A Division Among The Followers Of The Aga Khan

The evidence presented before Justice Russell, in the Haji Bibi Case (Bombay - 1905), shows that Aga Khan the third, had introduced a "Du'a" (ritual prayer in Gujarati), upon his succession to the leadership of the Khojah community. Today, it is known as the Old (Gatpat) Du'a. In this daily prayer, the Aga Khan's physical ancestral lineage was devotedly recited. The family tree extended upwards from Hadhrat Ali to Shree Rama and Shree Krishna and continued further to the very First Incarnation (Fish), of the famous "Ten Incarnations" (Das-Avataras) of the Lord Vishnu. Thus, the Aga Khan was worshipped as; a physical manifestation of the `Noor' (Light) of Allah, the Tenth and Final Avatara (`Naklank' or `Kalkin') of the Lord Vishnu and the direct descendant of prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) from Hadhrat Ali (a.s.). The followers of Aga Khan also used to recite, on the night of the New Moon (Chandrat), as well as on various occasions, a very devotional `Hymn in Gujarati' (Ginan), entitled "Das-Avatar". It was believed that mere listening to this Ginan, at the end moment of an Ismaili, would assure him/her of `Mok'sh' (Salvation) and the `Noorani Deedar' (Spiritual glimpse) of Noor Mawlana Hazar Imam Shah Sultan Muhammad Shah - Aga Khan the third, in the hereafter. Today, the Du'a has been changed. Before the western media, the present Aga Khan vehemently denies "Divinity". The fact that the Du'a had to be changed, the "Divinity" had to be denied publicly, indicates the growing influence of the Islamic Shariyya Laws on the world stage. Yet, to say otherwise would not only go against all the Ismaili religious practices, but even expose the "religion" to the charge of hypocrisy. HOW COULD A GOD CEASE TO BE A GOD? The present Aga Khan has yet to throw out `Ginans' recited in the Jamatkhanas, which even today attributed "Absolute Divinity" to Ali and thereby to him. One such popular Ginan is entitled "Haq tu- Pak tu".

The introduction of the innovated `Shahadah' in the Gujarati Du'a which declared "Ali, truly Allah", became the basis of a major division among the followers of Aga Khan. In 1901, a small group of reprimanded followers, who had been admonished by the Ithna'ashriyya Mullahs during their visitation of Karbala, approached the Aga Khan with a special request. These followers were advised by the Iraqi Mullahs that the worship of Ali or Aga Khan as an Incarnation, Manifestation and/or Associate of Allah (SWT) nullifies their prayers, voids their fasting, pilgrimages, zakah, etc., and the eternal hell would be their place of abode in the hereafter. The special request was to replace the enigmatic "Declaration of Faith" from the newly introduced Gujarati Du'a, with the one that declared Ali to be "the beloved of Allah" ("Ali- un-Wally-Allah"). Such a Declaration was professed by the rest of the Shiahs. The young Aga Khan was adamant and refused to amend or discard the "heretic" Declaration. He insisted, if the phrase that attributed "Divinity" to Ali (there by to himself, the 48th Ali) was to be discarded, then the entire Du'a should be throw out by his followers. The enlightened followers, having failed in their mission, decided to revert back to the original Ithna'ashriyya persuasion of their ancestors. A persuasion which was practised and professed by Aga Khan the first. The splinter group renounced the leadership of Aga Khan and established the Khojah Ithna'ashriyya Jama'at in Bombay. From there it spread to the rest of India and Africa. Due to this split many Khojah families in India and Africa were divided. They continue to remain so, until now. Today, Khojah Ismailis say; "Ithna'ashri Khojahs are the Dissidents." The Khojah Ithna'ashris say; "Ismaili Khojahs are the one who have abandoned the faith of their forefathers."

