The funeral of Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims, will take place in Lisbon on Saturday, a representative of the community said.
Prince Karim al-Husseini, 88, died on Tuesday. A ceremony to herald his successor is scheduled for next week. The private funeral will be conducted at the Ismaili community centre in central Lisbon, in front of several hundred guests. “This is a private event, not a big public event… It will be short and dignified,” Naguib Kheraj, a senior adviser to the Ismaili community, told a press conference on Thursday. The deceased Aga Khan established the global headquarters of the Ismaili community in Lisbon in 2015.
Prince Karim was inaugurated in 1957 as the 49th imam of the Nizari Ismailis, a branch of Shia Islam that has millions of followers, notably in Central and South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His eldest son, 53-year-old Rahim Al-Hussaini, will succeed him and take on the title of Aga Khan V.
The equivalent of an inauguration of the new Aga Khan will be held on Tuesday morning at the community headquarters in Lisbon. “It will be a private ceremony. It’s a ceremony to mark the accession of the new imam,” Kheraj said.
Meanwhile, the government on Thursday announced a day of national mourning in Pakistan on Saturday, February 8 on the occasion of funeral of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan. According to a Cabinet Division notification, “Expressing profound grief on behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan on the sad demise of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the Prime Minister has declared a Day of National Mourning in Pakistan on Saturday, the 8th of February, 2025, on the occasion of the funeral of His High Highness.” The National Flag shall fly at half-mast throughout the country on February 8.
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