Aga Khan, philanthropist and spiritual leader, dies aged 88 | World News

Aga Khan, who became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili -Muslims at the age of 20 as a Harvard bachelor, and who poured a material empire built on billions of dollars in tenth to building has died. He was 88.

His Aga Khan Foundation and the religious community in Ismaili announced on their sites that his highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV and 49. Hereditary Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslims died on Tuesday in Portugal surrounded by his family.

They said a message about his successor would come later.

Aga Khan was considered a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, and Aga Khan “who has been brought up in the middle of the new age”.

Over the course of decades, Aga Khan developed into a business magnate and philanthropist and moved between the spiritual and the worldly and mixes them easily.

Treated as a head of state, Aga Khan was titled “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather, Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year-old dynasty as head of Ismaili Muslim sect.

He became Aga Khan IV on October 19, 1957 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the place where his grandfather once had his weight equalized in diamonds in gifts from his followers.

He had left Harvard to be on his ailing grandfather’s side and returned to you American university 18 months later with an entourage and a deep sense of responsibility.

“I was a bachelor who knew what his work for the rest of his life would be,” he said in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair Magazine. “I don’t think anyone in my situation would have been prepared.”

A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely considered a builder of bridges between Muslim communities and the West despite – or perhaps because of – his restraint to get involved in politics.

Aga Khan Development Network, his most important philanthropic organization, mainly addressed questions about healthcare, housing, education and economic development in rural areas.

A network of hospitals bearing his name is scattered in countries where health care had been lacking for the poorest, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Tadsjikistan, where he spent tens of thousands of millions of dollars to develop local economies.

His eye for building and design led him to establish an architecture award and programs for Islamic architecture at MIT and Harvard. He restored ancient Islamic structures around the world.

Accounts differ with regard to the date and place of his birth. According to WHO’s WHO in France, he was born on December 13, 1936 in Creux-de-Genthod near Geneva, Switzerland, son of Joan Yarde-Buller and Aly Khan.

The extent of Aga Khan’s economic empire is difficult to measure. Some reports considered his personal wealth in billions.

Ismailis – a sect originally centered in India, but who expanded to large communities in East Africa, Central and South Asia and the Middle East – considers it a duty to tithe up to 10% of their income to him as a steward.

“We have no notion of the accumulation of wealth that is evil,” he told Vanity Fair in 2012.

“The Islamic ethics is that if God has given you capacity or luck to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility towards society.”

He is survived by three sons and one daughter.