Publication page on Google Books

This work is a critical edition of the Arabic text and English translation of the 11^th century Ismaili da‘i, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani’s al-Masabih fi ithbat al-imama (Lights to Illuminate the Proof of the Imamate). This treatise has two parts consisting in all of fourteen separate “lights” and they cover one by one the following topics: Part One: (1) an explanation as to the reason that calls for setting out the premises at the beginning and how they are to be ordered; (2) proof of the existence of a Creator; (3) proof of the existence of a soul and that it is an everlasting, living substance without knowledge at the beginning of its existence; (4) proof of the form of divine regime, which is the recompense, and that its abode is not this world; (5) proof of the necessity of the laws and regulations, which consist of actions; (6) proof of the necessity of interpretation, which consists of knowledge; (7) proof of the prophetic office and its necessity; Part Two: (8) the proof of the imamate and its necessity; (9) proof of the necessity of the imam’s infallibility; (10) proof that it is not valid for the community to elect the imam; (11) proof that the true imamate exists by the designation of God and by the choice of the Apostle; (12) proof that, following the Prophet, the imamate went to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, rather than anyone else; (13) proof that, after the designation had progressed to Imam Ja‘far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq, the imamate went to Imam Isma‘il and to his progeny, to the exclusion of his brothers; and (14) proof of the necessity of the imamate of the Master of the Age, Imam al-Hakim bi-amr Allah, Commander of the Faithful, and that obedience to him is incumbent on any and all.

A major purpose of this treatise was thus to validate the imamate of Imam-caliph al- Hakim in as explicit a manner as possible, thereby not merely to prove the obligation of the Muslim community to admit that the imamate is an essential Muslim institution of governance, but to recognise specifically the Fatimid imam-caliph who held it at the time of writing. Thus, the reign of Imam al-Hakim is a critical factor. And, in that sense, this is a political work with a clear agenda to establish the right of the Fatimid dynasty to universal allegiance against all other claimants, Abbasids, Umayyads, Zaydis and the rest. It is also an affirmation of al-Kirmani’s position concerning the imamate, including the doctrine of the requirement of a double worship, a two-fold observance by the necessary knowledge and the performing of works. It has little to say about philosophical issues except for a section on the soul, which contains a series of demonstrations designed to establish, first, that the human soul exists and, second, what it is. The context also supposes al-Kirmani’s doctrine of the heavenly intellects and their providential interest in terrestrial affairs, most particularly the salvation of humankind. According to him, the influence of the angelic intellects provides the most perfect of human intellects, namely the prophets, their heirs and the imams, with the means to induce others to move toward that salvation. Born devoid of knowledge and lacking a sure way to understand what is required and subsequently of acting in accord with the law that is obligatory, the da‘i argues that individual humans must accept the guidance and instruction of the imam in order to achieve, in the end, a place in paradise.

Quite apart from its intention to prove rationally the necessity of the imamate, this work can also serve as a statement of Fatimid doctrine from its own time, if not from earlier periods as well. A number of separate themes and issues in it comprise a major component of the Ismaili position. In part one, al-Kirmani takes up, in addition to proving the existence of the Maker and the soul, a subject he refers to as the divine regime (al-siyasa al-rabbaniyya), which is here God’s requital in the afterlife for the good and the bad behaviour in the here and now. That leads to a definition of what the believer must do and must think, consisting thus of acts and knowledge, both works and faith. To convey his message, the prophet must express it in words using symbols and allusions, parables and similes. His charge is to teach humankind what it owes to its Maker.

All of the first part conforms to the doctrines of Ismaili Shi‘ism, but is not overtly partisans. In the second part, however, he moves on to the imamate and its necessity. The themes in this section are the requirement that the imams have infallibility and that they have been explicitly designated by, first, God and His prophet and, then, those who preceded as imams. According to al-Kirmani, designation is crucial. The community cannot validly elect an imam; its choice determines nothing in that regard and, if expressed, has no meaning. Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib was designated by the Prophet, a point al-Kirmani attempts to prove, before he traces the line of imams from him to Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq and to the latter’s son Imam Isma‘il. From there it must, he says, continue in Imam Isma‘il’s progeny. Ultimately, it reaches the Fatimid caliphs and specifically Imam-caliph al-Hakim, the sixth of them. His argument at this point is one of the most historically interesting in the work. He argues that Imam Isma‘il’s imamate was valid because he produced offspring who continued the imamate; it is an essential aspect of their authenticity that a descendant of his performs in the present the required functions of the office. If there were no imam now, there could not have been one in the past; if the duties of the imam are not currently fulfilled by a properly designated descendant, the ancestor cannot have been the imam.

