The late Agha Khan laid down his leadership in 1957 and the Imamate continued in his grandson Shah Karim al Husayni, Agha Khan IV, who was born in 1936. He was, as one of his followers pointed out, a descendant through his father of the ancient Iranian royal family and of the Prophet of Islam and on his mother’s side of the medieval Kings of England. hence of Charlemagne. He knew Kenya well: his East African followers treasure the memory of how as a boy he used to lead the prayer in the Nairobi jamathkana. At the same time he was fully a member of the modern international world. He had studied at Harvard, and was contributing directly to the development of Pakistan, of various countries in Africa and of places in Europe. Various studies of his Imamate have already been begun but years of further study are required, quite apart from the perspective of years which history demands. Here a few inadequate remarks must suffice. It was for the new Imam to carry on the work of the Imamate under changed conditions. The situation is well stated in a quotation from the will of the rate Imam. He wrote:

Accordingly every aspect of his grandfather’s work was carried forward and over the years readapted to the new situation. Above all the coming of Independence which the grandfather had foreseen and welcomed had to be prepared and worked for.

The situation in the mid 1960s, the response, and the promise are well illustrated by the inaugural address and a series of public lectures given by the East African Institute of Social and Cultural Affairs which is closely associated with the University College at Nairobi, then part of the University of East Africa. The address was given by His Highness the Agha Khan on November 24, 1966. His Highness began by pointing to the revolution of rising expectations for a full share in the world’s riches which the new nations in East Africa must meet. He showed how the University and the Kenyan Ministries of Economic Planning and of Education were giving priority to technological and scientific training and he was optimistic over the outcome. But the rich nations must devote more of their resources to helping. The new nations must build up a situation in which rapid advance could take place.

The Agha Khan spoke of the need for computer science, if only to speed up efficient taxation! He showed how agriculture is likely to continue to be the backbone of prosperity in East Africa and how new advances in its technology could make a great leap forward possible. The same kind of' advances could be brought about in industry and commerce. No one must think this is impossible in East Africa. In 1945 Germany and Japan had to build from the bottom and now they have outstripped their rivals. Capital from abroad was needed both from large-scale private investors and from international bodies. Internally the greatest need was for the training of technical manpower. Groups of companies and communities inside the country could do much to assist with this; for instance, his people were seeking ways of making their educational system (which was already available to all) more effective in technological training. There was room for commercial and financial groups and development companies to contribute to the development of' light industry. It was his intention, as soon as such companies were firmly established, to assist them with a specialized service to keep them up to date with the latest developments. He was confident that what the Germans and Japanese had done, the East Africans could do within the next years.

In a sense we see here the Ismailis at their greatest moment in East African affairs. The vast amounts of material we collected about othe'r matters to do with the community indicate as rosy a picture[22]. The jamatkhanas were prosperous, well-organized. Their educational, social and medical services were among the best in the world. Religiously, the theology of the Imàmate, the practice of community prayer and meditation, the understanding of the Ismaili place in Islam and the modern world, were being discussed in a lively and constructive fashion. There were many inside the community who warned that money played too large a part, that true integration with their African fellow citizens would have to go ahead at a breathless pace if they were to overcome the tacit apartheid of the colonial period. Already the rumbling of" the apocalypse could be heard.

The 1964 revolution at Zanzibar dispersed the last major remnants of the community from what had been in the nineteenth century the mother jamat. It is still impossible to be certain what happened to the letters, accounts, minutes of meetings, records, runs of periodicals and library which were there. When in 1971 General Idi Amin gave the Asians a few months to leave Uganda, the communities there were broken up. Again, we cannot say what has happened to materia1 located at Kampara. Fort Portal, Arua and all the other line Ismaili centers which were there. It is not easy to foresee what policy any future democratically-based Ugandan government may have towards the Asians who were expelled. One historical analogy may be to say that Mary Tudor and her husband Philip of Spain did not try to restore to the monks the position and possessions they had before Disestablishment. In Tanzania. Mr. Julius Nyerere's government is meticulous in excluding considerations of race. On their side the Ismailis at the behest of the Imam identify themselves as citizens. However, the Muslim Welfare Society, into which the Ismailis put so much effort and money, as well as various Ismaili development organs have been taken over. There has been no mass emigration but the government policy with regard to the sharing of wealth and ujamaa with regard to the setting up of co-ops and the running of dukas (stores, shops), to the ownership by one person of any building or land in excess of what he or she tan personally use, has meant that people of many kinds, professional men, well-to-do farmers, as well as believers in various forms of capitalism and private ownership have taken opportunities to migrate. The Agha Khan has never wanted the London jamàat to become a relocation center, but since so many influential members of the community initially moved to Britain and Canada and because also the refugee expertise of Prince Sadruddïn and other international members of the community could be brought into play to help those in need of advice, inevitably the jamats at London, Toronto and Vancouver have centers through which many East Africans were relocated and through whose records one day the old Ismailies will be traced. In the meantime in Tanzania it is not easy to know how research will go. The University is developing Religious Studies slowly. Any foreign application to do research on an Islamic theme requires government consultation with BAKWATA. Baraza Kuu Waislamu za Tanzania, the Great Muslim Convention or Board concerned with Islam in Tanzania, who’s Secretary is fully aware of the way in which colonialism and imperialism have used research for their own nefarious purposes. So in conclusion we can say that its East African venture is but an episode in the long history of worldwide Ismailism. Much work remains to be done on the history of the episode but the mainstream of Ismaili history has moved elsewhere. The scholar must turn his or her attention to Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Australia, wherever the winds have carried the seeds of the diaspora.