Aga Khan case

The Aga Khan Case was an 1866 court decision in the High Court of Bombay by Justice Sir Joseph Arnould that established the authority of the first Aga Khan, Hasan Ali Shah, as the head of the Khoja community of Bombay.[1]

The case was officially a property dispute between a subset of dissident leaders of the Bombay Khojas and the Aga Khan, a Persian nobleman who had arrived in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1846 and was regarded by his followers, including most Khojas, as their rightful leader and the 46th imam of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims.[2] The dissidents rejected the Aga Khan's claim on authority by arguing that he was not a Khoja and that the Khojas had always been Sunni Muslims.[3]

As part of adjudicating the dispute, Arnould undertook an extensive examination of the religious background of the Khoja caste. After a 25-day trial, which included testimony from the Aga Khan and a review of numerous documents,[4] Arnould found in favor of the Aga Khan, ruling that the Khojas were Shia Ismailis and that the Aga Khan was their rightful leader.[5]

  1. ^ Purohit, Teena (2001). The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India, 4
  2. ^ Hirji, Zulfikar (2011). The Socio-Legal Formation of the Nizari Ismailis of East Africa, 1800-1950 in A Modern History of the Ismailis, ed. Daftary, Farhad, 135
  3. ^ Asani, Ali (2011). From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim: The Articulation of Ismaili Khoja Identity in South Asia in A Modern History of the Ismailis, ed. Daftary, Farhad, 106
  4. ^ Purohit, Teena (2012). The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India, 5
  5. ^ Hirji, Zulfikar (2011). The Socio-Legal Formation of the Nizari Ismailis of East Africa, 1800-1950 in A Modern History of the Ismailis, ed. Daftary, Farhad, 135