Despite their long history and contributions to Islamic civilisation, however, they were until recently one of the least understood Muslim communities. In fact, a multitude of medieval legends and misconceptions circulated widely about Ismaili teachings and practices, while the rich literary heritage of the Ismailis remained inaccessible to outsiders. The breakthrough in Ismaili studies had to await the recovery and study of a large number of Ismaili sources, a phenomenon that has continued unabated since the 1930s. As a result, modem scholarship in the field has already made great strides in distinguishing fact from fiction in many aspects of Ismaili history and thought.
A major Shi'i Muslim community, the Ismailis have had a long and complex history dating back to the formative period of Islam, when different communities of interpretation developed their doctrinal positions. By the time of the Abbasid revolution in 132/750, Imami Shi'ism, the common heritage of the major Shi'i communities of Ithna'ashariyya (Twelvers) and Isma'iliyya, had acquired a special prominence. The Imami Shi'is, who like other Shi'i communities upheld the rights of the Prophet Muhammad's household (ahl al-bayt) to the leadership of the Muslim umma, propounded a particular conception of divinely instituted religious authority, also recognizing certain descendants of the Prophet from amongst the 'Alids as their spiritual leaders or imams possessing the required religious authority. The Shi'i conception of religious authority, which set the Shi'a in general apart from the groups later designated as Sunni, came to be embodied in the central Shi'i doctrine of the imamate expounded by the Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and his associates. The doctrine of the imamate has retained a central position i n the teachings of the Ismailis.
On the death of the Imam al-Sadiq in 148/765, his Imami Shi'i following split into several groups, including those identifiable as the earliest Ismailis. The Ismailis themselves experienced several major and minor schisms in the course of their eventful history; the schisms normally revolved around the rightful succession, to the imamate. By the middle of the 3rd/9th century, the Ismailis had organised a revolutionary movement against the established order under the Abbasids. In 286/899, the unified Ismaili movement was rent by its first major schism over the question of the imamate. The Ismailis now split into two rival camps, the loyal Ismailis and the dissident Qarmatls. Upholding continuity i n the Ismaili imamate, the loyal Ismailis acknowledged the founder of the Fatimid dynasty and his successors as their imams. The Qarmatls, centred i n Bahrayn, did not recognise the Fatimid caliphs as their imams and in time they opposed the Fatimids. By the final decades of the 3rd/9th century when Ismaili dd'is or religio-political missionaries were active from the Maghrib in North Africa to Transoxania in Central Asia,
Ismailism (named after al-Sadiq's eldest son Isma'll) had received much popular support among different social strata. The early success of the Ismaili da'wa or mission culminated in 297/909 in the establishment of an Ismaili dawla or state, the Fatimid caliphate, in North Africa. The Ismailis had now entered a new phase of their history. The revolutionary activities of the early Ismailis, directed by a hereditary line of central leaders, had resulted in the foundation of a state, in which the Ismaili imam was installed as caliph, rivalling the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. The establishment of this first Shi'I caliphate represented a serious challenge to the authority of the Abbasid caliph, the official spokesman of Sunni Islam, and the position of the Sunni 'ulamd' who legitimised the Abbasids' authority and defined Sunnism as the true interpretation of Islam. The Ismailis, who as Imam! Shi'I Muslims had developed their own interpretation of the Islamic message, had now in effect offered a
viable alternative to Sunni "orthodoxy".
The Fatimid period was the "golden age" of Ismailism when the Ismaili imam ruled over a vast empire and Ismaili thought and literature attained their summit. The recovery of Ismaili literature in modem times attests to the rich literary heritage of the Ismailis during the Fatimid phase of their history. It was also during the first Fatimid century, designated as the "Ismaili century" of Islam by Louis Massignon (1883-1962),' that the Ismaili-connected Ikhwan al-Safa' (Brethren of Purity) produced their encyclopaedic Rasd'il [Epistles], reflecting the contemporary state of knowledge on diverse sciences and a pluralistic perception of religion and philosophy. At the sametime, da'is of the Iranian lands synthesised their theology w i t h different philosophical traditions, giving rise to a distinctive intellectual tradition labelled as "philosophical Ismailism" by Paul Walker.'
