The Agha Khan and the Ismailis

On 4 February 2025 the multi-billionaire disbeliever Agha Khan IV Karim Al-Hussein died.  He had held the position of Agha Khan since 1956, succeeding his grandfather as the 49th infallible Imam of the Nizārı̄ Ismāʿīlīs¹ This unusual succession occurred despite his father, Prince Aly Khan, and his uncle being in line for the leadership. The Agha Khans claim a direct lineage back to Ali b. Abi Talib.  This claim, like their claim to be Muslim, is baseless. In this article, I outline some of their key beliefs and practices which clearly demonstrate that the Agha Khans and their unfortunate Ismaili followers are not Muslim.

Agha Khan – the manifestation of God

Following a religious dispute between Ismāʿīlīs from Muslim countries and those who resided in Western countries, an international conference of Ismāʿīlī scholars was convened in 1975 in Paris. The conference concluded with the Agha Khan IV officially declaring that he was “Mazhar of Allah on earth.” The word “mazhar” means an image or manifestation. In other words, the Agha Khan is the manifestation of God. Hence Ismāʿīlīs perform sujood before him, an act of worship that is exclusively reserved for Allah.  At the end of their prayer, they recite “The present Imam, Moulana Shah Karim al-Husseini to whose name prostration is due.”

In addition, the Agha Khan claims to possess the power to forgive sins, a power that belongs solely to Allah. 

Rejection of the Quran

Ismāʿīlīs have a innovated concept of ta’wil (interpretation) of the Quran which results in far-fetched and bizarre interpretations, and undermines the authority and clarity of the Quran. Muslims believe that the message of the Quran is clear and accessible; there are no hidden or secret meanings.

According to the Ismāʿīlīs each and every verse of the Quran has a hidden or inner dimension (baatin) which is separate from the outward meaning (zaahir).  Each inner dimension has up to seven inner dimensions. The duty of the Prophet (salalahu alaihi wa sallam) was to explain the outward meaning of the Quran (e.g. prayer, fasting, the halal and haram etc).

The hidden meaning was only known to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) who then passed this on to his successor Imam.  These hidden meaning are a strictly guarded secret even from ordinary believers. What complicates things even further is that multiple interpretations of each verse are possible depending on the spiritual level of the (mis-) interpreter.

Ismāʿīlī scholars liken interpreting the Quran to cutting a piece of cloth. One tailor may choose to sew a shirt, another will sew trousers and another will design a jacket!²

The innovation of hidden meanings opened the door to the complete distortion and eventual rejection of the Quran.  Each Imam and his close students had a free reign to interpret, reinvent or reject any aspect of Islam they wished.

Not only do they treat the Quran like a piece of fictional literature, (i.e. its meaning is fluid and dependent on the reader) , they also deny the preservation of the Quran.  Pı̄r Shihab al‐Dı̄n Shah (d.1885), the son of the Agha Khan II clearly stated that the Quran was distorted by the Companions of Allah’s Messenger.  He states:

Under Uthman the authorities selected some portions, rejecting others. Then they seized by force all the other copies, and burnt them. Thus, the knowledge of the original Quran which was really left by the prophet, and which remains in the hands of his legitimate successors, was taken from the people.

Below I give four examples of hidden meanings of the Quran according to various Ismāʿīlī scholars –

1. The blessed olive tree (Quran: 24:35) stands for Imam Ali Zayn al-Aabidin ibn Hussayn, whereas the accursed tree (Quran 17:60) stands for Yazid b. Mu‘awiya.⁴
2. Wudhoo means rejecting the Imamate of those who are not entitled to it.⁵
3. The prohibition of marrying one’s mother, daughter, sister or nieces refers to the improper disclosure of hidden knowledge.⁶
4. The story of Adam and Huwaa is a representation of the human soul’s journey from a state of pure intellect (represented by Adam) to a state of being entangled in the material world (represented by Eve).⁷

