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The Ismailis represent an important Shii Muslim community with rich intellectual and literary traditions. The complex history of the Ismailis dates back to the second/eighth century when they separated from other Shii groups under the leadership of their own imams. Soon afterwards, the Ismailis organised a dynamic, revolutionary movement, known as the dawa or mission, for uprooting the Sunni regime of the Abbasids and establishing a new Shii caliphate headed by the Ismaili imam. By the end of the third/ninth century, the Ismaili dais, operating secretly on behalf of the movement, were active in almost every region of the Muslim world, from Central Asia and Persia to Yemen, Egypt and the Maghrib.
This book brings together a collection of the best works from Farhad Daftary, one of the foremost authorities in the field. The studies cover a range of specialised topics related to Ismaili history, historiography, institutions, theology, law and philosophy, amongst other intellectual traditions elaborated by the Ismailis.
The collation of these invaluable studies into one book will be of great interest to the Ismaili community as well to anyone studying Islam in general, or Shii Islam in particular.
List of contents
Introduction I. Shii Communities in History II. The Study of the Ismailis: Phases and Issues III. Ismaili History and Literary Traditions IV. Idris Imad al-Din and Medieval Ismaili Historiography V. A Major Schism in the Early Ismaili Movement VI. The Ismaili dawa under the Fatimids VII. The Concept of hujja in Ismaili Thought VIII. Cyclical Time and Sacred History in Medieval Ismaili Thought IX. Ali in Classical Ismaili Theology X. Al-Qadi al-Numan, Ismaili Law and Imami Shiism XI. The Iranian School of Philosophical Ismailism XII. The Medieval Ismailis of the Iranian Lands XIII. The 'Order of the Assassins': J. von Hammer and the Orientalist Misrepresentations of the Nizari Ismailis XIV. Ismaili-Seljuq Relations: Conflict and Stalemate XV. Sinan and the Nizari Ismailis of Syria XVI. Hidden Imams and Mahdis in Ismaili History XVII. Religious Identity, Dissimulation and Assimilation: The Ismaili Experience
About the author
Farhad Daftary is Governor and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK. He has written more than 200 articles and encyclopedia entries and several acclaimed books, including The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines (1990; 2nd ed., 2007), The Assassin Legends (1994), and A Short History of the Ismailis (1998). Daftary is a consulting editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica (for Ismailism), co-editor of the Encyclopaedia Islamica, and general editor of the Ismaili Heritage Series, the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series and the Shi'i Heritage Series published by I.B. Tauris.
Summary
This book brings together a collection of the best works from Farhad Daftary, one of the foremost authorities in the field. The studies cover a range of specialised topics related to Ismaili history, historiography, institutions, theology, law and philosophy, amongst other intellectual traditions elaborated by the Ismailis.
