Ismaʿili Shiʿa
- LAST REVIEWED: 19 May 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 28 August 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0121
- LAST REVIEWED: 19 May 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 28 August 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0121
Introduction
The Ismaʿilis, the second largest branch of the Shiʿa, take their name from their imam, Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar al-Sadiq. They branched off from the main group, the Imāmiyya, following the death of Jaʿfar al-Sadiq in 148/765 in a dispute regarding the latter’s succession. However, it should be noted that modern scholars who have examined traditional views held by the Shiʿa and compared them with the historical picture have come to the conclusion that the crystallization of the Shiʿa occurred under the sixth imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, and that the doctrine of the imamate formulated only in his time and then applied retrospectively to the pre-Jaʿfar period. Around the second half of the 3rd/9th century, following the occultation of the twelfth Imāmi imam in 260/874, the Ismaʿilis launched a powerful messianic movement in various parts of the Abbasid Empire, promising the advent of the Mahdi, who will usher in an era of justice and equity prior to the end of time. In 297/909, they succeeded in establishing the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa, and in 358/969 they conquered Egypt and founded the new capital Cairo, ruling from there for another two centuries until they were overthrown by Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi in 567/1171. Besides establishing a powerful empire stretching across vast territories, the Ismaʿilis have profoundly influenced Islamic political and intellectual thought. Due to the constraints of space, this survey is selective and limited to recent books that have substantially contributed to Ismaʿili studies and that are useful to researchers for further inquiries. Articles are cited where no other full book-length studies are available.
General Overviews
Until the first two decades of the 20th century, the study of Ismaʿili history and doctrine largely comprised polemical and distorted accounts written by opponents. The breakthrough in this prevailing situation occurred during the 1930s, when a large number of private collections of Ismaʿili manuscripts in India, Yemen, Syria, and the former Soviet Union territories of Central and South Asia were discovered. The pioneering work of sifting through the sources was done by W. Ivanow, H. F. Hamdani, Asaf Fyzee, Zahid ʿAli, Muhammad Kamil Husayn, and Henri Corbin. Since then, Ismaʿili studies have been further transformed by another generation of scholars, namely S. M. Stern, Wilferd Madelung, and Abbas H. Hamdani. The list of contemporary scholars is too long to be enumerated here but their contributions will be cited under appropriate headings in this article. A critical account of Ismaʿili history and their doctrines, stretching over more than a millennium and scattered across several countries with splinter groups and subgroups, is yet to be written. Daftary 2007 gives a detailed account of the Ismaʿili history and their doctrines and the vicissitudes of their fortunes, while Madelung 1990 presents a brief overview of their history and doctrine. Daftary 1998 is a shorter version of the author’s previous work. Daftary and Hirji 2008 is an illustrated history of the Ismaʿilis, for promoting public relations. Essays about modern history of the Ismaʿilis in Daftary 2011 are a mixed bag of varied accounts.
Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Ismailis: Traditions of a Muslim Community. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.
DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748609048.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
This shorter version of Daftary 2007 is addressed to a wider readership, and it is organized differently. The author has adopted a topical approach within a historical framework and has selected major themes in Ismaʿili history for his narration.
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Daftary, Farhad. Ismailis in Medieval Muslim Societies. London: I. B. Tauris, 2005.
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This volume is a rehash of previous works into three sections: the Early and Fatimid Phases, the Nizari Phase, and Aspects of Ismaili Thought.
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Daftary, Farhad. The Ismaʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrine. 2d ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511497551Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Originally published in 1990. This comprehensive work synthesizes the findings of modern scholarship about the complex history and doctrine of Ismaʿilism, from its earliest times to the present. However, the syncretic approach adopted by the author without critical appraisal of the sources has its shortcomings. M. Brett criticized “the theory of extensive conspiracy,” elaborated by Stern and Madelung and adopted without scrutiny by Daftary about the origins of Ismaʿilism. Compared to Nile Green’s chapter “The Making of a Neo-Ismaʿilism” in his well-researched book Bombay Islam, Daftary’s last chapter, “The Post-Alamut Centuries and Modern Developments in Nizari Ismaʿili History,” should be taken with a grain of salt. Leaving aside those weaknesses, it contains an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources and serves as an indispensable resource to Ismaʿili studies and future research. Although the author obtained his PhD degree in economics, the work contians hardly any discussion of Fatimid fiscal policy and the causes of their financial prosperity. The second edition is more user friendly as the author has added subheadings to long chapters.
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Daftary, Farhad. Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2012.
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Brief A–Z entries provide excellent access points for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more.
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Daftary, Farhad. A History of Shiʿi Islam. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.
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A book that provides a succinct account in forty pages of the Ismailis after they branched off from the main group. In this book the reader gets a broader perspective of the Ismailis within the larger world of Shiʿi Islam.
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Daftary, Farhad, ed. A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
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The quality of essays in this volume varies widely. For example, the last three essays about Tayyibi Mustaʿlian Ismailis are written only to portray the religious establishment in a favorable light. In a way the entire volume is slanted.
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Daftary, Farhad, and Zulfikar Hirji. The Ismailis: An Illustrated History. London: Azimuth, 2008.
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An excellent artistic production, with four hundred images of manuscripts, artifacts, monuments, and photo album of Aga Khans. The first chapter by Feras Hamza is on the advent of Islam and the early Shiʿa, while chapters 2 and 3, covering the early Ismailis, the Fatimids, and the Nizaris, are by Daftary. The last chapter on the modern Nizaris is by Zulfikar Hirji. The lavish production is designed for public relations of Aga Khans and Ismaili institutions operating in several countries.
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Madelung, Wilferd. “Ismaʿīliyya.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Vol. 4. Edited by E. van Donzel, Bernard Lewis, and Charles Pellat, 198–206. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1990.
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Provides a precise and insightful overview, with a list of important sources. Serves as a good introduction to any detailed research on Ismaʿili history and doctrine. His version of the early Ismaʿili history and some doctrinal issues are debatable.
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Bibliographies
Ismaʿili literature in its various branches, such as history, biographies, jurisprudence, devotional poetry, esoteric interpretation of the Qurʾan and the Sharia, theology, and its own brand of Neoplatonism, is immense. Besides Arabic and Persian, it is scattered among various other languages, but the students of Ismaʿili studies are fortunate to have the following basic tools of research at their disposal. Poonawala 1977 is the most essential source for research because it provides the most extensive and carefully scrutinized bibliography of the primary sources. It also gives brief biographies of the authors and their works, including published and translated versions and locations of extant manuscripts. Its revised and expanded edition is in preparation and will be published soon by Brill. Tajdin 1985 provides a bibliography of secondary sources, and Daftary 2004 provides an annotated list of edited Ismaʿili texts and translations with a bibliography of ancillary resources. Nawazali Jiwa 2013 lists secondary sources in Ismaʿili studies.
Daftary, Farhad. Ismaili Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
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After taking stock of the progress in Ismaʿili studies in the West, Daftary lists all published Ismaʿili works in Arabic and Persian, with their translations, followed by a list of selected non-Ismaʿili works that deal with the Ismaʿilis. The last section enumerates studies covering all aspects of Ismaʿili history and thought, including art and architecture.
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Jiwa, Nawazali A. “Addenda to Secondary Sources in Ismaʿili Studies: The Case of the Omissions.” Middle East Librarians Association 86 (2013): 20–101.
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The article covers the secondary literature published in Western languages through the end of 2003. It encompasses all the major phases of Ismaʿilism, except the Druzes, and two major controversial figures, al-Shahrastani, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, as ro whether they should be considered as Ismaʿilis.
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Poonawala, Ismail K. Biobibliography of Ismaʿīlī Literature. Malibu, CA: Undena, 1977.
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This work supersedes all previous bibliographies, especially that by W. Ivanow. Material concerning 200 authors and 1,300 titles, in various languages, was culled from a wide variety of Ismaʿili and non-Ismaʿili sources. This information was corroborated and augmented by scrutinizing a large number of Ismaʿili manuscripts in public and private collections. Some major private collections accessible to viewers are also listed. It is the most basic tool for further research. The revised edition rectifies earlier shortcomings and is quite expanded with additional authors and titles. It also gives a detailed history of the Mustaʿli-Ṭayyibi branch in Yemen and India with new discoveries of manuscripts in private collections.
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Tajdin, Nagib, ed. and comp. A Bibliography of Ismailism. Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1985.
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Lists the secondary sources about the Ismaʿilis in Western languages.
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Major Collections of Ismaili Manuscripts
The Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, established in 1977, possesses the single largest collection of Ismaʿili manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Khojki. It has so far published four catalogues: Gacek 1984–1985, Cortese 2000, Cortese 2003, and de Blois 2011. Other noteworthy collections are in the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University (Tritton 1933), the Bombay University library (Goriawala 1965 and Fyzee 1973), the National Library of Egypt in Cairo (National Library of Egypt 1967), the Tübingen University Library in Germany (Ismaʿīlitische Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen), and the American University of Beirut Library (Fatimid/Ismaʿīlī Collection). For Poonawala 1977 (cited under Bibliographies), the author of this article had access to a number of private family collections listed therein. The Griffini collection of Yemeni manuscripts in the Ambrosiana Library (Griffini 1915), Milan, has a number of Ismaʿili manuscripts.
American University of Beirut Library (Ismaʿili Collection).
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At the request of the author of this article, the Reference Department of the library compiled a handwritten list of Ismaʿili (manuscripts) and microfilms in September 1971. It seems that Mustafa Ghalib first sold the manuscripts to the library of the University of Tübingen, which then sold its microfilms to the American University of Beirut.
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Cortese, Delia. Ismaili and Other Arabic Manuscripts: A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of the Institute of Ismaili Studies. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
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Lists a total of 178 Ismaʿili manuscripts mostly of Indian provenance acquired by the Institute of Ismaili Studies after the publication of Gacek 1984–1985.
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Cortese, Delia. Arabic Ismaili Manuscripts: The Zahid ʿAlī Collection. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.
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This valuable family collection of Zahid ʿAli, a well-known Ismaʿili scholar, consists of 181 Ismaʿili manuscripts, some of which contain Zahid ʿAli’s handwritten comments in the margins and at the end or the beginning of the manuscript. His son ʿAbid ʿAli first brought this collection from Hyderabad to Los Angeles on the advice of the author of this article and then donated it to the Institute.
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De Blois, François. Arabic, Persian and Gujarati Manuscripts: The Hamdani Collection. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
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The kernel of this collection is formed by the manuscripts that ʿAli b. Saʿid al-Yaʿburi al-Hamdani brought with him when he emigrated from the Yemen to Gujarat around the middle of the 18th century. It expanded under his learned descendants. Husayn b. Fayd Allah al-Hamdani (b. 1901–d. 1962) opened this family collection to international scholarship. Abbas H. Hamdani reassembled a large portion of it, previously scattered among various members of the family, and donated them to the Institute. It consists of 219 Ismaʿili and fifty non-Ismaʿili manuscripts. The second installment of additional manuscripts, family diaries, personal letters, miscellaneous documents, withheld by Abbas Hamdani, as well as other manuscripts in the possession of the Luqmānī and Moayyad family is in the process of being catalogued.
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Fyzee, A. A. A. “A Collection of Fatimid Manuscripts.” In Comparative Librarianship: Essays in Honour of Professor D. N. Marshall. Edited by N. N. Gidwani, 209–220. Delhi: Vikas, 1973.
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The list consists of thirty-three selected manuscripts, mostly dealing with jurisprudence, that were not donated with other manuscripts (see Goriawala 1965) to the University of Bombay but were retained by the late Fyzee for reference and study. We do not know their fate following Fyzee’s death in 1981.
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Gacek, Adam. Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the Institute of Ismaili Studies. 2 vols. London: Islamic Publications, 1984–1985.
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The first volume deals with 167 Ismaʿili manuscripts, while the second volume deals with 255 non-Ismaʿili manuscripts. Ismaʿili manuscripts were originally acquired by the Ismaʿili Association of India in Bombay from the Bohra families during the first half of the 20th century. Following the partition of India, they were transferred to Karachi and then to London. All of them are of Indian provenance.
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Goriawala, Muizz. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fyzee Collection of Ismaʿīlī Manuscripts. Bombay: University of Bombay, 1965.
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A catalogue of 186 Ismaʿili manuscripts donated by Asaf A. A. Fyzee to the University of Bombay library. Almost all the manuscripts were acquired by Asaf Fyzee in Bombay from the descendants of learned Mullas and Shaykhs. It is an important khizana, similar to that of the Hamdani and Zahid ʿAli collections.
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Griffini, E. “Die jungste amrosianische Sammlung arabischer Handschriften.” ZDMG 69 (1915): 63–88.
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Notes that some of its Ismaʿili manuscripts are published by R. Strothmann.
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Ismaʿīlitische Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen.
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Mustafa Ghalib sold this collection acquired by him from the Bohras to Tübingen University Library in 1970–1972.
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National Library of Egypt. Qaʾima biʾl-makhṭūṭat al-ʿarabiyya biʾl-mīcrofīlm min al-Jamhuriyya al-ʿArabiyya al-Yamaniyya. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 1967.
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This microfilm collection includes microfilms of Ismaʿili manuscripts listed both in Khalīl Namī’s list and the catalogue of al-Khizana al-Mutawakkiliyya, published in Cairo in 1952. Most of the manuscripts listed in the latter catalogue were confiscated after the Yemeni revolution of 1962 and were microfilmed by the Egyptian delegation.
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Tritton, A. S. “Notes on Some Ismaïli Manuscripts.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 7.1 (1933): 33–39.
DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00105373Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Most manuscripts are of Indian provenance.
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Pre-Fatimid Ismaʿilism
Between the origins of the Shiʿa-Ismaʿili sectarian group (following Jaʿfar al-Sadiq’s death in 148/765) and the beginning of the Ismaʿili political movement during the second half of the 3rd/9th century, there lies a period of almost a century. Very little is known about the history of the sect and the movement during this period. Pioneering research of this phase, called “pre-Fatimid Ismaʿlism,” was initiated by Wladimir Ivanow and continued by S. M. Stern, Wilferd Madelung, and others. Michael Brette and Ismail Poonawala have criticized Stern and Madelung’s theory of the origins of Ismaʿilism. Ivanow 1957 scrutinizes the anti-Ismaʿili sources. Stern 1983 investigates various aspects of early Ismaʿilism, while Halm 1978 examines the cosmology and salvation doctrine of the early Ismaʿilis. Al-Qaḍī al-Nuʿman 1974 (cited under the Fatimids in North Africa, Egypt, and Southern Syria) documents the mission of Ibn Hawshab, who later became known as Manṣūr al-Yaman (the Conqueror of Yemen), and ʿAli b. al-Fadl to Yemen in 266/879–880. They achieved great success, and by 293/905–906 almost all of Yemen was brought under their control. However, due to their internal strife—ʿAli b. al-Fadl renouncing his allegiance to the Fatimid Mahdi, while Ibn Hawshab remaining loyal to the latter—this Ismaʿili stronghold disintegrated rapidly and was lost by 303/915. Chapter 2 in Al-Hamdani and al-Juhami 1955 (cited under the Sulayhids and the Mustaʿli-Tayyibi Daʿwa in Yemen) treats this phase, while al-Qasir 1994 recounts Ibn Hawshab’s mission without acknowledging his debt to al-Hamdani.
Halm, Heinz. Kosmologie und Heilslehre der frühen Ismaʿīlīya: Eine Studie zur islamischen Gnosis. Wiesbaden, Germany: Franz Steiner, 1978.
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The early Ismaʿili cosmology and the doctrine of redemption are treated thematically under several topics. The author concludes by stating that the early Ismaʿili creation myth and salvation doctrine indicate some affinity with Ophitism and/or Barbelo-Gnosis. His study further confirms that Neoplatonism was introduced later into the Ismaʿili doctrine. Risalat al-Asrār, ascribed to al-Mahdi and other sources, indicates that with the introduction of Neoplatonism the traces of ghulāt doctrine were removed and refined.
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Ivanow, Wladimir. Ibn al-Qaddah: The Alleged Founder of Ismailism. 2d rev. ed. Bombay: Ismaili Society, 1957.
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Devoted to an analysis of a myth propagated by anti-Ismaʿili authors and its refutation that ʿAbd Allah b. Maymūn al-Qaddah, a non-ʿAlid imposter, was the founder of the Ismaʿilis.
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al-Qasir, Sayf al-Din. Ibn Ḥawshab waʾl-ḥaraka al-Faṭimiyya fiʾl-Yaman. Damascus: Dar al-Yanabīʿ, 1994.
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Originally this treatise was presented as partial fulfillment for obtaining the MA degree in history from the American University in Beirut. It is an elaborated version of al-Hamdani from his al-Ṣulayḥiyyūn.
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Stern, S. M. Studies in Early Ismaʿīlism. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1983.
