Rahim Al-Hussaini was named Wednesday as the brand new Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s thousands and thousands of Ismaili Muslims, following the death of his father.
The 53-year-old was designated because the Aga Khan V, the fiftieth hereditary imam of the Ismaili Muslims, in his father’s will. His father died Tuesday in Portugal.
The Aga Khan is taken into account by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and is treated as a head of state.
The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili religious community announced earlier that His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and forty ninth hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, died surrounded by his family.
Prince Rahim is the eldest son of the previous Aga Khan. He was educated within the U.S., having studied comparative literature at Brown University, and has served on the boards of assorted agencies throughout the Aga Khan Development Network, the spiritual leader’s foremost philanthropic organization, based on a press release it released Wednesday.
The organization deals mainly with problems with health care, housing, education and rural economic development. It says it really works in over 30 countries and has an annual budget of about $1 billion for nonprofit development activities.
The Aga Khan Development Network said Prince Rahim took a special interest in its work to fight climate change and protect the environment.
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The late 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.
Over many years, the late Aga Khan evolved right into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease.
A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely thought to be a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite — or perhaps due to — his reticence about becoming involved in politics.
A network of hospitals bearing the Aga Khan’s name is scattered in places where health care was lacking for the poorest, including Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where he spent tens of thousands and thousands of dollars in developing local economies.
Ismailis lived for a lot of generations in Iran, Syria and South Asia before also settling in east Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, in addition to Europe, North America and Australia more recently. They consider it an obligation to donate as much as 12.5% of their income to the Aga Khan as steward.
Shenila Khoja-Moolji, an associate professor at Georgetown University who researches Muslim societies, said Ismailis turn to the Aga Khan in matters of religion and each day life, and lots of believers “feel a deep, personal connection” to him.
Prince Rahim has three siblings, two brothers and one sister.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
