Aga Khan the Manifest Light Ismaili Imamat Quran verse

His Highness the Aga Khan IV: Compassion, Empathy, Pluralism, and the Global Ismaili Community — Celebrating a Remarkable Servant

Aga Khan depiction Canadian Museum of Human Rights
A life-size depiction of Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, (d. February 4, 2025, aged 88) exhibited at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The exhibit appears with depictions of other Honorary Canadian Citizens on a floor dedicated to “Turning Points of Humanity.” Photograph (of the exhibit taken July 2017): Malik Merchant / Barakah.

Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, at his Takht-nishini, in Nairobi, Kenya, 1957. Photograph: 25 Years in Pictures, Volume 1, Islamic Publications, 1983, London.
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, at his Takht-nishini, in Nairobi, Kenya, 1957. Photograph: 25 Years in Pictures, Volume 1, Islamic Publications, 1983, London.
Aga Khan in Hunza
The Ismailis o Hunza accept the gracious deedar (glimpse) of Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, their 49th Hereditary Imam, as he visits the Princely State in the Northern Areas of Pakistan in 1960. Hunza was then governed by the Mir of Hunza, who is seen following the Imam. The kingdom was then abolished, coming under the direct rule of the Pakistan Federal Government in 1974. The entire Northern region is now known as Gilgit-Baltistan with Karimabad (or Baltit), being the capital of Hunza. Photograph: © Abdul M. Ismaily.

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Hunza welcome for aga khan
A sign etched on a mountain to welcome Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan to Pasu in the Hunza region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan; November 1987. Photo: Faqir Ullah Khan.

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Aga Khan in Badakhshan
In a setting of spectacular natural beauty, Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan addresses Ismailis and non-Ismaili Muslims in Ishkashim during his first historic visit to Badakhshan in Tajikistan; May 27, 1995. Photograph: The Ismaili.

Aga Khan Museum Toronto Open Doors 2023
A view of the Aga Khan Museum during the annual Toronto Open Doors event, May 27, 2023. Photograph: Malik Merchant/Barakah.

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Treasures at the Aga Khan Museum Toronto. From the upper floor, one can see permanent and loaned exhibits, such as the Wagner Garden Carpet, Burrell Collection, Glasgow, Scotland. Photograph: Malik Merchant / Simerg.

Baltit Fort restored by Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Divine mountain scenery around the Baltit Fort, in Hunza, Pakistan. The fort’s revitalization was completed in 1997 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s Historic Cities Programme. Photograph: © Paul Hilts.

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Manmohan Singh, the Aga Khan and Tata
The Humayun Tomb, the resting place of the second Mughal emperor and a precursor to the Taj Mahal, forms a backdrop in this picture taken during the inauguration ceremony on September 18, 2013 which was attended by the Chief Guest, the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, the Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Chairman Ratan Tata of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Prince Hussain Aga Khan. Photograph: Prime Minister’s Office (GODL-India), GODL-India , via Wikimedia Commons.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan Birthday Tribute, Barakah., Malik Merchant
President Chissano of Mozambique and Princess Zahra Aga Khan look on as Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, addresses dignitaries at the foundation laying ceremony of the Aga Khan Academy Maputo on June 25, 2004. Photograph: The Ismaili USA, December 13, 2004.

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Prince Rahim Aga Khan in Mozambique, inaugration of Aga Khan Academy by Presidents of Portugal and Mozambique
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa unveil the inaugural plaque of the Aga Khan Academy Maputo, as Prince Rahim, who succeeded as the 50th Imam on February 4, 2025, looks on. Photograph: Akbar Hakim/IPL

The University of Central Asia Naryn campus in the Kyrgyz Republic lies on the banks of the Naryn River, surrounded by the Tien Shan mountain range. Photograph: AKDN.

Aga Khan with Kyrgyz musicians at the Smithsonian Folklife Silk Roads Festival in 2002
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, meeting musicians from the Kyrgyz Republic. The troupe was brought to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival held in Washington, DC, in 2002 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Photograph: AKDN/Zahur Ramji

Stamps issued by the Sultanate of Oman to commemorate the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Aga Khan Music Awards, October 2022.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Bill Clinton with His Highness the Aga Khan at the first White House conference on culture and diplomacy which was convened by President and Mrs. Clinton on November 28th, 2000. The Aga Khan was among the distinguished panelists invited to advise the president, and secretary of state on the role of culture in foreign policy. Photo: Official White House Photo.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Bill Clinton with Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, at the first White House conference on culture and diplomacy convened by President and Mrs. Clinton on November 28th, 2000. The Aga Khan was among the distinguished panelists invited to advise the president and secretary of state on the role of culture in foreign policy. Photograph: Official White House Photo.

Kofi Annan and Aga Khan
(Late) Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, presents the Champion for Global Change Award to Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, at a special gala dinner held in New York on October 18, 2017. Photo: The Ismaili/Akbar Hakim/Mairaj Manji.

Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, during one of his visits to the site of the Al-Azhar Park, in Cairo.