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A collection of fourteen articles, seven previously published in different journals and seven published for the first time. The article dealing with the early Ismaʿili missionaries traces the history of the daʿwa in northwestern Persia, Khorasan, and Transoxania by using an array of historical and numismatic evidence. His account of the origins of the Qarmatians and the Fatimids is refuted by Ismail Poonawala.
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The Fatimids in North Africa, Egypt, and Southern Syria
A detailed account of Abu ʿAbdallah al-Shiʿi, an Ismaʿili missionary, and his activities among the Kutama Berbers leading to the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in 297/909 is given in al-Qaḍī al-Nuʿman 1974. Halm 1996 describes the early history of the Fatimids, from the founding of the state to the conquest of Egypt in 358/969. From there, the Fatimids extended their rule into Palestine and Syria. Under the Fatimids, Egypt enjoyed economic prosperity and cultural vitality. Dachraoui 1981 examines the political history of the Fatimids and their institutions in North Africa. Brett 2001 discusses the Fatimid caliphate within a wider context of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world in the 4th/10th century, whereas Walker 2002 explores the Fatimid history in general and its sources. Madelung and Walker 2000 edited and translated personal memoir of a dāʿī who was a contemporary witness. Barrucand 1999 is a collection of different studies on various aspects of the Fatimids. Walker 2009 offers a monographic study of al-Ḥakim, the most controversial Fatimid caliph. Sanders 1994 examines court rituals, while Dadoyan 1997 studies the Fatimid Armenians.
Barrucand, Marianne, ed. L’Egypte Fatimide: Son art et son histoire; Actes du colloque organizé à Paris les 28, 29 et 30 mai 1998. Paris: Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999.
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A collection of articles dealing with a wide range of topics related to the Fatimids, including politics and ideology, monuments and inscriptions, art objects, iconography and epigraphy, the art of book production, funerary art, the history of sciences, the Jewish and Christian communities, commerce between and in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and architecture.
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Brett, Michael. The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2001.
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This is an impressive work that places the Fatimids in a central position regarding the history of Islam and also relates them to the history of the world of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Rather than viewing the rise of the Fatimids as marking the disintegration of the Abbasid Empire, Brett considers Fatimid efforts as a reunification of the Muslim lands. He also offers a good critique of previous works by Stern, Madelung, Halm, and Daftary.
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Dachraoui, Farhat. Le califat fatimide au Maghreb (296–362 H./909–973 J.C.): Histoire politique et institutions. Tunis: STD, 1981.
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This study surveys the political history of the Fatimids and its governing institutions during the North African period. Arabic trans., Hammadi Sahili, al-Khilāfa al-Fāṭimiyya biʾl-Maghrib (Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, 1994).
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Dadoyan, Seta B. The Fatimid Armenians: Cultural and Political Interaction in the Near East. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
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This is the first study of its kind, cutting across different disciplines and bringing together the political and cultural histories of the medieval Near East. It emphasizes the phenomenon that is called the “Armenian Period” or the “Fatimid Armenians” during the last century of the Fatimid rule in Egypt.
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Halm, Heinz. The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids. Translated by Michael Bonner. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1996.
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A chronological account of events covering the early history of the Fatimids, the founding of the state and the consolidation of their power in North Africa, and the conquest of Egypt and the transfer of their capital to Cairo up until the death of al-Muʿizz. Originally published in German, Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden, 875–973 (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 1991).
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Jiwa, Shainool, trans. Towards a Shiʿi Mediterranean Empire: Fatimid Egypt and the Founding of Cairo. The reign of the Imam-caliph al-Muʿizz. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009.
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An annotated English translation of al-Maqrīzī’s Ittiʿāẓ al-ḥunafāʾ.
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Jiwa, Shainool, trans. The Founder of Cairo: The Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Muʿizz and his Era. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.
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An annotated English translation of the text on al-Muʿizz from Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn’s ʿUyūn al-akhbār.
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Madelung, W., and P. Walker, eds. & trans. The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary Witness. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
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The volume is a personal memoir of Ibn al-Haytham, an Ismaʿili missionary who records his meetings and conversations with two Ismaʿili leaders, Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Shiʿi and his brother, who spearheaded the Fatimid revolution in 909.
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al-Qaḍī al-Nuʿman. Iftitaḥ al-Daʿwa. Edited by Farhat Dachrawi. Tunis: al-Sharika al-Tūnisiyya, 1974.
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The caliph-imam al-Muʿizz was commissioned Nuʿman to compile this and he completed its composition in 346/957. It documents the beginning of the Ismaʿili daʿwa in Yemen and the launching of Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Shiʿi’s mission in North Africa until the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty. Based on contemporary sources. Dachrawi divides the book into 305 paragraphs and summarizes the contents of each paragraph in French. Titled Risāla Iftitāḥ al-Daʿwa, it was first edited by Wadad al-Qadi. English translation, with annotation by Hamid Haji, Founding the Fatimid State: The Rise of an Early Islamic Empire (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006).
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Sanders, Paula. Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994.
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Sanders reconstructs the Fatimid political culture from court rituals and depicts it as a dynamic process through which claims to political and religious authority were articulated.
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Walker, Paul. Exploring an Islamic Empire: Fatimid History and Its Sources. London: I. B. Tauris, 2002.
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A comprehensive survey of Fatimid history and its sources, ranging from numismatics to art, documents, eyewitness and contemporary accounts, topographies, biographies, and the works of modern scholars.
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Walker, Paul. Caliph of Cairo: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, 996–1021. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2009.
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Al-Ḥakim, the sixth Fatimid caliph, came to the throne when he was eleven years old. One night in 411/1021, he rode out of his palace on a donkey to the nearby hill of Muqaṭṭam and was never seen again. His disappearance is shrouded in mystery. Walker offers a balanced biography of this controversial caliph.
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The Qarmatians
The Qarmati state in Bahrain, founded by Abu Saʿid al-Jannabi (around 286/899), lasted until 470/1078. The ruling authority, contrary to prevailing norms, consisted of a council of elders, and tentative experiments were carried out with the communal ownership of property. Contemporary travelers to al-Ahsa, such as Nasir-e Khusrav and Ibn Hawqal, praised the justice and good order prevailing there. However, the Qarmatians were notorious for their pillaging of the Ka‘ba and anti-Islamic activities. Hence, the Sunni historians and heresiographers propagated the view that the Qarmatians of Bahrain were in collusion with the Fatimids. Wilferd Madelung was the first study to rectify this view (Madelung 1959). Madelung 1990 is an overview of their origins and the history of the Qarmati state. De Blois 1986 corrects the errors of S. M. Stern and Madelung and argues that the Qarmatians of Bahrain should not be confused with the Qarmatian movement in southern Iraq. Halm 1991 recapitulates their history and teaching. Zakkar 1980 is a comprehensive collection of the primary sources. Poonawala and Baffioni 2017 refutes the theory that The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ) were composed by the Qarmatians.
de Blois, Franc̨ois. “The Abu Sa‘īdis or So-Called ‘Qarmatians’ of Bahrayn.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 16 (1986): 13–21.
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On the basis of Nasir-e Khusrav’s travel account, de Blois argues that the Bahranis neither acknowledged the Fatimids nor belonged to the Qarmatian movement of southern Iraq. Furthermore, he demonstrates that both Abu Sa‘id al-Jannabi and his son Abu Tahir claimed that they were an Imam and even a Mahdi.
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Halm, Heinz. Shiism. Translated by Janet Wilson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991.
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Contains a section titled “The Schism of 899: Fatimids and Qarmatians (pp. 17–72) and gives a brief survey of their split from the Ismaʿili movement. Includes a pertinent bibliography of primary sources in translation and secondary sources. Originally published in German, Die Schia (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1988).
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Madelung, Wilferd. “Fatimiden und Baḥrainqarmaṭen.” Der Islam 34 (1959): 34–88.
DOI: 10.1515/islm.1959.34.1.34Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Madelung refuted the medieval view held by anti-Fatimid sources, and reaffirmed by De Goeje and other modern scholars, that the Qarmatians of Bahrain were in collusion with the Fatimids. On the contrary, he shows that the Qarmati rulers of Bahrain did not act on the orders of the Fatimids. Also available as “The Fatimids and the Qarmatis of Bahrayn,” in Medieval Ismaʿili History and Thought, edited by Farhad Daftery (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 21–73.
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Madelung, Wilferd. “Ḳarmaṭī.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Vol. 4. Edited by E. van Donzel, Bernard Lewis, and Charles Pellat, 660–665. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1990.
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Gives an overview of the Qarmati’s history and doctrine and their relationship with the Fatimids. Also lists all the relevant primary and secondary sources.
