Khalil Andani
Dr. Khalil Andani is Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana College. He holds a PhD, MA, and MTS degrees in Islamic Studies from Harvard University, where he was an SSHRC Doctoral Fellow (2014-2019). He specializes in Qur’anic studies, in Islamic intellectual history of theology & philosophy, Sufism, Ismailism, and most recently in global Islamic philosophy of religion. His book project is a history of the theologies and conceptions of Revelation in Islam, with special attention to the concepts of kitab, wahy, tanzil, verbal and non-verbal inspiration, and hermeneutics in the Quran, Hadith, Tafsir, Sunni Kalam, Imami Shiism, Shi'i Ismaili thought. HIs PhD dissertation won the 2020 Best Dissertation of the Year from the Foundation for Iranian Studies.
Khalil’s publications include articles in Zygon, Journal of Sufi Studies, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, the Journal of Islamic & Muslim Studies, Religion Compass, The Routledge Companion to the Quran, The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy, and Deconstructing Islamic Studies. He has forthcoming articles in European Journal of Analytic Philosophy, From the Divine to the Human, Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform, A Guide to Sufi Literature, and Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion (ed. Knepper) and two older articles in Sacred Web (ed. Ali Lakhani).
Khalil is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and completed Bachelor of Mathematics (BMath) and Master of Accounting degrees at the University of Waterloo (2008).
Khalil regularly presents at academic and non-academic conferences. He convened the 2021 International Ismaili Studies Conference. Khalil is currently the Co-Chair of the Methodology & Hermeneutics Unit of the International Qur’anic Studies Association and Steering Committee member of the new Constructive Muslim Thought Seminar in the AAR.
Khalil’s publications include articles in Zygon, Journal of Sufi Studies, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, the Journal of Islamic & Muslim Studies, Religion Compass, The Routledge Companion to the Quran, The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy, and Deconstructing Islamic Studies. He has forthcoming articles in European Journal of Analytic Philosophy, From the Divine to the Human, Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform, A Guide to Sufi Literature, and Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion (ed. Knepper) and two older articles in Sacred Web (ed. Ali Lakhani).
Khalil is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and completed Bachelor of Mathematics (BMath) and Master of Accounting degrees at the University of Waterloo (2008).
Khalil regularly presents at academic and non-academic conferences. He convened the 2021 International Ismaili Studies Conference. Khalil is currently the Co-Chair of the Methodology & Hermeneutics Unit of the International Qur’anic Studies Association and Steering Committee member of the new Constructive Muslim Thought Seminar in the AAR.
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This Conference builds on the progress of the 2014 and 2017 Ismaili Studies Conferences held at the University of Chicago and Carleton University respectively. These conferences are a progressive and autonomous endeavor for presenting the work of academics based in universities and research establishments and independent scholars engaging with the intellectual space termed broadly called “Ismaili Studies”.
ISC2021 is pleased to welcome speakers from multiple countries with presentations on a variety of academic and constructive themes. This year's ISC includes:
Keynote Address by Prof. Karim H. Karim on Friday, August 6 at 1:00pm (EST).
Scholarly panels on Ismaili history and historiography, esoteric exegesis, devotional literature, contemporary Ismaili theological reflection, and modern Ismaili leadership, identity, and religiosity.
the announcement of the (inaugural) 2021 Karim and Rosemin Karim Prize;
a concluding Scholars Roundtable featuring senior scholars of Ismaili Studies.
ISC2021 is proud to host the following presenters: Zabya Abo Aljadayel, Elizabeth Alexandrin, Ali Asgar Alibhai, Afsana Amirali Jiwani, Navid Amiri, Khalil Andani, Ali Asani, Musheg Asatryan, Matthew Barber, Daniel Beben, Jose Bellver, Alyshea Cummins, Alijan Damani, Alyjan Daya, Khayal ‘Aly Dhanidina, Fârès Gillon, Chorshanbe Goibnazarov, Shiraz Hajiani, Sumaiya Hamdani, Javad T. Hashmi, Perwaiz Hayat, David Hollenberg, Shanaz Salim Hunzai, Kainat Jalaluddin, Karim Javan, Taha Juzer Tyebkhan, Karim H. Karim, Tazim R. Kassam, Behnaz Keybakhi, Arzina R. Lalani, Mohammad Magout, Alex Matthews, Rizwan Mawani, Amaan Merali, Farhad Mortezaee, Shin Nomoto, Nadim Pabani, Ismaili Poonawala, Aslisho Qurboniev, Kumail Rajani, Miklós Sárközy, Mansour Shakarmamadov, Alexander Morse Shepard, Kasra Shiva, Sascha Ian Stans, Iqbal Surani, Nagib Tajdin, Aziz Talbani, Huzefa Tawawalla, Karim Tharani, Alexander Treiger, Gowart Van Den Bossche, Paul Walker, and Syed A. H. Zaidi.
