Aga Khan's three Marriages and one Mut`ah ...FATHER OF HUNDREDS OF ILLEGIMATE CHILDS
Truth Seekers
Shahzadi Begum. In 1896, the marriage between Shahzadi and Sultan (A.K.III)
was celebrated with grandeur and splendour in Poona (India). Mihir Bose
records in his much publicized book `The Aga Khans'; "The Aga was seeking to
make his mark as an Anglicized Indian in Western society, and his wife,
brought up in strict Jenana quarters could hardly follow there. As the Aga
moved into the wide world, his wife languished in the closed world, full of
`resentment and reproach'."
In 1908, Aga Khan who had left his beautiful wife back home, lost his heart
to a pubescent teenage ballerina "Ginetta" (Miss Magliano), during his visit
to France. In his `Memoirs' Aga Khan wrote: "I made the acquaintance of
Mlle. There is a Magliano, one of
the most promising young dancers of the Ballet Opera of Monte Carlo, a
ballerina..." In his Will document, Aga Khan wrote: "In the year One
thousand nine hundred and eight I was married to CLEOPE TERESA MAGLIANO
according to the Muta form of marriage..."
In `The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam' under the heading Mut`ah, one reads;
"Mut`ah: A marriage stipulated to be temporary, sometimes called a `marriage
of pleasure'."
Out of this union of a French Ballerina and a Persian Imam, two sons were
born. Giussepe Mahdi Khan the eldest, died in 1911.Aly Salomone Khan who
lived to be a legendary playboy, was the second. In the archives of the
Turin town hall (Italy), there exists a record of the birth of Aly Salomone
from the union of an unmarried 22 years old Teresa, with 34 years old His
Highness the Aga Khan.
In 1903, Aga Khan sent Aly Khan to Syria to visit his followers with his
special `Holy Farman'. The Farman pronounced; "We are sending our son to
you. Consider his arrival as my arrival. We are appointing our Prince as our
`Wali-ahad' meaning, the successor to our throne." Members of the Syrian
Jama'at took Bay'ah (oath of allegiance) at the hand of their future Imaam
and offered Nazrana (gifts). Almost every magazine and home of Ismailis in
India and Africa had a photo of young Prince dressed in white Arab dress
riding a white Arabian horse, taken during his visit to Syria, with captions
"H.S.H. Prince Aly Khan Heir Apparent to Mowlana Hazar Imaam".
Within 50 years, the infallible Mowlana Hazar Imaam realized that his `Holy
Farman' had to be recanted. The beloved "Wali-ahad" did not live a life
expected of a future Imaam. In the June 1995 issue of an American magazine
`Vanity Fair', there is a spellbinding twelve page article `The Goddess and
the Playboy' describing the "relentless pursuit of speed, sport, and women"
by Prince Aly Khan. Aga Khan by his Will document, without making a
mention of his earlier pronouncement, made Aly Khan's son Karim as his
successor to the throne of Imamate.
This recantation surprised his followers all over the world.They began
asking questions; Did the infallible Mowlana Hazar Imaam really erred? Can
the 1400 years old Ismaili tradition and the Shiah Law "that the issue of a
son is not an heir if there be a son
alive", be broken? According to the deep rooted Ismaili tradition and
uncompromising conviction, Hazar Imaam's "Holy Farmans" are to be reckoned
as the verses of the "Speaking Qur'an". At any given time and place they can
supersede the verses of the so called "Silent or Book Qur'an". Based upon
this conviction, the majority of the Agakhani Ismailis have done away with
most essential basic Qur'anic Laws, such as; performing of greater or lesser
ablutions before praying, facing towards qiblah while praying, takbir
al-ihram, qiyam, ruku, salat al-jum'ah, physical fasting during the month of
Ramadhan, hajj as well as the "Oneness" of Kalimah Shahadah.
Biographer Willie Frischauer records in his book `The Aga Khans'; "Bettina
(one of Aly's several girl friends) wrote: `To Aly it seemed that his
father's preference for his son was a kind of public humiliation for
him...He was never quite the same from that day on." When Aly Khan declared
that he too had taken the Bay'ah of his own son Karim as his "Hazar Imaam";
Karim became the spiritual father of his own father, according to the
Ismaili tradition. In 1960, the mortified Aly Khan was killed in a tragic
car crash. He suffered crushed chest, fractured skull, broken neck and legs
in that fatal accident.
Aga Khan's third marriage in 1929 was with a French brunette, Andree Carron.
Aga Khan's wealth and persuasion failed to convert this Roman Catholic girl
to accept Islam. Out of this Muslim and Catholic union was born Aga Khan's
third son Sadruddin Khan. In 1938, Aga Khan who was nearly 60, met a tall
French beauty contestant named Yvette in Cairo. Six years later, Aga Khan
divorced his third wife Andree and married Yvette Lebrusse - "Miss Lyon"
1930 and "Miss Universe" contestant 1931. Aga Khan converted his fourth wife
to Islam and named her "Umme Habibah". She accompanied the weak and ailing
Aga Khan at all social and religious gatherings.
In 1953, during his visit of Africa, there was "a subversive campaign among
members of the sect calling for his and Aly's abdication from their
spiritual leadership" records, `Vanity Fair' (June 1995). The campaign grew
to such a proportion that at a special meeting of the Ismailia Council, held
at the hotel suite of the Aga Khan, a decision was taken that "all members
of the East African communities be requested to sign a declaration of
loyalty
to the Aga Khan, or be excommunicated if they refused." This was too much of
a shock for the old and weakened Aga Khan.
In 1954, Aga Khan was virtually crippled suffering from lumbago and
sciatica. He could barely walk two yards, writes Mihir Bose. Three years
later, the debilitated and ailing Aga Khan, who was now also suffering from
a prolonged cancer, died. His grandson Karim became the 49th Hazar Imaam of
the community and `Aga Khan the Fourth' to carry on the family tradition