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Poonawala, Ismail, and Carmela Baffioni, eds. and trans. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, Sciences of the Soul and Intellect, Part III: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of EPISTLES 39–41. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
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See pp. 293–308. Poonawala reevaluates Stern and Madelung’s thesis, based on Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi’s account on the authorship and time of the composition of the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ.
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Zakkar, Suhayl, ed. Akhbār al-Qarāmiṭa fiʾl-Aḥsāʾ, al-Shām, al-ʿIrāq, al-Yaman. Damascus, 1980.
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A comprehensive collection and edition of primary sources on the Qarmatian movement in various parts of the Middle East.
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The Sulayhids and the Mustaʿli-Tayyibi Daʿwa in Yemen
In 439/1047 the daʿi ʿAli b. Muhammad al-Sulayhi established the Sulayhid dynasty that lasted until 532/1138. It is to be noted that due to the hindsight of the Sulayhid queen Arwa and the efforts of Dhuʾayb b. Musa and al-Sultan al-Khattab, the Mustaʿli-Tayyibi daʿwa survived and continued in Yemen for four centuries until its headquarters were transferred to the west coast of India. Al-Hamdani and al-Juhami 1955 is a detailed political account of that dynasty. It was during this period that the Ismaʿili/Fatimid literature was transferred to Yemen, as indicated by al-Hamdani 1932. Al-Hamdani 1931 recounts the story of the Sulayhid queen Arwa. Traboulsi 2003 explains the real status of the queen in the daʿwa hierarchy from an Ismaʿili esoteric perspective. Smith 1997 summarizes the political history in English. Hamdani 1985 recounts the Ismaʿili story in Yemen on the eve of the Ayyubid conquest. Yemen remained the stronghold of the Mustaʿli-Tayyibi community after the fall of the Sulayhids until the Ottoman conquest, when the headquarters of the community was transferred to the west coast of India. Traboulsi 2009 provides the Ismaʿili perspective on the eve of the Ottoman conquest of Yemen.
Hamdani, Abbas. “The Ṭayyibī-Faṭimid Community of the Yaman at the Time of the Ayyūbid Conquest of Southern Arabia.” Arabian Studies 7 (1985): 151–160.
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Takes stock of the Ismaʿilis’ internal organization and indicates that the daʿi Hatim al-Hamidi had good relations with the Ayyubid conquerors and was able to consolidate his position. In fact, he became a rallying figure for those Yemenis who did not join the Zaydi resistance to the victors.
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al-Hamdani, Husain F. “The Life and Times of Queen Saiyidah Arwa the Ṣulaiḥid of the Yemen.” Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 18 (1931): 505–517.
DOI: 10.1080/03068373108725173Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
An account of a queen, who ruled parts of Yemen for half a century, is narrated from primary Arabic sources. The story of this learned and brave queen has been retold several times by the subsequent scholars without acknowledging their debt to al-Hamdani.
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al-Hamdani, Husain F. “The History of the Ismaʿīlī Daʿwat and Its Literature during the Last Phase of the Fāṭimid Empire.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 64.1 (1932): 126–136.
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Discusses the issue of the transfer of Ismaʿili literature from Egypt to Yemen.
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al-Hamdani, Husain F., and Hasan Sulayman al-Juhami. Al-Ṣulayḥiyyūn waʾl-ḥaraka al-Faṭmiyya fiʾl-Yaman (from 268 A.H. to 626 A.H.). Cairo: Maktabat Misr, 1955.
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A comprehensive work and a basic reading for that period. The author has used both the Ismaʿili and non-Ismaʿili sources. Contains useful appendixes including the last testament (waṣīya) of the queen Arwa as reproduced in ʿUyūn al-akhbār of Idris ʿImad al-Din.
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Smith, G. R. “Ṣulayḥids.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Vol. 9. Edited by C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs, and G. Lecomte, 815–817. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
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A brief summary of this dynasty that ruled over much of the southern highlands and the Tihama region of Yemen for almost a century.
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Traboulsi, Samer. “The Queen Was Actually a Man: Arwa bint Aḥmad and the Politics of Religion.” Arabica 50.1 (2003): 96–108.
DOI: 10.1163/157005803321112164Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
In Ismaʿili taʾwil the rank of a mufīd (who bestows knowledge) is defined as masculine and of a higher rank. The rank of a mustafīd (a beneficiary) is defined as feminine and of an inferior rank. The queen, being a learned lady and a hujja of the Imam in Yemen, was therefore a masculine figure.
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Traboulsi, Samer. “The Ottoman Conquest of Yemen: The Ismaili Perspective.” In The Arab Lands in the Ottoman Era. Edited by Jane Hathaway, 41–60. Minnesota Studies in Early Modern History 2. Minneapolis: Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota, 2009.
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A fine analysis of the daʿwa’s involvement in the Ottoman conquest of Yemen and the changing internal structure of the daʿwa that created the rivalries between its Yemeni and Indian elements. It resulted in conflicts between the interests of the tribes and those of the daʿwa that led to the transfer of the daʿwa headquarters to India.
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Nizari Ismaʿilis in Persia
The Nizaris originated from a dispute over the succession to the caliphate following the death of al-Mustansir in 487/1094, when the heir-apparent Nizar was set aside in favor of his younger brother al-Mustaʿli. Nizar was killed in a putsch, but his cause was taken up by Ḥasan-e Sabbah, who had established Ismaʿili political power bases in certain regions of Persia. After securing the impregnable mountain fortress of Alamūt, he reorganized the Nizarī da‘wa, which became known as al-daʿwa al-jadida (the new daʿwa), as compared to that of al-Mustaʿli (al-daʿwa al-qadima), and he launched attacks on the Seljuq state. The new daʿwa expounded by him in Persian is known as the doctrine of taʿlīm, namely, authoritative teaching by the imam. With his policy of political assassination, he created an atmosphere of fear within the ruling Sunni circles. A major shift in the doctrine came during the time of the fourth ruler of Alamūt, Hasan II, who on 17 Ramadan 559/8 August 1164 proclaimed the doctrine of the qiyāma (resurrection) and abolished the sharīʿa (Islamic law). From then on, the lords of Alamūt claimed the imamate for themselves, alleging that they were the descendants of Nizar’s son who had secretly found refuge in the fortress. With the new twist in the dogma the imam became the focal point, and the qiyāma meant seeing God in the spiritual reality of the imam. The elaboration of this doctrine with its cosmic view was probably influenced by contemporary Sufism and it paved the way for the future relationship of the post-Alamūt Nizaris with Sufism. Arabic was replaced by Persian as the official language. The Mongol conqueror Hulagu destroyed the Nizari fortresses in 654/1256 and the last ruler of Alamūt, imam Rukn al-Din Khursha, was executed. During the post-Alamūt period very little is known about the Nizari communities and their imams in Iran. The fascinating story of Ḥasan’s rise to power and his successors is narrated in detail in Hodgson 2005. Hodgson 1968 summarizes the history of the Ismaʿili state in Iran. Subsequently, the Nizaris became known as the Assassins, depicted by Crusader sources. Lewis 1967, Franzius 1969, Daftary 1994, and Bartlett 2001 recount this characterization. Mongols stormed Alamūt in 654/1256 and decimated the Nizaris. The post-Mongol history of the Nizari communities remains opaque. Willey 2005 describes the castle of the Nizaris as impregnable. Jamal 2002 recounts the story of survival during the Mongol time, while Virani 2007 illuminates the obscure period of Nizari history in Iran from a different perspective, namely, the struggle for survival and the spiritual life of a religious community.
Bartlett, W. B. Assassins: The Story of Medieval Islam’s Secret Sect. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2001.
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Narrates the medieval history of the Nizaris in Persia and Syria.
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Daftary, Farhad. The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismaʿilis. London: I. B. Tauris, 1994.
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European imagination was captured by the fantastic tales of the Assassins by the Crusaders, which persist to this day. Daftary’s work dispels those myths by analyzing the origins of the tales and the early formation of those legends.
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Franzius, Enno. History of the Order of Assassins. New York: Funk & Wagnall, 1969.
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This work presents the history of the founder of the Order of Assassins, Ḥasan-e Sabbah, his successors in Iran, and Sinan and the Crusaders in Syria. The last part covers the history of the Aga Khans in India until 1968.
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Hodgson, Marshall G. S. “The Ismaʿīlī State.” In The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Edited by J. A. Boyle, 422–482. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521069366Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Remains a basic work about the history and doctrines of the Nizari community in Iran.
