Ismaili
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The Ismāʿīlī (Urdu: اسماعیلی Ismāʿīlī, Arabic: الإسماعيليون al-Ismāʿīliyyūn; Persian: اسماعیلیان Esmāʿīliyān) branch of Islam is the second largest part of the Shī'a community, after the Twelvers (Ithnāʿashariyya). Though there are several sub-groupings within the Ismailis, the term in today's vernacular generally refers to the Nizārī, who are followers of the Aga Khan and are the only Shīʿa community with a continuing line of Imāma "Imamate". (Note that the concept of al-Imāma in the Shīʿa sense differs greatly from the Sunni understanding.)
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[edit] Imams
The following are the Ismāʿīlī Imāms[1]:
1. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ألإمام علي إبن ابي طالب
2. al-Ḥussayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ألإمام الحسین إبن علي إبن ابي طالب
3. ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ألإمام علي زین العابدین
4. Muḥammad al-Bāqir ألإمام محمد الباقر
5. Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq ألإمام جعفر الصادق
6. Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar ألإمام إسماعیل إبن جعفر
7. Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ألإمام محمد إبن إسماعیل
8. ʿAbdullāh ألإمام عبد الله (according to Daftari) / Wafī Aḥmad ألإمام وفي أحمد (according to official Nizārī list)
9. Aḥmad ألإمام أحمد (according to Daftari) / Taqī Muḥammad ألإمام تقي محمد (according to official Nizārī list)
10. al-Ḥussayn ألإمام الحسين (according to Daftari) / Raḍiyu-d-Dīn ʿAbdullāh ألإمام رضي الدين عبد الله (according to official Nizārī list)
11. 1st Fāṭimid caliph-imam ʿUbaydullāh al-Mahdī billāh ألإمام عٌبَيد الله المهدي بالله
12. 2nd Fāṭimid caliph-imam Muḥammad al-Qāʾim bi-ʾAmrillāh ألإمام محمد القائم بأمر الله
13. 3rd Fāṭimid caliph-imam Ismāʿīl al-Manṣūr ألإمام إسماعيل المنصور
14. 4th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Maʿād al-Muʿizz li-Dīnillāh ألإمام مَعَاد المُعِزّ لدين الله
15. 5th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Abū Manṣūr Nizār al-ʿAzīz billāh ألإمام أبو منصور نزار العزيز بالله
16. 6th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Al-Ḥakīm bi-Amrillāh ألإمام الحكيم بأمر الله (Druze split off)
17. 7th Fāṭimid caliph-imam ʿAlī az-Zāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīnillāh ألإمام علي الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله
18. 8th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Al-Mustanṣir billāh ألإمام المستنصر بالله
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Nizārī Imāms: 19. Nizār ibn al-Mustanṣir billāh ألإمام نزار إبن المستنصر بالله 20. Al-Hādī ألإمام الهادي 21. Al-Muhtadī ألإمام المهتدي 22. Al-Qāhir ألإمام القاهر 23. al-Ḥassan II ʿalā dhikrihi-s-salām ألإمام الحسن الثاني على ذكره السلام 24. Nūru-d-Dīn Muḥammad II ألإمام نور الدين محمد الثاني 25. Jalālu-d-Dīn Ḥassan III ألإمام جلال الدين حسن الثالث 26. ʿAlāʾu-d-Dīn Muḥammad III ألإمام على الدين محمد الثالث 27. Ruknu-d-Dīn Khurshāh ألإمام ركن الدين خرشاه 28. Shamsu-d-Dīn Muḥammad ألإمام شمس الدين محمد 29. Qāsim Shāh ألإمام قاسم شاه 30. Islām Shāh ألإمام إسلام شاه 31. Muḥammad ibn Islām Shāh ألإمام محمد إبن إسلام شاه 32. Mustanṣir billāh II ألإمام مستنصر بالله الثاني 33. ʿAbdu-s-Salām Shāh ألإمام عبد السلام شاه 34. Gharīb