Hussein Rashid, explains – what has been an epic miss by most western media outlets – that His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV was often referred to as a philanthropist, but the description ignores the spiritual impetus for his work.
Throughout his life, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Muslims, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV has emphasized the view of Islam as a thinking, spiritual faith: one that teaches compassion and tolerance, that is inherently pluralistic and that upholds the dignity of humankind. To this end, and guided by the ethical principles of Islam, His Highness the Aga Khan established the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), as a contemporary endeavor of the Ismaili Imamat to realize the social conscience of Islam through institutional action.
The social ethic of Islam obliges capable citizens to remain aware, and ensure fulfilment, of duties that are essential to sustain a wholesome society. The moral challenge for a Muslim is to ask not what he or she has achieved for himself or herself but what he or she has helped others to achieve.
A person of integrity, [Prince Karim] Aga Khan did everything as part of a comprehensive whole.
There was not a part that was separate from another part.
For his community, he was the living exemplar of what it meant to embody the ethics of religion in its most complete form.
His passing is a loss to the community and a reminder that God has promised them continual guidance, in the line of Imams that continues with his son, Prince Rahim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan V.
The AKDN mandate is guided by the spiritual vocation of evoking the noble that resides in each man and woman. This universal ethic defines the focus of AKDN institutions on respect for human dignity, and their reach beyond the boundaries of faith, ethnicity, gender or any other discriminatory barriers. Their combined endeavor is to empower groups and individuals to become self-reliant and able to help those weaker than themselves. Their policy is to nurture and harness a culture of philanthropy and voluntary sharing of time and talent. Their governance is transparent, based on the ancient values of trust, probity, equity and answerability. Their overall aim is to seek to engender, and contribute to the efforts of others who seek to engender, a fraternal ethos of enlightenment, peace, tolerance, mutual respect, help and understanding.
Full extract from Hussein Rashid’s February 7, 2025 Opinion piece in RNS
(RNS) — On Tuesday (Feb. 4), Shah Karim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, passed away in Lisbon, at age 88. For most Americans, this name has little meaning. People with a particular historical awareness may remember his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, as one of the founders of the League of Nations and international statesman. But even those who know the lineage of the Aga Khans, a title that goes back to the British Raj in India, don’t understand who Shah Karim was.
Both men were Imams, or spiritual leaders, of a Muslim community known as the Ismailis. This community is a Shi’ah community that believes the Prophet Muhammad named his cousin and son-in-law Ali as the first Imam. This figure of the Imam is designated in the Quran, the revealed word of God, according to Muslims, and is guaranteed by God to guide the community of believers. The Aga Khans are descended from Prophet Muhammad through Imam Ali and his wife Fatima.
Shah Karim, the 49th Imam in the lineage, took his title as Aga Khan in 1957, when he was 20, after the death of his grandfather.
The Aga Khan IV, who headed the Aga Khan Development Network, was often referred to as a philanthropist, a label that he himself called deeply inaccurate. According to broader Shi’ah belief, three interrelated elements are believed to elevate one another: faith, knowledge and action. To increase in any one area, you must increase in the other areas as well, and together each amplifies the other. Most importantly, faith and knowledge without action is selfish and a denial of God’s blessings.
In May 2006, in accepting the Tolerance Award from the Evangelical Academy of Tutzing, in Germany, the Aga Khan said, “I am fascinated and somewhat frustrated when representatives of the Western world … try to describe the work of our Aga Khan Development Network … they often describe it either as philanthropy or entrepreneurship.” He attributed the misconception to a false dichotomy made between secular and religious and explained that his work is in fact an expression of this relationship among faith, knowledge and action.
In the speech, he emphasized that he aimed “to improve the quality of worldly life for the concerned communities,” offering two exemplar inspirations. The first is the first verse of the Quran’s fourth chapter, which says “O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from the twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.” The verse, the Aga Khan said, says that we are all connected, coming from the same origin, and that we are also diverse, and this is a sign of God’s blessings.
The second piece of inspiration he gave was a teaching of Imam Ali, which speaks of ideal virtues, including faith, knowledge and action and the ability to have humility and seek consultation.
The Aga Khan was a historical figure, a man of the world who skied in the Olympics on the Iranian team, received numerous honorary degrees and worked as an international peacemaker. But it is important to understand what drove him to achieve these things. The Tutzing speech is a window into that impetus: He didn’t act out of a wish for worldly acclaim or the disbursement of worldly wealth. Rather, his course in life was an expression of faith and knowledge, an essential part of what it means to be a believer, to be human.
A person of integrity, the Aga Khan did everything as part of a comprehensive whole. There was not a part that was separate from another part. For his community, he was the living exemplar of what it meant to embody the ethics of religion in its most complete form. His passing is a loss to the community and a reminder that God has promised them continual guidance, in the line of Imams that continues with his son, Prince Rahim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan V.
About Hussein Rashid
Hussein Rashid, Ph.D., is the assistant dean for Religion and Public Life and a lecturer on religion and public life at Harvard Divinity School. He is also the founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency. He works with a variety of NGOs, foundations, non-profits, and governmental agencies for content expertise on religion broadly, with a specialization on Islam. He is an Ismaili Muslim.
Hussein appears on various mainstream media outlets, including CNN, Channel 4 (UK), Al-Jazeera America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and has published at On Faith (Washington Post), Belief Blog (CNN), On Being (NPR), The Revealer, and as a contributor to Religion News Service.
About RNS
Religion News Service (RNS) is an independent, nonprofit and award-winning source of global news on religion, spirituality, culture and ethics, reported by a staff of professional journalists. Founded in 1934, RNS seeks to inform readers with objective reporting and insightful commentary, and is relied upon by secular and faith-based news organizations in a number of countries.
For more than 90 years, RNS has been an authoritative source of news about religion, spirituality and ideas. With a team of correspondents around the world, RNS provides news on religion and its intersections with political and cultural issues. Our stories are distributed to the nation’s leading newspapers, news magazines, online media outlets, broadcasting firms and religious publications. RNS aims to be the largest single source of news about religion, spirituality and ideas. We strive to inform, illuminate and inspire public discourse on matters relating to belief and convictions.
Research, Insight & Perspective by A. Maherali
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