in 1957, he became the imam of the Ismaili Muslims, a branch of Shia Islam, at the age of 20. This was the first time that that the line of succession was skipped since the seventh century to appoint a “young man” of the “new age”. He was regarded as a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, given nearly divine-status as the 49th hereditary imam of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam.
He was the fourth holder of the title which was originally granted in the 1830s by the emperor of Persia to Karim’s great-great-grandfather when the latter married the emperor’s daughter. The role included providing divine guidance for the Ismaili community, whose members live in Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America.
He was the son of a British socialite, and went on to have a jetset lifestyle marked by private planes, yachts, skiing in the Winter Olympics. He married twice, first to a British model, with whom he had three children, and later to German singer Gabriele Thyssen, with whom he had a son.
In his youth he had dreamed of becoming an architect, before graduating instead from Harvard University with a degree in Islamic history. Fuelled by his enormous wealth, he launched an apolitical secular development foundation in 1967 credited with raising literacy levels in 18 countries across South and Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He has also pursued a goal of educating the world about the richness of Muslim culture.
“I was born with Islamic ethics in a Muslim family. There is nothing wrong with being well off as long as money has a social and ethical value and is not the object of one’s own greed,” he told AFP in 2008. “One of the principles of Islam is that on his deathbed every person must try to leave behind a better world,” he said.
Prince Karim Aga Khan set up the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in 1967. The group of international development agencies employs 80,000 people helping to build schools and hospitals and providing electricity for millions of people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia.
He mixed his development work with private business, owning for example in Uganda a pharmaceutical company, a bank and a fishnet factory.
“Few persons bridge so many divides — between the spiritual and the material; East and West; Muslim and Christian — as gracefully as he does,” Vanity Fair wrote in its 2013 article.
The Aga Khan has among other things helped finance the reconstruction of Bosnia’s Ottoman-era Mostar bridge, which was destroyed during the Balkan Wars in the 1990s.
He boasts a enviable collection of over 1,000 years of Islamic art, one of the world’s largest and most valuable, that he has put on display in his cultural centres in London, Lisbon, Vancouver and Dubai.
“We don’t do enough to illustrate to the peoples of our world the greatness of Islamic civilisations,” he told AFP in an interview in 2008 in Syria, after funding the restoration of Aleppo’s majestic citadel.
Estimates of his wealth varied from USD800 million to USD13 billion, with his money coming from his family inheritance, his horse breeding business and his personal investments in tourism and real estate.
“If you travel the developing world, you see poverty is the driver of tragic despair, and there is the possibility that any means out will be taken,” he told the New York Times in a rare interview in 2007.
By assisting the poor through business, he told the newspaper, “we are developing protection against extremism”.
Condolences pour in
Acting President Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Prince Karim Aga Khan: “I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Prince Karim Aga Khan. His contributions to education and healthcare will always be remembered.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also offered his condolences to the Ismaili community and the family of Prince. Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also paid tributes to the Aga Khan’s legacy, highlighting his love for humanity and remarkable services.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif also mourned the loss, calling Prince Karim Aga Khan a globally respected leader and a true friend of Pakistan. “His passing is a personal loss to us all,” he stated.
According to a royal source King Charles II is “deeply saddened” over the death of Prince Karim, who was “a personal friend of many years.”
Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau said that his ‘very good friend’ Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims around the world, had died.’ He called him ‘an extraordinarily compassionate global leader, a man of vision, of faith and of incredible generosity.’
Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai passed along her “deepest condolences” to the family and loved ones.