Mīrzā / Mustanṣir billāh III ألإمام غريب ميرزا \ مستنصر باالله الثالث 35. Abū Dharr ʿAlī Nūru-d-Dīn ألإمام أبو ذرّ علي نور الدّين 36. Murād Mīrzā ألإمام مراد ميرزا 37. Dhu-l-Fiqār ʿAlī Khalīlullāh I ألإمام ذو الفقار علي خليل الله الأول 38. Nūru-d-Dahr (Nūru-d-Dīn) ʿAlī ألإمام نور الدهر (نور الدين) علي 39. Khalīlullāh II ʿAlī ألإمام خليل الله الثاني علي 40. Shāh Nizār II ألإمام شاه نزار الثاني 41. Sayyid ʿAlī ألإمام سيد علي 42. Ḥassan ʿAlī ألإمام حسن علي 43. Qāsim ʿAlī (Sayyid Jaʿfar) ألإمام قاسم علي \ سيد جعفر 44. Abu-l-Ḥassan ʿAlī (Bāqir Shāh) ألإمام أبو الحسن علي \ باقر شاه 45. Shāh Khalīlullāh III ألإمام شاه خليل الله الثالث 46. Ḥassan ʿAlī Shāh Āghā Khān I ألإمام حسن علي شاه آغا خان الأول 47. Āqā ʿAlī Shāh Āghā Khān II ألإمام آقا علي شاه آغا خان الثاني (Shāh ʿAlī Shāh ألإمام شاه علي شاه according to official Nizārī list) 48. Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh Āghā Khān III ألإمام سلطان محمد شاه آغا خان الثالث 49. His Highness Shāh Karīmu-l-Ḥussaynī Āghā Khān IV سمو ألإمام شاه كريم الحسيني آغا خان الرابع |
Mustaʿlī Imāms: 19. 9th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Aḥmad al-Mustaʿlī ألإمام أحمد المستعلي 20. 10th Fāṭimid caliph-imam Al-Āmir bi-Aḥkāmillāh ألإمام الآمر بأحكام الله (Ḥāfizī schism) 21. Aṭ-Ṭayyib Abī-l-Qāsim ألإمام الطيب أبي القاسم (in occultation) |
[edit] History
The Ismāʿīlī are found primarily in the South Asia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and East Africa, but have in recent years emigrated to Europe and North America. The Ismāʿīliyya and the Twelvers both accept the same initial Imams from the descendants of Muḥħammad through his daughter Fāṭima az-Zahra and therefore share much of their early history. However, a dispute arose on the succession of the Sixth Imam, Jaʿfar as-Sadiq. The Ismāʿīlī became those who accepted Jaʿfar's eldest son Ismāʿīl as the next Imam, whereas the Twelvers accepted a younger son, Mūsā-l-Kāzim.Jafar's son had died and they wanted his grandson, Muhammad, to succeed as the next Iman and not his brother.
The followers of Aga Khan believe that Aga Khan is God's vicegerent on Earth. His followers do not allow other Muslims to join in prayers. A branch of the Ismāʿīlī known as the Sabaʿiyyīn "Seveners" hold that Ismāʿīl's son, Muḥammad, was the seventh Imām and, after Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, the spiritual authority of Imāms continues until the present day. A small Sevener community remains in parts of Saudi Arabia.
In the face of persecution, the bulk of the Ismāʿīlī continued to recognize Imāms who secretly propagated their faith through Dāʿiyyūn "Callers to Islām" from their bases in Syria. However, by the 10th century, an Ismāʿīlī Imām, ʿUbaydullāhu-l-Mahdī Billāh, correctly known as ʿAbdullāhu-l-Mahdī, had emigrated to North Africa and successfully established the new Fatimid state in Tunisia. His successors subsequently succeeded in conquering much of North Africa (including highly-prized Egypt) and parts of Arabia.
The capital for the Fatimid state hence shifted to the newly-founded city of Cairo, from which the Fatimid Caliph-Imāms ruled for several generations.
A group of followers of the 16th Imām, al-Ḥakīm bi-Amrillāh, broke away from the mainstream Ismāʿīlī to form the Druze religion.