The frustrated Aga Khan made a religious pronouncement (Farman), ordering his followers to sever all social and religious contacts with these so called Dissidents. Any of his follower, taking part in the marriage, or mourning of a Dissident could be excommunicated by the Ismailia Council, under the Rule Number 142 of the `Ismailia Constitution', ordained by the Aga Khan. The hatred between the two groups took a violent turn. Aga Khan's Mukhi (Chief Priest) for Bombay - Hassan, was stabbed with a knife by an Ithna'ashri named Killu. Earlier, some Ismaili fanatics had severely beaten Killu and made him temporarily invalid. Killu admitted to the killing and was sentenced to death by hanging. The court trials, as well as the subsequent funeral procession and burial of Killu, brought the Dissident Khojahs out in the open. In 1901, two Ismaili `Fida'is' (the terminology has its root in the `self sacrificing' Nizari Ismailis of the 12th century, known as the `Assassins of Alamut') attacked three Dissidents. Two Ithna'ashris died and one survived.

Aga Khan's deep rooted hatred for the faith of his parents and grand parents (Ithna'ashrism) is glaringly visible in the quoted `Farman' made by him from Zanzibar on July 13, 1899. "Within ten, twenty or thirty years, the Ithna'ashri religion will be worn out. After 100 years the Ithna'ashri religion will not exist at all. It will not exist in Iran either because that religion's base is not on Aq'l (the power of reasoning). Our religion's base is on Aq'l." (Translation is from the Book of Farmans in Gujarati).

Note: In the next four years, it will be 100 years to the above Farman. Today, the trend among the enlightened Ismailis is to revert back to the ancestral Tariqah of their forefathers. The one that was practised before the arrival of the Aga Khans in India, which was the Sunni Tariqah of Islam.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), the founder of Pakistan, was also by birth an Ismaili Khojah. He and the most of his family members joined the groups of the so called Dissident Khojah Ithna'ashris and remained so until their last days. Mr. Jinnah's closest associate and a prominent Pakistani industrialist, Mr. M.A.H. Isphani, wrote: "Qaid-e-Azam (Mohammed Ali Jinnah) told me that...when he was twenty-one, decided to quit the ranks of the Ismailis and join the Isna Ashari fold. ...that he tried to persuade the Aga Khan himself to abandon his headship of Ismailis and to join the ranks of the Isna Asharis, to which sect most of the members of the Aga Khan's own family belonged."

Aga Khan becomes the Imam of Muhammad Shahi Syrian Ismailis

Rashid al-Din Sinan was a personal friend and a chief Da'i of Hassan II. Hassan, the Grand Master of Persian Assassins, had fraudulently declared himself an Imam. In 1166, Hassan was stabbed to death by his own brother-in-law for making the factitious claim. Hassan's son Muhammad II, developed enmity with the chief Da'i Sinan. Muhammad's attempt to kill Sinan failed. Sinan who had moved to Syria, now established his own domain and became the Grand Master and Imam of the Syrian Assassins.

In 1256, almost all of the Persian Assassins were massacred by the Mongolian army. In 1273, the Syrian Assassins were also annihilated by the army of Mamluk Sultan Baybars. Thus, the Nizari Ismailis in Persia and Syria, who were better known as the heretic Assassins, lost their political power. "Ismailism stagnated as a minor heresy in Persia and Syria, with little or no political importance", writes Bernard Lewis in his book `Assassins'.

In the realm of religion, nearly two centuries after their political downfall, the community of Nizari Ismailis split into two branches. Those who chose to follow Muhammad Shah, the elder son of the late Imam Mu'min Shah, became known as the "Muhammad Shahi Nizari Ismailis". The others who opted for the younger son named Qasim Shah were known as the "Qasim Shahi Nizari Ismailis". The Agakhans claim to be the descendants of Imam Qasim Shah. After this major split, there came the period of hiding (Dawr-i Satr) for the Nizari Imams. The Ismaili historians say; the period of hiding lasted for nearly three centuries. The historians have practically no records of the descendants of Imam Qasim Shah, from 1480 to 1722 A.D. The majority of Syrians who had become Muhammad Shahi Ismailis, also lost contact with their fortieth Imam, Amir Muhammad al Baqir, who had been living in southern India. They were desperately looking for a successor.

In 1888, a delegation of Sheikhs, representing a small group of exploring Syrians called Hajjawis came to India. In Bombay they met the young Aga Khan. The desperate Sheikhs accepted the Imamate of Aga Khan, who was claiming to be a descendant of the rival branch. In the archives of the Ismailia Council in Salamiyya, Syria, there is a letter bearing the seal of Aga Khan, written in 1307 A.H. (1890 A.D.).

