The IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja尪far al-廜〢diq (d. 765), as his successor., the second-largest Shii community in the world today, are settled in over 25 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America. They are the only Muslims to follow a living spiritual guide of their community, the Nizari Ismaili Imam. For Ismailis, since the Prophet Muhammad first designated Ali as his successor, the hereditary lineage of the present Imam, Prince Karim al-Hussaini (Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. IV), has remained unbroken.
This book is the first collection of pithy biographies of each of the Ismaili Imams, from the seminal Imams of early Shii Islam, through to those of the first period of concealment when their public identities remained hidden, to the Imam-caliphs of the illustrious Fatimid dynasty, and those of the AlamutFortress of the Nizari Ismailis in northern Iran, which fell to the Mongols in 654 AH/1256 CE. period, popularised in history through the so-called Assassin legends, up to the Aga Khans of the modern period. The Ismaili Imams mines the rich scholarship of the developing field of Ismaili Studies, providing a simple and clear resource for the general reader, as well as a handy reference guide for scholars.
Published on the occasion of the Aga Khans Diamond Jubilee, this illustrated book offers a snapshot of the lives, events, and legacies of all 49 Imams, and through them, of the Ismaili communitys storied past.
List of maps and tables
Preface
I: The Ismaili Imamate in History
II: The Early Imams
尪插梭勳 b. Abi Talib
Husayn b. 尪插梭勳
尪插梭勳 b. Husayn Zayn al-尪Abidin
Muhammad al-Baqir
Ja尪far al-Sadiq
Isma尪il b. Ja尪far al-Sadiq
Muhammad b. Isma尪il al-Maymun
III: The Concealed Imams
尪Abd Allah b. Muhammad, also known as Wafi Ahmad
Ahmad b. 尪Abd Allah, also known as Taqi Muhammad
Husayn b. Ahmad, also known as Radi al-Din 尪Abd Allah
IV: The Early Fatimid Imam-caliphs
al-Mahdi
硃梭-紮硃尨勳鳥
al-Mansur
硃梭-紼喝尪勳堝堝
al-‘Aziz
al-Hakim
al-Zahir
al-Mustansir
Nizar
V: The Imams at Alamut
Concealed Imams: al-Hadi, al-Muhtadi, al-Qahir
Hasan 尪ala dhikrihi’l-salam
Nur al-Din Muhammad, also known as A尪la Muhammad
Jalal al-Din Hasan
尪Ala al-Din Muhammad
Rukn al-Din Khurshah
VI: The Early Imams after Alamut
Shams al-Din Muhammad
Qasim Shah
Islam Shah
Muhammad b. Islam Shah
VII: The Imams of the Anjudan Period
Mustansir billah
尪Abd al-Salam Shah
Gharib Mirza, also known as Mustansir bi’llah
Abu Dharr 尪插梭勳
Murad Mirza
Dhul-Faqar 尪插梭勳
Nur al-Din (al-Dahr) 尪插梭勳
Khalil Allah 尪插梭勳
VIII: The Imams in the Eighteenth Century
Shah Nizar
Sayyid(pl. sda/asyd) Arabic term for lord or master. It is a pre-Islamic term and refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. Amongst… 尪插梭勳
Hasan 尪插梭勳
Qasim 尪插梭勳
Abu’l-Hasan 尪插梭勳
Shah Khalil Allah
IX: The Imams in the Modern Age
Hasan 尪插梭勳 Shah, Aga Khan I
Agha 尪插梭勳 Shah, Aga Khan II
Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III
Shah Karim al-Husayni, Aga Khan IV
Glossary
Select Bibliography
Picture credits
Index
Farhad Daftary received his early education in Iran, Italy and England, and then undertook his university studies during 19581971 in the United States. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Subsequently, he held various academic and governmental posts in Iran, before in 1988 joining the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, where he is currently Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications. Dr Daftary is a consulting editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, co-editor (with W. Madelung) of the Encyclopaedia Islamica, as well as the general editor of the Ismaili Heritage Series, the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series and the Shii Heritage Series. An authority on Ismaili studies, he has written and edited 20 books in this field, including The Ism蘋l蘋s: Their History and Doctrines (1990; 2nd ed., 2007); The Assassin Legends (1994); A Short History of the Ismailis (1998); Ismaili Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies (2004); A History of Shii Islam (2013); and (with Z. Hirji) Islam: An Illustrated Journey (2018). He has also written more than 50 articles and book chapters and some 150 encyclopaedia entries. Dr Daftarys books have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Gujarati and numerous European languages.