The eminent Muslim scholar al-Shahrastn朝, who may have been a crypto-Ismaili, wrote the Majlis-i makt笛b in the final years of his life, some time between 538/1143 and his death in 548/1153. No longer in government service and having withdrawn to the village of Shahrastna, in Khursn, it is possible that he felt he could express his personal beliefs more openly than hitherto. At any event, the Ismaili character of the work has been noted in the past and this element of the Majlis receives further confirmation in this new edition and translation. Its theme is the Divine Command, Be! (kunIn the Quran, the divine imperative (amr), meaning Be, (as in Q. 2:117: when He decrees a thing, He but says to it: be and it is). Ismaili Neoplatonist authors…) and Creation, a topic central to the Ismaili understanding of cosmology. This theme is presented in the form of a sermon (敬温平噛) comparable to the sermons of the great Fatimid 糸偵平朝Lit. ‘summoner,’ a term for missionary amongst various Muslim communities, especially used among the Ismailis before and during the Fatimid period as well as in the Alamut period of Ismaili…, al-Mu幣ayyad fil-D朝n al-Sh朝rz朝 (d. 470/1078) collected in his al-Majlis al-Mu幣ayyadiyya, or those of the medieval Persian poets R笛m朝 and Sa平d朝.
The style of the Majlis is varied, immediate and engaging, and it includes logical argumentation as well as two dramatic duologues, between God and 鴛恢鉛朝壊The name given in the Quran to the Devil, mostly when he is said to have refused to bow down before Adam (Q. 2:34, etc,). Also called al-shay畊n (the demon)… and then Moses and Khidr. In the course of the sermon al-Shahrastn朝 challenges the arguments of various theological schools, including the Ash平ar朝s, Mu平tazil朝s and the Karrm朝s, as well as those of the philosophers. In the end it is the mystical truths of the enigmatic Khidr that he affirms. The concepts he outlines here went on to influence later Ismaili ideas, notably those concerning the declaration of the 援庄霞偵馨温岳 by the fourth lord of Alam笛t, 畍asan II 平al dhikrihil-salm, which took place in 559 /1164. As a result, this new edition and translation of the Majlis-i makt笛b by Daryoush Mohammad Poor is an important addition to the study of early Nizr朝 Ismaili thought and provides a unique insight for anyone seeking to explore Islamic thought of the medieval era in general.
Preface
Introduction
Majlis-i makt笛b mun平aqid dar Khwrzm (English translation)
Select Bibliography
Index
Index of Qur幣anic Citations
Index of Qur幣anic Citations (Arabic)
Majlis-i makt笛b mun平aqid dar Khwrzm (Persian edition)
Dr Daryoush Mohammad Poor is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Academic Research and Publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies and a lecturer for its Department of Graduate Studies. His first monograph, Authority without Territory: The Aga Khan Development NetworkThe Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a contemporary endeavour of the Ismaili Imamat to realise the ethics and social conscience of Islam through institutional action. More and the Ismaili Imamate (2014) is a fresh theoretical engagement with contemporary institutions of the Ismaili imamate. As part of the Diamond Jubilee publications of the IIS, he has co-edited and translated the autobiography of 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. I, with Daniel Beben, under the title of The First Aga Khan: Memoirs of the 46th Ismaili Imam (2018).