Noorani family
The Noorani family is a term used to refer to the immediate family of the Imām of the Nizari Ismāʿīli Shia Muslims, commonly known by the title of Aga Khan.[1] By convention and custom its members and descendants in the male line are titled Prince and Princess, and as such it can be regarded as a royal family, although only the Aga Khan himself, as its head, is entitled to be referred to by the style of His Highness. Spoken style (second person, e.g. "His Highness" or "Your Highness")
The term Nur (light), is a core concept in Ismaili belief, representing the Divine-ilm (eternal knowledge) and guidance that the Imam possesses,[2] signifies the inheritance of authority which, mentioned in the verses of the Holy Qur’an, ayat al-Nur (24:35)[3]
To mark the accession of Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan V, upon his succession to the 1,400-years old family's dynasty, as the 50th hereditary Imam of the Shi’a Nizari Isma'ili Muslims, and in accordance with long-standing tradition of the Ismaili Imams with the British Monarch, the style of His Highness was formally granted to the Aga Khan V by King Charles III on 10 February 2025, which shows a reflection of the strong relationship which has existed over time between both the Royal families.[4]
The style of His Highness was formally granted to the Aga Khan IV by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957 upon the death of his grandfather the Aga Khan III.[a]
The titles Prince and Princess are used by the Aga Khans and their children by virtue of their descent from Shah Fath Ali Shah of the Persian Qajar dynasty. The title was officially recognised by the British government in 1938.[5]
The Qajar monarch bestowed the honorific title (laqab) of Agha Khan (also transcribed as Aqa Khan, meaning lord and master...in due course simplified in Europe to Aga Khan), first time on Hasan Ali Shah (The Aga Khan I) at the age of thirteen when he as the young Imam with his mother decided to go to the Qajar court in Tehran to obtain justice upon his father's death and was eventually successful. Not only that, but the Persian king Fath Ali Shah gave his own daughter, princess Sarv-i-Jahan Khanum, in marriage to the young Imam Hasan Ali Shah and provided a princely dowry in land holdings in the Mahallat region.[6] Daftary additionally commented, "The title of Agha Khan remained hereditary amongst his successors."[7] Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini is the fifth Nizari imam who hold the title Aga Khan.[8]
Members
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- His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, The Aga Khan IV (1936 - 2025)
- His Highness Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini, The Aga Khan V (b. 1971)
- Prince Irfan Aga Khan (b. 2015)
- Prince Sinan Aga Khan (b. 2017)
- Princess Zahra Aga Khan (b. 1970)
- Sara Boyden (b. 2000)
- Iliyan Boyden (b. 2002)
- Prince Hussain Aga Khan (b. 1974)
- Princess Fareen Aga Khan (b. 1975), wife of Prince Hussain Aga Khan (m. 2019)
- Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan (b. 2000)
- His Highness Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini, The Aga Khan V (b. 1971)
- Other children of Prince Aly Khan (1911-1960), father of the Aga Khan IV
- Prince Amyn Muhammad Aga Khan (b. 1937)
- Princess Yasmin Aga Khan (b. 1949)
- Princess Catherine Aleya Aga Khan (née Catherine Aleya Beriketti, b. 1938, former wife of Cyril Sursock),[9] widow of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (m. 1972), third son of the Aga Khan III
Recently deceased members
[edit]- His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, The Aga Khan IV (1936 - 2025)
- Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan, Mata Salamat (née Yvonne Blanche Labrousse, 1906–2000), m. (1944) The Aga Khan III
- Descendants of The Aga Khan III (1877–1957)
- Prince Giuseppe Mahdi Khan (died 1911)
- Prince Aly Khan, father of the Aga Khan IV (1911–1960), m. (1936 div. 1949) Princess Taj-ud-dawlah Aga Khan (née The Hon. Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller, later wife of the 2nd Viscount Camrose), m. (1949 div. 1953) Rita Hayworth (née Margarita Carmen Cansino, former wife of Orson Welles)
- Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003), m. (1957 div. 1962) Princess Shirin Aga Khan (née Nina Sheila Dyer, 1930–1965, former wife of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza),[9]
- Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos (1985–2011), son of Princess Yasmin Aga Khan
Living former members
[edit]- Princess Salimah Aga Khan, b. 1941, former wife of the Aga Khan IV (m. 1969; div. 1995)
- Princess Inaara Aga Khan, b. 1963, former wife of the Aga Khan IV (m. 1998; div. 2011)
- Princess Khaliya Aga Khan, b. 1977, former wife of Prince Hussain Aga Khan (m. 2006; div. 2013)
- Princess Salwa Aga Khan, b. 1988, former wife of Prince Rahim Aga Khan (m. 2013; div. 2022)
References
[edit]- ^ Najibullah, Farangis (24 August 2012). "Five Things To Know About The Aga Khan". Radio Free Europe. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Concept of Nass - the.ismaili". the.ismaili. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
- ^ "The inheritance of authority and Nur (light) - the.ismaili". the.ismaili. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
- ^ "The King is pleased to grant the new Aga Khan the title "His Highness"". Royal.UK. 10 February 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ Edwards, Anne (1996). Throne of Gold: The Lives of the Aga Khans, New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-00-215196-0
- ^ Daftary, Farhad (1990). The Ismā'īlīs: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 503–516. ISBN 0-521-42974-9.
- ^ Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-35561-5.
- ^ "Aga Khan", Wikipedia, 2025-03-05, retrieved 2025-03-11
- ^ a b "Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, U. N. Commissioner, and Mrs. Sursock Married". The New York Times. 28 November 1972. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
Notes
[edit]- ^ This style has been continually recognized, on a personal basis, by the British monarch, to whom the Aga Khans were previously temporal subjects — the incumbent is a British citizen — since 1866. In 1959, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran — whose Qajar predecessors first awarded Imam Hasan Ali Shah the title of Aga Khan in 1818 — bestowed upon the Aga Khan IV the higher style of Royal Highness in 1959, but that style fell into disuse following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.