Karim Aga Khan laid to rest in Aswan

Monitoring Desk

His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismailis, was laid to rest at Aswan in Egypt on Feb 9, 2025.

Aga Khan IV passed away at the age of 88 in Lisbon Portugal on Feb 4, 2025. He was laid to rest at the mausoleum of the 48th Imam, Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan III.

On Saturday, a private funeral service took place at the Ismaili community center in Lisbon attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Spain’s King Emeritus Juan Carlos and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The governor of Aswan welcomed Prince Karim’s family at southern Egyptian province\’s airport on Saturday.

“When his Will was opened, it was found that he had requested to be buried in Aswan near his grandfather Sultan Mohamed Shah and his grandmother Om Habiba,” said Governor Maj. Gen. Ismail Kamal.

Ismaili mourners marched as bells rang during the burial ceremony when Prince Karim’s body was taken in a van. They carried his body, draped in a white shroud, and placed it on a yacht on the Nile River, according to AP.

Prince Karim, 88, was given the title of His Highness by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather, the Aga Khan III, unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.

The late Aga Khan evolved over decades into a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease. He was a defender of Islamic culture and values, but also widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West.

Ismailis lived for many generations in Iran, Syria and South Asia before also settling in east Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe, North America and Australia more recently.

The burial ceremony was attended by Aswan\’s General Dr. Ismail Kamal, the governor of Aswan, in the presence of the new Imam Shah Rahim Al-Husseini Aga Khan V, and the members of the Aga Khan family and the leaders of the governorate.\”

$\"AGA$ The burial ceremony began with the performance of the funeral prayer, and reading of Fatiha, followed by his burial in his last resting place next to that of Aga Khan III in the cemetery located at the highest Rabwa of the western continent, according to the statement.

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