Ismaili History 832 - The Aga Khan III as a writer

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Begum Aga Khan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa (Photo credit: NailaJ)

Sven Melkers, Nena Thurman, Bob Thurman, Begum Aga Khan, Regine Sixt (Photo credit: Charity Celebrities)

The Aga Khan III was a prolific writer, and compiled 'India in Transition', published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. in 1918, which he dedicated to the loving memory of his mother. It deals the future political affairs of India. According to 'Muslims in India' (Lahore, 1985, 1st vol., p. 56), 'It contained an elaborate scheme of references for India, urging a federal constitution. He envisaged a great south Asiatic Federation of which Delhi would be the centre.' On October 29, 1952, he declared in an interview with 'New York Herold Tribune', Paris for compiling his autobiographical work, and began to write it on January 3, 1953. It was published in 1954, entitled 'Memoirs of Aga Khan'. Besides, there is a large collection of his speeches, articles and interviews
Ismaili History 833 - Marriages of the Aga Khan III
The first marriage of the Aga Khan took place in 1314/1897 with Shahzadi Begum, the daughter of his uncle Aga Jhangi Shah, at Poona. In 1908, he married to Mlle Theresa Maglioni (d. 1926) in Cairo, who bore Prince Aly Salomone Khan on June 13, 1911 at Turin in Italy. She had visited India with his son in 1923, and died on December 2, 1926 at Paris at the age of 37 years. In 1929, the Aga Khan had married his third wife, Mlle Andree Carron, who bore his second son, Sadruddin on January 17, 1933.
On October 9, 1944, the Aga Khan married his fourth and last wife, Mlle Yvette Labrousse, known as Umm Habiba, the Begum Aga Khan. She was the third to be awarded in 1954 a rare title of 'Mata Salamat' during last 13 centuries. 'The Aga Khan wants to sleep in the hot sand overlooking the waters of the Nile,' explained the Begum Aga Khan 40 years ago, 'and when I die I want to lie beside him. We do not want to be parted.' In her interview of 1953, she said, 'I always appreciated beauty, but he (the Aga Khan) taught me how really to enjoy a lovely sunset, moonlight, to know the stars, the colours and scents of flowers, to like music, ballet and opera, to appreciate everything that is beautiful in life. Most important, he taught me to love Islam.'
Recently, the Begum Aga Khan celebrated her 90th birthday at Aswan in Upper Egypt on February 15, 1996.

Ismaili History 827 - Khilafat Movement

In 1341/1923, the Aga Khan III took a leading part in the Khilafat Movement with the Indian Muslims, and raised his voice through articles in newspapers and letters to British authorities. This was indeed a critical time that his loyalty to the West and his unbounded love for Islam directly clashed, but the Aga Khan decidedly championed the cause of Islam. He wrote a historic letter in association with Right Hon'ble Sayed Ameer Ali (1849- 1928), a member of the Privy Council of England, addressed to Ghazi Ismet Pasha, the Prime Minister of Turkey on November 24, 1923, insisting not to liquidate the symbol of Islamic unity, and pleading that the matter of Turkey be given considerable hearing at the conference table. This letter was published in 'The Times' (London) on December 14, 1923. Aziz Ahmed writes in 'Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan' (London, 1967, p. 138) that, 'The letter influenced and possibly precipitated the decision of the Turkish National Assembly taken on Marach 3, 1924 to abolish the caliphate and to exile Abd al-Majid. This marked the end of a centuries-old institution and of an era in the history of Islam.'
For a decade after First World War (1914-1919), the Aga Khan III stayed away from the international and Indian political affairs, devoting mainly to the affairs of the Ismailis. Having established permanent homes in Switzerland and the French Riviera, he now visited India every year.
His global popularity as a man of peace found expression in a resolution moved in the Indian Council of State on February 5, 1924, recommending the government of India to convey to the Norwegian Parliament the view of the House that, 'His Highness Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, the Aga Khan is a fit and proper person to be awarded the Noble Prize for Peace in this year, in view of the strenuous, persistent and successful efforts that he had made to maintain peace between Turkey and the Western Powers since the armistice.'
In 1928, the Aga Khan III presided over the All-India Muslim Conference held in Delhi, where more than 600 delegates represented all provinces of India.

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