Furthermore, Ismāʿīlīs believe that the Quran is time-bound (to 7th century Arabs) and not a universal message for all times. They consider their (now deceased) leader, Karim Aga Khan, to be the “walking, talking Quran” whose pronouncements supersede the Quranic text and constitute guidance for the present era.  Their rejection of the Quran was neatly summed up by Agha Khan III who stated: ”Ismāʿīlīs have no written book for guidance but they have living Imām for their guidance.”⁸

The day of Judgement began in 1164

The 23^rd Ismāʿīlī Imam Hasan II declared in 559 AH (1164) that Qiyama (Day of Judgement) had started. Henceforth the Shari’ah had been abolished. In middle of the day, on the 17^th of Ramadan he led his followers to break their fast with wine, with their backs towards Makkah.  A year later Hassan II was stabbed to death by his brother-in-law.  His proclamation was eventually overturned by the 25^th Ismāʿīlī Imam. The latter’s son, Ala-uddin Muhammad – the 26th Ismāʿīlī Imam, was murdered with an axe by a former homosexual lover.⁹

Reincarnation

Ismāʿīlīs follow unique rituals in which they recite hymns in ancient Gujarati called Ginans. These Ginans contain notions of transmigration of souls. This concept of transmigration, where souls move from one person to another after death, is found in other false religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. Obviously, this contradicts Islamic teachings about the afterlife, and the concepts of Heaven and Hell.

Outwardly Ismāʿīlīs scholars claim to reject the belief in reincarnation but fail rather miserably. For example, the Ismail website ask.ismailignosis.com states:

“Reincarnation is explicitly rejected by the Ismāīlī Imams and thinkers of the Fatimid period and thereafter…The Ismāīlī Ginans (hymns) composed in South Asia do mention reincarnation, but not as a doctrinal teaching or as a fact. Reincarnation in the Ginans is evoked always as a negative outcome – in the sense of a warning or a threat – if one does not recognise the Imam of the time.”

Five Pillars of Islam?¹¹

The Ismāʿīlīs distort and essentially reject all of the five pillars of Islam.

Their testimony of disbelief: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger, and Ali is the ameer-ul-Momineen, Ali is Allah.  (no comment needed)

Prayer: The Aga Khan prescribed three daily prayers (one in the morning and two combined in the evening) which have no resemblance to the Islamic salat. These shirk-infested prayers are done sitting cross-legged, without wudhoo, and can be prayed facing any direction. One of the hymns that they recite to the Agha Khan is: “You are the Truth, you are the Holy, O Lord (King).”

During the prayer they recite “There is no hero like Ali; There is no sword like Dhul-Fiqar”. They end their prayer shaking the hand of the person sitting next to him or her, and utter to them “Shah jo deedaar” which literally means “(May you have the) glimpse of the Shah (Aga Khan).

 Jumu’ah prayer is never performed.

Fasting: The Aga Khan IV has abolished Ramadan fasting, replacing it with “Shukrvari Beej” fasting, which is only 3-4 days a year.

Zakat: The Aga Khan has replaced the yearly 2.5% zakat with an exorbitant 12.5% monthly tax paid directly to him, and not to the poor. No surprise that in 2013 his net worth was estimated to be $13 billion.  As well as robbing his gullible followers, the Agha Khan himself was exempted by the French authorities from paying tax.¹²

Hajj: The Aga Khan has replaced the Hajj pilgrimage with his glimpse. The Kaaba is just a black stone and a door – the true Qibla is the Imam Agha Khan. Hence they face his portrait during their prayers.

Describing Allah with nothingness

Ismāʿīlīs claim that Allah is devoid of any attributes, He is not a being nor is He a nonbeing. He is an abstract principle without attributes, and is so obscure that man cannot communicate with Him.¹³ This is tantamount to atheism.

Allah did not create the universe

They believe that Allah did not directly create the universe. Instead, the first and only thing that Allah ‘created’ was the Aql (known as the first Intellect). However this act of creating in Ismāʿīlī thought differs from Islam. As Muslims we believe that Allah created the universe and all that it contains from nothing. The Ismāʿīlīs believe that Allah did not create the First Intellect from nothing. Instead, the Intellect emanated from God. i.e., it flowed from the divine essence of Allah.