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Hodgson, Marshall G. S. The Secret Order of Assassins: The Struggle of the Early Nizarī Ismaʿīlīs against the Islamic World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
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Originally published in 1955. This work was the first to present the Nizari story in modern scholarship, and it remains a highly respected survey of their history and doctrine.
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Jamal, Nadia Eboo. Surviving the Mongols: Nizarī Quhistanī and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia. London: I. B. Tauris, 2002.
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Through the analysis of various sources, particularly, the Safar name of the poet Nizari Quhistani, the author demonstrates the existence and continuity of the Nizari communities in Iran through the era of Mongol rule. She has relied heavily on Poonawala 1977 (cited under Bibliographies) for the sources without acknowledgment. Similarly, she has plagiarized the Persian translation of Baibudi’s work on Nizari.
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Lewis, Bernard. The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967.
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Lewis traces the origins and development of the myth of the Assassins brought back from Syria by the Crusaders. He then examines the origins and activities of the Nizaris based on contemporary Arabic and Persian sources. Finally, he examines their significance in the history of revolutionary and terrorist movements. Reprinted in 2005 (London: Folio Society).
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Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311730.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources, the author has produced a comprehensive and readable account of the complex, and often obscure, medieval history of the Nizari community in Iran.
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Willey, Peter. Eagle’s Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria. London: I. B. Tauris, 2005.
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The author, who has investigated the castles of Alamut, Samiran and Qaʾin in Iran, and Maṣyaf, Kahf, and Khawabi in Syria, describes how those castles epitomized the excellence of military architecture and provided water for agriculture. The Nizaris were thus able to hold out against the mighty Seljuqs. Includes color pictures and ground plans of the castles.
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Syrian Nizaris
The agents from Alamūt implanted the Nizari daʿwa in Syria. Henceforth, the Syrian Nizaris played a role in the local political rivalries, and by the middle of the 6th/12th century they acquired fortresses in the mountains of western Syria. Those garrisons played a role in the struggles of the Crusaders and the Muslim principalities. Rashid al-Din Sinan was their great leader. They survived the Mongol onslaught of Syria, but their power was reduced by al-Malik al-Zahir Baybars, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt and Syria. Nevertheless, they survived intact until the present day. Lewis 1969 is a brief summary of their history, while Mirza 1997 is a detailed account, especially of Sinan.
Lewis, Bernard. “The Ismaʿīlīs and the Assassins.” In A History of the Crusades. Vol. 1, The First Hundred Years. Edited by Marshall W. Baldwin, 99–132. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.
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This is a basic survey of the Syrian Nizari community. Primary and secondary sources are indicated in the footnotes.
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Mirza, Nasseh Ahmad. Syrian Ismailism: The Ever Living Line of the Imamate, A.D. 1100–1260. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
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The author, a Syrian Nizari, recounts the story of the adaptability and survival of Ismaʿilis in Syria during a difficult period in medieval history.
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The First Ismaʿilis in Sind
Following his success in Yemen, Mansur al-Yaman sent his nephew al-Haythan to propagate the Ismaʿili mission in Sind. However, nothing more is known about him. During the reign of al-Muʿizz the daʿwa (probably implanted earlier) succeeded in converting a local ruler of Multan, thereby establishing a Fatimid vassal state in India. This state lasted about half a century and was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazna in 401/1010–1011 and a large number of Ismaʿilis were massacred. The surviving members took refuge in Mansura, whose ruler had espoused their cause. The new Ismaʿli kingdom of Mansura, too, was wiped out by Mahmud of Ghazna in 416/1025. Thereafter, Ismaʿilism was espoused by the Sumra dynasty in Sind, which came to power in around 443/1051. Sumras were members of the local Sindhi Hindu dynasty who had been converted to Islam at the time of the first Arab conquest of Sind. It seems that the Ismaʿilis in Sind may have drifted back to Hindu practices and beliefs as their relations with the Fatimids of Egypt languished. Although the Sumras lasted until the middle of the 8th/14th century, their relations either with the Mustaʿlis or with the Nizaris cannot be ascertained.
Allana, G. A. Ismaʿili Movement in Sindh, Multān and Gujarat. Karachi, Pakistan: Mehran, 2010.
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Chapter 1 is devoted to the first phase of the Ismaʿili movement in Sind. The author has added sources in addition to those indicated by Hamdani and Stern but his account of the later history of the Khojas is traditional.
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Hamdani, Abbas. The Beginning of the Ismāʿīlī Daʿwa in Northern India. Cairo: Sirovic Bookshop, 1956.
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A detailed history based on both primary and secondary sources.
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Stern, S. M. “Ismāʿīlī Propaganda and Fatimid Rule in Sind.” Islamic Culture 23 (1949): 298–307.
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For the depiction of Ismaili missionary work and its political success the author relied on contemporary Ismaili sources, namely, the works of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. That information was corroborated by al-Muqaddasī, who visited Sind in 375/985.
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The Bohras in the Indian Subcontinent
The first chapter of Ismaʿili history in Sind came to an end by the military campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazna. The next chapter of Ismaʿili mission in Gujarat was initiated from Yemen. However, its earliest history is shrouded in legends. According to the traditional account, a missionary called ʿAbd Allah was sent by Lamak b. Malik, the chief missionary of Yemen. He arrived in Cambay in 460/1068 and subsequently converted the local Rajput ruler Siddharaja Jayasimha (r. 1094–1133) and his two ministers Bharmal and Tarmal. Thereafter, Ismaʿili missionary activities continued and flourished. A constant communication was maintained between the two missions in Yemen and India. Yusuf b. Sulayman, who had received his higher religious education in Yemen, was appointed by his Yemeni predecessor as his successor. The dates given for the transfer of the headquarters from Yemen to India are either 946/1539 or 974/1567, the first and last years of Yusuf b. Sulayman. Soon thereafter the community divided into three groups over the very question of succession: Dawudis, Sulaymanis, and ʿAlias. The Sulaymanis had very few followers in India and in 1088/1677 their daʿiship passed to the Yemeni family of Makarima and they established their foothold in Najran. ʿAlias, numbering a few thousands, maintained the seat of their daʿi in Baroda. The Dawudis, who formed a great majority, continued to flourish in Gujarat and the surrounding regions. The forty-sixth Dawudi daʿi, Muhammad Badr al-Din, died suddenly in 1256/1840 while he was quite young without pronouncing his successor. Foul play was suspected in his death. This incident was unprecedented in the history of the daʿwa. Hence, four prominent ʿulamāʾ in Surat kept the information from the community and nominated ʿAbd al-Qadir Najm al-Din as an administrator (nāẓim) for the community. Since then the succession has been kept within the family and the voice of the ʿulamāʾ has been suppressed. In 2014 the Dawudis faced another succession crisis within the immediate family of the nāẓims that is still pending before the High Court of Judicature at Bombay (now called Mumbai). Muhammad ʿAli’s Mawsim-e bahār, Vol. 3, 1301/1883–1884, written in lisān-e daʿwat (i.e., in Bohra Gujarati with Arabic script) is a traditional account of the Bohra history until the time of its compilation. Akhbār al-Duʿāt al-Akramīn, anonymously translated into Gujarati and published by Ismailji Hasanali (Badripresswala 1937), is another traditional account. Hollister 1953 is the first scholarly account of the Bohras from the origins of the Ismaʿilism. Lokhandwalla 1955 traces the emergence of the Bohras in Gujarat, while Engineer 1980 recounts in detail the reform movement of the 20th century within the Dawudi Bohra community. Abdulhussein 1995, on the other hand, gives a summary report through the lenses of the religious establishment.
Abdulhussein, Mustafa. “Bohras.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. Vol. 1. Edited by John Esposito, 224–226. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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This is an updated uncritical and brief article, and it totally ignores the reformist movement. It contains a short bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
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Badripresswala, Ismailiji Hasanali, ed. Akhbār al-Duʿāt al-Akramīn. Rajkot, 1937.
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Although written in a traditional style by an anonymous Ismaʿili scholar, it is instructive and illuminating, occasionally displaying criticism of the religious establishment. The author frequently cites Mawsim-e bahār as his main source of information.
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Engineer, Asghar Ali. The Bohras. Sahibabad, India: Vikas, 1980.
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The strength of this book is in its narration of the reformist movement among the Bohras. The author was an active social worker and reformer coming from a learned Bohra family. He was assaulted several times by the Bohra mob instigated by the religious establishment.
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Hollister, John Norman. The Shiʿa of India. London: Luzac, 1953.