A more fundamental split amongst the Ismāʿīlī occurred on the dispute of which son should succeed the 18th Imam, Mustansir. Aḥmadu-l-Mustaʿlī, his younger son, was installed as Imam in Cairo with the help of Vizier Badr al-Jamali. However, Imam Mustansir's elder son, Nizar, contested this claim and was imprisoned; he gained support from an Ismāʿīlī dāʿī based in Iran, Hassan as-Sabba. As-Sabba is noted by Western writers to be the leader of the legendary "Assassins" (see Nizārī).
The Fatimid state eventually collapsed after Imām al-Mustaʿlī's successor Amīr was assassinated, but Imām al-Mustaʿlī held that Amīr had left a son named Ṭayyib who had gone into seclusion and that the imamate continued in his progeny during this time. They also regarded a succeeding chain of Yemeni Dāʿiyyūn as representatives of the Imām.
In time, the seat for one chain of Dāʿiyyūn was transferred to South Asia as the community split several times, each recognizing a different Dāʿī. Today, the Dawoodi Bohras, which constitute the majority of the "Mustaʿliyya" Ismāʿīliyya accept Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin as the 52nd Dāʿī. The Dawoodi Bohras are based in India. While lesser known and smallest in number, Alavi Bohras accept as the 44th Dāʿī al-Mutlaq, H.H. Saiyedna Abu Haatim Taiyeb Ziyauddin Saheb.
There has been, in recent years, a rapprochement between the Yemeni Mustaʿliyya and the followers of the Dāʿiyyūn based out of Mumbai. The Bohra are noted to be the more traditional of the two main groups of Ismāʿīlī, maintaining rituals such as prayer and fasting more consistently with the practices of other Shīˤa sects, although a reformist movement led by Asghar Ali Engineer (Progressive Dawoodi Bohras) has emerged within the sect, challenging the authoritarian Dawoodi Bohra clergy in India.
The largest part of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī community today accepts Prince Karim Aga Khan IV as their 49th Imam. The 46th Imam, Aga Hassan Ali Shah, fled Iran to South Asia in the 1840s after a failed coup against the Shah of the Qajar dynasty. Aga Hassan Ali Shah settled in Mumbai in 1848. The "Aga Khan" was recognized as the legitimate Imam over Shīʿa Ismāʿīlī Muslims in Mumbai through a legal case at the Bombay High Court in 1866. The Judge in this case, Sir Joseph Arnold, ruled that the Khoja Muslim community was Ismāʿīlī (and not Sunni), that the "Aga Khan" was its leader, he was due the traditional tithes of the community and that community property belonged to his Imamate.
[edit] Sub-sects
The Shia Ismaili are divided into the following major sects:
- Nizārī, the largest Ismāʿīlī group today
- Mustaʿliyya
[edit] Mustaʿliyya groups: Dawoodi Bohras, Alavi Bohras and Sulaimani Bohra
- See main articles at Dawoodi Bohras, Alavi Bohras, Sulaimani Bohras.
[edit] Druze
- See main primary article at Druze.
[edit] Nizari
[edit] History of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī community in the 20th century
Under the leadership of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, the first half of the twentieth century was a period of significant development for the Ismāʿīlī community. Numerous institutions for social and economic development were established in South Asia and in East Africa. Ismailis have marked the Jubilees of their Imāms with public celebrations, which are symbolic affirmations of the ties that link the Ismāʿīlī Imām and his followers. Although the Jubilees have no real religious significance, they serve to reaffirm the Imamat's world-wide commitment to the improvement of the quality of human life, especially in the developing countries.
The first Aga Khan was ordered executed by the King of Persia for being a heretic, he immigrated to India where he took up arms against muslims of India in support of the British Government, thus getting the title Prince of the British Empire. The term Aga Khan was a title given by the Persian King which was taken back when Aga Khan was ordered executed. However, the Ismailis continue to call their imam Prince Aga Khan even though he is only an honorary prince and his title has been taken back.
