Aghakhaniyya
Template:جعبه اطلاعات فرق و مذاهب
Aghakhaniyya, are a sect of Nizari Ismailis attributed to Aqa Khan Mahallati.
Background
The ancestor of this family was a person named Sayyid Abu al-Hasan Khan, from Kahak in قم, who was counted among the Sayyids of the Ismailis and was the ruler of Kerman from the beginning of the Zand dynasty until the time of Aqa Mohammad Khan Qajar, and considered himself a descendant of Ismail ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (peace be upon him). After being dismissed from governance, he secluded himself in the city of Mahallat, a dependency of Qom. The Aga Khanieh had many followers in هند and Central Asia and received needs and vows from them. However, those who could not send their vows to his presence personally would cast them into the sea, since they believed these assets would eventually reach their Imam. Sayyid Abu al-Hasan Khan died in 1207 AH and after him, his son Shah Khalil Allah attained the Imamate. The Aga Khanieh adopted the title Shah from the 'Masharid Sufieh' and imitating them, called themselves Shah, or because they considered themselves from the lineage of Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the last Ismaili Shah in Alamut, they bestowed the title Shah upon themselves. After attaining the Imamate, Shah Khalil Allah traveled to Yazd and after a two-year stay in that city, he was killed in a conflict that occurred between his followers and شیعیان اثنیعشری (1232 AH). When Fath Ali Shah Qajar became aware of this incident, he summoned Hasan Ali Shah, the son of Shah Khalil Allah, to تهران and expressed sympathy to him and ordered that those who were involved in the murder of his father be disciplined. Then he gave his daughter Sarv Jahan Khanum to him in marriage and entrusted the governance of Qom and Mahallat to him and titled him Aga Khan. In 1255 AH, Hasan Ali Shah was forced to leave Mahallat and go to Kerman due to the instigations of Haji Mirza Aqasi, the Prime Minister of Mohammad Shah. In that province, he managed to seize the Bam citadel and occupy it. However, Firoz Mirza "Nasrat al-Dawla", the brother of Mohammad Shah who was the governor of Kerman, fought him and prevailed over him, and the Shah pardoned Aga Khan I for his mistake and granted him amnesty and brought him out of the sanctuary of Hazrat عبدالعظیم حسنی and welcomed him warmly and reappointed him to the governance of Qom and Mahallat. Hasan Ali Khan, seeing that no one else bothered him, sent his family and wealth via بغداد to کربلا and then obtained permission from Mohammad Shah to perform pilgrimage to the House of God and went to Kerman via the desert and pretended that he intended to perform pilgrimage to the کعبه via Bandar Abbas, but he was defeated by the governor of Kerman and from there went to Lar and then to Jiroft and subsequently in the Minab region prepared an army and war equipment and after several skirmishes went to Kandahar. In that city, British agents supported him and a daily allowance of one hundred rupees was designated for him and his companions by the British government and with the consent of British officials, he went to Sindh (one of the provinces of Pakistan) with his brother and kin in late Safar 1262 AH. Aga Khan then headed to the port of Bombay and after a while, due to the protest of the Iranian government, he could not stay there and in the month of Jumada al-Awwal 1263 AH, he went to the province of Bengal and settled in Calcutta. It was not long before he returned to Bombay again and made it the center of his organization's progress and from that date this family settled in India. At this time, disputes arose between the Khojas, who were former Ismailis of India, which led to a series of legal claims. Finally, with the judgment of Joseph Arnold in 1866 CE, this matter was concluded in favor of the Aga Khan and from that time he became the leader of the Khojas and all 'Ismailis' of India. As we said, the title of Hasan Ali Shah was 'Aga Khan' and he was called Aga Khan I. He died in 1298 AH and his body was buried in the Hasanabad cemetery in Bombay. He wrote a treatise on his own biography named Ibrat-afza which was printed in Bombay. In that treatise, he calls himself 'Muhammad Hasan al-Husayni', Hasan Ali Shah. After Hasan Ali Shah, his son Aqa Ali Shah al-Husayni or 'Aga Khan II' became the leader of the Ismailis of India. He lived until 1302 AH and his Imamate period did not last long before he passed away. After his death, his body was taken to نجف اشرف and buried. After him, his eight-year-old son Sultan Mohammad Shah titled 'Aga Khan III' attained the Imamate. From August 18, 1885 CE until 1957 CE, he was the leader of the Ismailis. Sultan Mohammad Shah was titled 'Sir' by the British government and became the spiritual leader of the Nizari Ismailis of India and also the Khojas and Ismailis of Iran and Central Asia and سوریه and East Africa, afterwards he was elected president of the All-India Muslim League and remained in this position for seven years. In 1932 CE, he became the representative of India at the Disarmament Conference and president of that country's representatives in the League of Nations and in 1937 CE he was elected President-General of the League of Nations. In 1936–1937 CE, which was the fiftieth year of his Imamate, the Ismailis of Asia and آفریقا in Bombay and Nairobi gifted him pure gold equal to his weight, and in 1946 CE diamond equal to his weight and then in 1954 and 1955 CE, white gold equal to his weight was presented to him in Karachi and قاهره. In 1327 SH, the Aga Khan requested citizenship from Iran. The Iranian government agreed to his citizenship and محمّد رضا پهلوی gave him the title 'Hazrat Vala'. Aga Khan died in 1957 CE in Geneva, Switzerland after eighty years of life and his body was buried in their family mausoleum in Aswan, مصر. After him, his grandson Prince Karim Khan, son of Ali Khan (born 1315 SH and 1936 CE) attained the Imamate at the age of twenty-one according to his grandfather's will and is now the leader of the 'Aga Khanieh Ismaili' tribe. Karim Aga Khan was born in Geneva and studied at Harvard University and the ceremonies of his attainment of the Imamate position were held in the city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and in East Africa.
Geographical distribution
Today, the followers of this sect are scattered across numerous countries, but most of them reside in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia, and another portion in the countries of the European continent, North America, and also Africa[1].
Beliefs and Prayers of Agha Khan Ismailis
This sect considers their Imam to be a spiritual figure and regards him as the manifestation and epitome of the attributes of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). Like their predecessors, they believe that the Imam must be "Hayy" (alive) so that everyone can obey him. His commands are executable as long as he is alive, and after his death, the commands of the current Imam replace the commands of the previous Imam. Usually, the commands of the current Imam are conveyed to the "Jamatkhana" by a person they call the minister, and if any point regarding it is questioned, they ask the Imam for its interpretation and exegesis. Contemporary Ismailis have prayers specific to themselves, which differ from the prayer, worship, and supplications of other Islamic sects. For example, some of these prayers are mentioned here: In Salat, after reciting Surah Al-Fatiha, they recite this prayer: سجدت وجهی الیک و توکلت علیک منک قوّتی و انت عصمتی یا رب العالمین، اللهم صلّ علی محمّد المصطفی و علی علیّ المرتضی و علی الائمة الاطهار و علی حجة الامر صاحب الزمان و العصر امامنا الحاضر الموجود مولانا شاه کریم الحسینی اللّهمّ لک سجودی و طاعتی[2].
See also
Footnotes
Sources
- Mohammad Javad Mashkur, Culture of Islamic Sects, Mashhad, Astan Quds Razavi Publications, year 1372 SH, 2nd ed, Insertion date: N/A, View date: 8 Dey 1404 SH.