Editing Aga Khan III (section)

== Religious and social views ==
{{Aligarh Movement}}
The Aga Khan was deeply influenced by the views of [[Syed Ahmad Khan|Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India |last=Purohit |first=Teena |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-674-06639-7 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=111}}</ref> Along with Sir Sayyid, the Aga Khan was one of the backers and founders of the [[Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College|Aligarh University]], for which he tirelessly raised funds and to which he donated large sums of his own money.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ismailism and Islam in Modern South Asia: Community and Identity in the Age of Religious Internationals |last=Mukherjee |first=Soumen |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-107-15408-7 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=131}}</ref> The Aga Khan himself can be considered an [[Islamic Modernism|Islamic modernist]] and an intellectual of the [[Aligarh Movement|Aligarh movement]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=The Shi'a in modern South Asia : religion, history and politics |others=Jones, Justin, 1980-, Qasmi, Ali Usman |date=5 May 2015 |isbn=978-1-316-25879-8 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Delhi, India |pages=53 |oclc=927147288}}</ref>

From a religious standpoint, the Aga Khan followed a [[Islamic Modernism|modernist]] approach to Islam.<ref name=":2" /> He believed there to be no contradiction between religion and modernity, and urged Muslims to embrace [[modernity]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Shi'i Islam : an introduction |last=Haider |first=Najam Iftikhar |isbn=978-1-107-03143-2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York, NY |pages=193 |oclc=874557726 |date=11 August 2014}}</ref> Although he opposed a wholesale replication of Western society by Muslims, the Aga Khan did believe increased contact with the West would be overall beneficial to Muslim society.<ref name=":3" /> He was intellectually open to [[Western philosophy]] and ideas, and believed engagement with them could lead to a revival and renaissance within Islamic thought.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Aga Khan III : selected speeches and writings of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah |author=((Aga Khan III)) |date=1998 |publisher=Kegan Paul International |others=Aziz, Khursheed Kamal. |isbn=0-7103-0427-7 |location=London |pages=1067 |oclc=39678354}}</ref>

Like many other Islamic modernists, the Aga Khan held a low opinion of the traditional religious establishment (the [[Ulama|ʿUlamāʾ]]) as well as what he saw as their rigid formalism, legalism, and literalism.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Rattansi |first=Diamond |date=August 1981 |title=The Nizari Isma'ilis of Pakistan: Isma'ilism, Islam and Westernism Viewed Through the Firmans: 1936–1980 |url=http://ismaili.net/heritage/node/29247 |journal=McGill University |pages=65}}</ref> Instead, he advocated for renewed [[Ijtihad|ijtihād]] (independent reasoning) and [[Ijma|ijmāʿ]] (consensus), the latter of which he understood in a modernist way to mean consensus-building.<ref name=":4" /> According to him, Muslims should go back to the original sources, especially the [[Quran|Qurʾān]], in order to discover the true essence and spirit of Islam.<ref name=":4">Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1183</ref> Once the principles of the faith were discovered, they would be seen to be universal and modern.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 1345–1346</ref> Islam, in his view, had an underlying liberal and democratic spirit.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 211</ref> He also called for full civil and religious liberties,<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 876</ref> peace and disarmament, and an end to all wars.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1415</ref>

The Aga Khan opposed [[sectarianism]], which he believed to sap the strength and unity of the Muslim community.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 210, 803</ref> In specific, he called for a rapprochement between [[Sunni Islam|Sunnism]] and [[Shia Islam|Shīʿism]].<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1184</ref> This did not mean that he thought religious differences would go away, and he himself instructed his [[Isma'ilism|Ismāʿīlī]] followers to be dedicated to their own teachings.<ref name=":5">Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1407</ref> However, he believed in unity through accepting diversity, and by respecting differences of opinion.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 842 & 1063</ref> On his view, there was strength to be found in the diversity of Muslim traditions.<ref>Rattansi 1981, p. 207</ref>