Other da'is, living in Arab lands and within Fatimid dominions, produced treatises on a variety of exoteric and esoteric subjects, also developing the science of ta'vnl or esoteric exegesis which became the hallmark of Ismaili thought. By the second half of the 5th/nth century, the Ismailis had indeed made important contributions to Islamic thought and culture. A new phase in Ismaili history was initiated on the death of the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Mustansir in 487/1094 and the ensuing Nizarl-Musta'll schism in Ismailism. The succession to al-Mustansir was disputed between his eldest son and heir-designate Nizar, and his youngest son Ahmad who was actually installed to the caliphate with the title of al-Musta'll bi'llah by the all-powerful Fatimid vizier al- Afdal. Subsequently, Nizar rose in revolt to assert his claims, but he was defeated and executed in 488/1095. As a result of these events,
the unified Ismaili community of the latter decades of al-Mustansir's reign was permanently split into two rival factions, the Nizariyya and the Musta'liyya. The Musta'll Ismailis themselves split into Hafi?l and Tayyibl factions soon after the death of al-Musta'll's son and successor al- Amir in 524/1130. The HafizI Ismailis, who recognised the later Fatimids as their imams, disappeared after the collapse of the Fatimid dynasty in 567/1171. The Tayyibl Ismailis, who have not had any manifest imam after al-Amir, found a permanent stronghold in Yaman. The Tayyibls were henceforth led by chief dd'is. By the end of the i o t h / i 6 th century, the Tayyibls themselves were subdivided into
Da'udi and SulaymanI factions over the issue of the rightful succession to the office of the dd'i. By that time the Indian Tayyibls, known locally as Bohras and belonging mainly to the Da'udi faction, had greatly outnumbered their (Sulaymani) co-religionists in Yaman. The Tayyibls i n general maintained the intellectual and literary traditions of the Fatimid Ismailis, as well as a good portion of Ismaili literature of that period. The learned Tayyibl dd'is of Yaman themselves generated a considerable volume of Ismaili literature. Owing to frequent subdivisions in their community and extended persecutions, the Tayyibls account for a minority of the Ismailis in the world today.
In contrast to the Tayyibl Ismailis, the Nizari Ismailis acquired political prominence within Saljuq dominions, especially in Persia where they had a state of their own. The Nizari state, centred at the mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Persia, lasted some 166 years until it collapsed under the onslaught of the Mongol hordes in 654/1256. Hasan Sabbah (d. 518/1124I, their first leader, designed a revolutionary strategy against the Saljuqs. Hasan did not realise this political objective, but he did succeed i n establishing and consolidating the independent Nizari da'wa and state with its territories scattered from Syria to eastern Persia. After Hasan Sabbah and his next two successors, who ruled as da'is and hujjas, the imams' chief representatives, the Nizari imams themselves emerged at Alamut to lead their community of followers. The Nizari state of the Alamut period was thus ruled by three da'is and five imams, generally referred to as the lords of Alamut i n the Persian sources. Preoccupied with revolutionary campaigns and constantly living in hostile surroundings, the Nizaris did not produce a substantial literature. Their dd'is were for the most part military commanders and governors of fortresses rather than learned theologians. Nevertheless, the Nizaris did maintain a literary tradition, also elaborating their teachings i n response to changed circumstances of the Alamut period.
Nizarl Ismailis survived the Mongol destruction of their fortresses and state, which marked the initiation of a new phase in their history. The first two post-Alamut centuries in Nizarl history remain rather obscure. In the aftermath of the fall of Alamut, the Nizarl imams went into hiding, losing direct contacts w i t h their followers. Many of the Persian Ismailis who had escaped from the Mongol massacres found refuge in Central Asia, Afghanistan or India. The scattered Nizari communities developed independently under local leaderships. It was also during the early post-Alamut centuries that the Nizaris of Persia and adjacent areas adopted Sufi disguise to safeguard themselves. By the middle of the 9th/15 th century, the Nizarl imams had emerged in Anjudan in central Persia, initiating what W. Ivanow has designated as the Anjudan revival in Nizari da'wa and literary activities.' During the Anjudan revival, lasting some two centuries, the imams reasserted their central authority over the various Nizari communities, also reviving the proselytising activities of their da'wa. The Nizarl da'wa now proved particularly successful in the Indian subcontinent where large numbers of Hindus were converted in Sind and Gujarat; the Indian Nizaris became locally known as Khojas. The Nizaris of the post-Alamut period developed distinctive literary traditions in Syria, Persia, Central Asia and India. In particular, the Nizari Khojas developed a unique literary genre in the form of devotional hymns known as ginans.
