The Aga Khan, imam of the Ismaili Muslims and head of a major development aid foundation, died Tuesday in Lisbon at the age of 88, his foundation announced.
“His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), passed away peacefully in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, aged 88, surrounded by his family,” the Aga Khan Development Network said.
“The announcement of his designated successor will follow,” the foundation added in a post on X.
The Aga Khan set up the Aga Khan Development Network in 1967. The group of international development agencies employs 80,000 people, helps build schools and hospitals and provides electricity for millions of people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia.
He mixed his development work with private business, owning, for example, a pharmaceutical company, a bank and a fishnet factory in Uganda.
The 49th hereditary imam, or spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, his name became synonymous with success as a racehorse owner. The thoroughbred Shergar is among his most famous horses.
Estimates of his wealth ranged from $800 million to $13 billion. He earned money from his family inheritance, horse breeding business, and personal investments in tourism and real estate.
The international jet setter, who held British, French, Swiss, and Portuguese citizenship, also donated millions to help people in the poorest parts of the world.
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.
His grandfather chose Karim as his successor over his flamboyant son, Karim’s father, Prince Aly Khan, who was once married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth.
The name Aga Khan, derived from Turkish and Persian words meaning commanding chief, was believed by Ismailis to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the first imam, and his wife, Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter.
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.
After his father died in May 1960, the Aga Khan initially pondered whether to continue his family’s long tradition of thoroughbred racing and breeding.
But after winning the French owners’ championship in his first season, he became hooked.
His stables and riders, wearing his emerald-green silk livery, enjoyed great successes with horses like Sea the Stars, which won the Epsom Derby and the 2,000 Guineas, and Sinndar, which also won the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year, 2000.
But perhaps his most famous horse was Shergar, which won the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the King George, before being kidnapped in February 1983 from Ireland’s Ballymany stud farm.
A ransom demand was made, with the mafia, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the IRA all suggested as suspects. No money was paid, and no trace of the horse was ever found.
(Reuters)
