In the early morning of December 9th 1954, my wife Gulbanoo and I left our hotel in Nice (France) and went out looking for a taxi with a driver that could converse with us in English. I found one and hired that taxi for the day. We asked the driver to take us to Villa Yakimour in Cannes. The Private Secretary to Aga Khan had suggested that we should take a public bus from Nice to Cannes and then hire a local taxi, to save money. My wife was expecting a child, the climate was very cold. Since none of us spoke French it was not easy to find our way in the South of France under these condition and reach in time for our appointment in a different town. In those days, we both were young and very dedicated and devout followers of the Aga Khan. This appointment to meet and talk face to face with our Hazar Imam and his young Begum meant a lot to us. We could not take the risk of being late and miss this once in a lifetime appointment of a private Didar and Mulaqat. Our taxi arrived at the Villa in Cannes, earlier than our appointment time. We requested the gatekeeper to inform the Secretary of our presence. We were told to enter the Villa enjoy the beautiful garden, see the private swimming pool of the Aga Khan, take photographs of these sites and wait for the next message. We made the most of this rare photo opportunity. 

      Finally, the seventy-seven years old Sultan Muhammad Shah and his forth wife Begum Omm-e-Habibah, who was nearly forty years younger than him, were ready to meet us. We slowly climbed the steps leading to the residence above. These steps were made of rocks. We had to be extra careful in climbing these steps since beautiful flowers were planted between the joints. Begum Omm-e-Habibah, who was pushing the wheel chair of her husband who could not walk, greeted us with her candid smile. The Aga Khan also welcomed our visitation as his devoted followers and asked us to come closer. It was the month of December and the temperature was low. The Late Aga Khan was wearing a heavy camel color overcoat and upon his legs was a heavy blanket of the same color. From time to time, the Begum would pull up the blanket which kept on sliding down due to his body movements. We paid homage and offerings to our spiritual leader as any devout Agakhani Ismaili would on such occasions. He accepted the offerings and showered us with his usual paternal and maternal blessings, etc. Thereafter, my wife made a request for the name of our second child which she was then bearing. My second son Abbas, who was born three months later, has the name that was given on that day. When all the religious ceremonies were over the late Aga Khan asked me; if I had made my plans for going to Belgium Congo. I was totally caught off guard and was surprised. I replied that I had not considered any plans of moving to Africa. I was at that time living in Pakistan and only a few days ago my parents whom we had met in London had suggested that I should move to Belgium Congo. As devout Ismailis, my wife and I kept on thinking; Was it a miracle or his divine power that out of all the things to talk about the Hazar Imam spoke of Congo, when we had not even given him the slightest hint?

     When I became the leader of an Ismaili community in Pakistan, I found out that the Private Secretary to the Aga Khan used to maintain personal files of every major donor and leader within the community. My father had donated Indian Rupees 300,000 for the Diamond Jubilee of the late Aga Khan in 1946. (This amount in today's terms and value, after more than half a century, would be equivalent to multi millions of U. S. Dollars). Since that amount was the highest donation from amongst the Ismailis of India, he had the exclusive honor of weighing the late Aga Khan in the Diamonds. In the picture below my father is seen placing the boxes of the "rented" Diamonds, on the weighing scale. The Diamonds were rented from South Africa and were specially flown by air to Bombay for the purpose of this weighing in ceremony.
Except for one box, all these boxes contained "Industrial Diamonds". 
The same rented boxes were then shipped to East Africa for similar ceremonies.

      When I later saw my father in Belgium Congo I found out that he was in constant correspondence with the late Aga Khan. It was at his explicit suggestion that he had moved to Congo from the East Africa. My father Ebrahim Rajan Meherally was also informed by the late Aga Khan that of all the colonies in Africa, the Belgium Congo will be the last country in Africa to be independent. The British Colonies of the East Africa will be the first to be independent. The history records that Belgium Congo was the first country in the whole of Africa to get its independence from the Belgium Government. When I saw the present Aga Khan at Paris in 1973, as the community leader from Pakistan, he informed me that due to an oversight of his Secretary, my personal file was not on his desk. The scheduled Mulaqat continued without an insight into my personal records. No need to add that the late Aga Khan must have read my family's personal file before our earlier Mulaqat at Villa Yakimour, in 1954 when he asked me about my going to Congo. 

     When we were about to leave Villa Yakimour, the Begum asked us if we would like to take our photographs with her husband. In the happiest excitement of the special Mulaqat, the child's name and the out of the blue mention of Congo, we had totally forgotten about the photos. She very generously offered to take the snaps with my Roliflex camera. Thereafter, my wife suggested that I should take the photos of the Aga Khan and his beautiful wife - the former Miss Lyon of 1930. The Begum was born and raised in a very humble family in a small town of France. She always used to look after the welfare and needs of the Murids of her husband, who used to come to see him from the distant lands. Begum Omm-e-Habibah suggested that she would request her Secretary to take the photos so that we all can come in the picture. Below is that memorable picture taken by the Begum's secretary. Now it was time to go down those steps with flowers and get into the taxi. At this moment, the Begum noticed that my wife was wearing her silken Sari but had no overcoat to cover her body from the cold weather. She inquired about the overcoat and was informed that my wife had left it in the taxi below. She immediately whispered into the ear of her husband and he asked me to give my overcoat to my wife. Begum was happy to see my wife wearing my overcoat. She gave her usual smile and they both waved us good-bye, not knowing that we were to meet again, after two days.

An air flight from Nice to Rome...