In the 1840s, the seat of the Nizari Ismaili imamate was transferred from Persia to India, initiating the modem period in the history of the Nizari community. Benefiting from the modernising policies and the elaborate network of institutions established by their last two imams, known internationally by their hereditary title of Aga Khan, the Nizaris have emerged as an educated and prosperous community. Numbering several millions, the Nizari Ismaili Muslims are currently scattered in more than twenty-five countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
Acknowledgements:
"A Short History of the Ismailis Traditions of a Muslim Community" (Farhad Daftary)
Early Ismailis and Fatimid Period:
On the death of the Imam al-Sadiq in 148/765, his Imami Shi'i following split into several groups, including those identifiable as the earliest Ismailis. The Ismailis themselves experienced several major and minor schisms in the course of their eventful history; the schisms normally revolved around the rightful succession, to the imamate. By the middle of the 3rd/9th century, the Ismailis had organised a revolutionary movement against the established order under the Abbasids. In 286/899, the unified Ismaili movement was rent by its first major schism over the question of the imamate. The Ismailis now split into two rival camps, the loyal Ismailis and the dissident Qarmatls. Upholding continuity i n the Ismaili imamate, the loyal Ismailis acknowledged the founder of the Fatimid dynasty and his successors as their imams. The Qarmatls, centred i n Bahrayn, did not recognise the Fatimid caliphs as their imams and in time they opposed the Fatimids. By the final decades of the 3rd/9th century when Ismaili dd'is or religio-political missionaries were active from the Maghrib in North Africa to Transoxania in Central Asia,
Ismailism (named after al-Sadiq's eldest son Isma'll) had received much popular support among different social strata. The early success of the Ismaili da'wa or mission culminated in 297/909 in the establishment of an Ismaili dawla or state, the Fatimid caliphate, in North Africa. The Ismailis had now entered a new phase of their history. The revolutionary activities of the early Ismailis, directed by a hereditary line of central leaders, had resulted in the foundation of a state, in which the Ismaili imam was installed as caliph, rivalling the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. The establishment of this first Shi'I caliphate represented a serious challenge to the authority of the Abbasid caliph, the official spokesman of Sunni Islam, and the position of the Sunni 'ulamd' who legitimised the Abbasids' authority and defined Sunnism as the true interpretation of Islam. The Ismailis, who as Imam! Shi'I Muslims had developed their own interpretation of the Islamic message, had now in effect offered a
viable alternative to Sunni "orthodoxy".
The Fatimid period was the "golden age" of Ismailism when the Ismaili imam ruled over a vast empire and Ismaili thought and literature attained their summit. The recovery of Ismaili literature in modem times attests to the rich literary heritage of the Ismailis during the Fatimid phase of their history. It was also during the first Fatimid century, designated as the "Ismaili century" of Islam by Louis Massignon (1883-1962),' that the Ismaili-connected Ikhwan al-Safa' (Brethren of Purity) produced their encyclopaedic Rasd'il [Epistles], reflecting the contemporary state of knowledge on diverse sciences and a pluralistic perception of religion and philosophy. At the sametime, da'is of the Iranian lands synthesised their theology w i t h different philosophical traditions, giving rise to a distinctive intellectual tradition labelled as "philosophical Ismailism" by Paul Walker.'
