MOHAMMEDAN LOYALTY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2265, 26 September 1914, Page 7

MOHAMMEDAN LOYALTY

AGA KHAN VOLUNTEERS AS A PRIVATE GREAT INDIAN LEADER (Reo. September 26, 6.10 p.m.) London, September 24. The Aga Khan, the temporal head of the Mohammedans in India, has applied to flio War Office for leave ; to serve as a private in the Indian contingent.—("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) His Highness the Aga. Khan 111 (Sir ; Sultan Mohammed Shah) is the grandson of the. Aga Khan, who was born in Persia in 1800, and received his title when, in early life, ho first settled in Bombay under the protection of the British Government. He was believed to havo descended in direct lino from Ali by his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. Before he fled from-Persia ho was appointed Gov- , ernor-General of the Province of Ker- . mau. The fate, usual to statesmen in . Oriental countries overtook him, and '. he fled from Porsia end sought protection in British territory. He rendered { the British valuable services in Afghanistan and later in the course of the Sind campaign. Napier held his Mosr lem ally in great Vsteem, and entertained a very high opinion of his political acumen and chivalry as a leader and soldibr. The Aga Khan recipro- > cated the British commander's confi- » dfiice and friendship, and when he fin--1 ally settled down in India, his position as the leader of the large Ismailiah section of Mohammedan British subjects 1 was recognised by the Government, and ' the title of his Highness was conferred 1 on him, with a large pension. He remained throughout his life (he died in l=81) unflinchingly loyal to the British Raj. Hβ was succeeded by his eldest son, Aga Khan 11, who continued the work and traditions of his father, and earned for himself the distinction of a Knighthood of the Order of the In- , dian Empire,- and a seat in the Legisla--1 tive Council of Bombay. The Present Aga Khan succeeded the above in 1885, and became the head of the' family and its devotees. Ho was born in 1577, 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, J the Ismailiahs made indispensable, but '. a sound European training. The distinction of a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire was conferred on. him bv 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.