Preface and Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

The Imamate in Islamic Thought 1

Ismaili Writings on the Imamate 3

Al-Hakim and his Times 6

Al-Kirmani: His Life and Works 9

Historical Circumstances that Prompted the Masabih 14

The Relationship of the Masabih to the Rest of

al-Kirmani’s Works 17

A Comparison with al-Naysaburi’s Proof of the Imamate 19

Major Themes in the Masabih 21

Quotations from the Hebrew and Syriac Bibles 24

The Manuscript Tradition behind the Masabih 26

The Present Edition of the Arabic Text 28

A Note on the Title 34

Translation of al-Masabih fi ithbat al-imama:

Lights to Illuminate the Proof of the Imamate 35

Part One: The Proof of the Premises 42

Part Two: The Proof of the Imamate 71

Bibliography 128

English Index 134

List of Tables and Plates 139

Tables and Plates

Abu’l-Fawaris Ahmad b. Ya‘qub. ar-Risala fi’l-imama, ed. and English trans., Sami Nasib Makarem as The Political Doctrine of the Isma‘ilis (The Imamate). Delmar, New York, 1977.

Adang, Camilla. Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: From Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm. Leiden, 1996.

al-Antaki, Yahya b. Sa‘id, History, ed. ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Salam Tadmuri. Tripoli, 1990.

Assaad, Sadik A. The Reign of al-Hakim bi Amr Allah (386/996-411/1021): A Political Study. Beirut, 1974.

Baumstark, A. ‘Zu den Schriftzitaten al-Kirmanis’, Der Islam, 20 (1932), pp. 308–313.

Blois, François de. ‘The Oldest Known Fatimid Manuscript from Yemen’, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 14 (1984), pp. 1–7. (off­print)

Bosworth, C. Edmund. ‘Baha’ al-Dawla’, EI2.

— — ‘Mazyad, Banu’, EI2.

Bruijn, J. T. P. de. ‘al-Kirmani’, EI2.

Bryer, David R. ‘The Origins of the Druze Religion’, Der Islam 52 (1975), pp. 47-84, 239-264; 53 (1976), pp. 5-27.

al-Busti, Abu’l-Qasim. Kashf al-asrar wa-naqd al-afkar, ed. ‘Adil Salim al-‘Abd al-Jadir, in his al-Isma‘iliyyun. Kuwait, 2002, pp. 187-369.

Canard, Marius. ‘La Destruction de l’Eglise de la résurrection par le calife Hâkim et l’histoire de la descente du feu sacré’, Byzantion 35(1965), pp. 16-43, reprinted in his Byzance et les Musulmans du Proche Orient. London, 1973, article XX.

Cheikho, L. Shu‘ara’ al-nasraniyya. Beirut, 1920.

Cortese, Delia. Ismaili and Other Arabic Manuscripts: A Descriptive Cata­logue of Manuscripts in the Library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. London, 2000.

— —Arabic Ismaili Manuscripts: The Zahid ‘Ali Collection in the Library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. London, 2003.

Daftary, Farhad. The Isma‘ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge, 1990.

De Smet, Daniel. ‘Le Verbe-impératif dans le système cosmologique de l’ismaélisme’, Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques, 73 (1989), pp. 397-412.

— —Le Kitâb Râhat al-‘Aql de Hamîd ad-Dîn al-Kirmânî et la cosmologie ismaélienne à l’époque fatimide’, Actas Orientalia Belgica, 7 (1992), pp. 81-91.

— — ‘Mizan ad-diyana ou l’équilibre entre science et religion dans la pensée ismaélienne’, Acta Orientalia Belgica, 8 (1993), pp. 247–254.

— —La Quiétude de l’Intellect: Néoplatonisme et gnose ismaélienne dans l’oeuvre de Hamîd ad-Dîn al-Kirmânî (Xe/XIe s.). Louvain, 1995.

— — ‘Perfectio prima-perfectio secunda, ou les vicissitudes d’une notion, de S. Thomas aux Ismaéliens Tayyibites du Yémen’, Recherches de Théologies et de Philosophie Médiévales, 66 (1999), pp. 254–288.

