Aga Khan Iii
AGA KHAN III. (Sultan Mahommed Shah), only son of the foregoing, succeeded him on his death in 1885, and became the head of the family and its devotees. He was born in 1877, and, under the care of his mother, a daughter of the ruling house of Persia, was given not only that religious and oriental education which his position as the religious leader of the Ismailians made indispensable, but a sound European training, a boon denied to his father and grandfather. This blending of the two systems of education produced the happy result of fitting this Moslem chief in an eminent degree both for the sacerdotal functions which appertain to his spiritual position, and for those social duties of a great and enlightened leader which he was called upon to discharge by virtue of that position. He travelled in distant parts of the world to receive the homage of his followers, and with the object either of settling differences or of advancing their welfare by pecuniary help and personal advice and guidance. The distinction of a knight commander of the Indian Empire was conferred upon him by Queen Victoria in 1897, and he received like recognition for his public services from the German emperor, the sultan of Turkey, the shah of Persia and other potentates.
See Naoroji M. Dumasia, A Brief History of the Aga Khan (1903) (M. M. BH.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