Registration for IS2021 is free and open to the public.
the field, as Ismāʿīlī studies progresses at a staggering pace. At the same time, however, a tendency best described as “academic-polemic” continues to hamper academic treatments of select Ismāʿīlī topics, particularly the historical origins of the Fatimid Caliphate and the career of Aga Khan I in colonial India. This is evident in how certain authors simply mirror or
privilege anti-Ismāʿīlī polemical narratives in an uncritical manner while marginalizing or omitting important historical evidence that contravenes their arguments. Second, Ismāʿīlī studies as a field takes for granted the existence of an intelligible entity called “Ismāʿīlism” as its ostensible object of study but there is yet to be a critical interrogation of the origins, construction, and problems with “Ismāʿīlism” as a category of analysis. I show that Ismāʿīlism is either explicitly or implicitly being defined as a sectarian religious ideology
consisting of one or more essentialist doctrines, centered on allegiance to and recognition of the religious authority of the Ismāʿīlī Imams . As employed by many scholars, Ismāʿīlism is a reified sui generis entity, somehow transcending history and manifesting through various instances or “species” of historical Ismāʿīlī movements, communities, and theologies. I show
that Ismāʿīlism presently conceived as an analytical and taxonomical category fails to cohere with many examples of historical Ismāʿīlī phenomena and needs to be reconceptualized.
1) the “qur’ānic model” in which the Prophet formulates divinely inspired Arabic qur’āns and prophetic guidance as adaptations (tafṣīl) of God’s transcendent writing;
2) the “scriptural models” from Sunni tafsīr in which the Qur’ān as God’s book pre-exists in heaven and is then sent down to earth;
3) the “theological divine speech models” in Sunni kalām that center on God’s uncreated/created speech and its manifestation as the Arabic Qur’ān and the Prophetic Sunna;
4) the “divine inspiration models” in Imami Shiʿi ḥadīth and Shiʿi Ismaili thought that frame the Qur’ān as a divinely inspired composition of the Prophet that manifests God’s transcendent word and requires the Imams’ revelatory hermeneutics (ta’wīl) to be comprehended.
The dissertation’s argument culminates by highlighting and contextualizing Imami Shiʿi and Ismaili understandings of revelation espoused by certain Shiʿi Imams and Ismaili dāʿīs (missionaries) – including Imam al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765), Imam al-Muʿizz (d. 365/975), al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), the Brethren of Purity (fl. fourth/tenth century), al-Sijistānī (d. after 361/971), al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020), al-Mu’ayyad (d. 470/1077), and Nāṣir-i Khusraw (d. ca. 481/1088). It demonstrates that Ismaili models in particular constitute a unique alternative to Sunni views of revelation by offering competing and vastly different accounts of the Revelatory Principle, Process, and Products.
The full dissertation is available by request.
Both Twelver Shiʿi and Ismaili Shiʿi Muslims revere a specific lineage of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fātima al-Zahrā and his cousin ʿAli b. Abi Tālib as his divinely appointed successors and as infallible leaders possessing comprehensive spiritual authority, divinely inspired knowledge, and intercessory functions in which they mediate the spiritual relationship between human beings and God. For the Twelvers, the Imam of the current age, a lineal descendant of Musā b. Jaʿfar al-Sādeq, has been in occultation (ghayba) for some 1,200 years; for many Twelvers, this Hidden Imam is generally represented by the Twelver jurists and clerics. For the Ismailis, the Imam of the time is a living descendant of Ismāʿil b. Jaʿfar al-Sadeq, who is either present and directly accessible to his community (as Aga Khan IV for the Nizāri Ismāʿilis) or concealed and represented through the mediation of his authorized da‘is (for the Tayyibi Ismailis). This doctrine of the Imamate, which revolves around the issue of rightful spiritual and temporal leadership in Islam, presupposes certain models of epistemology, theology, cosmology, and anthropology that ground the spiritual status of the Imams. Meisami’s book focuses precisely on these background concepts underlying the doctrine of the Imamate as understood by al-Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā within the Fatimid and Safavid contexts respectively.
