Keywords: Ismaili,泭Shia,泭taqiyyaPrecautionary dissimulation of one’s religious beliefs, especially in time of persecution or danger, a practice especially adopted by the Shi’i Muslims.,泭Imamah,泭ImamAli,泭Caliphate, Fatimid, Abbasid, Ahl alBayt,泭dawa,泭sharia,泭dawr al-satrLit. period of concealment. Al-Q廎蘋 al-Nu尪mn (d. 974) uses the term dawr al-satr to refer to the period of around 150 years in which the Ismaili imams were hidden from…,泭AlamutFortress of the Nizari Ismailis in northern Iran, which fell to the Mongols in 654 AH/1256 CE., Nizari, Mustali, Zaydi,泭tawhid,泭tawil,泭hadith,泭batin,泭zahir,泭haqaiq, ilm,泭al-AzharA major mosque and institution of learning founded in Cairo by the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mu尪izz (d. 975).,泭wazier, alQahira,泭mahdi,泭IfriqiyaMediaeval Muslim name for modern-day Tunisia; also the area where the Fatimids founded their state in the early tenth century.,泭dai,泭ImamJafar al-Sadiq,泭Pir, Nasir-i Khusraw,泭ginan, Safavid,泭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.,泭nur, qiyamah, talim, ulama.
The history of Ismailism is best understood as the embodiment of one response, among others, to the message contained in the Islamic revelation.
Author
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(1976),泭The Muslim Almanac(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.