From the First intellect emanated (flowed) the universal soul, and from this emanated the celestial bodies followed by the physical bodies. Allah’s role is thus limited to the ‘creation’ of the intellect, effectively making Allah the “Creator of the creators.”

The Imam (i.e. the Agha Khan) is a manifestation of the Intellect in the human world. He is the link between the Allah and the human world, and as such is the source of true knowledge and guidance. Furthermore, the belief in a continuous line of Imams ensures that there is always a living representative of the Intellect present in the world.

The Prophet (salalahu alaihi wa sallam) received the Quran directly from the First Intellect. As for the angel Jibraeel, he was merely a symbolic representation of the First Intellect. After the death of the Prophet (salalahu alaihi wa sallam) the Imams derived their knowledge from the Intellect, and were granted access to the secret inner meanings of revelation.  And as for Allah, the Most High, He has very little or no role in this convoluted fairy tale.

The Intellect (and not Allah) is the source of all true knowledge, including prophetic revelation. The Imam, as the manifestation of the Intellect, is the key to unlocking the inner, hidden meaning of revelation.

The Ismāʿīlī concept of Allah, the Intellect and the universe is derived from neo-Platonic philosophy, and is pure and unadulterated kufr having no basis in Islam. 

Summary

This very brief article demonstrated that the disbelieving Ismāʿīlīs:

• attribute divinity to their Agha Khan,
• reject the five pillars of Islam
• deny that Allah created the universe
• discard the Quran believing that the Sahaabah distorted it

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Footnotes:

1. The Nizārı̄ Ismāʿīlīs differ from the Mustaʿlı̄ branches of Ismāʿı̄lism. The Mustaʿlı̄ Ismāʿīlīs trace their lineage back to the Fatimids in Egypt. They believe their 21st Imam, At-Tayyib, went into occultation (ghayba) in 495 AH / 1101. The have a number of sub-divisions the largest being the Dawoodi Bohras. The Nizārı̄ Ismāʿīlīs believe in a continuous chain of living Imams with the current Imam being the Aga Khan V. ↩︎
2. Steigerwald p. 467 ↩︎
3. Ibid p.476 ↩︎
4. Poonawala p.127 ↩︎
5. Ibid p.219 ↩︎
6. Hollenberg ↩︎
7. ibid ↩︎
8. Farman No. 530, dated 29, December 1945 at Wadi in Bombay ↩︎
9. Edward Burman ‘The Assassins – Holy Killers Of Islam’ taken from islamawareness.net/Deviant/Ismailis/history-1 ↩︎
10. https://ask.ismailignosis.com/article/11-what-is-the-ismaili-muslim-view-on-reincarnation#:~:text=The%20Ismaili%20Ginans%20composed%20in,the%20Imam%20of%20the%20time. ↩︎
11. Taken from https://insideismailism.wordpress.com/ ↩︎
12. https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/241012/how-aga-khan-was-exonerated-taxes-sarkozy ↩︎
13. https://mahajjah.com/the-nusayris-an-extremist-shii-sect/ ↩︎

References

Daftary, Farhad, The ‘Ismāʿīlīs. Their History and Doctrines. (Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition 2007)

Hollenberg, David, Beyond the Quran: Early Ismaa‘ili Ta’wil and the Secrets of the Prophets. (University of South Carolina Press. 2016)

Poonawala Ismail ‘Ismāʿīlī ta’wil of the Quran’’. in Approaches to the history of the interpretation of the Quran ed. by Andrew Rippin. (Claredon Press. Oxford. 1988), pp 199-222

Steigerwald, Diana ‘Ismāʿīlī Taʾwīl’, in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qurʾān ed. By Andrew Rippin. (Wiley-Blackwell; 2nd edition, 2017) pp. 463-78

https://www.islamawareness.net/Deviant/Ismāʿīlīs/history-1.html

https://insideIsmāʿīlīsm.wordpress.com

https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/241012/how-aga-khan-was-exonerated-taxes-sarkozy