Jubilee of the Aga Khan

Abstract

IN the celebration of the jubilee of the Aga Khan on January 19 and four succeeding days in Bombay, one of the most striking incidents, perhaps for its incongruity, has been the assessment of the tribute from his followers to mark the occasion by the ceremonial of weighing His Highness against bars of gold in a huge balance. This is the usual method by which the contributions to his personal expenditure are determined annually; but, on this occasion, the £25,125 representing the value of the weight of gold at which he ‘tipped the balance’ is to be devoted by his decision to the benefit of his community. By his activities in Europe the Aga Khan has become so intimately known to the public that the significance of his position in India is sometimes overlooked. Without territory, as hereditary Imam of the Ismailia sect, he is spiritual head and virtual dictator to a body variously estimated at from four to twenty millions, and distributed over north and east Africa, Central Asia, India and Burma. Although the Ismailia sect is regarded as heretical by both Sunni and Shiah, from the latter of whom it originally derived, in India the Aga Khan by his personal qualities, his influence and his services, has come to be regarded as in some sort the representative of the Moslem community. His hereditary position and influence are derived not so much from his descent from the Prophet, as from the fact that he is of the line of the “Old Man of the Mountains”, the legendary figure of the Middle Ages, by whom the Ismailia sect was founded, and whose fanatical followers, the Assassins, were said to be devoted to his service through the use of hashish, whence their name. The leaders of the Ismailia dominated Syria in the twelfth century until overcome by the Mongols. They then settled in Persia, the grandfather of the Aga Khan going to Bombay in 1845.