IIS publications now in Open Access

The Kitāb al-Kashf is one of the earliest Ismaili texts to have reached the present day. Transmitted by the Ṭayyibī Ismaili tradition, it is composed of six treatises, most of which, as this open access study and first English translation argues, go back to the early years of the Fatimid rule.

The Jāwidān-nāma-yi kabīr (‘Great Book of Eternity’) was the magnum opus of Faḍl Allāh Astarābādī (d. 796/1394) and provided the basis of the Ḥurūfī movement. Today it is one of the most important known texts belonging to the mystical and messianic current that became particularly active in Iran and Anatolia following the Mongol rule. It illuminates the contemporary reconfiguration of religious and political authority along messianic and charismatic lines that took place in the Islamic East, which arguably contributed to the rise and consolidation of the Ottoman, Safawid and Mughal dynasties.

The renaissance of Shiʿi Islam began in the 9th/15th century when the IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 765), as his successor. experienced the Anjudān revival and Twelver Shiʿi traditions were also renewed. This renaissance gained further strength when the SafavidsA major Shi’i dynasty which ruled Persia (1501-1732 CE), and was succeeded by the Afsharids. (See also Qizilbash, Safawiyya.) succeeded in establishing a state in the early decades of the 10th/16th century, making Ithnā ʿasharī Shiʿi Islam their official religion.

The present book draws on the scattered findings of modern scholarship in the field, attempting to explain the formative era of Shiʿi Islam, when a multitude of Muslim groups and schools of thought were elaborating their doctrinal positions. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the history of the Ithnaʿasharis, or TwelversSee Ithna’asharis., the Ismailis, the Zaydis and the Nusayris (now more commonly known in Syria as the Alawis), the four communities that account for almost the entirety of the Shiʿi Muslim population of the world.

This is the first comprehensive study of Nasir Khusraw to appear in English. Structured around the progress of his journey, and drawing extensively on Nasir Khusraw’s own philosophical and poetic writings, it provides a highly readable and insightful account of this great scholar, sage and traveller. His writings, many of which are translated here for the first time, reveal a man of intense emotion and deep attitude to his faith, whose social awareness, cultural commitment to his homeland, and unstinting pursuit of excellence form the human backdrop to what was also a literary genius and a brilliant mind.

The Ismaili Shi‘i Muslims of Central Asia have had a long and eventful history. This book presents a brief survey of their history and heritage and discusses how they have been understood in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet academic literature.

Ecstasy and Enlightenment is a comprehensive examination of the devotional and mystical literature of the Nizari Ismailis in the Indian subcontinent. The book focuses on the ginans, a large corpus of hymns and poems composed in a variety of Indic languages and attributed to a series of preacher-saints who propagated Ismaili Islam in the subcontinent over several centuries.

This open access volume brings together studies offering insights on different aspects of manuscript cultures nurtured by Ismaili communities until well after the widespread dissemination of printed books. The range of materials transmitted via these manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Indic languages also reflects the doctrinal and literary preoccupations of Muslims at large and of other groups from the societies in which Ismailis lived. Hence, the manuscripts bear the imprint of their respective cultural contexts, namely a number of regions from the Near East to Central and South Asia.

What is the extraordinary text that is the Quran – and how does it relate to the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad? How did a legacy so richly varied in faith, law and civilization emerge from the message of the Revelation that came to be called ‘Islam’ (or submission to God’s will)? This immaculately researched yet thoroughly accessible book offers a journey into the full range of experience – past and present, secular and sacred – of the diverse people and cultures of the Muslim world.

This landmark survey of social and intellectual trends in diverse Muslim contexts challenges many of the facile claims about the Muslim world today that abound in mainstream media as well as scholarly accounts. With contributions by Shirin Akiner, Mohammed Arkoun, Aziz Esmail, Tair Faradov, Abdou Filali-Ansari, Ersin Kalaycioglu, Iftikhar Malik, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Olivier Roy and Amyn B. Sajoo, this volume will appeal not only to scholars of contemporary culture, politics and religion, but to all those interested in the unfolding of civil modernity in the new millennium.

The ʿIbrat-afzā was composed in the year 1850, following the Ismaili Imam’s departure from Persia and his permanent settlement in India. Here, the 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. recounts his early life and political career as the governor of the province of Kirmān in Persia, and the dramatic events of his conflict with the Qājār establishment, followed by his subsequent travels and exploits in Afghanistan and British India. The ʿIbrat-afzā provides a rare instance of an autobiographical account from an Ismaili Imam and a first-hand perspective on the regional politics of the age.

This collection is the first scholarly attempt to survey the modern history of both Ismaili groupings since the middle of the 19th century. It covers a variety of topical issues and themes, such as the modernising policies of the Aga Khans, and also includes original studies of regional developments in Ismaili communities worldwide. The contributors focus too on how the Ismailis as a religious community have responded to the twin challenges of modernity and emigration to the West. A Modern History of the Ismailis will be welcomed as the most complete assessment yet published of the recent trajectory of this fascinating and influential Shi’i community.

For anyone interested in exploring, in all their varied manifestations, the fascinating philosophical traditions of Persia, such a wide-ranging and ambitious work will be an indispensable resource. Volume 2 covers five centuries of Ismaili philosophy, and includes extracts from outstanding Ismaili works including the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafaʾ (Treatises of the Brethren of Purity) and the philosophical odes of Nāṣir Khusraw.

This volume explores the processes by which Muslims construct notions of the self, the other and community, and addresses the socio-cultural tools that they employ in so doing. Offering contributions by world-class scholars, Diversity and Pluralism in Islam applies insights from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, history, literature, political theory, comparative literature and Islamic studies.