The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili Muslims, has died at age 88

The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, listens to a speech during the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP / Manish Swarup, File)

The Aga Khan, who became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims has died age 88. 

His Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili religious community announced that His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, died on Tuesday in Portugal surrounded by his family.

They stated that an announcement regarding his successor would be made at a later date.

At the age of 20 the Aga Khan was a Harvard undergraduate and poured a material empire built on billions of dollars in tithes into building homes, hospitals and schools in developing countries.

The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, leaves after the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP / Manish Swarup, File)

Leaving a legacy

Considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, the Aga Khan was a student  when his grandfather passed over his playboy father as his successor to lead the diaspora of Shia Ismaili Muslims, saying his followers should be led by a young man “who has been brought up in the midst of the new age.”

Over decades, the Aga Khan evolved into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease.

Treated as a head of state, the Aga Khan was given the title of “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather the Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.

The Aga Khan, left, and author J.K. Rowling, right, clap during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Cambridge, Mass. Both received honorary degrees during the exercises.
(AP / Lisa Poole, File)

He became the Aga Khan IV on 19 October 1957, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the spot where his grandfather once had his weight equalled in diamonds in gifts from his followers.

He had left Harvard to be at his ailing grandfather’s side and returned to school 18 months later with an entourage and a deep sense of responsibility.

“I was an undergraduate who knew what his work for the rest of his life was going to be,” he said in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair magazine. “I don’t think anyone in my situation would have been prepared.”

He was widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite — or perhaps because of — his reticence to become involved in politics.

The Aga Khan Development Network, his main philanthropic organisation, deals mainly with issues of health care, housing, education and rural economic development. 

Queen Elizabeth II and the Aga Khan at a dinner at Buckingham Palace, in London, July 7, 2008, to mark
the Aga Khan's Golden Jubilee. (AP / Dominic Lipinski/PA, File)

A network of hospitals bearing his name are scattered in places where health care had lacked for the poorest, including Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where he spent tens of millions of dollars for development of local economies.

Balancing money and morals

The extent of the Aga Khan’s financial empire is hard to measure. Some reports estimated his personal wealth to be in the billions.

The Ismailis — a sect originally centred in India but which expanded to large communities in east Africa, Central and South Asia and the Middle East — consider it a duty to tithe up to 12.5% of their income to him as steward.

“We have no notion of the accumulation of wealth being evil,” he told Vanity Fair in 2012. 

“The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.”

The owner of Zarkava his highness Aga Khan, center, his daughter Zahra Aga Khan, left, and French jockey Christophe Soumillon hold their trophies after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp race track in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. (AP /Michel Euler, File)

He became well-known as a horse breeder and owner, and he represented Iran in the 1964 Winter Olympics as a skier. His eye for building and design led him to establish an architecture prize, and programs for Islamic Architecture at MIT and Harvard. He used this skill to restore ancient Islamic structures throughout the world.

He is survived by three sons and a daughter, and several grandchildren.

AP

First published and updated at ABC News, February 5, 2025