Other da'is, living in Arab lands and within Fatimid dominions, produced treatises on a variety of exoteric and esoteric subjects, also developing the science of ta'vnl or esoteric exegesis which became the hallmark of Ismaili thought. By the second half of the 5th/nth century, the Ismailis had indeed made important contributions to Islamic thought and culture. A new phase in Ismaili history was initiated on the death of the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Mustansir in 487/1094 and the ensuing Nizarl-Musta'll schism in Ismailism. The succession to al-Mustansir was disputed between his eldest son and heir-designate Nizar, and his youngest son Ahmad who was actually installed to the caliphate with the title of al-Musta'll bi'llah by the all-powerful Fatimid vizier al- Afdal. Subsequently, Nizar rose in revolt to assert his claims, but he was defeated and executed in 488/1095. As a result of these events,
the unified Ismaili community of the latter decades of al-Mustansir's reign was permanently split into two rival factions, the Nizariyya and the Musta'liyya. The Musta'll Ismailis themselves split into Hafi?l and Tayyibl factions soon after the death of al-Musta'll's son and successor al- Amir in 524/1130. The HafizI Ismailis, who recognised the later Fatimids as their imams, disappeared after the collapse of the Fatimid dynasty in 567/1171. The Tayyibl Ismailis, who have not had any manifest imam after al-Amir, found a permanent stronghold in Yaman. The Tayyibls were henceforth led by chief dd'is. By the end of the i o t h / i 6 th century, the Tayyibls themselves were subdivided into
Da'udi and SulaymanI factions over the issue of the rightful succession to the office of the dd'i. By that time the Indian Tayyibls, known locally as Bohras and belonging mainly to the Da'udi faction, had greatly outnumbered their (Sulaymani) co-religionists in Yaman. The Tayyibls i n general maintained the intellectual and literary traditions of the Fatimid Ismailis, as well as a good portion of Ismaili literature of that period. The learned Tayyibl dd'is of Yaman themselves generated a considerable volume of Ismaili literature. Owing to frequent subdivisions in their community and extended persecutions, the Tayyibls account for a minority of the Ismailis in the world today.
Nizari Ismailis and Alamut Period:
In contrast to the Tayyibl Ismailis, the Nizari Ismailis acquired political prominence within Saljuq dominions, especially in Persia where they had a state of their own. The Nizari state, centred at the mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Persia, lasted some 166 years until it collapsed under the onslaught of the Mongol hordes in 654/1256. Hasan Sabbah (d. 518/1124I, their first leader, designed a revolutionary strategy against the Saljuqs. Hasan did not realise this political objective, but he did succeed i n establishing and consolidating the independent Nizari da'wa and state with its territories scattered from Syria to eastern Persia. After Hasan Sabbah and his next two successors, who ruled as da'is and hujjas, the imams' chief representatives, the Nizari imams themselves emerged at Alamut to lead their community of followers. The Nizari state of the Alamut period was thus ruled by three da'is and five imams, generally referred to as the lords of Alamut i n the Persian sources. Preoccupied with revolutionary campaigns and constantly living in hostile surroundings, the Nizaris did not produce a substantial literature. Their dd'is were for the most part military commanders and governors of fortresses rather than learned theologians. Nevertheless, the Nizaris did maintain a literary tradition, also elaborating their teachings i n response to changed circumstances of the Alamut period.
Post Alamut Period
Nizarl Ismailis survived the Mongol destruction of their fortresses and state, which marked the initiation of a new phase in their history. The first two post-Alamut centuries in Nizarl history remain rather obscure. In the aftermath of the fall of Alamut, the Nizarl imams went into hiding, losing direct contacts w i t h their followers. Many of the Persian Ismailis who had escaped from the Mongol massacres found refuge in Central Asia, Afghanistan or India. The scattered Nizari communities developed independently under local leaderships. It was also during the early post-Alamut centuries that the Nizaris of Persia and adjacent areas adopted Sufi disguise to safeguard themselves. By the middle of the 9th/15 th century, the Nizarl imams had emerged in Anjudan in central Persia, initiating what W. Ivanow has designated as the Anjudan revival in Nizari da'wa and literary activities.' During the Anjudan revival, lasting some two centuries, the imams reasserted their central authority over the various Nizari communities, also reviving the proselytising activities of their da'wa. The Nizarl da'wa now proved particularly successful in the Indian subcontinent where large numbers of Hindus were converted in Sind and Gujarat; the Indian Nizaris became locally known as Khojas. The Nizaris of the post-Alamut period developed distinctive literary traditions in Syria, Persia, Central Asia and India. In particular, the Nizari Khojas developed a unique literary genre in the form of devotional hymns known as ginans.
In the 1840s, the seat of the Nizari Ismaili imamate was transferred from Persia to India, initiating the modem period in the history of the Nizari community. Benefiting from the modernising policies and the elaborate network of institutions established by their last two imams, known internationally by their hereditary title of Aga Khan, the Nizaris have emerged as an educated and prosperous community. Numbering several millions, the Nizari Ismaili Muslims are currently scattered in more than twenty-five countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
Acknowledgements:
"A Short History of the Ismailis Traditions of a Muslim Community" (Farhad Daftary)
