AGA KHAN.

The Aga Khans are the Spiritual Leader of the Ismailias and the Khoja-community.

The First Aga Khan, Hasan Ali Shah (1800-1881). The Shah of Iran had appointed  Hasan Ali Shah as the First Aga Khan, and 46^th  Imam in the year 1818, both of the posts he held  from 1818 to 1881 till his death.  After his death his son succeeded  him as the second Aga Khan.

Hasan Ali  at the relevant time was the governor of the Iran province of Kerman and was high in the favor of Shah of Iran. The title Aga Khan chief commander was granted to Aga Hasan in 1818 by the Shah. But thereafter, under the next Shah of Iran Mohammad Shah, however felt his family honor slighted and rose in revolt in 1838 but was defeated and fled to India.

He helped the British in the first Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42) and in the conquest of Sindh (1842-43) and was granted a pension. After he had settled in Bombay, he encountered some opposition from a minority of his followers, who contested the extent of his spiritual authority and in a lawsuit challenged his control over the community's funds, but he won his case in 1866.

The term Khoja is not a religious designation but a purely caste distinction that was carried over from the Hindu background of the group. Thus, there are Sunnite Khojas and Shi'ite Khojas. Other Nizari Isma'ilis share the same beliefs, practices, and even language with the Khojas. However, one cannot enter the caste except by birth.

Khojas live primarily in India and East Africa. Every province with large numbers of them has an Isma'ili council, the decisions of which are recognized as legal by the state. As Nizari Isma'ilis, Khojas are followers of the Aga Khan.