The Aga Khan Speaks at Brown

"George Washington...came to this campus in 1790, after just one year as President, when Brown itself was only a quarter of a century old,," His Highness the Aga Khan said on Monday during his own visit to Brown University's 250th anniversary celebration.
President Christina Paxson invited the Aga Khan to deliver the 88th Stephen A. Ogden, Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs, just a few weeks after his historic speech to both houses of the Canadian Parliament, the first Muslim non-head of state to address the Canadian Parliament, a country of which he is also an honorary citizen.

The Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of some 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims worldwide, explained in his address at the Canadian Parliament, that the Ismaili Imamat is a "supra-national entity, representing the succession of Imams since the time of the Prophet," and the Ismailis are the only Shia community who "throughout history, have been led by a living, hereditary Imam in direct descent from the Prophet."

Introducing his life's work as "critically important," President Paxson added that the Aga Khan's agencies span over 30 countries with 400 healthcare facilities, over 200 schools and an "annual budget for nonprofit development activities that is approximately $600 million," with "project companies associated with those efforts generating close to $3 billion in total revenue."

This would seem an unimaginable feat for a personality that is not the head of any state, nor governs any land. He describes his mandate for economic and educational development as part and parcel of his mantle and responsibility as Imam. Yet, the Aga Khan is constantly awarded head of state status, has agreements with national and state level governments including a number of African and Asian governments, Canada, Portugal as well as California, Illinois, and Texas, has established 6 Ismaili centers which serve as ambassadorial delegation buildings around the world, and has numerous honorary degrees and memorandums of understanding from prestigious universities including McGill, McMaster, Cambridge, Harvard and Brown, amongst others, along with many other awards and honors conferred upon him by leaders and dignitaries around the world. He is clearly a respected and admired figure who leaders and institutions around the world seek to partner with and listen to.

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