Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini takes on role as new Ismaili Imam

LISBON: Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini (Prince Rahim Aga Khan) was named the 50th hereditary Imam, or spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, on Wednesday following the unsealing of his father Prince Karim Aga Khan IV’s will, the Aga Khan Development Network said in a statement.

Prince Rahim Aga Khan’s father, known for his dazzling wealth and development work around the world, died in Lisbon, the seat of the Ismaili Imamat, at the age of 88 on Tuesday.

Born on Oct. 12, 1971, Prince Rahim Aga Khan is the eldest son of the late Aga Khan IV and his first wife, Princess Salimah – née Sarah Croker Poole – a British ex-model. The couple had a daughter and two sons together.

Prince Rahim Agha Khan serves on the boards of many agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network, and has closely followed the work of the Institute of Ismaili Studies and the Ismaili community’s social governance institutions, serving as chairman of the AKDN’s Environment and Climate Committee.

The world’s Ismaili community comprises around 15 million members who live in Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America.

Earlier, the Aga Khan Development Network on X announced the death of Prince Karim Aga Khan.

The 49th hereditary imam or spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, his name also became synonymous with success as a racehorse owner, with the thoroughbred Shergar among his most famous.

The international jet setter – who held British, French, Swiss and Portuguese citizenship – also poured millions into helping people in the poorest parts of the world.

“If you travel the developing world, you see poverty is the driver of tragic despair, and there is the possibility that any means out will be taken,” he told the New York Times in a rare interview in 2007.

By assisting the poor through business, he told the newspaper, “we are developing protection against extremism”.

Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini was born on Dec. 13, 1936 in Geneva and spent his early childhood in Nairobi, Kenya.

He later returned to Switzerland, attending the exclusive Le Rosey School before going to the United States to study Islamic history at Harvard.

When his grandfather Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan died in 1957, he became the imam of the Ismaili Muslims, a branch of Shia Islam, at the age of 20.

His grandfather chose Karim as his successor over his flamboyant son – Karim’s father Prince Aly Khan – who was once married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth.