From: bholu@nyx.cs.du.edu (  Bholu)
Subject: Re: Aga Khan III
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Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 12:32:01 GMT

In article <1992Aug22.160957.26419@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
khan@ces.cwru.edu (Mansoor Khan) writes: 

>The title is Agha and not aaqaa( though they have almost similar
>meaning). 

My understanding of this usage viz. aagha is that it too, like
many of the Persian  words used in Urdu, has undergone some
corruption. It may also be due to the fact that most native
speakers of Persian (from Iran) tend to pronounce the qaaf very
much like the ghain. It would, therefore, be not surprising that
aaqa was transformed into aagha as it was Urduized. It has even
affected the way in which Iranians spell such words in English
e.g. Mossadegh (Mussadaq), Sadegh (Sadiq), Ashegh (Ashiq),
Ghorban (Qurban) etc. but in Persian script these are spelt with
a qaaf. Returning to the present case, Daftary's book (it's CUP
1990 not 1992) has a plate showing an old document about one of
the Ismaili imams and it is very clearly spelt as aaqa in
Arabic/Persian. As for the title itself it has not been used
exclusively by the Ismaili imams. The first ruler of the Qajar
dynasty (1779-1924) was Aqa Muhammad Khan and gradually Aqa Khan
acquired the status of being a title rather than a respectful
form of address only. 

>Any way, as my original comment said, they were pushed out of
>Iran. so why will Qaachaars give them title before throwing them
>out. Aga Khan's ancestors came to India and lived around Bombay
>and then in Sindh which was part of Bombay Presidency for quite a
>while. Also remember, Sir Sultan was Agha Khan the 3rd. And his
>grandparents came to India. So Agakhan 1st and 2nd were in India.

Although I am not too certain about the contention that Aga 
Khan(I) was forced out by the Qajars, it still isn't that much of 
a dilemma if one looks at the history of that period. Not unlike 
the present, political considerations brought together and then 
split apart various factions; quite probable that a family, once 
favoured by the court, invites another ruler's wrath sometime 
later in history. 

(JL Esposito in "Islam:...", OUP 1988, has stated that the title 
was acquired by one Hasan Ali Shah by way of marriage with a 
daughter of the shah of Persia. After an abortive revolt against 
the shah in 1940, Hasan Ali Shah fled to India which then became
the home for the Ismaili imams [till the more recent move to 
Switzerland].)

Aga Khan IV's full name is Karim Al-Husayni and he is the 49th
imam of the Ismaili sect, since 1957. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
is his uncle. It was his father Aly Khan, Shah Muhammad
Sulayman's eldest son, who was in line to succeed as Aga Khan IV
but was not deemed appropriate for the position by Aga Khan III.
Consequently Karim Aga Khan was given the responsibility to lead
the Ismailis. His uncle (did he have more than 1?) would have
been, in all likelihood, asked to assume the imamat only had
Karim Aga Khan not been chosen to do so; not the converse of it.
It could be Rita Hayworth that you had refered to. Prince Aly
Khan's wife I think (but not Karim Aga Khan's mother; her name
is Joan Aly Khan). Sadruddin Aga Khan has been married twice but 
neither of the wives had the name Rita (or maiden name Hayworth).



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