St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology (Aug 2024)
Ismāʿīlī Shīʿism
Abstract
Representing the second largest Shīʿī Muslim community after the Ithnāʿasharīs, or Twelver Shīʿīs, the Ismāʿīlīs have had a complex history dating back to the formative period of Islam. In medieval times, the Ismāʿīlīs established states of their own, the Fāṭimid caliphate and the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī state of the Alamūt period. They also made important contributions to Islamic thought and culture. In particular, while developing their theological doctrines, the Ismāʿīlīs elaborated an esoteric system of religious thought, with distinctive cosmological, eschatological, and soteriological doctrines, as well as a cyclical view of the sacred history of humankind. In the course of their long and eventful history, the Ismāʿīlīs became subdivided into a number of major branches and minor groups. Currently, the Ismāʿīlīs belong to the Nizārī and Ṭayyibī Mustaʿlian branches, and are scattered as religious minorities in more than thirty countries of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. Numbering several millions, they also represent a diversity of ethnicities and literary traditions, and speak a variety of languages. The majoritarian Ismāʿīlī community, the Nizārīs, have had a continuous line of imāms as their spiritual leaders, who in modern times have been internationally known as the Aga Khans. The imāms of the Ṭayyibī Ismāʿīlīs have remained in concealment since 524 AH/1130 CE; in their absence, their community has been led by spiritual leaders designated as dāʿī muṭlaq, who have enjoyed absolute authority. Ismāʿīlī historiography, as well as the perceptions of outsiders of the Ismāʿīlīs, in both Muslim and Christian milieus, have had fascinating trajectories. By and large, the Ismāʿīlīs were persistently misrepresented until modern times, with a variety of myths and legends – including the Assassin legends of the Crusader circles – circulating about their teachings and practices. This state of affairs was mainly due to the fact that until the twentieth century the Ismāʿīlīs were almost exclusively studied and evaluated on the basis of evidence collected, or often fabricated, by their detractors. The breakthrough in Ismāʿīlī studies occurred with the recovery and study of genuine Ismāʿīlī theological and other texts on a large scale – manuscript sources which had been preserved secretly in private collections in many regions, especially in Yemen, Syria, Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia.
