Persian Āghā Khān or Āqā Khān
Title of the imam s of the Nizārī Shīite Islam.
The title was first granted in 1818 to Ḥasan ʽAlī Shah (1800–81) by the shah of Iran. As Aga Khan I, he later revolted against Iran (1838) and, defeated, fled to India. His eldest son, ʽAlī Shah (d. 1885), was briefly Aga Khan II. ʽAlī Shah's son Sultan Sir Moḥammed Shah (1877–1957) became Aga Khan III. He acquired a leading position among India's Muslims, served as president of the All-India Muslim League, and played an important part in the Round Table conferences on Indian constitutional reform (1930–32); in 1937 he was appointed president of the {{link=League of Nations">League of Nations . He chose as his successor his grandson Karīm al-Ḥusayn Shah (b. 1937), who, as Aga Khan IV, became a strong leader; he founded the Aga Khan Foundation, an international philanthropic organization, and other agencies offering educational and other services.