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Al Azhar Park
In the 1980’s the Aga Khan turned his attention to a site in Cairo, where garbage had been dumped for more than 500 years and was nearly 25 feet deep. After more than 15 years of work masterminded by his Trust for Culture, his vision has transformed the derelict site into a sequence of formal gardens filled with groves of fruit and flowering trees, fountains and an artificial lake studded with a modern lakeside café and a central allee of royal palms lines a path that has views of Islamic Cairo’s minarets and domes. Atop the dump site sit three new sunken reservoirs that provide invisible succor and a children’s playground and other special features. Shown in the image are: the 1992 park site, Al Darassa municipal dump (top left); on going work in shaping the Al-Azhar Park site in 1999 (top right); and the completed Al-Azhar Park which was inaugurated in 2005. Photos: Aga Khan Trust for Culture via Archnet.

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Aga Khan and the British Crown, Prince Charles and Camilla at Al-Azhar Park, Barakah news
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, welcomes Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, and The Duchess of Cornwall to Al-Azhar Park in 2006 at the beginning of their official 2-week to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. Photo: AKDN/Gary Otte.

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Al Azhar Park Cairo, a Aga Khan Triust for Culture project
Al-Azhar Park — a boulevard walkway in a park! Photograph: © Muslim Harji.

Aga Khan and Norway
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, and Norway’s Minister for International Development, Ms. Hilde F. Johnson, sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the AKDN and the Government of Norway, to enhance collaboration on development issues and programmes in Africa, Central and South Asia; April 6, 2005, Oslo, Norway. Photograph: AKDN / Gary Otte.

Dr. Friedemann Greiner, Director and Chairman of the Jury (left), presenting the Tolerance Award 2006 to His Highness the Aga Khan as Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs (right), looks on. The Tolerance Award was established by Germany’s Evangelische Akademie Tutzing in 2000 and is presented every second year to an individual whose life work is committed to building greater understanding and tolerance between different cultures and traditions. During his laudatory address, Dr Steinmeier described the Aga Khan as a “fortress for democratic progress, as someone wishing to bring about sustainable, pluralistic, civil societies…We honour an exceptional man, we honour a huge friend of humankind, we honour a courageous visionary and we honour a person building bridges between societies,” Photo: AKDN/Zahur Ramji.
Dr. Friedemann Greiner, Director and Chairman of the Jury (left), presents the Tolerance Award 2006 to Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, as the then-German Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) looks on; May 2006. Photograph: AKDN/Zahur Ramji.
Synergos Founder and Chairperson Peggy Dulany presenting the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award to Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan in London on October 22, 2012. Photo: AKDN/JMB Photographic Ltd
Synergos Founder and Chairperson Peggy Dulany presenting the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award to Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan in London on October 22, 2012. Photo: AKDN/JMB Photographic Ltd

adrienne clarkson global citizen award to aga khan
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, receives the inaugural Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship in Toronto, Canada, on September 21, 2016. The prize recognises an individual who has, through thought and dialogue, encouraged approaches and strategies that strive to remove barriers, change attitudes, and reinforce the principles of tolerance and respect. Photo: AKDN/Lisa Sakulensky.

The Aga Khan is presented the World Monument Fund's Hadrian Award on October 25, 1996 by David Rockefeller. In the keynote speech at the presentation ceremony, Cyrus Vance, former US Secretary of State, noted the Aga Khan's lifelong labour to improve the lives of Islamic peoples throughout the world and his commitment to the preservation and renewal of societies. Photo: The Ismaili Canada, July 1997.
Mawlana Shah Karim, His Highness the Aga Khan, is presented the World Monument Fund’s Hadrian Award on October 25, 1996 by David Rockefeller. In the keynote speech at the presentation ceremony, Cyrus Vance, former US Secretary of State, noted Aga Khan’s lifelong labour in improving the lives of Islamic peoples worldwide and his commitment to preserving and renewing societies. Photograph: The Ismaili Canada, July 1997, print edition.

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Andrew Kosorok -- Your Aga Kha - My Heo

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  1. His Highness the Aga Khan’s Foresight and Wisdom at Age 20 (Taksht-nishini messages)
  2. Bruno Freschi: The Architecture of Empathic Pluralism — His Highness the Aga Khan, an inspired vision of architecture
  3. Andrew Kosorok: Larnin’ in the Post-Colonial World — the atomic Imam speaks on education
  4. Andrew Kosorok: Volunteering and the Aga Khan
  5. Andrew Kosorok: Building God’s Kingdom – Prince Karim Aga Khan on patriotism and community

3 thoughts on “His Highness the Aga Khan IV: Compassion, Empathy, Pluralism, and the Global Ismaili Community — Celebrating a Remarkable Servant

  1. Ya Ali Madad: Rizwan Mawani — Thanks for the precious and energizing article that you have presented on Simerg. But please tell me how to control my tears streaming down my face. I cannot thank you enough for this inspiring piece.

  2. Dear Mr Kosorok,

    Thank you very much for penning this beautiful article on His Highness Aga Khan IV and informing us all (Ismailis and non Ismailis) about his contributions to the world.

    Agree that His Highness taught us all to be good human beings regardless of our background, religion, race etc.

    Enjoyed reading your detailed article

    Dr Moh’d (Mo) Fazal Manji

  3. Dear Mr Andrew Kosorok,

    I have just read your article with great emotion. Please accept the expression of my highest consideration, my profound gratitude and my sincere congratulations and thanks for this exceptional testimony. You also moved me deeply and I am very grateful to you.

    Best wishes, best regards

    mohez nato
    (Paris, France)

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