Ismailism. Religion Compass 10/8 (2016): 191–206, DOI 10.1111/rec3.12205 and A Survey of Ismaili Studies Part 2: Post‐
Fatimid and Modern Ismailism. Religion Compass 10/11 (2016): 269–282. DOI: 10.1111/rec3.12222
developments in the study of Ismaili Muslim history and thought
in the post‐Fatimid and modern periods. In general, scholarly coverage
of the Nizari Ismailis greatly outweighs that of the Tayyibis. Following
the concealment of the Tayyibi Imams in the 12th century,
the Tayyibi da‘wah continued in Yemen under the leadership of da‘is
representing the Imams and divided into two major groups – the
Sulaymanis and Da'udis. The Nizari Imamat continued in Persia until
the public emergence of their recent living Imams, the Aga Khans, in
modern times. The scholarly issues and themes discussed in this
article include the establishment of the Tayyibi da‘wah, later Tayyibi
cosmology, the 1164 Nizari declaration of qiyamah, the survival of
Nizari communities in Persia and South Asia after the Mongol invasion,
and modern Ismaili leadership institutions and communities.
The article concludes by briefly summarizing the state of research
for different periods of Ismaili history/thought and proposing some
future trajectories for the progress of Ismaili studies.
produced by their adversaries. With the recovery of more primary sources over the last several decades, Ismaili studies is now progressing at a rapid pace. The Ismaili movement originated from a schism in
the Imami Shi‘i community over the succession to Ja‘far al-Sadiq, the fifth Shi‘i Imam. The Ismailis
upheld the succession rights of al-Sadiq’s son and designated heir, Isma‘il, and his lineal descendants.
The earliest Ismailis directed a revolutionary da‘wah in the ninth century and established the Fatimid
Caliphate (909-1171). Ismaili doctrine during these periods evolved from a gnostic cosmology into a
Neoplatonic metaphysics. It also featured cyclical conceptions of Prophethood and Imamat and stressed
the distinction between the exoteric (zahir) and esoteric (batin) dimensions of Islam. Major scholarly
debates and thematic areas in the study of the pre-Fatimid and Fatimid periods of Ismaili history pertain
to the doctrinal character of early Imami Shi‘ism, Ismaili historiography, the origins of the earliest Ismailis,
the emergence of the Ismaili da‘wah, the earliest Ismaili conceptions of Imamat, the different facets of
Fatimid rule, the genealogy of the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs, and the philosophical dimensions of Fatimid
Ismaili thought.
This Conference builds on the progress of the 2014 and 2017 Ismaili Studies Conferences held at the University of Chicago and Carleton University respectively. These conferences are a progressive and autonomous endeavor for presenting the work of academics based in universities and research establishments and independent scholars engaging with the intellectual space termed broadly called “Ismaili Studies”.
ISC2021 is pleased to welcome speakers from multiple countries with presentations on a variety of academic and constructive themes. This year's ISC includes:
Keynote Address by Prof. Karim H. Karim on Friday, August 6 at 1:00pm (EST).
Scholarly panels on Ismaili history and historiography, esoteric exegesis, devotional literature, contemporary Ismaili theological reflection, and modern Ismaili leadership, identity, and religiosity.
the announcement of the (inaugural) 2021 Karim and Rosemin Karim Prize;
a concluding Scholars Roundtable featuring senior scholars of Ismaili Studies.
ISC2021 is proud to host the following presenters: Zabya Abo Aljadayel, Elizabeth Alexandrin, Ali Asgar Alibhai, Afsana Amirali Jiwani, Navid Amiri, Khalil Andani, Ali Asani, Musheg Asatryan, Matthew Barber, Daniel Beben, Jose Bellver, Alyshea Cummins, Alijan Damani, Alyjan Daya, Khayal ‘Aly Dhanidina, Fârès Gillon, Chorshanbe Goibnazarov, Shiraz Hajiani, Sumaiya Hamdani, Javad T. Hashmi, Perwaiz Hayat, David Hollenberg, Shanaz Salim Hunzai, Kainat Jalaluddin, Karim Javan, Taha Juzer Tyebkhan, Karim H. Karim, Tazim R. Kassam, Behnaz Keybakhi, Arzina R. Lalani, Mohammad Magout, Alex Matthews, Rizwan Mawani, Amaan Merali, Farhad Mortezaee, Shin Nomoto, Nadim Pabani, Ismaili Poonawala, Aslisho Qurboniev, Kumail Rajani, Miklós Sárközy, Mansour Shakarmamadov, Alexander Morse Shepard, Kasra Shiva, Sascha Ian Stans, Iqbal Surani, Nagib Tajdin, Aziz Talbani, Huzefa Tawawalla, Karim Tharani, Alexander Treiger, Gowart Van Den Bossche, Paul Walker, and Syed A. H. Zaidi.
