Abstract
The doctrines of the Ismaili branch of Shi‘ism have found vivid expression in a wide variety of forms, genres and languages - from legal and philosophical texts to mystically-infused poetry, from sermonising sessions to evenings of song, in languages from North and East Africa to India. This panel proposes to look at a few key examples of this breadth of literary production. The first paper focuses on the Qur’anic foundations in the famous Arabic text of the Brethren of Purity, the Rasa’il of the Ikhwan al-Safa’, and aims to demonstrate how the citation of Qur’anic verses provides a unifying structure or environment in which the hierarchies of Ismaili doctrine are supported. The second paper addresses the insufficiently studied area of the cross-over between Sufism and Ismailism; by concentrating on an Ismaili poet, this paper will analyse an abundance of clearly Sufi themes and images. The third paper in this panel will discuss the poetics of Nasir Khusraw, who has been ranked by Iranian scholars as one of the finest poets in the Persian language. This paper will address Nasir Khusraw’s place in the poetic pantheon, showing both his heritage and his legacy. The fourth and concluding paper contrasts strongly with the others in providing an anthropological examination of the sung poetry in contemporary Badakhshan (an area in Tajikistan and Afghanistan with a majority of Ismailis). Focusing on one poem attributed to Nasir Khusraw, this paper will look at the contents and uses of these performances for today's Ismailis.