In 1895, Aga Khan commanded his newly converted Syrian followers to substitute the Islamic Salah with the Gujarati Du'a, which he had introduced to his followers in India and Africa. Dick Douwes and Norman N. Lewis write in `The Trial of Syrian Ismailis'; "Some of the main innovations concerned the `salat', or ritual prayer: the Isma'ilis were now bidden to meet for prayer only twice a day, around a table on which a portrait of the Imam was placed and towards which the worshippers were to turn, instead of in the direction of Mecca. Many of the prayers were to be said in Urdu. Among the formulae to be pronounced were the words, "Ali Allah, sahi Allah" (`Ali is God, truly God)." (p.218). Nauzbillah!

The Aga Khan appointed two Sheikhs from his Syrian followers, as his accredited representatives to collect Zakat, Khums and other donations. In 1901, three Syrian Ismailis were arrested in Tripoli as they were leaving for Bombay. They were carrying letters and money collected by these Sheikhs for the Aga Khan. The Sheikhs were arrested from Salamiyya on the charges of illegal "money-laundering". These leaders were charged with murder, attempted murder, and the use of violence for collecting money for the Aga Khan, records Douwes and Lewis. In 1903, the prisoners were tried in Damascus. In 1905, the Court issued a verdict condemning all the accused to life imprisonment.

In 1919 and 1920, the Syrian Ismailis suffered another major setback. They were repeated raided by the bands of Nusseirys, led by Sheikh Saleh El-Ali. The heretics (Ismailis) were obliged to surrender all their possessions. Nusseirys killed the males. "The Ismaili women and children, left the town bared-foot, and semi- naked" records a Syrian Ismaili scholar, Moustapha Ghaleb in `The Ismailis of Syria."

Six years ago in 1989, United States Federal Agents arrested three groups of Agakhani Ismailis in Dallas, Seattle and New York on the charges of illegal money-laundering. A total of thirteen Ismailis, eleven men and two women were charged. Five pleaded guilty. The illegal money-laundering operation stretched from United States to London and Switzerland, as well as from United States to Canada, London and Belgium. This was the largest money- laundering operation ever uncovered in North Texas and one of the largest in USA.

Vincent Perini, a lawyer representing one of the Ismaili Mukhis (the chief representative of the community), who had illegally taken more than US$ 30 million in currency out of USA, between 1985 and 1987, said; the sect's members are required to give 12 percent to 25 percent of pre-tax income to the Aga Khan, a billionaire resident of Paris. "Traditionally, members of the community literally take the money in the form of cash to the Aga Khan, and traditionally there was secrecy involved," added Perini.

Aga Khan's three Marriages and one Mut`ah

At young age, Aga Khan fell in love with his uncle's beautiful daughter, Shahzadi Begum. In 1896, the marriage between Shahzadi and Sultan (A.K.III) was celebrated with grandeur and splendour in Poona (India). Mihir Bose records in his much publicized book `The Aga Khans'; "The Aga was seeking to make his mark as an Anglicized Indian in Western society, and his wife, brought up in strict Jenana quarters could hardly follow there. As the Aga moved into the wide world, his wife languished in the closed world, full of `resentment and reproach'."

In 1908, Aga Khan who had left his beautiful wife back home, lost his heart to a pubescent teenage ballerina "Ginetta" (Miss Magliano), during his visit to France. In his `Memoirs' Aga Khan wrote: "I made the acquaintance of Mlle. Theresa Magliano, one of the most promising young dancers of the Ballet Opera of Monte Carlo, a ballerina..." In his Will document, Aga Khan wrote: "In the year One thousand nine hundred and eight I was married to CLEOPE TERESA MAGLIANO according to the Muta form of marriage..." In `The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam' under the heading Mut`ah, one reads; "Mut`ah: A marriage stipulated to be temporary, sometimes called a `marriage of pleasure'."

Out of this union of a French Ballerina and a Persian Imam, two sons were born. Giussepe Mahdi Khan the eldest, died in 1911. Aly Salomone Khan who lived to be a legendary playboy, was the second. In the archives of the Turin town hall (Italy), there exists a record of the birth of Aly Salomone from the union of an unmarried 22 years old Teresa, with 34 years old His Highness the Aga Khan.

