This publication, edited and translated by Hamid Haji, brings together a new critical edition of the Arabic text, an introduction and a fully annotated English translation of the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar. It contains oral statements, correspondence and other archival material from a period spanning over sixty years of Fatimid rule, providing a biographical account of one of the most prominent statesmen of the early Fatimid period, Ustadh Jawdhar.
Jawdhar was a confidante of the first four Fatimid Imam-Caliphs who ruled in North Africa (910 – 973 CE). The author of the work, Abu ‘Ali Mansur al-‘Azizi al-Jawdhari, was a private secretary of Jawdhar. Mansur had access to archives held by Jawdhar, including letters he received from the imams, and was also a trusted associate. After Jawdhar’s death in 973 CE, the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz appointed al-Mansur to succeed him. The author cherished the memory of his mentor and wished to commemorate him. With this end in view, he compiled the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar during the time of Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz’s successor, Imam-Caliph al-‘Aziz billah (r. 975–996 CE).
via The Institute of Ismaili Studies – Inside the Immaculate Portal.
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