Aga Khan I

Nizārī imam
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/biography/Aga-Khan-I
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Also known as: Ḥasan ʿAlī Shāh
Quick Facts
Personal name:
Ḥasan ʿalī Shāh
Born:
1800
Died:
April 1881 (aged 81)

Aga Khan I (born 1800—died April 1881) was the imam, or spiritual leader, of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīte sect of the Shīʿite Muslims. He claimed to be directly descended from ʿAlī, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad, and ʿAlī’s wife Fāṭimah, Muḥammad’s daughter, and also from the Fāṭimid caliphs of Egypt.

He was the governor of the Iranian province of Kerman and was high in the favour of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh. The title Aga Khan (chief commander) was granted him in 1818 by the shah of Iran. Under Moḥammad Shāh, however, he felt his family honour slighted and rose in revolt in 1838 but was defeated and fled to India. He helped the British in the first Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42) and in the conquest of Sindh (1842–43) and was granted a pension. After he had settled in Bombay, he encountered some opposition from a minority of his followers, who contested the extent of his spiritual authority and in a lawsuit challenged his control over the community’s funds, but he won his case (1866).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.