The Aga Khan called for social reform in Muslim society, and he was able to implement them within his own Ismāʿīlī community.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Voices of Islam |date=2007 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |others=Cornell, Vincent J. |isbn=978-0-313-05116-6 |location=Westport, Conn. |pages=235 |oclc=230345942}}</ref> As he believed Islam to essentially be a humanitarian religion, the Aga Khan called for the reduction and eradication of poverty.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 216</ref> Like Sir Sayyid, the Aga Khan was concerned that Muslims had fallen behind the Hindu community in terms of education.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 235</ref> According to him, education was the path to progress.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 208</ref> He was a tireless advocate for compulsory and universal primary education,<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 217</ref> and also for the creation of higher institutions of learning.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 212-213</ref>

In terms of women's rights, the Aga Khan was more progressive in his views than Sir Sayyid and many other Islamic modernists of his time.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Forging the ideal educated girl : the production of desirable subjects in Muslim South Asia |last=Khoja-Moolji, Shenila, 1982- |isbn=978-0-520-97053-3 |location=Oakland, California |pages=27 |oclc=1022084628 |date=June 2018}}</ref> The Aga Khan framed his pursuit of women's rights not simply in the context of women being better mothers or wives, but rather, for women's own benefit.<ref>Khoja-Moolji 2018, p. 31</ref> He endorsed the spiritual equality of men and women in Islam, and he also called for full political equality.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Culture, transnationalism, and civil society : Aga Khan social service initiatives in Tanzania |last=Kaiser, Paul J. |date=1996 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=0-275-95528-1 |location=Westport, Conn. |pages=51 |oclc=34545670}}</ref> This included the right to vote<ref name=":0" /><ref>Aga Khan III 1998, pp. 593 & 645</ref> and the right to an education.<ref name="Aga Khan III 1998, p. 586">Aga Khan III 1998, p. 586</ref> In regards to the latter issue, he endorsed compulsory primary education for girls.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1117</ref> He also encouraged women to pursue higher university-level education,<ref name="Aga Khan III 1998, p. 586" /> and saw nothing wrong with co-educational institutions.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 587</ref> Whereas Sir Sayyid prioritized the education of boys over girls, the Aga Khan instructed his followers that if they had a son and daughter, and if they could only afford to send one of them to school, they should send the daughter over the boy.<ref>Aga Khan III 1998, p. 1211–1212</ref>

The Aga Khan campaigned against the institution of [[Purdah|purda]] and [[Zenana|zenāna]], which he felt were oppressive and un-Islamic institutions.<ref name=":1" /> He completely banned the [[Purdah|purda]] and the face veil for his Ismāʿīlī followers.<ref>Khoja-Moolji 2018, p. 32</ref> The Aga Khan also restricted polygamy, encouraged marriage to widows, and banned child marriage.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/muslimsinuniteds0000leon/page/68 |title=Muslims in the United States : the state of research |last=Leonard, Karen Isaksen, 1939- |date=2003 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |isbn=978-1-61044-348-7 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/muslimsinuniteds0000leon/page/68 68] |oclc=794701243 |url-access=registration}}</ref> He also made marriage and divorce laws more equitable to women.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, he encouraged women to take part in all national activities and to agitate for their full religious, social, and political rights.<ref name=":0" />

Today, in large part due to the Aga Khan's reforms, the Ismāʿīlī community is one of the most progressive, peaceful, and prosperous branches of Islam.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Twaddle |first=Michael |date=July 1995 |title=Asians in East Africa Quest for Equality: Asian Politics in East Africa, 1900–1967. By Robert G. Gregory. Hyderabad and London: Orient Longman and Sangam Books (57 London Fruit Exchange, London E1 6EP, UK), 1993. Pp. xvi + 231. £14.95 (ISBN 0-86311-208-0). |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=335–336 |doi=10.1017/s0021853700034289 |s2cid=142953052 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref>