An important Shii Muslim community, 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. as an entity emerged in 765 from a disagreement over the successor to the sixthimamIn general usage, a leader of prayers or religious leader. The Shi’i restrict the term to their spiritual leaders descended from 尪Al蘋 b. Ab蘋 廜珀lib and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima., Jafar al-Sadiq. The Ismailis chose Ismails and then traced the ‘imamat’ through Ismailis son Muhammad and the latters progeny. The bulk of other Shii, however, eventually recognised 12 imams, descendants of Isma’ils brother Musa al-Kazim. The two main Ismaili branches in India are theMustalis(Bohras) and theNizaris(KhojasA term probably derived from the Persian khwja (lord, master). The Khojas are one of the Ismaili communities originating from the Indian subcontinent and now living in many countries of…). TheNizarisAdherents of a branch of the Ismailis who gave allegiance to Nizar, the eldest son of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir (d. 1094) as his successor., led by theAga 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., also have populations in Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, East Africa, Europe, and North America.
Author
Dr Farhad Daftary
Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications
An authority in Shi’i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, Dr. Daftary has published and lectured widely in these fields of Islamic studies. In 2011 a Festschrift entitledFortresses of the Intellectwas produced to honour Dr. Daftary by a number of his colleagues and peers.
Professor Azim Nanji
Azim Nanji is currently Special Advisor to the Provost of the, and a member of the Board of Directors of thein Ottawa, a joint partnership between His Highness the Aga Khan and the Government of Canada. He has held many prestigious academic and administrative appointments, most recently as Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at, where he was also lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies. From 1998 to 2008, Professor Nanji served as Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.
Professor Nanji has published numerous books and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism, including:The Nizari Ismaili Tradition泭(1976),泭The Muslim Almanac泭(1996),泭Mapping Islamic Studies(1997) andThe Historical Atlas of Islam(with M. Ruthven) (2004) andThe Dictionary of Islam(with Razia Nanji), Penguin 2008. In addition, he has contributed numerous shorter studies and articles in journals and collective volumes includingThe Encyclopaedia of Islam,泭Encyclopaedia Iranica,泭Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, andA Companion to Ethics. He was the Associate Editor for the revised Second Edition ofThe Encyclopaedia of Religion.
Within the, he has served as a member of the task force for the(AKU-ISMC) and Vice Chair of the Madrasa-based Early Childhood Education Programme in East Africa. He served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998, 2001 and 2016.