Rahim Al-Hussaini was named Wednesday as the new Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's millions of Ismaili Muslims. The 53-year-old succeeds his father, who died on Tuesday.

The Tuesday death of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims, and the Wednesday announcement of his successor struck a deep chord with Houston’s sizable Ismaili Muslim community.

The Aga Khan, who became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims at age 20 as a Harvard undergraduate and poured a material empire built on billions of dollars in tithes into building homes,