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Until recently, the Ismaiilis were judged almost exclusively on the basis of hostile Muslim and European sources. This volume, the result of some of the most recent scholarship in the area and written by leading contemporary authorities in the field, sheds a new and more realistic light on their history.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Isma`ilis and Isma`ili studies Farhad Daftary; Part I. The Classical Phase: 2. The Fatimids and the Qarmatis of Bahrayn Wilferd Madelung; 3. The cosmology of the pre-Fatimid Isma'iliyya Heinz Halm; 4. Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani and the seven faculties of the intellect Wilfred Madelung; 5. The Isma'ili oath of allegiance ('ahd) and the 'sessions of wisdom' (majalis al-hikma) in Fatimid times Heinz Halm; 6. Al-Qadi al-Nu`man and Isma`ili jurisprudence Ismail K. Poonawala; 7. A critique of Paul Casanova's dating of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' Abbas Hamdani; 8. Portraits of self and others: Isma`ili perspectives on the history of religions Azim A. Nanji; 9. An Isma`ili version of the heresiography of the seventy-two erring sects Paul E. Walker; Part II. The Nizari Phase: 10. Hasan-i Sabbah and the origins of the Nizari Isma'ili movement Farhad Daftary; 11. The power struggle between the Saljuqs and the Isma'ilis of Alamut, 487-518/1094-1124: The Saljuq perspective Carole Hillenbrand; 12. The Isma'ilis of Quhistan and the Maliks of Nimruz or Sistan C. Edmund Bosworth; 13. The philosopher/vizier: Khwaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and the Isma`ilis Hamid Dabashi; 14. 'Sometimes by the sword, sometimes by the dagger': the role of the Isma'ilis in Mamluk-Mongol relations in the 8th/14th century Charles Melville; 15. The Isma'ili ginans: reflections on authority and authorship Ali S. Asani; 16. The Nuqtawi movement of Mahmud Pisikhani and his Persian cycle of mystical-materialism Abbas Amanat.
Summary
Until recently, the Isma`ilis were judged almost exclusively on the basis of hostile Muslim and European sources. This volume, written by leading contemporary authorities in the field, sheds a more realistic light on their history.
