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Isma’ili Shi’a represent the second most important Shi’ite community after the Twelver ([[Ithna ‘Ashariyah]]) Shi'a and are scattered in more than twenty-five countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. The Isma’ilis have subdivided into a number of factions and groups in the course of their complex history. | '''Isma’ili''' Shi’a represent the second most important Shi’ite community after the Twelver ([[Ithna ‘Ashariyah]]) Shi'a and are scattered in more than twenty-five countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. The Isma’ilis have subdivided into a number of factions and groups in the course of their complex history. | ||
The Ismaʿilis take their name from their imam, Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar al-Sadiq. They branched off from the main group, the Imamiyya, following the death of [[Ja'far al-sadiq|Jaʿfar al-Sadiq]] in 148/765 in a dispute regarding the latter’s succession. However, it should be noted that modern scholars who have examined traditional views held by the Shiʿa and compared them with the historical picture have come to the conclusion that the crystallization of the Shiʿa occurred under the sixth imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, and that the doctrine of the [[imamate]] formulated only in his time and then applied retrospectively to the pre-Jaʿfar period. | The Ismaʿilis take their name from their imam, Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar al-Sadiq. They branched off from the main group, the Imamiyya, following the death of [[Ja'far al-sadiq|Jaʿfar al-Sadiq]] in 148/765 in a dispute regarding the latter’s succession. However, it should be noted that modern scholars who have examined traditional views held by the Shiʿa and compared them with the historical picture have come to the conclusion that the crystallization of the Shiʿa occurred under the sixth imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, and that the doctrine of the [[imamate]] formulated only in his time and then applied retrospectively to the pre-Jaʿfar period. | ||
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The Nizari Isma'ilis survived the destruction of their state. Initially, for about two centuries, they remained disorganized and developed independently in scattered communities, also adopting Sufi guises to safeguard themselves against persecution. During the Anjudan revival in the post-Alamut period of their history, which lasted some two centuries from the middle of the fifteenth century, the Nizari imams emerged at Anjudan, in central Iran, and increasingly established their control over various communities of their followers, also reviving Nizari missionary and literary activities. At the same time, the Nizaris of Iran and adjacent lands retained different taqiyya or precautionary dissimulation practices of disguising themselves under the cloaks of Sufism and Twelver Shi’ism, the official religion of Safavid Iran. The Anjudan revival achieved particular success in Central Asia and South Asia, where large numbers of Hindus were converted in Sind, Gujarat, and elsewhere. The Indian Nizaris became locally known as Khojas and they developed an indigenous tradition, designated as the "Satpanth" or true path. The Nizaris of Badakhshan, now divided between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, have preserved numerous collections of Persian Isma'ili manuscripts. The Nizari Khojas, together with the Tayyibi Bohras, were among the earliest Asian communities to have settled in the nineteenth century in East Africa. In the 1970s and later, many East African Isma'ilis immigrated to the West. Under the leadership of their last two imams, Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III (1885-1957), and Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, who in 1957 succeeded his grandfather as their forty-ninth imam, the Nizari Isma'ilis, who number several million, have entered the modern age as a progressive community with high standards of education and well-being. | The Nizari Isma'ilis survived the destruction of their state. Initially, for about two centuries, they remained disorganized and developed independently in scattered communities, also adopting Sufi guises to safeguard themselves against persecution. During the Anjudan revival in the post-Alamut period of their history, which lasted some two centuries from the middle of the fifteenth century, the Nizari imams emerged at Anjudan, in central Iran, and increasingly established their control over various communities of their followers, also reviving Nizari missionary and literary activities. At the same time, the Nizaris of Iran and adjacent lands retained different taqiyya or precautionary dissimulation practices of disguising themselves under the cloaks of Sufism and Twelver Shi’ism, the official religion of Safavid Iran. The Anjudan revival achieved particular success in Central Asia and South Asia, where large numbers of Hindus were converted in Sind, Gujarat, and elsewhere. The Indian Nizaris became locally known as Khojas and they developed an indigenous tradition, designated as the "Satpanth" or true path. The Nizaris of Badakhshan, now divided between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, have preserved numerous collections of Persian Isma'ili manuscripts. The Nizari Khojas, together with the Tayyibi Bohras, were among the earliest Asian communities to have settled in the nineteenth century in East Africa. In the 1970s and later, many East African Isma'ilis immigrated to the West. Under the leadership of their last two imams, Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III (1885-1957), and Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, who in 1957 succeeded his grandfather as their forty-ninth imam, the Nizari Isma'ilis, who number several million, have entered the modern age as a progressive community with high standards of education and well-being. | ||
==Bibliography== | ==Bibliography== | ||
* Daftary, Farhad, ed. Mediaeval Isma’ili History and Thought. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996. | |||
* Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Isma'ilis. Edinburgh: | *Daftary, Farhad, ed. Mediaeval Isma’ili History and Thought. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996. | ||
* Edinburgh University Press, 1998. | *Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Isma'ilis. Edinburgh: | ||
*Edinburgh University Press, 1998. | |||
==Source== | ==Source== | ||
* Farhad Daftary (2004). Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World. Edited by Richard C. Martin. USA: Macmillan; P: 628-629. ISBN 0-02-865912-0 | |||
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fatimids Encyclopædia Iranica] | *Farhad Daftary (2004). Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World. Edited by Richard C. Martin. USA: Macmillan; P: 628-629. ISBN 0-02-865912-0 | ||
*[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fatimids Encyclopædia Iranica] | |||
[[Category:Concepts and Beliefs]] | [[Category:Concepts and Beliefs]] | ||
[[Category:Terminologies]] | [[Category:Terminologies]] | ||
[[Category:Shi’ism]] | [[Category:Shi’ism]] | ||