Registration for IS2021 is free and open to the public.
the field, as Ismāʿīlī studies progresses at a staggering pace. At the same time, however, a tendency best described as “academic-polemic” continues to hamper academic treatments of select Ismāʿīlī topics, particularly the historical origins of the Fatimid Caliphate and the career of Aga Khan I in colonial India. This is evident in how certain authors simply mirror or
privilege anti-Ismāʿīlī polemical narratives in an uncritical manner while marginalizing or omitting important historical evidence that contravenes their arguments. Second, Ismāʿīlī studies as a field takes for granted the existence of an intelligible entity called “Ismāʿīlism” as its ostensible object of study but there is yet to be a critical interrogation of the origins, construction, and problems with “Ismāʿīlism” as a category of analysis. I show that Ismāʿīlism is either explicitly or implicitly being defined as a sectarian religious ideology
consisting of one or more essentialist doctrines, centered on allegiance to and recognition of the religious authority of the Ismāʿīlī Imams . As employed by many scholars, Ismāʿīlism is a reified sui generis entity, somehow transcending history and manifesting through various instances or “species” of historical Ismāʿīlī movements, communities, and theologies. I show
that Ismāʿīlism presently conceived as an analytical and taxonomical category fails to cohere with many examples of historical Ismāʿīlī phenomena and needs to be reconceptualized.
1) the “qur’ānic model” in which the Prophet formulates divinely inspired Arabic qur’āns and prophetic guidance as adaptations (tafṣīl) of God’s transcendent writing;
2) the “scriptural models” from Sunni tafsīr in which the Qur’ān as God’s book pre-exists in heaven and is then sent down to earth;
3) the “theological divine speech models” in Sunni kalām that center on God’s uncreated/created speech and its manifestation as the Arabic Qur’ān and the Prophetic Sunna;
4) the “divine inspiration models” in Imami Shiʿi ḥadīth and Shiʿi Ismaili thought that frame the Qur’ān as a divinely inspired composition of the Prophet that manifests God’s transcendent word and requires the Imams’ revelatory hermeneutics (ta’wīl) to be comprehended.
The dissertation’s argument culminates by highlighting and contextualizing Imami Shiʿi and Ismaili understandings of revelation espoused by certain Shiʿi Imams and Ismaili dāʿīs (missionaries) – including Imam al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765), Imam al-Muʿizz (d. 365/975), al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), the Brethren of Purity (fl. fourth/tenth century), al-Sijistānī (d. after 361/971), al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020), al-Mu’ayyad (d. 470/1077), and Nāṣir-i Khusraw (d. ca. 481/1088). It demonstrates that Ismaili models in particular constitute a unique alternative to Sunni views of revelation by offering competing and vastly different accounts of the Revelatory Principle, Process, and Products.
The full dissertation is available by request.
Both Twelver Shiʿi and Ismaili Shiʿi Muslims revere a specific lineage of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fātima al-Zahrā and his cousin ʿAli b. Abi Tālib as his divinely appointed successors and as infallible leaders possessing comprehensive spiritual authority, divinely inspired knowledge, and intercessory functions in which they mediate the spiritual relationship between human beings and God. For the Twelvers, the Imam of the current age, a lineal descendant of Musā b. Jaʿfar al-Sādeq, has been in occultation (ghayba) for some 1,200 years; for many Twelvers, this Hidden Imam is generally represented by the Twelver jurists and clerics. For the Ismailis, the Imam of the time is a living descendant of Ismāʿil b. Jaʿfar al-Sadeq, who is either present and directly accessible to his community (as Aga Khan IV for the Nizāri Ismāʿilis) or concealed and represented through the mediation of his authorized da‘is (for the Tayyibi Ismailis). This doctrine of the Imamate, which revolves around the issue of rightful spiritual and temporal leadership in Islam, presupposes certain models of epistemology, theology, cosmology, and anthropology that ground the spiritual status of the Imams. Meisami’s book focuses precisely on these background concepts underlying the doctrine of the Imamate as understood by al-Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā within the Fatimid and Safavid contexts respectively.