The Jubilees of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, are well remembered. During his 72 years of Imamat (1885-1957), the community celebrated his Golden (1937), Diamond (1946) and Platinum (1954) Jubilees. To show their appreciation and affection, the Ismā'īliyya weighed their Imam in gold, diamonds and, symbolically, in platinum, respectively, the proceeds of which were used to further develop major social welfare and development institutions in Asia and Africa.
In India and Pakistan, social development institutions were established, in the words of the late Aga Khan, "for the relief of humanity". They included institutions such as the Diamond Jubilee Trust and the Platinum Jubilee Investments Limited which in turn assisted the growth of various types of cooperative societies. Diamond Jubilee Schools for girls were established throughout the remote Northern Areas of what is now Pakistan. In addition, scholarship programmes, established at the time of the Golden Jubilee to give assistance to needy students, were progressively expanded. In East Africa, major social welfare and economic development institutions were established. Those involved in social welfare included the accelerated development of schools and community centres, and a modern, fully-equipped hospital in Nairobi. Among the economic development institutions established in East Africa were companies such as the Diamond Jubilee Investment Trust (now Diamond Trust of Kenya) and the Jubilee Insurance Company, which are quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and have become major players in national development.
Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah also introduced organisational forms that gave Ismāʿīlī communities the means to structure and regulate their own affairs. These were built on the Muslim tradition of a communitarian ethic on the one hand, and responsible individual conscience with freedom to negotiate one's own moral commitment and destiny on the other. In 1905 he ordained the first Ismāʿīlī Constitution for the social governance of the community in East Africa. The new administration for the Community's affairs was organised into a hierarchy of councils at the local, national, and regional levels. The constitution also set out rules in such matters as marriage, divorce and inheritance, guidelines for mutual cooperation and support among Ismāʿīlīs, and their interface with other communities. Similar constitutions were promulgated in the South Asia, and all were periodically revised to address emerging needs and circumstances in diverse settings.
Following the Second World War, far-reaching social, economic and political changes profoundly affected a number of areas where Ismāʿīlīs resided. In 1947, British rule in the South Asia was replaced by the two sovereign, independent nations of India and Pakistan, resulting in the migration of at least a million people and significant loss of life and property. In the Middle East, the Suez crisis of 1956 as well as the preceding crisis in Iran, demonstrated the sharp upsurge of nationalism, which was as assertive of the region's social and economic aspirations as of its political independence. Africa was also set on its course to decolonisation, swept by what Mr. Harold MacMillan, the then British Prime Minister, aptly termed the "wind of change". By the early 1960s, most of East and Central Africa, where the majority of the Ismāʿīlī population on the continent resided (including Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Malagasy, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire), had attained their political independence.
This was the world in which the present Aga Khan acceded to the Imāmat in 1957. The period following his accession can be characterised as one of rapid political and economic change. Planning of programmes and institutions became increasingly difficult due to the rapid changes in newly-emerging nations. Upon becoming Imām, the present Aga Khan's immediate concern was the preparation of his followers, wherever they lived, for the changes that lay ahead. This rapidly evolving situation called for bold initiatives and new programmes to reflect developing national aspirations.
In Africa, Asia and the Middle East, a major objective of the Community's social welfare and economic programmes, until the mid-fifties, had been to create a broad base of businessmen, agriculturists, and professionals. The educational facilities of the Community tended to emphasise secondary-level education. With the coming of independence, each nation's economic aspirations took on new dimensions, focusing on industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture. The Community's educational priorities had to be reassessed in the context of new national goals, and new institutions had to be created to respond to the growing complexity of the development process.
In 1972, under the regime of the then President Idi Amin, Ismāʿīlīs and other Asians were expelled despite being citizens of the country and having lived there for generations. The Aga Khan had to take urgent steps to facilitate the resettlement of Ismāʿīlīs displaced from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and also from Burma. Owing to his personal efforts most found homes, not only in Asia, but also in Europe and North America. Most of the basic resettlement problems were overcome remarkably rapidly. This was due to the adaptability of the Ismāʿīlīs themselves and in particular to their educational background and their linguistic abilities, as well as the efforts of the host countries and the moral and material support from Ismāʿīlī community programmes.
