A notable global figure, Prince Karim, Aga Khan IV, spiritual leader of the global Ismaili community and philanthropist, died on February 4, 2025. Many obituaries (this among them) have highlighted his remarkable life and diverse contributions, but few have focused on a dimension that I was privileged to witness: his keen interest and involvement in religious tolerance and interreligious cooperation.
In 1998, the President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, launched what seemed at the time an improbable initiative. With the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, he argued that the international development community must focus purposefully on links with religious communities, given their powerful shared interest in addressing issues of poverty but also in related fields like health and education. The initiative sparked considerable controversy, but it was also a precursor of a wider recognition of the dynamism and significance of religious beliefs and institutions in the modern world. Why the controversy? Political factors were involved (even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001), but so were concerns that the World Bank was overstepping its mandate by venturing into this new territory. Some deeply held beliefs about the importance of separating religious from more secular matters also colored the reactions.
A leading partner in the early years that shaped the dialogue process was the Aga Khan, and he and Jim Wolfensohn engaged in active personal exchanges, meetings, and extensive correspondence. These shaped what became the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), a modest but bold organization that I now lead. It is based at Georgetown University and works closely with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. I was party to some of the exchanges at the time and took inspiration from rereading the rich correspondence and recalling the discussions, that included a visit to His Highness at Aiglemont, near Paris.
The Aga Khan’s wisdom and challenges are an important part both of his legacy and a testimony to the progress we have made in the ongoing challenges of working towards more strategic religious engagement in development and humanitarian work. The Aga Khan had many interests and a rich and busy life, so the detailed attention he gave to topics like international education and the international baccalaureate as well as interreligious relations are particularly striking. His interest in the proposal to bridge deep divides separating development and religious approaches has a special quality as these were clearly issues that were critically important to him.
I’m not sure where the Aga Khan and Wolfensohn first met, but their relationship went well beyond an official contact. The correspondence that I have kept by me is led by “My dear K” and “My dear Jim”, and the two visited each other in different settings. In reviewing some of the correspondence in 2000 and 2001, what is most striking is the extraordinary care and detail that His Highness brought to the issues involved. Some letters extend to nine pages, and he treats a wide gamut of issues, from the most esoteric to administrative matters, in meticulous detail.
The central theme is the Aga Khan’s support for the effort that Jim Wolfensohn launched, and that he stuck to, despite opposition: addressing the “missing link” binding religious communities to human development work. This extract from a May 1, 2001 letter highlights the core conviction that linked these two leaders:
“Since you first raised the issue with me, I have been absolutely convinced of the desirability and timeliness that the world’s faiths should be encouraged to work together for human development, and that this objective should be sustained by the World Bank.”
His Highness provided substantial financial support to the effort in the early years, assigned his collaborators to follow the process, and took keen personal interest as detailed plans unfolded, from staff recruitment to the legal structure of the institution that became the WFDD. He was deeply concerned that the religious approach of participating countries be carefully assessed. In parallel to financial support for the exploratory phases of the faith development dialogue, he financed and engaged actively in a program of seminars at Harvard University, as he was convinced that the sensitivity and complexity of the issues involved demanded a neutral and deeply informed intellectual exploration and foundation.
The faith initiative’s early years did not go smoothly. Doubts expressed by many members of the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors concerned the Aga Khan, as they brought home a point he never ceased to emphasize: that religious matters demanded a very particular care and sensitivity. The political overtones of discussions were deeply disturbing to him. Further, a large interreligious gathering that accompanied the United Nations efforts to mark the year 2000 millennium transition proved likewise to stir and illustrate tensions within religious communities and between religious communities and many secular counterparts. The result, sadly, was that after and despite his deep involvement in the early years of the WFDD, he withdrew from active support in 2001, leaving the door open to cooperation with the Ismaili community and the Aga Khan Development network.
In his letter to Jim Wolfensohn that noted his stepping aside from direct leadership, he made an especially pertinent observation, that in fact is a major driver today for WFDD: the central importance of strategic religious engagement on the full range of development issues at the country level:
“I have always felt, and continue to be convinced, that it is the in-country situations where the most immediate results can be achieved, and where delicate issues such as faiths’ representation in WFDD will take second place to the critical issues which faiths and their peoples have to address daily in facing poverty and the prospect of unending marginalization.”
The Aga Khan’s legacy lives on in many ways, including the continuing work of WFDD and its partners. His keen interest in education, including its role in forging meaningful links among diverse communities, in the complex web of contributions of religious ideas and institutions to each facet of development, and in the need for sensitivity and a strong intellectual foundation in bridging gulfs among different facets of society, serve as constant reminders. It was a gift and a privilege to learn from him and to witness his wise and principled approach and his deep insights.
