He was the first Nizari Imam to hold the title Aga Khan. ==Early life and family== The Imam Hasan Ali Shah was born in 1804 in Kahak, Iran to Shah Khalil Allah, the 45th Ismaili Imam, and Bibi Sarkara, the daughter of Muhammad Sadiq Mahallati (d.
Shah Khalil Allah moved to Yazd in 1815, probably out of concern for his Indian followers, who used to travel to Persia to see their Imam and for whom Yazd was a much closer and safer destination than Kahak.
Two years later, in 1817, Shah Khalil Allah was killed in Yazd during a brawl between some of his followers and local shopkeepers.
Until Fath Ali Shah's death in 1834, the Imam Hasan Ali Shah enjoyed a quiet life and was held in high esteem at the Qajar court. ==Governorship of Kerman== Soon after the accession of Muhammad Shah Qajar to the throne of his grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, the Imam Hasan Ali Shah was appointed governor of Kerman in 1835.
Until Fath Ali Shah's death in 1834, the Imam Hasan Ali Shah enjoyed a quiet life and was held in high esteem at the Qajar court. ==Governorship of Kerman== Soon after the accession of Muhammad Shah Qajar to the throne of his grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, the Imam Hasan Ali Shah was appointed governor of Kerman in 1835.
Despite the service he rendered to the Qajar government, Hasan Ali Shah was dismissed from the governorship of Kerman in 1837, less than two years after his arrival there, and was replaced by Firuz Mirza Nusrat al-Dawla, a younger brother of Muhammad Shah Qajar.
He was eventually allowed to go to Tehran near the end of 1838-39 where he was able to present his case before the Shah.
Hasan Ali Shah decided to escape to Afghanistan, accompanied by his brothers and many soldiers and servants. ==Afghanistan== Fleeing Iran, Hasan Ali Shah arrived in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1841 – a town that had been occupied by an Anglo-Indian army in 1839 in the First Anglo-Afghan War.
At the time of his arrival in Shahr-e Babak, a formal local governor was engaged in a campaign to drive out the Afghans from the city's citadel, and Hasan Ali Shah joined him in forcing the Afghans to surrender. Soon after March 1841, Hasan Ali Shah set out for Kerman.
Hasan Ali Shah decided to escape to Afghanistan, accompanied by his brothers and many soldiers and servants. ==Afghanistan== Fleeing Iran, Hasan Ali Shah arrived in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1841 – a town that had been occupied by an Anglo-Indian army in 1839 in the First Anglo-Afghan War.
Although the proposal seemed to have been approved, the plans of the British were thwarted by the uprising of Dost Muhammad's son Muhammad Akbar Khan, who defeated and annihilated the British-Indian garrison at Gandamak on its retreat from Kabul in January 1842. ==Sindh== Hasan Ali Shah soon proceeded to Sindh, where he rendered further services to the British.
The British were able to annex Sindh and for his services, Hasan Ali Shah received an annual pension of £2,000 from General Charles James Napier, the British conqueror of Sindh with whom he had a good relationship. ==Bombay== In October 1844, Hasan Ali Shah left Sindh for the city of Bombay in the Bombay Presidency, British India passing through Cutch and Kathiawar where he spent some time visiting the communities of his followers in the area.
After arriving in Bombay in February 1846, the Persian government demanded his extradition from India.
Hasan Ali Shah was eventually forced to leave for Calcutta in April 1847, where he remained until he received news of the death of Muhammad Shah Qajar.
Aga Khan I's mother later moved to India where she died in 1851.
In 1866, these dissenters filed a suit in the Bombay High Court against Hasan Ali Shah, claiming that the Khojas had been Sunni Muslims from the very beginning.
Hasan Ali Shah died after an imamate of sixty-four years in April 1881.
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