Ismailism. Religion Compass 10/8 (2016): 191–206, DOI 10.1111/rec3.12205 and A Survey of Ismaili Studies Part 2: Post‐
Fatimid and Modern Ismailism. Religion Compass 10/11 (2016): 269–282. DOI: 10.1111/rec3.12222
developments in the study of Ismaili Muslim history and thought
in the post‐Fatimid and modern periods. In general, scholarly coverage
of the Nizari Ismailis greatly outweighs that of the Tayyibis. Following
the concealment of the Tayyibi Imams in the 12th century,
the Tayyibi da‘wah continued in Yemen under the leadership of da‘is
representing the Imams and divided into two major groups – the
Sulaymanis and Da'udis. The Nizari Imamat continued in Persia until
the public emergence of their recent living Imams, the Aga Khans, in
modern times. The scholarly issues and themes discussed in this
article include the establishment of the Tayyibi da‘wah, later Tayyibi
cosmology, the 1164 Nizari declaration of qiyamah, the survival of
Nizari communities in Persia and South Asia after the Mongol invasion,
and modern Ismaili leadership institutions and communities.
The article concludes by briefly summarizing the state of research
for different periods of Ismaili history/thought and proposing some
future trajectories for the progress of Ismaili studies.
produced by their adversaries. With the recovery of more primary sources over the last several decades, Ismaili studies is now progressing at a rapid pace. The Ismaili movement originated from a schism in
the Imami Shi‘i community over the succession to Ja‘far al-Sadiq, the fifth Shi‘i Imam. The Ismailis
upheld the succession rights of al-Sadiq’s son and designated heir, Isma‘il, and his lineal descendants.
The earliest Ismailis directed a revolutionary da‘wah in the ninth century and established the Fatimid
Caliphate (909-1171). Ismaili doctrine during these periods evolved from a gnostic cosmology into a
Neoplatonic metaphysics. It also featured cyclical conceptions of Prophethood and Imamat and stressed
the distinction between the exoteric (zahir) and esoteric (batin) dimensions of Islam. Major scholarly
debates and thematic areas in the study of the pre-Fatimid and Fatimid periods of Ismaili history pertain
to the doctrinal character of early Imami Shi‘ism, Ismaili historiography, the origins of the earliest Ismailis,
the emergence of the Ismaili da‘wah, the earliest Ismaili conceptions of Imamat, the different facets of
Fatimid rule, the genealogy of the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs, and the philosophical dimensions of Fatimid
Ismaili thought.
This paper focuses on the religious authority of His Highness Prince Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan IV, the successor of Aga Khan III and present Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. Recent scholarship (Daftary et al. 2011; Poor 2014) has only focused on the present Aga Khan’s leadership as manifested through his institutional work in the Aga Khan Development Network. Andani argues that the religious authority of the Ismaili Imam today is “ritualized” through contemporary Ismaili practices, such as the daily Ismaili prayer (Du‘a), rituals of spiritual purification, and the charismatic event known as didar. On the basis of Wade T. Wheelock’s theory of ritual as a set of “situating” speech acts that communicate archetypes and fundamental values, Andani demonstrates how Ismaili Tariqah rituals (as described in public academic literature) situate the Imam as the possessor of a divinely-ordained authority, known as walayah in Shia Islam, which corresponds in part to the Weberian type of charismatic authority. Specifically, these rituals portray the Ismaili Imam as a medium for God’s blessings, the spiritual father and mother of his disciples, and the locus of manifestation (mazhar) of a primordial spiritual reality called the Light (nur) of the Imamat.