De Smet, Daniel, and J. M. F. Van Reeth. ‘Les citations bibliques dans l’oeuvre du da‘i ismaélien Hamid ad-Din al-Kirmani’, in U. Vermeulen and J. M. F. Van Reeth, ed., Law, Christianity and Modernism in Islamic Society: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Congress of the Union Européenne des Ara­bisants et Islamisants, 1996. Louvain, 1998, pp. 147-160.

Djebli, Moktar. ‘al-Sharif al-Radi’, EI2.

Donohue, John J. The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq, 334H/945 to 403H/1012: Shaping Institutions for the Future. Leiden, 2003.

Encyclopaedia of Islam. New ed. cited as EI2. Leiden, 1960-2006.

Ess, Josef van. Chiliastische Erwartungen und die Versuchung der Göttlichkeit: Der Kalif al-Hakim (386–411 H.). Heidelberg, 1977.

— —‘Biobibliographische Notizen zur islamischen Theologie: Zur Chronolo­gie der Werke des Hamidaddin al-Kirmani’, in Die Welt des Orients, 9 (1977-78), pp. 255-261.

Gacek, Adam. Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. vol. 1. London, 1984.

Ghalib, Mustafa. A‘lam al-Isma‘iliyya. Beirut, 1964.

— —al-Harakat al-batiniyya fi’l-Islam. Beirut, 1982.

Goriawala, Mu’izz. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fyzee Collection of Ismaili Manuscripts. Bombay, 1965.

Halm, Heinz. Die Kalifen von Kairo: Die fatimiden in Agypten, 973-1074. Munich, 2003.

al-Hamdani, Husayn. al-Maqalat kitab al-riyad l’l-shaykh Ahmad al-Kirmani. Hyderabad, 1358/1939.

Husayn, Muhammad Kamil. Ta’ifat al-duruz. Cairo, 1962.

Ibn al-Athir. al-Kamil fi’l-ta’rikh, ed. C. J. Tornberg. Leiden, 1851-1876 (Beirut reprint).

Ibn al-Dawadari. Kanz al-durar, vol. 6, ed. S. al-Munajjid. Cairo, 1961.

Ibn Ishaq. The Life of Muhammad: a Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, trans. Alfred Guillaume. Oxford, 1974.

Ibn al-Jawzi. al-Muntazam, vol. 7. Hyderabad, 1939.

— —al-Wafa’ fi-ahwal al-mustafa, ed. M. ‘Abd al-Wahid. Cairo, 1966.

Ibn Kathir. al-Bidaya wa’l-nihaya fi ta’rikh. Cairo, 1932– .

Ibn Khaldun. The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, trans. F. Rosenthal, 3 vols. New York, 1958.

Ibn Khallikan. Wafayat al-a‘yan, trans. W. MacGuckin de Slane, Ibn Khal­likan’s Biographical Dictionary, 4 vols. London, 1842–1871.

Ibn Qutayba. Dala’il, in Ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Wafa bi-ahwal al-mustafa. [Cairo], 1966.

Ibn Taghribirdi. al-Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa’l-Qahira. Cairo, 1348-1391/1929-1972.

Idris ‘Imad al-Din. ‘Uyun al-akhbar, vol. 6, ed. M. Ghalib. Beirut, 1984.

Ivanow, W. Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise of the Fatimids. London, etc., 1942.

— —Ismaili Literature: A Bibliographical Survey. Tehran, 1963.

Jiwa, Shainool. ‘Fatimid-Buyid Diplomacy during the Reign of al-‘Aziz Billah (365/975-386/996)’, Journal of Islamic Studies, 3 (1992), pp. 57-71.

al-Kirmani, Hamid al-Din. al-Aqwal al-dhahabiyya, ed. Salah al-Sawi. Tehran, 1977.

— —Kitab ma‘asim al-huda wa’l-isaba fi tafdil ‘Ali ‘ala al-sahaba (ms. D(724), The Institute of Ismaili Studies).

— —Kitab al-riyad, ed. ‘A. Tamir. Beirut, 1960.

— —Kitab tanbih al-hadi wa’l-mustahdi (ms. D(723), The Institute for Ismaili Studies; ms. Fyzee Collection, Bombay University Library, Goriawala, no. 57).

— —Majmu‘at rasa’il al-Kirmani, ed. M. Ghalib. Beirut, 1987. (Contains al-Durriyya, al-Nuzum, al-Radiyya, al-Mudi’a, al-Lazima, al-Rawda, al-Zahira, al-Hawiya, Mabasim, al-Wa‘iza, al-Kafiya, and two treatises, Fi’l-radd ‘ala man ankara [yunkiru] al-‘alam al-ruhani and Khaza’in al-adilla, not by al-Kirmani).