Spiritual allegiance to the Imām and adherence to the Shīʿa Imāmī Ismāʿīlī ṭariqat (persuasion) of Islām according to the guidance of the Imām of the time, have engendered in the Ismāʿīlī community an ethos of self-reliance, unity, and a common identity notwithstanding centuries of being marginalized and persecuted by native and established societies. The present Aga Khan continued the practice of his predecessor and extended constitutions to Ismāʿīlī communities in the US, Canada, several European countries, the Gulf, Syria and Iran following a process of consultation within each constituency. In 1986, he promulgated a Constitution that, for the first time, brought the social governance of the world-wide Ismāʿīlī community into a single structure with built-in flexibility to account for diverse circumstances of different regions. Served by volunteers appointed by and accountable to the Imām, the Constitution functions as an enabler to harness the best in individual creativity in an ethos of group responsibility to promote the common well-being.
[edit] The Nizārī Ismāʿīlī community today
Like its predecessors, the present constitution is founded on each Ismāʿīlī's spiritual allegiance to the Imām of the Time, which is separate from the secular allegiance that all Ismāʿīlīs owe as citizens to their national entities. The present Imām and his predecessor emphasised Ismāʿīliyya's allegiance to his or her country as a fundamental obligation. These obligations discharged not by passive affirmation but through responsible engagement and active commitment to uphold national integrity and contribute to peaceful development.
In view of the importance that Islām places on maintaining a balance between the spiritual well-being of the individual and the quality of his life, the Imām's guidance deals with both aspects of the life of his followers. The Aga Khan has encouraged Ismāʿīlī Muslims, settled in the industrialised world, to contribute towards the progress of communities in the developing world through various development programmes. In recent years, Ismāʿīlī Muslims, who have come to the US, Canada and Europe, mostly as refugees from Asia and Africa, have readily settled into the social, educational and economic fabric of urban and rural centres across the two continents. As in the developing world, the Ismāʿīlī Muslim community's settlement in the industrial world has involved the establishment of community institutions characterised by an ethos of self-reliance, an emphasis on education, and a pervasive spirit of philanthropy.
From July 1982 to July 1983, to celebrate the present Aga Khan's Silver Jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his accession to the Imāmat, many new social and economic development projects were launched, although there were no weighing ceremonies. These range from the establishment of the US$300 million international Aga Khan University with its Faculty of Health Sciences and teaching hospital based in Karachi, the expansion of schools for girls and medical centres in the Hunza region, one of the remote parts of Northern Pakistan bordering on China and Afghanistan, to the establishment of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Gujarat, India, and the extension of existing urban hospitals and primary health care centres in Tanzania and Kenya.
These initiatives form part of an international network of institutions involved in fields that range from education, health and rural development, to architecture and the promotion of private sector enterprise and together make up the Aga Khan Development Network.
It is this commitment to man's dignity and relief of humanity that inspires the Ismāʿīlī Imāmat's philanthropic institutions. Giving of one's competence, sharing one's time, material or intellectual wherewithal with those among whom one lives, for the relief of hardship, pain or ignorance is a deeply ingrained tradition which shapes the social conscience of the Ismāʿīlī Muslim community.
[edit] See also
Aga Khan recently pledged to contribute 80million to Afghanistan, the largest single donation by an individual. [citation needed]
[edit] External links
- Graphical illustration of the sects of Shi'a Islam
- History of Imams from the Nizarī point of view.
- Institute of Ismaili Studies
- Dawoodi Bohras
- Aga Khan Development Network
- First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database
- Alavi Bohra: The Smallest Sect of Ismā'īlī Mustaˤlī Faith
- Isma'ilism, in the Encyclopedia of the Orient
[edit] References
- ^ Farhad Daftary. The Ismāʿīlīs: Their history and doctrines. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 551-553.
- The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines; Farhad Daftary; Cambridge University Press, 1990
- A Short History of the Ismailis: Traditions of a Muslim Community; Farhad Daftary; Edinburgh University Press, 1998
