| Show aga aea khan leads moslems by WILLIAM C UTLEY E IS the political lender lenaer ot of HE hand persons in india alone and the spiritual leader of persons in central asia africa arabia and the orient yet he has not a kingdom of a single acre to ills his followers lie Is as holy as the pope Is to lils his yet lie Is one of th the e most notorious sportsmen of tile A ot ld llis ilia income Is more than a year tits his houses are arc veritable pa princes palf inces ices he be Is able to shower gifts of fine silks fabulous jewels and exquisite furs upon whomever lie he pleases and he Is hall happily married to the daughter of a small town hotel manager ronn nger in france he fie Is the direct descendant of a major prophet yet lie he wont bet on a race horse even one from his bis own string such enigmatic sidelights on this phenomenal personality might be recorded for column after column lie ile Is the aga khan sultan sir mohammed shall the religious potentate over the followers of the ismaili branch of the mohammedan faith and as the descend ant of the prophet himself forty eight times removed Is to them the representative sent senta athe tive of god on earth fiftieth year of leadership the year 1030 1936 the fiftieth of such divine bythe ag ga khan Is being made the occasion for elaborate and ceremonious celebration wherever there are believers in the ismaili falth faith from the far flung corners of the world are pouring in voluntary tributes s of even greater value and more magnificent splendor than the regular annual tributes which the koran horan says must amount to 2 per cent of tile the income of every ismaili they are being stored in the aga hall in ID bombay there here to awalt await redistribution to charity educational and social institutions or the agas racing stables and palatial villas most of his enormous power the aga khan owes to his paternal grandfather basan all shall aga khan 1 I who was born in persia in ISOO find and died in india in issa aga khan I 1 tr traced teed his ancestry b back ack into prehistoric persia and back to the beill caliphs nho founded cairo in egypt find and were the sons of fatima the daughter of mohammed liaman all ruled over a province of persia perhaps too wisely find and well for when he defended his people rigal against list cruel ard aid oppressive taxes imposed by fateh falph all AH shah lie incurred the mortal wrath ol of that ruler of all persia because lie he had been the shahs friend however he was allowed to escape during the civil war which followed basan all by this t time line an old man fled th afghanistan to bombay where he settled ile he offered himself in ID service to the british army in afghanistan and among tile the frontier front leri ler tribes lils ills offers were accepted but held ns as of little importance until it became known that this first of the aga khans ahans was receiving voluntary tribute year after year f from ro all points over india fidfl and when it was discovered th that at 0 galar contributions were also pouring se carom from ninny many other oilier oriental countries and from africa john bulls colonial represents represent atit taca began to realize that the holy leader of ismaili was a rippin good man to hive have on their tilde bide ne HP did them bliem a lot of good before his death too second aga dies early tile the first aga khuns khans good work was carried on by his son agn aga khan it II who lived only four denra after hla his fathers death aga kann III id was only eight years old when lie succeeded to power iver ever since he was a very young man the present aga has ruled his fol fill lowers in their religions and political affairs wisely ind and kindly to them he Is a tit nt descendant of file prophet the e mohammedan religion lecog 11 ll s jnnny prop prophets bets beginning with bum a in there are three however which are of outstanding importance for the lie three books which they are credited with having tended tided down moses in trod trounced aceil the laws jesus tile the gospel and nd the koran or the scriptures as act revealed to him by allah god the ism lills differ from fram tit kiley bearl of mohammedanism the L I 1 aunis chiefly in the recognition of certain apostles of mohammed nis direct descent from the last of tile the prophets was responsible for the alie most colorful part of the present celebration of the agn aga khans ahans reign this was the recent bath ceremony A gold cold conch coach drown drawn by tile the agas magnificent horses and climaxing a great parade several miles long set out from his place to the pearl mosque the believers prostrating pro themselves by the thousands thousand s along the line of march the conch coach contained that holy bola of holies olles li the aga khan in ills his ceremonial bath the water was scented with priceless attar altar found in the will bath of mumtaz the mogul queen whose memory Is perpetuated in the wonderful monument that Is the taj Alf mahal thal it had been acquired by the khomas the fabulously we wealthy althy cotton princes or of bombay millions for bath water As the coach bearing the aga khan passed solemnly down clown the processional avenue lie he sprinkled water from his Z rp 33 gy t 7 the aga khan is shown here in the 1936 edition of his annual weighing in ceremony when his followers present him with his weight in gold he weighed more than worth this year both bath upon the ali e prostrate subjects in their gratitude they gave hill several million dollars in tribute that night this important fellow who lias has the portly mien and general appearance app earince or of a wall street broker and yet joins the most humble of his followers in beat beuting his chest until the blood blond 1 omes in extremely emotional religious rites iles Is a walking rejection of the