Recent scholarship by Ebstein has demonstrated the transmission of the Ismā‘īlī Neoplatonic doctrines in the Epistles of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ into the Andalusian mysticism of Ibn al-‘Arabī. The thought of the Ikhwān has also exerted an influence upon Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī who was evidently familiar with their epistles. What remains to be explored is how such ideas were further developed in the Ismā‘īlī and Akbarian traditions. This paper demonstrates how Kirmānī and Ibn al-‘Arabī’s share two important metaphysical positions with respect to tawhīd. Firstly, they each draw a metaphysical distinction between the ineffable and suprapersonal Essence of God and a secondary hypostatic level of reality that is the personal Divinity described by Names and Attributes – what Kirmānī and Ibn al-‘Arabī respectively call the First Intellect or the Divinity/Level. Secondly, they each maintain that the direct object or referent of tawhīd is not God as such, but rather, the hypostatic level of God’s Names. The findings of this study build upon the conclusions of prior scholarship and also demonstrate that the concept of wujūd need not be the dominant criterion in the study of Ibn al-Arabī’s thought.
View Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a6BAkecF4s
View Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhNjbGlQtYQ
The Questions Discussed in Part 2:
• What sort of changes in interpretation and practice take place from Imam to Imam through Ismaili history?
• What are the specific features of Ismaili Neoplatonism and Cosmology – like God, Universal Intellect, Universal Soul?
• What is the Ismaili thought on why bad things happen on earth?
• Is there a common core within all these different esoteric traditions?
• What is the role/status of Jesus Christ in Islam in general and in Ismaili thought?
• Pluralism and other spiritual paths
• When does the Imam obtain gnosis – does he get it when he becomes the Imam?
• Are the Imams infallible in the Ismaili tradition?
• The Ismailis are often thought of as being an antinomian sect. What is your opinion on this?
• Why did science & philosophy come to an end in the 12th century among Muslims?
• How do Ismailis today reconcile science and religion?
• Is Islam inherently a violent religion or is it a religion peace?
This workshop seeks to provide a collaborative environment for the discussion of ongoing research in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Meetings will bring together graduate students and faculty primarily from Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Study of Religion, and the Divinity School. The majority of these meetings will be devoted to student presentations. Graduate students with interests in the study of Islam broadly conceived are invited to participate.
(Henry Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth, Prologue)
Khalil Andani’s presentation titled "Shi‘a Isma‘ili Muslim Christology: Jesus in Classical Isma‘ili Thought" summarized some of the classical Isma‘ili Muslm perspectives on Jesus which stem from the Fatimid Isma‘ili discourse on the absolute transcendence of God, the Universal Intellect (al-‘aql al-kull), and the Cycles of the Natiqs (Prophets) and the Imams. The presentation concluded by sharing an Isma‘ili ta’wil (esoteric interpretation) of the Christian Cross and the Islamic Shahada as outlined in the writings of Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani and Ja’far ibn Mansur al-Yaman which demonstrate the ecumenical and pluralistic approaches of the Fatimid Isma‘ili thinkers."
The lecture covered the following points:
1. Isma’ili Muslims within the Muslim Ummah
2. Historical Snapshot of the Isma’ili Imamat
3. Isma’ili Da’wah and Esoteric Interpretation
4. The Imamah and the Role of the Imam
5. The Concept of Tariqah in Islam
This article was prepared as introductory educational material for the non-academic reader. The article summarizes some of the current and upcoming research of the author. Please contact the author directly ([email protected]) for any inquiries.
Throughout Ismaili history, the ta’wil of the Qur’an was often taught by Ismaili thinkers and teachers, called da‘is, who were appointed by the Ismaili Imam of the time to instruct the believers. Thus, Ismaili ta’wil or spiritual interpretation has taken many different forms and articulations through history and has been practiced in a variety of intellectual and cultural contexts. The Ismaili ta’wil of the Six Days of Creation is a consistent theme among numerous Ismaili thinkers throughout history. What follows is a summary of the Ismaili ta’wil or esoteric interpretation of the Qur’anic verses about God creating the heavens and the earth in “Six Days” as mainly presented in the writings of two major Ismaili thinkers – Nasir-i Khusraw (d. 1088) and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274), although this general schema is found among multiple Ismaili Muslim authors.
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*Educators and Teachers are free to use this chart in their own educational settings as long as credit is acknowledged and the chart is not altered.
Teachers and educators are welcome to use the diagram as long as credit is acknowledged and the diagram is not altered.
*The 52nd Daudi Bohra Da'i Mutlaq passed away in January 2014 and was succeeded by his son Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, who is now the 53rd Da'i. A smaller group (the Qutbi Bohras) recognizes the 53rd Da'i as Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin, and the 54th Da'i as Syedna Taher Fakhruddin.