Aga Khan IV - Divine Nature of The Imam in Nizari Ismailism

Divine Nature of The Imam in Nizari Ismailism

During the time of the 46th, 47th, and 48th Imams (Aga Khan I, Aga Khan II, and Aga Khan III) of the Nizari Ismaili community, respectively – and particularly prior to the creation of the independent country of Pakistan (a major hub for Nizari Ismailis) in 1947 – virtually all available sources of information indicated that the position of the Imam in Nizari Ismailism was that of the incarnation of God and/or the manifestation of God. According to the 1866 Khoja Case (also known as the "Aga Khan Case"), presided over by Justice Sir Joseph Arnould in the High Court of Bombay, and where the Aga Khan III (grandfather of Aga Khan IV and the 48th Imam) served as defendant, the Imam was described as "...an incarnation of God..." to his community of followers. This assertion was reaffirmed in the 1908 Haji Bibi Case, presided over by Mr. Justice Russell in the High Court of Bombay, where the Aga Khan III also served as defendant. In this latter case, the Imam was referenced by virtue of the thrice daily main prayer of the Nizari Ismaili community, the Doowa, as:

...God, the High, the Great, the Merciful, the Magnanimous, the Good, the Great Holy Providence (Who is) in the district of Chaldea, in Persia, in human form, descended from the seventy-seven Patras (ancestors) and who is the forty-eighth Imam (Spiritual Chief) the tenth Naklanki Avatar, our Master, Aga Sultan Mahomed Shah, the Giver.

Note: The word Naklanki or Nakalanki means the stainless one, and it is a name of the tenth avatar originally identified with Ali.

It was also revealed in the Haji Bibi case that the Doowa had gone unchanged since the time of the 46th Imam (Aga Khan I), other than for accounting for changes in the name of the Imam as one passed and a new one was introduced. Additionally, the Aga Khan III wrote in a public letter entitled "I Belong to No Country," in 1934, that:

I am a direct descendant of the Prophet and a large number of Muhammadans numbering about 20 millions acknowledge me as their head. They pay me tribute and worship me, who have the blood of the Prophet in my vein.

As well, the Aga Khan III's elder brother, Shabu'd-din Shah al-Husaini, is said by Russian orientalist Wladimir Ivanow to have written a treatise called Risala Dar Haqiqati Din ("The True Meaning of Religion"). Ivanow first translated the treatise into English in 1933. Part of the treatise states:

It suffices to know that in every epoch or a (millennial) period of time there is, and always was a manifestation of God, from the time of Adam, and even before Adam, and till the time of the Final Prophet. It is present even now in the world, as it was said to you.

Further, in the mid-20th century, Norman Lewis wrote, "The Aga Khan is the spiritual and temporal head of the sect and possesses attributes of divinity." Meanwhile, in a paper discussing the theology of East African followers of the Aga Khan, H.S Morris quotes a Nizari Ismaili that was living in East Africa and educated in England, but, who had never visited India, as saying:

Our Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, is like your Jesus Christ. Even Hindus believe that God will never leave the world deserted, we believe that God, that is Vishnu, descended to earth in Ali and has never left us. When the Imam dies the Light moves on to his son: it follows like the sacred blood—like the King. The King never dies.

However, since a certain number of undefined years after the formation of the independent country of Pakistan (a major hub for Nizari Ismailis, as indicated earlier) in 1947, and particularly since the advent of the 49th Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, the Aga Khan IV, in 1957, the bulk of the public information available on the position of the Imam in Nizari Ismailism indicates that the position may be viewed as 'less divine' than during the lives of previous Nizari Ismaili Imams – or, even, not divine altogether. For instance, in 1967, Thomas Thompson, of Life Magazine (now Time Magazine) wrote: "His authority is roughly analogous to that of the Pope in Roman Catholicism, and he is considered the only mediator between his people and God. The Aga Khan is not considered divine." Additionally, in response to a December 1983 Life Magazine article, the Aga Khan IV's representatives stated that it was incorrect for Life Magazine to interpret him as either "a living god," or as a "spokesman for Allah." The same response stated that the oneness and uniqueness of Allah (compared to Allah's creation), Tawheed, is a fundamental principle of Islam. Finally, in 1987, while writing how the Aga Khans III and IV had modified Khoja Nizari Ismaili religious practices, which contained "mystical-Indian" Hindu aspects, to conform more with "prophetic-Arabic" Islamic practices, Ali S. Asani noted that the Khoja group of Nizari Ismailis accepted the changes in part because of their strong belief and trust in the guidance offered by their "divinely-appointed" Imam.

There may be a difference between the publicized position of the Imam in Nizari Ismailism, as per the present Aga Khan and his representatives, versus the position he occupies in the private worship services of Nizari Ismailis (which are not open to the public nor other Muslims). For instance, a report was issued at the 1975 Ismailia Association Conference – a meeting of the Aga Khan with senior Nizari Ismaili council leaders from several countries – to address the question of the divinity of the Imam. It mentioned: "The Imam to be explained as the 'mazhar' of God, and the relationship between God and the Imam to be related to varying levels of inspiration and communication from God to man." Multiple prominent Nizari Ismaili websites have publicly indicated that the position of Imam is that of the bearer of a unique concept, common to certain denominations of Shia Islam, referred to as (the eternal) Noor of Allah ("Light of God"). It is unclear whether the Noor of Allah is a portion of God that the Aga Khan is believed by Nizari Ismailis to bear, or the same as God. Additionally, The Encyclopedia of Ismailism, by Mumtaz Ali Tajddin, a Nizari Ismaili, states that: "The Imam is the mazhar (manifestation) of God on earth as the electric bulb is a device of manifestation of electricity, which itself is invisible. The bulb plays the same role as the body of the Imam. Thus, the Imam is held to be the manifestation of the divine light, which is ever-present in the world." Additionally, Alnaz Jiwa, a Toronto lawyer who describes himself as a "devout" Nizari Ismaili, compared the Aga Khan's role in Nizari Ismailism to that of Jesus in Christianity, as part of motions involving the Aga Khan Copyright Lawsuit in the Federal Court of Canada in August of 2010. Thus, multiple sources that come from inside the Nizari Ismaili community strongly indicate that the Aga Khan IV is viewed by Nizari Ismailis as the incarnation of God or manifestation of God, or as having a portion of God inside of him (and thereby being divine) – as was the case with his grandfather (based on available historical information), the Aga Khan III. This is despite the Aga Khan IV's own indications to the contrary in the public eye.