— —al-Masabih fi ithbat al-imama, ed. M. Ghalib. Beirut, 1969.

— —Rahat al-‘aql, ed. M. Kamil Husayn and M. M. Hilmi, Cairo, 1953; ed. M. Ghalib. Beirut, 1983.

— —al-Risala al-durriyya fi ma‘na al-tawhid, ed. M. K. Husayn, Cairo, 1952; ed. M. Ghalib in Majmu‘at rasa’il al-Kirmani, pp. 19–26. (ms. Tübingen University)

— —al-Risala al-lazima fi sawm, ed. Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Abd al-Nasir, in Majallat Kulliyyat al-Adab, Jami‘at al-Qahira, 31 (1969), pp. 1-52; ed. M. Ghalib, in Majmu‘at rasa’il, pp. 61–80.

— — al-Risala al-nuzum fi muqabalat al-‘awalim, ed. M. K. Husayn, Cairo, 1952 with al-Durriyya; ed. Ghalib, in Majmu‘at rasa’il, pp. 27-34.

— —al-Risala al-radiyya, ed. M. Ghalib, in Majmu‘at rasa’il, pp. 35-42.

— —al-Risala al-wadi’a fi ma‘alim al-din, ed. Muhammad ‘Isa al-Hurayri. Kuwait, 1987 (ms. Fyzee Collection, Bombay University Library).

— —al-Risala al-wa‘iza, ed. M. K. Husayn, in Majallat Kulliyyat al-Adab, Jami‘a Fu’ad al-Awwal, 14, part 1, (1952), pp. 1-29; ed. M. Ghalib in Majmu‘at rasa’il, pp. 134-147.

— —Risalat mabasim al-bisharat, ed. M. K. Husayn, in his Ta’ifat al-duruz, pp. 55-74; ed. M. Ghalib, in his al-Harakat al-batiniyya fi’l-Islam, pp. 205–233, and in al-Kirmani, Majmu‘at rasa’il al-Kirmani, pp. 113-133.

Kraemer, Joel L. ‘The Death of an Orientialist: Paul Kraus from Prague to Cairo’, in Martin Kramer, ed. The Jewish Discovery of Islam (Tel Aviv, 1999), pp. 181-223.

Kraus, Paul. ‘Hebräische und syrische Zitate in isma‘ilitischen Schriften’, Der Islam, 19 (1931), pp. 243-263.

Lazarus-Yafeh, Hava. Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism. Princeton, 1992.

Madelung, Wilferd. ‘Das Imamat in der frühen ismailitischen Lehre’, Der Islam, 37 (1961), pp. 43-135.

— — ‘The Assumption of the Title Shahanshah by the Buyids and “The Reign of the Daylam (Dawlat al-Daylam)”’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 28 (1969), pp. 84-108 and 168-183.

— — ‘A Treatise on the Imamate of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mansur bi-Allah’, in Chase F. Robinson, ed., Texts, Documents and Artefacts: Islamic Studies in Honour of D. S. Richards (Leiden, 2003), pp. 69-77.

— — ‘Imama’, EI2.

al-Majdu‘, Isma‘il b. ‘Abd al-Rasul. Fahrasat al-kutub wa’l-rasa’il, ed. ‘Ali Naqi Munzavi. Tehran, 1966.

al-Maqdisi, Mutahhar b. Tahir. Kitab al-bad’ wa’l-ta’rikh (Le livre de la création et de l’histoire de Motahhar ben Tahir el-Maqdisi), ed. M. Cl. Huart. Paris, 1899-1916.

al-Maqrizi, Taqi al-Din Abu’l-‘Abbas Ahmad b. ‘Ali. Itti‘az al-hunafa’ bi-akhbar al-a’imma al-Fatimiyyin al-khulafa’, vol I, ed. J. al-Shayyal, Cairo, 1967, vols. II and III, ed. M. H. M. Ahmad. Cairo, 1971 and 1973.

al-Mas‘udi, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali b. al-Husayn. Muruj al-dhahab wa ma‘adin al-jawhar, ed. ‘Abd al-Hamid. Cairo, 1964.

Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam. New Haven, 1985.

al-Naysaburi, Ahmad b. Ibrahim. Kitab ithbat al-imama, ed. M. Ghalib, Beirut, 1984; ed. and tr. Arzina Lalani. London (forthcoming).