In 1930, Aga Khan sent Aly Khan to Syria to visit his followers with his special `Holy Farman'. The Farman pronounced; "We are sending our son to you. Consider his arrival as my arrival. We are appointing our Prince as our `Wali-ahad' meaning, the successor to our throne." Members of the Syrian Jama'at took Bay'ah (oath of allegiance) at the hand of their future Imam and offered Nazrana (gifts). Almost every magazine and home of Ismailis in India and Africa had a photo of young Prince dressed in white Arab dress riding a white Arabian horse, taken during his visit to Syria, with captions "H.S.H. Prince Aly Khan Heir Apparent to Mowlana Hazar Imam".

Within 27 years, the infallible Mowlana Hazar Imam realized that his `Holy Farman' had to be recanted. The beloved "Wali-ahad" did not live a life expected of a future Imam. In the June 1995 issue of an American magazine `Vanity Fair', there is a spellbinding twelve page article `The Goddess and the Playboy' describing the "relentless pursuit of speed, sport, and women" by Prince Aly Khan. Aga Khan by his Will document, without making a mention of his earlier pronouncement, made Aly Khan's son Karim as his successor to the throne of Imamate.

This recantation surprised his followers all over the world. They began asking questions; Did the infallible Mowlana Hazar Imam really erred? Can the 1400 years old Ismaili tradition and the Shiah Law "that the issue of a son is not an heir if there be a son alive", be broken? According to the deep rooted Ismaili tradition and uncompromising conviction, Hazar Imam's "Holy Farmans" are to be reckoned as the verses of the "Speaking Qur'an". At any given time and place they can supersede the verses of the so called "Silent or Book Qur'an". Based upon this conviction, the majority of the Agakhani Ismailis have done away with most essential basic Qur'anic Laws, such as; performing of greater or lesser ablutions before praying, facing towards qiblah while praying, takbir al- ihram, qiyam, ruku, salat al-jum'ah, physical fasting during the month of Ramadhan, hajj as well as the "Oneness" of Kalimah Shahadah.

Biographer Willie Frischauer records in his book `The Aga Khans'; "Bettina (one of Aly's several girl friends) wrote: `To Aly it seemed that his father's preference for his son was a kind of public humiliation for him...He was never quite the same from that day on." When Aly Khan declared that he too had taken the Bay'ah of his own son Karim as his "Hazar Imam"; Karim became the spiritual father of his own father, according to the Ismaili tradition. In 1960, the mortified Aly Khan was killed in a tragic car crash. He suffered crushed chest, fractured skull, broken neck and legs in that fatal accident.

Aga Khan's third marriage in 1929 was with a French brunette, Andree Carron. Aga Khan's wealth and persuasion failed to convert this Roman Catholic girl to accept Islam. Out of this Muslim and Catholic union was born Aga Khan's third son Sadruddin Khan. In 1938, Aga Khan who was nearly 60, met a tall French beauty contestant named Yvette in Cairo. Six years later, Aga Khan divorced his third wife Andree and married Yvette Lebrusse - "Miss Lyon" 1930 and "Miss Universe" contestant 1931. Aga Khan converted his fourth wife to Islam and named her "Umme Habibah". She accompanied the weak and ailing Aga Khan at all social and religious gatherings.

In 1953, during his visit of Africa, there was "a subversive campaign among members of the sect calling for his and Aly's abdication from their spiritual leadership" records, `Vanity Fair' (June 1995). The campaign grew to such a proportion that at a special meeting of the Ismailia Council, held at the hotel suite of the Aga Khan, a decision was taken that "all members of the East African communities be requested to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Aga Khan, or be excommunicated if they refused." This was too much of a shock for the old and weakened Aga Khan.

In 1954, Aga Khan was virtually crippled suffering from lumbago and sciatica. He could barely walk two yards, writes Mihir Bose. Three years later, the debilitated and ailing Aga Khan, who was now also suffering from a prolonged cancer, died. His grandson Karim became the 49th Hazar Imam of the community and `Aga Khan the Fourth' to carry on the family tradition.

(Continued - See Section 3) Akbarally Meherally