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Mowlana Shah Karim al-Husayn) Hazar Imam ascended the throne of Imamat on 11th July, 1957 and became our 49th Imam. He is directly descended from our Holy Prophet Muhammad and our first Imam, Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali.
Mowlana Hazar Imam was born in a private clinic in Geneva on 13th December, 1936 to Princess Taj-ud-dowlah, wife of Prince Aly S. Khan.
When Hazrat Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, our 48th Imam,heard this news,in his villa in the south of France, he was extremely delighted. He hurried to Geneva to see his baby grandson. Prince Aly S Khan, the eldest son of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah and father of our beloved Hazar Imam, was also there.
The whole family gathered to give a name to the child and it was decided to call him KARIM, which means 'GENEROUS'.
At a very early age Mowlana Hazar Imam spoke two languages, namely English and French. Soon after his birth, Ismailis in India celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah to mark the 50 years of his Imamat and weighed him in gold. When Hazar Imam was two and a half months old, Ismailis in Africa celebrated the Golden Jubilee on 1st March, 1937 weighing Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah in gold. Prince Amyn Muhammad was born on 14th September, 1937, nine months after the birth of Mowlana Hazar Imam.
The First World War broke out on 1st September, 1939 and at that time Mowlana Hazar Imam was only three years old. When the second World War broke out in 1940, Mowlana Hazar Imam and Prince Amyn Muhammad, who were then three and two years old, were sent away from Europe to stay in Nairobi, Kenya.
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