— —Istitar al-imama, ed. W. Ivanow, in the Majallat Kulliyyat al-Adab bi’l-Jami‘a al-Misriyya, 4, part 2 (1936), pp. 93-108; English trans. in Ivanow, Rise of the Fatimids.

— —Risala al-mujaza al-kafiya fi adab al-du‘at, in Hatim b. Ibrahim al-Hamidi’s Tuhfat al-qulub wa turjat al-makrub, ed. Abbas Hamdani, London (forthcoming).

al-Nu‘man b. Muhammad, al-Qadi Abu Hanifa. Asas al-ta’wil, ed. ‘Arif Tamir. Beirut, 1960 (mss. The Institute of Ismaili Studies).

— —Da‘a’im al-Islam, ed. A. A. A. Fyzee, 2 vols. Cairo, 1951-61; English trans. A. A. A. Fyzee, completely revised by I. K. Poonawala, The Pillars of Islam, 2 vols. New Delhi, 2002-2004.

Poonawala, Ismail K. Biobibliography of Isma‘ili Literature. Malibu, CA, 1977.

— — ‘Idris b. al-Hasan’, EI2 Supplement.

al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Zakariya’. Rasa’il falsafiyya, ed. P. Kraus. Cairo, 1939.

al-Razi, Abu Hatim. al-A‘lam al-nubuwwa, ed. Salah al-Sawi and G. R. A‘wani. Tehran 1977.

— —Kitab al-islah, ed. Hasan Minuchihr and Mahdi Mohaghegh. Tehran, 1998.

— —Kitab al-zina, section on Islamic sects edited by ‘Abdallah Sallum al-Samarra’i, in his Al-Ghuluww wa’l-firaq al-ghaliya fi’l-hadara al-Islamiyya. Baghdad, 1972, pp. 225-312.

Saleh, Abdel Hamid. ‘Ibn Khalaf’, EI2.

al-Sijistani, Abu Ya‘qub. Ithbat al-nubuwwa (or al-nubuwwat), ed. ‘Arif. Tamir. Beirut, 1966 (ms. Fyzee Collection).

— —Kitab al-iftikhar, ed. I. K. Poonawala. Beirut, 2000.

— —Kitab al-maqalid (ms. Hamdani Library).

— —Kitab al-yanabi‘, ed. with partial French trans. by H. Corbin, in his ­Trilogie ismaélienne, Tehran and Paris, 1961. See also Walker, The Well-springs of Wisdom.

Sourdel, D. ‘al-Kadir bi’llah’, EI2.

Stern, S. M. ‘Fatimid Propaganda among Jews according to the Testimony of Yefet b. ‘Ali the Karaite’, in his Studies in Early Isma‘ilism. Jerusalem and Leiden, 1983, pp. 84-95.

al-Tabari, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Jarir. Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk, ed. Jan de Goeje et al. Leiden, 1879-1901, vol. 3; Eng. trans. C. E. Bosworth as The History of al-Tabari: vol. 32, The Reunification of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate. Albany, NY, 1987.

Van Reeth, J. M. F. ‘Al-Qumama et le Qa’im de 400 AH: le trucage de la lampe sur le tombeau du Christ’, in U. Vermeulen and D. De Smet, ed., Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras, II. Louvain, 1995, pp. 171-190.

Walker, Paul E. ‘The Doctrine of Metempsychosis in Islam’, in W. Hallaq and D. Littles, ed. Islamic Studies Presented to Charles J. Adam. Leiden, 1991. pp. 219-238.

— — ‘The Ismaili Da‘wa in the Reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 30 (1993), pp. 161-182.

— —Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani. Cambridge, 1993.

— —The Wellsprings of Wisdom: A Study of Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani’s Kitab al-Yanabi‘. Salt Lake City, UT, 1994.

— —Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary. London, 1996.

— — ‘Fatimid Institutions of Learning’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 34 (1997), pp. 179-200.

— —Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim. Lon­don, 1999; Persian trans. Tehran, 2000; Arabic trans. Damascus, 2000.

— — ‘“In Praise of al-Hakim”: Greek Elements in Ismaili Writings on the Imamate’, in Emma Gannagé et al., ed. The Greek Strand in Islamic Politi­cal Thought: Proceedings of the Conference at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 16-27 June 2003. Special issue of Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph, vol. 57 (2004) pp. 367-392.