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This was the first scholarly account of the Bohras, tracing their history all the way back to the origins of the Ismaʿilis. It is based on both Ismaʿili and non-Ismaʿili sources.
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Lokhandwalla, S. T. “The Bohras: A Muslim Community of Gujarat.” Studia Islamica 3 (1955): 117–135.
DOI: 10.2307/1595105Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
A thorough article based on primary and secondary sources.
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Muhammad ʿAli b. Mulla Jiwabhai. Mawsim-e bahār. Vol. 3. Bombay: Haydari Safdari, 1301/1883–84.
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The author was a clergyman and his account of the unprecedented events of 1256/1840, narrated in the book, was accepted as an authoritative version by both parties in the well-known civil lawsuit of the Burhanpur Durgah case (1925). Subsequently, it was banned by the religious authorities because of its dubious depiction of the succession to Muhammad Badr al-Din, the forty-sixth daʿi. The author was a member of the ʿulamaʾ group opposed to ʿAbd al-Qadir Najm al-Din’s authoritarian rule.
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The Khojas in the Indian Subcontinent
The arrival of the Nizaris in India is more shrouded in mystery than that of the Bohras. The traditional accounts abound in legends and miracles. Hollister 1953 (cited under the Bohras in the Indian Subcontinent) narrates their history beginning with the Nizari daʿwa in Alamūt through the Nizari imams in Iran and up to their advent in India and the emergence of the Aga Khans and the Khoja community. Algar 1969 is a detailed account of Aga Khan I from primary sources. Nanji 1978 scrutinizes the Ismaʿili and non-Ismaʿili sources and presents the emergence of the Khojas in three sequential phases. Van Grondelle 2009 presents an altogether new perspective on the Khojas. Against the backdrop of traditional sources, Green 2011 is a well-researched and critical account of the rise of the Aga Khans’ religious firm in Bombay under British rule. Green raises an important question of continuity and states that almost six centuries since the fall of Alamūt, by 1800 the Ismaʿili imamate had long slipped into provincial obscurity. Aside from occasional positions at court, the descendants of the imams lived such quiet lives that it is questionable whether the imamate had continued to operate through the centuries in any socially meaningful form. Ivanow, a Russian scholar who was involved in the sponsored scholarly recovery of evidence for the Aga Khan’s claims, casuistically admitted that “to survive six hundred years of ‘underground’ existence . . . their imams were usually living in the guise of Sufic shaykhs.” By the time Aga Khan I’s ancestors reentered the historical record in the late 18th century, they were so closely associated with the Iranian revival of the Niʿmatullahi Sufi order that was coming out of India that several of the direct ancestors of Aga Khan I were initiated as disciples of this order. Sachedina 1995 is a very informative article. Following the murders of some Khoja members by the followers of the Aga Khan, the Aga Khan I circulated an announcement in 1861 declaring the Khojas to be Shiʿis; hence, he required his followers to place their signatures under his announcement, declaring their Shiʿi affiliation and unquestioning loyalty to him. Purohit 2012 presents a highly original study of the making of sectarian identity in India under colonial rule. Boivin 2003 is an important study of the Aga Khans and, in an accompanying volume (see Boivin 2003), the Ismaʿili Khojas. Asani 2002 takes stock of Nizari mystical literature, while Esmail 2002 translates selected ginans (meditative knowledge) attributed to various pirs (mystics). Catlin-Jairazbhoy 2004 depicts the formal musical aspects of the ginans. Kassam and Mallison 2010 is an excellent edited collection of scholarly articles. It should be noted here that the Satpanth Khoja Ismaʿilis of India have a tradition of religious poetry called ginans, which are sung, and that forms the basis of their liturgy in jamatkhanas. Most of these ginans have been heavily redacted for publications to remove any traces of Hinduism. A number of them, including Pir Sadr al-Dīn’s duʿāʾ, have been withdrawn from circulation.
Algar, Hamid. “The Revolt of the Agha Khan Mahallati and the Transference of the Ismaili Imamate to India.” Studia Islamica 19 (1969): 55–81.
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Aga Khan I had come to India in the middle of the 19th century as a princely refugee from Iran, where he had unsuccessfully tried to take the throne from his kinsman the Qajar Shah. Having been forced to relinquish his political ambitions by the British, whose help he had initially sought, the Aga Khan turned his attention to establishing his authority as an imam over the Khojas.
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Asani, Ali S. Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia. London: I. B. Tauris, 2002.
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An exhaustive survey of the devotional and mystical literature produced in India, known as the ginans, in a variety of Indic vernaculars, and as ascribed to Ismaili missionaries/pirs.
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Boivin, Michel. La rénovation du Shîʿism ismaélien en Inde et au Pakistan. London: Routledge/ Curzon, 2003.
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This book examines Aga Khan’s religious and political views. See also L’âghâ khan et les Khojah: Islam chiite et dynamiques sociales dans le sous-continent indien, 1843–1954 (Paris: Karthala, 2013), a volume that scrutinizes how the Khoja religious identity evolved from the middle of the 19th century until the end of the 20th century, especially under the Aga Khan III, Sultan Muhammad Shah (b. 1877–d. 1957).
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Catlin-jairazbhoy, Amy. “Sacred Songs of Khoja Muslims: Sounded and Embodied Liturgy and Devotion.” Ethnomusicology 48 (2004): 251–270.
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The author depicts the formal musical aspects of the gināns and brings out the remarkable syncretism of Hindu and Muslim qualities that the music embodies. She also describes liturgical and nonliturgical usage of those songs. She further adds that the songs often have an ethereal quality, projecting a subtle ecstasy quite different from that evoked by Hindu bhajans or Muslim qawwālis.
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Esmail, Aziz, trans. A Scent of Sandalwood: Indo-Ismaili Religious Lyrics. London: Curzon, 2002.
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Consists of translations from the poetry of the ginans. The translator selected the ginans based on their poetic qualities rather than their theological contents.
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Green, Nile. Bombay Islam: The Religious Economy of the Western Indian Ocean, 1840–1915. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511975165Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
The author scrutinizes “old” religious forms in the newly and rapidly growing industrial epicenter of the Indian Ocean, namely Bombay under British rule. The author argues that different environments in the newfound and rapidly growing port city of Bombay demanded a reconsidering of industrial modernity and the ways in which Muslim immigrants from the Indian hinterland and other neighboring countries, especially Iran, responded to and experienced it. Chapter 5, “The Making of a Neo-Ismāʿilism” (pp. 155–178), is devoted to the arrival and settling of Aga Khan I in Bombay. Following his failed attempt to overthrow the Qajar rulers of Iran in 1840, Aga Khan escaped from Kirman and used his troops to support the British in Afghanistan. Moving eastward into Sind in time to help the British conquer that province in 1843, Aga Khan was granted sanctuary by the British from his former master, the Shah of Iran. After a short spell in Bombay in 1844 and a longer spell in Calcutta, he came to Bombay at the end of 1848 and settled there. Aga Khan’s Bombay years represent a turning point in Ismaʿili history since the fall of Alamut in 1256. The rest of the story is well documented and lucidly told by Green.
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Kassam, Tazim, and Françoise Mallison, eds. Gināns: Texts and Contexts; Essays on Ismaili Hymns from South Asia in Honour of Zawahir Moir. Rev. ed. Delhi: Primus, 2010.
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A collection of essays written by academic scholars and community enthusiasts. The Satpanth Ismaili Khojas of India have a tradition of religious poetry called gināns that they have sung for many centuries in their daily rituals. Even today they hold fast to this practice.
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Nanji, Azim. The Nizarī Ismaʿīlī Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent. Delmar, NY: Caravan, 1978.
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A comprehensive history of the emergence of the Nizari Ismaʿili Khoja communities. Nanji clarifies the early opaque phases followed by consolidation and further schism. The work is based on primary sources that describe the anagogic qualities of the ginans, which refers to the literary corpus of meditative knowledge attributed to various pirs/mystics.
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Purohit, Teena. The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674067707Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
The book focuses on an 1866 court case in Bombay that influenced how religious identity was defined in India and subsequently the British Empire. The case arose when a group of Khojas, characterized as Hinduized Muslims or Islamicized Hindus, refused to pay tithes to the Aga Khan, a Persian nobleman who had settled and established himself in Bombay as a spiritual leader of the Ismailis. In her analysis of the gināns, the religious songs/texts of the Khojas that formed the basis of the judgement, Purohit reveals that the religious practices they describe are not derived from Islam but manifest a local Indian vernacular.