     On 11th of December 1954 we arrived with our baggage at the airport in Nice. It was a small airport and our twin engine plane which was to fly us to Rome was waiting on the tarmac. Before the passengers would embark on the plane a big car with the police escort come right up to the tail of the airplane. Out came the Aga Khan and his Begum. The couple was holding the diplomatic passports and was the first to embark the plane. Once they had settled comfortably in their seats, the rest of the passengers numbering a dozen or so were allowed to embark from the same tail end. When the late Aga Khan saw my wife and I entering the airplane he surprisingly shouted; “Mr. Meherally, you did not tell me you were traveling on this plane.” I replied that I had no such plans on that day of the Mulaqat. 

    During the journey, Begum and I exchanged the seats. She sat with my wife and I sat next to the Aga Khan. We briefly discussed about my article on the subject of ‘The Ismaili Theory of Ten Incarnations – Das Avatar’, which I had already sent to him. This article was based upon the 'Juni Gatpat ni Dua' (the old Ismaili ritual prayer that was recited in the 1950s and published in Gujrati from the Ismaili Press in Bombay) and on a Gujrati "text book" for the religious night schools, entitled; 'Sil sile Imamat' (the continuous lineage of Imamate). Aga Khan promised to send me his approval and suggested that I should get it printed in the Ismaili magazines. I receive the letter of approval in Karachi. It was a kind of endorsement to the Ismaili beliefs in the Ten Manifestations of Lord Vishnu. Hadhrat Ali (and his living successor) being the Tenth and Final Physical Manifestation. On the bases of that letter, which was personally signed by the Late Aga Khan, the article was published from Bombay in the Ismaili magazine “Ayina”. The chief missionary Al-Waiz Kassamali Mohammed Jaffer of Karachi saw the original letter. He then attested the authenticity of the letter and its signature to the Editor of "Ayina" in Bombay over the phone, to whom I had mailed a photo copy of the said letter and my article. In his own Memoirs published in the same year, Aga Khan did mention briefly about all the messengers of the Old and New Testaments and the Quran and he added "...similar Divinely inspired messengers in other countries - Gautama Buddha, Shri Krishna, and Shri Ram in India..." 
Today we know that Krishna and Ram were not historical characters that lived physical lives in India, but were the characters of Epic Tales.

      While Aga Khan and myself were discussing the Ismaili beliefs of the unceasing physical manifestations of God as Avatars and the "Triune of Allah" (Allah, Muhammad and Ali) vis a vis the "Trinity of Christian Doctrine" (The Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost), my wife informed the Begum that as the winner of an essay competition, I was awarded a Free Trip to London and Rome. During the showing of the famous movie ‘Roman Holidays’ (starring, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck), the Film Studio in Rome, the owners of the theater in Karachi and the traveling agents had jointly sponsored this Free Trip of Europe to the winner of an essay 'The City of Rome'. The panel of judges had declared me the winner and hence I was on this trip with my wife. Begum gave this good news to her husband who turned around, smiled at me and asked; if I was that lucky winner?

       During this flight, due to some technical problem the engine on our side of the airplane had come to a complete stop. The propeller was stationary. The airplane was virtually flying on a single engine. The propeller on the side of the Aga Khan was rotating. He and his Begum were unaware of this stoppage of one engine. When the Begum came to us for a chat we informed her of the situation. She looked outside from our window and saw the stationary propeller with an awe. She requested us not to tell of this failure of an engine to her husband who had by then fallen fast a sleep. Her husband was not enjoying a good health. The Begum repeated her request. We agreed to say nothing. Throughout the journey the Begum kept on looking at the stationery propeller to see if it had restarted. Finally, we landed on the airport of Rome. The airplane pilot (probably requested by the Begum) made no mention of this abnormality to the passengers, during the air flight. At the airport in Rome, the Aga Khan and his Begum were the first to disembark and got into their car which was driven right up to the airplane. The couple waited till we both got down and wished us a happy journey. They kept on waving to us from their car. Begum, who loved her husband so much and used to take great care of her husband, must be happy that we had observed the silence as requested by her. 

    In less than three years Omm-e-Habibah became a widow. Her husband was buried in Aswan, Egypt. The Begum who became Muslim, soon after her marriage in 1944, had also performed the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mekkah). A ritual that is obligatory, once in a life time, upon every Muslim who has the means and physical possibilities for the performance. The Begum had made special arrangements with a Sheikh in Aswan, to recite daily the verses of the Glorious Qur’an, in front of her late husband's tomb. I wish the Agakhani Ismaili would, instead of reciting their Pir's Ginans in Gujrati/Urdu, recite the verses of the Glorious Qur'an in Arabic during the last rituals that are performed on dead bodies of their relatives and the loved ones, within their homes and Jamatkhanas before the burials.

      The late Aga Khan had "the greatest confidence" in his forth wife Begum Omm-e-Habibah. Although he appointed his grandson Karim as the next Hazar Imam of his Murids (followers), in his last Will, he also Declared in this Will, that "my successor shall during the first seven years of his Imamate be guided on questions of general Imamate policy by my said wife YVETTE ... BLANCHE LABROUSSE {the maiden name of Omm-e-Habibah}, ...and in whose wise judgement I place the greatest confidence."  It will not be out of place to mention that in the Ismaili tradition and belief "Hazar Imam is the Mazhar of Allah and is Aql-e-Qul" ( meaning, the living Imam is the All Wise and All Knowing Manifest of Allah). An Imam to be guided, especially in the matter of Imamate, by a french born wife of the former Imam is inconceivable, but that has been the reality. Aga Khan the third was also guided by his mother, when he became the 48th Imam of the Ismailis. The history may repeat itself, if the recently born and likely candidate for the Imamat - Ali Muhammad, will become the 50th Hazar Imam of less than two million Shia Imami Agakhani Ismailis. 

Akbarally Meherally