hie theory that never the twain shall meet ilia his Is a tempered combination of oriental and occidental culture and education ile he was reared by a strict er who lind been a member of the persian royal family ills stern tutoring his natural aptitude and his real understanding of and interest in his people stamped hlib as it true leader when he was only sixteen lieota broke out between the hindus and la bombay so fired with emotional hatred were viere the masses a first clas inoculated and the plague was beaten what was probably the crisis in lit establishment of his true power came a few years later in another racial con file diet L certain e r t i in of his followers deserted tile the ismaili sect to join the sunia and throe three of them were murdered in religious indignation of their fellows at a word all india could have been thrown into mortal internal combat the aga khan excommunicated tilt the killers from froin the church cursed them with denial of the burial rite and announced that if any more fighting broke ou out t lie he would resign as lender leader of Is maill on the spot peace reigned froni from that moment test of power comes when he was not keeping the peace among ills people tile the agn aga was establishing schools educational and medical centers hospitals libraries and other institutions of learning and culture often wl with th money out of of ills his own pocket lie he personally collected to raise the college nt at allgary to university status lie has tried in every way to abolish the depressed classes to raise the indian to a higher standard of living and to secure for tits country equal freed freedom with other british dominions repeatedly this leader tins has appealed appeal e d to the hie league of nations for recognition of ills people Ism aills and others the aga khan was in kast E ast africa when the world war broke out lie ile directed tits followers to support the british and was successful even when turkey entered the war on the side ol of the central powers the Ts Ismall mallis ls were aroused and showed tendencies toward sympathizing with their fellow moslems but lent their support cl once ce more to tile the british when tile aga in a general order assured them that the A allies had no quarrel with islam the mohammedan religion itself aga khans ahans three wives the moslem bilos lei ii religion permits a man main to have three wives wires but he I 1 must produce an heir the aga khan Is 13 now living with his third begum or wife ills his first was his cousin tile the Sha lizada begum who never bore him a child and with whom he was unhappy they separated early and two years ago she died theresa an italian princess whose fine sculpture had been exhibited many pl places a c es in europe was his second wire wife she had one son which died at birth but later bore another who Is the aly khan and the rightful heir to his rather father theresa died in and was burled buried in the family vaults at monaco Alo naco the aga chans khans present wife he married in romantic fashion for a man ol of such nearly limitless means 11 air wedding was like a small town 11 elopement pe which indeed it really was for it happened quietly and secretly in tile the little town hall of alx aix les bains in the french alps the cinderella story of this simple country girl billed andre caironi marrying an potentate gave rise to ninny many fanciful tales about their relationships but it Is a fact that the new begun begum was an old friend of the f artilly she proved to be beautt beaul ful cultured a charming conversa and everything that could be desired in the way of a consort for the leader of people not long ago she ioro bore him a child since ills his services in the world war tile the aga khan has become something mg aw AN it 51 ai pl 41 i A L 14 the aga khan political or a spiritual leader of at least people pictured with the present begum aga khan and their recently arrived sor sol race war was in prospect tile the young aga khan issued fl a command to ills people that they were not to enoice in such racial lighting they bent benr over backwards to obey his wish even to the extent that moslems Alos lems were inviting hindus home to dine with them bliem la in this instance the agus agas command was something the ismaili could understand but four years later when he be was still not a grown man lie he issued arother nr other that was far more a test of his power A plague ravaged india in ISIT thousands upon thousands were dying because they refused to ile he in inoculated with protective serum they re voted at the thought tile young AKI aga went about ulious amors them tile the absolute necessity for inoculation to their amazement he bared his own hrdy time after afler time and accepted the prick of the needle to show them he would not ask ash them to to do riny thing hp he do himself their superstitions ions were broken down they were J y of a lion ilon in british society and the presentation of the present begum at the court of st james was one of the most picturesque social affairs of recent years aga himself plays now unusual ceremonies are occurring every day during tile the celebration for the aga khan one day women clad in silk pajamas honored film dim bt at tea every day in his palace grounds lie serves food and crint to tens of thousands of visitors annually his cabinet presents the aga khan with his weight in gold determined at a public weighing wel shing lie ile usually ustia lly tips lips the belim beam at about pounds so tile the talce take Is a considerable one this year perhaps because of the significance of the occasion he broke br e all records weighed in at a and d collected thore more than most BI at of it will ro KII to charity to relieve d dl a tress among indig ent moslems 0 newspaper union anlou |