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Sachedina, Abdulaziz. “Khojas.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. Vol. 2. Edited by John Esposito, 423–427. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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The author traces the origins of the Indian term khoja and discusses the Nizari and Twelver split among the Khojas. He states that the Nizari Khojas, under the leadership of Aga Khan III (d. 1957), consolidated their Nizari identity and became thoroughly modernized through education and socioeconomic reforms.
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van Grondelle, Marco. The Ismailis in the Colonial Era: Modernity, Empire, and Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
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A volume based on extensive archival research concerning the relationship between the British government and the Agha Khans dating back to 1840. The book examines the processes and interactions that have led to the modernization and successful co-option of the Aga Khani Khojas. Preface written by Faisal Devji is very enlightening. He critically evaluates both the achievements and the shortcomings of the Aga Khans’ highly centralized and extensive development networks operating in many parts of the world.
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Ismaʿili Thinkers and Authors in Translations
The list of Ismaʿili Neoplatonic thinkers, prolific authors, jurists, poets, and historians is too long to be enumerated here. A good number of major Ismaʿili texts in Arabic and Persian are critically edited with erudite introductions by various scholars. The list is too long to be itemized; hence, translations of some works are listed below. Walker 1994, Madelung and Walker 1998, Hunzi 1998, Madelung and Walker 2000, Morris 2001, Poonawala 2002–2004, Walker 2007, Khalidi 2011, Klemm and Walker 2011, Haji 2012, Ormsby 2012, Makare 2013, Stewart 2015.
Haji, Hamid, ed. and trans. Inside the Immaculate Portal: A History from Early Fatimid Archives. A new edition and English translation of Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī’s biography of al-Ustādh Jawdhar, the Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar. London: I. B. Tauris, 2012.
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The author of this work, al-Jawdharī, was a private secretary of Jawdhar, a confidant of the first four Fāṭimid caliph-imams who ruled North Africa from 297/910 to 362/973. Hence, the author had access to archives held by Jawdhar, including letters he had received from the imams and was privy to secrets that Jawdhar confided to him. Following Jawdhar’s death in 362/973, al-Muʿizz appointed al-Jawdharī to succeed him. The author cherished the memory of his mentor and wished to commemorate him. With this end in view, he compiled the biography of his mentor. The work presents not only a biographical account of one of the most prominent statesmen of the early Fāṭimid period, but also a compilation of oral statements, correspondence, and other archival material.
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Hunzi, Faquir, ed. and trans. Knowledge and Liberation: A Treatise on Philosophical Theology. By Nāṣir Khusraw. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998.
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Nāṣir Khusraw was a leading Ismaili poet and theologian-philosopher of the 11th century. His writings had a major formative influence on the Ismaili communities of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. This new edition with English translation consists of thirty questions and answers and addresses some of the central philosophical and theological issues of his time.
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Khalidi, Tarif, trans. The Proofs of Prophecy. By Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2011.
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A parallel English-Arabic text translated, introduced, and annotated by Tarif Khalidi. This book is a record of a debate that took place in the early 10th century between the famous Ismaili missionary Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī and the even more celebrated Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, the physician and philosopher known to medieval Europeans as “Razes.” These two towering figures of medieval Islamic thought together with this account of the debate bring us into immediate contact with some of the most intellectually exciting topics of pre-modern Islamic culture. Abū Ḥātim marshals evidence for this position from the Qurʾan, the ḥadīth, and pre-Islamic Arabic poetry as well as from the Jewish and Christian scriptures.
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Klemm, Verena, and Paul Walker, eds. and trans. A Code of Conduct: A Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission[aries]. A critical edition of the Arabic text and English translation of Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī’s al-Risāla al-mūjaza al-kāfiya fī ādāb al-duʿāt. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
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Written by the Fāṭimid author al-Naysābūrī (11th century), this treatise represents a normative guide for the Ismaili dāʿīs, who functioned as the religious agents and responsible for the leadership, instruction, and spiritual and social welfare of the Ismaili community. Many of the characteristics of the dāʿī listed in the treatise are consistent with the topoi in the Mirror of Princes literature as it relates to the ruler, namely the virtues of piety, chastity, uprightness, mercy, forgiveness, humility, and generosity.
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Madelung, Wilferd, and Paul Walker, eds. and trans. An Ismaili Heresiography: The “Bāb al-shayṭān” from Abū Tammām’s Kitāb al-shajara. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1998.
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This volume presents the “chapter on Satan” from a long unrecognized Ismaili work called Kitāb al-Shajara by 4th/10th-century Khurāsānī dāʿī Abu Tammām. The satans of this book are the founders and instigators of seventy-two heretical sects of Islam. Each sect has been accorded a lengthy description as perceived from a Shi’i and Mu’tazili point of view. Most entries offer new information about these sects. The book contains both a critical edition and an English translation.
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Madelung, Wilferd, and Paul Walker, eds. and trans. The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary Shiʿi Witness. An edition and English translation of Ibn al-Haytham’s Kitāb al-Munāẓarāt. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
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This book is a personal memoir composed by Ibn Haytham, a Shiʿi scholar and Ismaili missionary from North Africa. It records the details of his meetings and conversations with Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī and his brother Abuʾl-ʿAbbās, who spearheaded the Fāṭimid revolution in 909. This memoir provides an unparalleled insider’s view of the early Ismaili daʿwa (mission) in action. It adds enormously to our understanding of the foundations of the Fāṭimid state and the difficulties confronted by its original leaders.
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Makare, Sami, ed. and trans. The Shiʿi Imamate: A Fatimid Interpretation. An Arabic edition and English translation of the Tathbīt al-imāma, attributed to the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Manṣūr. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.
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The work attributed to the third Fāṭimid caliph-imam al-Manṣūr (d. 341/953) is an early Ismaili treatise on the legitimacy of the imamate of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and that of the Ismaili imams from among his progeny. The treatise concentrates on the legal and historical aspects of the imamate, using proofs derived from the Qurʾan, ḥadīth, and logical arguments. Probably, the book was meant to serve as a guide for the Ismailis in legitimizing the ʿAlid state ruled by the Fāṭimid caliph-imams.
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Morris, James, ed. and trans. The Master and the Disciple: An Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue. A new Arabic edition and English translation of Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman’s Kitāb al-ʿĀlim waʾl-ghulām. London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.
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This volume includes a fully annotated English translation and critical edition of the Arabic text by one of the earliest Ismaili dāʿī, Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman. In addition to constituting a key source for pre-Fāṭimid Ismaili thought and history, this work is uniquely important as the most elaborate example of the narrated dialogue form in Arabic literature. The author’s reputation as a master of taʾwīl (esoteric interpretation of the Qurʾan) is reflected in the complex integration and existential elaboration of Qurʾanic themes illustrated in this dialogue.
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Ormsby, Eric, trans. Between Reason and Revelation: Twin Wisdoms Reconciled. An annotated English translation of Nāṣir-i Khusraw’s Kitāb-i Jāmiʿ al-ḥikmatayn. London: I. B. Tauris, 2012.
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This book is the final philosophical work of the great 11th-century Ismaili thinker, poet, and missionary Nāṣir-i Khusraw. Written during his exile in Badakhshān in 1070, the author develops a powerful presentation of both Aristotelian philosophy and Ismaili exegesis (taʾwīl), and he strives to show that they are in harmony. It is presented as a learned commentary on a long philosophical poem, composed in the previous century and sent to Nāṣīr by the amīr of Badakhshān, who copied the poem in his own hand from memory and requested the poet-philosopher to explicate it.
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Poonawala, Ismail, trans. The Pillars of Islam. Translated by Asaf A. A. Fyzee. Revised and annotated by Ismail Poonawala. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002–2004.
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See Vol. 1, ʿIbādāt: Acts of Devotion and Religious Observances; Vol. 2, Muʿāmalāt: Laws Pertaining to Human Intercourse; Daʿāʾim al-Islām of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. The Daʿāʾim al-Islām, composed by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān around the year 349/960, was the official code of the Fāṭimid state. It was commissioned by the Fāṭimid caliph-imam al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, both for the use of the state as well as the Ismaili community. The Pillars of Islam is the first authoritative English translation of the Daʿāʾim. Volume 1 discusses faith, devotion, ritual purity, prayer, funerals, alms tax, fasting, pilgrimage, and jihād. Volume 2 deals with a wide variety of subjects such as food, dress, medicine, oaths, hunting, ritual slaughter, business, transactions, marriage, divorce, inheritance, criminal punishments, the question of apostasy, and the etiquette of judges.
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Stewart, Devin, ed. and trans. Disagreements of the Jurists: A Manual of Islamic Legal Theory. New York: New York University Press, 2015.
