Aga Khan IV
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Aga Khan IV
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The Aga Khan Recives the
Order of Canada from
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in a ceremony performed at Rideau Hall in 2005.
Aga Khan IV CC (
Prince Karim Aga Khan or
Prince Karim El Husseni) (born
December 13 1936) is the current (49th)
Imam of the
Shia Imami
Ismaili Muslims since
July 11,
1957. He is referred to by members of his flock as
Hazar Imam, or "present Imam".
At the age of 20 he succeeded his grandfather,
Sultan Mahommed Shah, as Imam. He is a descendant of the Prophet
Muhammad through the Prophet's daughter,
Fatima, and her husband,
Ali, the first
Shia Imam.
Aga Khan IV is the son of
Prince Ali Solomon Khan, (
November 17,
1911 -
May 12,
1960), and his first wife, Hon. Joan Yarde-Buller, daughter of the 3rd Baron Churston, renamed Princess Tadjudowlah, (b. 1908). He was born in
Geneva. He spent his early childhood in
Nairobi, Kenya, and then attended the
Institute Le Rosey in
Switzerland. He graduated from
Harvard University in
1959 with a
BA Honors Degree in
Islamic history.
Early education included private tutoring, with
Prince Sadruddin, by
Mustafa Kamil, a scholar from
Aligarh Muslim University engaged by his grandfather,
Aga Khan III.
He married his first wife, former model Sarah Frances (Sally) Crocker-Poole, titled HH Begum Salima, on
22 October 1969. The marriage, which ended in divorce after 25 years, produced three children.
He married his second wife, Dr. Gabriele zu Leiningen (born in
Frankfurt-am-Main on
1 April,
1963), in Aiglemont on
30 May,
1998. From then on, his wife took on the name Begum Inaara. On
8 October,
2004, an announcement was made that the Aga Khan and she were to seek a divorce. They have one son.