Ismailism
Chaper in Islamic Spirituality: Foundations, Ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, London: Routledge & Keegan Paul Ltd, 1987, pp. 179-198.
Abstract
This overview article on Ismailism focuses on some of the key concepts, underlying the Ismaili interpretation of Islam governing Ismaili beliefs. The article starts off with a brief historical background. It touches upon the da’wa activities and some of the challenging circumstances under which it operated.
The early literature of the Ismailis is preserved in Arabic and then Persian languages. Some of the major works of the more prominent dai’s such as Abu Ya’qub al-Sijistani, al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-din Shirazi and Nasir Khusraw are discussed in the article.
Ismailism is a part of the Shi’ite branch of Islam whose adherents constitute at present a small minority within the wider Muslim ummah. They live in over twenty-five different countries, including Afghanistan, East Africa, India, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, the United Kingdom, North America, and also parts of China and the Soviet Union.
Historical Background
(continues from Part I , Part II and Part III)
The languages of Ismaili Literature
Early Ismaili works are mostly in Arabic; Nasir-i Khusraw was the only Fatimid writer who wrote in Persian. The Arabic tradition was continued in Yemen and in India by the Musta’lis, and in Syria by the Nizaris. In Iran, the literature is in Persian, which for the Nizari Ismailis there, as in Central Asia, became the significant language. In India, the da’is developed a traditional literature called ginan (knowledge) using the vernacular languages such as Sindhi and Gujarati. In the northern area of modern Pakistan, the Ismailis of Hunza, Gilgit, and Chitral have also preserved and continue to evolve a literature based on what have been hitherto oral languages such as Burushaski, Shina, and Khowar, although the Arabic-Urdu script is being increasingly used at present.5
Thus, there is considerable diversity of thought and development represented in the literature, much of which still remains to be properly edited – let alone carefully studied. The following exposition of Ismaili doctrine and spirituality can be regarded as a heritage shared in general by all Ismailis in the context of their effort to relate questions of authority and organisation in the ummah to an understanding of the inner core of the Islamic message and the values contained in that message.
Principal Features of Ismaili Thought
A very significant feature of Ismaili thought is the comprehensiveness of its scope and a specificity with regard to its method. It shares with other schools of Islam the ideal of understanding and implementing Islam in its totality in order that the ummah might be governed by Divine Will rather than human caprice. In common with the other Shia communities, Ismailis maintained that it was through the agency of a divinely guided Imam descended from ‘Ali that such an ideal could be realised. The doctrine of the Imam, therefore, occupied a central place in Shi’ism, and obedience and devotion to him were considered the principal indices of acceptance of the Divine Message of Islam. This principle received a central and specific emphasis in Ismailism, because it was through the Imam that a true understanding of Islam was obtained and in obeying him the duties of a true believer were fulfilled. Such a view did not rule out the use of the rational or intellectual faculty on the part of the believer. In fact, true understanding came to be defined as the ultimate unfolding of human reason (‘aql) to its fullest potential under the guidance of the Imam. It is the working out of this process that provides the key to understanding the heart of Ismaili spirituality as exemplified in their literature and in their concepts of learning and knowledge.
The curriculum in Fatimid seats of learning led an individual through progressive and disciplined study of a wide variety of sciences. The student commenced study with the aim of mastering al-‘ibadat al-‘amaliyyah (practical worship), the sciences necessary to grasp and define the Shari’ah in terms of the pillars of faith, a Shari’ah which shared a number of essential characteristics with those of other Muslim legal schools. After mastering these subjects, the student then proceeded to a study of al-‘ibaddt al- ‘ilmiyyah (intellectual worship), the sciences that expound and interpret the levels of meaning reflected in the pillars.
From the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Ismailimail 