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Translation of Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s Kitāb Ikhtilāf uṣul al-madhāhib. Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān was the chief legal theorist and ideologue of the Fāṭimid dynasty. This translation makes available in English his major work on Islamic legal theory, which presents a legal model in support of the Fāṭimids’ principle of legitimate rule over the Muslim community. Composed as part of a grand project to establish the theoretical bases of the official Fāṭimid Ismaili legal school, Disagreement of the Jurists expounds a distinctly Shīʿī-Ismaili system of hermeneutics, which refutes the methods of legal interpretation adopted by Sunnī jurists.
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Walker, Paul, trans. The Wellsprings of Wisdom. A study of Abu Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī’s Kitāb al-Yanābīʿ including a complete English translation with commentary and notes on the Arabic text. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994.
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The Arabic original was edited and partially translated into French by H. Corbin with notes and commentary. Walker offers a complete English translation with a long introduction with the facts known of al-Sijistānī’s life and writing, followed by some useful information on the general tenor of his ideas and an assessment of the structure and overall meaning of The Wellsprings of Wisdom.
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Walker, Paul, ed. and trans. Master of the Age: An Islamic Treatise on the Necessity of the Imamate. A critical edition of the Arabic text and English translation of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kirmānī’s al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
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About 405/1015, just prior to his move from Iraq to Cairo, Ḥamī al-Dīn al-Kirmānī, a great thinker and a theologian, composed this treatise in the bold hope of convincing Fakhr al-Mulk, the Shīʿī vizier of the Buyids in Baghdad, to abandon the ʿAbbāsids and support the Fāṭimid caliph al-Ḥākim. For that purpose he wrote a long, interconnected series of philosophically sophisticated proofs, all leading logically to the absolute necessity of the imamate. Hence, this treatise is unique both in the precision of its doctrine and in the historical circumstance surrounding its composition. The Arabic text is critically edited with English translation.
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Monographic Studies of Ismaʿili Authors and Poets
Since the 1980s scholarly writing analyzing the works of Ismaʿili authors has gained much momentum. The following works are noteworthy: Klemm 1989; Smoor 1992; Walker 1993; De Smet 1995; Walker 1996; Walker 1999; Hunsberger 2000; Klemm 2003; Hamdani 2006; Landolt, et al. 2008; Adra 2011; Hunsberger 2012; Poonawala 2017.
Adra, Mohamad, trans. Mount of Knowledge, Sword of Eloquence: Collected Poems of an Ismaili Muslim Scholar in Fatimid Egypt; A Translation from the Original Arabic of al-Muʾayyad al-Shīrāzī’s Dīwān. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
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Al-Muʾayyad’s poetry is rich in imagery, rhetorical techniques, and symbolic allusions to the esoteric lore of the Ismaʿilis. This first complete English translation of the Dīwān seeks to recapture some of the poetic flavor of what is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of medieval Arabic literature. Includes an introduction by Kutub Kassam.
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De Smet, Daniel. La quiétude de l’intellect: Néoplatonisme et gnose ismaélienne dans l’oeuvre de Ḥamîd ad-Dîn al-Kirmânî (Xe/XIe s.). Louvain, Belgium: Peeters, 1995.
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A detailed analysis of al-Kirmani’s philosophical arguments in his book Rāḥat al-ʿaql. De Smet sheds light on the fascinating aspects of human thought, namely the survival of Greek thought in the Islamic world and its role in the elaboration of Islamic culture.
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Hamdani, Sumaiya A. Between Revolution and State: The Path to Fatimid Statehood. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
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The book is based on the writings of al-Qadi al-Nuʿman’s legal and esoteric works. Sumaiya presents a sophisticated and readable analysis of this seminal figure’s works. In his ẓāhirī works, al-Nuʿman developed and facilitated a discourse of Ismaʿili doctrines with the Sunni world, while in his bāṭinī discourse he expounded the esoteric and spiritual aspect of the Ismaʿili faith. Thus, his works constituted a period of transformation of the Ismaʿili movement’s revolutionary ideology to Fatimid statehood.
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Hunsberger, Alice C. Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller, and Philosopher. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
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A highly readable account and a comprehensive study of Nasir-e Khusraw, a foremost poet of the Persian language and an important Ismaʿili thinker and writer. He is the only Ismaʿili/Fatimid author who wrote entirely in Persian. His travelogue objectively describes the places he visited.
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Hunsberger, Alice, ed. Pearls of Persia: The Philosophical Poetry of Nāṣir-i ḳhusraw. London: I. B. Tauris, 2012.
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The papers edited in this volume were originally presented at a conference organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. It deals with topics ranging from metaphysics, cosmology, and ontology to prophecy, rhythm and structure, an analysis of individual poems, and the matter of authorship.
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Klemm, Verena. Die Mission des faṭimidischen Agenten al-Muʾayyad fī d-dīn in Ŝīraz. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1989.
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This study presents an analysis of a portion of al-Muʾayyad’s autobiography, particularly his early years in Shiraz, his role in the Buyid court, and the conversion of the young prince Abu Kalijar to the Ismaʿili faith up to his departure for Cairo.
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Klemm, Verena. Memoirs of a Mission: The Ismaili Scholar, Statesman and Poet al-Muʾayyad fiʾl-Dīn al-Shīrāzī. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.
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Based on his memoirs, Sīrat al-Muʾayyad fiʾl-Dīn, this work provides an insight into the remarkable life and achievements of al-Muʾayyad through important stages of his career. Written in an excellent Arabic literary style, the sīra describes his daring attempt to win over the Buyid rulers of western Iran to the Fatimid cause and his flight to Cairo. Initially he was frustrated to see the imam because of powerful courtiers.
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Landolt, Hermann, Samara Sheikh, and Kutub Kassam, eds. An Anthology of Ismaili Literature: A Shiʿi Vision of Islam. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008.
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An anthology of extracts from a wide range of Ismaʿili texts translated into English by various scholars. The translations have been rendered from original languages and cover various topics, such as history and memoir, God and creation, prophethood and imamate, faith and ethics, and devotional poetry.
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Poonawala, Ismail. “The Chronology of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s Works.” Arabica 64 (2017): 1–79.
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The chronology of al-Nuʿman’s corpus, which consists of more than fifty titles, is based primarily on pieces of evidence in his extant works. The sequence of his legal works suggests that The Pillars of Islam, compiled under the directions of al-Muʿizz around 349/960, was his crowning achievement. The chronology further reveals that after composing The Pillars of Islam, Nuʿman devoted his energies to the explication of the major Ismaʿili theological doctrine, namely the theory of taʾwīl (hermeneutics). In his Asās al-taʾwīl, he justifies the twin concepts of taʾwīl and bāṭin from a jurist’s viewpoint, and he argues that these concepts are firmly grounded in the foundational texts of Islam, namely the Qurʾan and the Traditions of the Prophet.
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Smoor, Pieter. “Wine, Love, and Praise for the Faṭimid Imams.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft 142.1 (1992): 90–104.
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Tamim b. al-Muʿizz’s frivolous poetry is remarkable for its description of wine taverns and cupbearers. In this essay, Smoor examines some odes with descriptions of wine and beautiful girls, wherein the poet finally turns to praise his brother, the Imam al-ʿAziz. Al-Muʾayyad, himself a poet, criticized this form of poetry.
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Walker, Paul E. Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistanī. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511520648Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »
Using published and unpublished works of al-Sijistani, Walker reveals his contributions to the development of a philosophical Shiʿism. The work covers major themes in the writings of al-Sijistani, such as God, creation, intellect, soul, nature, prophecy, and salvation.
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Walker, Paul. Abu Yaʿqub al-Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996.
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Walker presents al-Sijistani’s thought, a seminally important Ismaʿili missionary, from a fresh perspective. Al-Sijistani’s writings prove that he deserves careful consideration both as a philosopher and as an exponent of the intellectual understanding of Islam.
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Walker, Paul E. Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmanī: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Ḥakim. London: I. B. Tauris, 1999.
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Al-Kirmani, a leading figure of the Ismaʿili daʿwa, possessed a profoundly creative mind that allowed him to master the theological, philosophical, and scientific discourse of his time and integrate this vast learning in his numerous and influential works. Walker provides a penetrating analysis of al-Kirmani’s achievements and his influence on subsequent Ismaʿili thinkers.
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- David Santillana
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- Dreams and Islam
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- Druze
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- Nation of Islam
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- Nigeria, Islam in
- Nizar Qabbani
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- Nursi, Said
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- Organization of Islamic Cooperation
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- Ottoman Women
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