今叔利

Front cover for The Book of Unveiling

  • ISBN

    978-0-7556-5386-7

  • Extent

    536

  • Height

    220mm

  • Width

    141mm

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The Kitb al-Kashf is one of the earliest Ismaili texts to have reached the present day. Transmitted by the 畊ayyib朝 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 importance of this work is predicated upon the unique insight it offers on the early stages of the elaboration of Ismaili doctrine. A number of parallels with Twelver Shi’i, as well as 乙鞄顎鉛偵岳 and 鰻顎畊a霞姻朝 sources, are highlighted throughout this study, which, by contrast, allow for the identification of specifically Ismaili themes and doctrines, before and after the rise to power of the Fatimids. The Kashf is thus an essential witness to the way early Ismailism, while drawing from a pool of themes common to several Shi’i trends, nevertheless formed its own distinctive identity.

Since it was edited by Rudolf Strothmann for the first time in 1952, the Kashf has attracted the attention of several generations of scholars, but did not benefit from a full annotated translation and extensive study highlighting its structure and aims until now.

Introduction

  1. Historical and intellectual context
  2. Transmission: manuscripts, editions, and reception
  3. The problematic authorship of the Kitb al-Kashf: some remarks on the corpus attributed to Ja平far b. Man畊Ｅr al-Yaman
  4. The six treatises of the Kitb al-Kashf and their contents
  5. Between chaos and order: the art of compilation and structure in the Kitb al-Kashf
    Notes on the translations and commentaries

Treatise I
Translation
Commentary

  1. The divine trust (温馨偵稼温), 敬温鉛偵霞温 and the covenant
  2. The 糸温平敬温, an esoteric family
  3. God’s ‘order’ (amr) and its continuity
  4. The continuity of antagonism: the enemies of the Imam
  5. 珂顎壊笛一鞄庄霞霞温: from literal to metaphoric metamorphosis
  6. The Mahd朝 and his return
    Conclusion

Treatise II
Translation
Commentary

  1. Divine transcendence
  2. The throne, the footstool and the problem of anthropomorphism
  3. The alphabetic cosmogony
    Conclusion

Treatise III
Translation
Commentary

  1. Identifying the ‘Sage’ (温鉛-畍a一朝馨) and dating Treatise III
  2. The 糸温平敬温: an organization and its enemies
  3. The Orphan: evolution of a concept, from ghuluww to Fatimid Ismailism
  4. Salmn, a Shi平i figure in support of the Fatimid reform
  5. The ‘Bearer of the Sword’ and the 姻温逮平温
    Conclusion

Treatise IV
Translation
Commentary

  1. Several 畍a糸朝岳鞄 fragments
  2. A 畍a糸朝岳鞄 on language
    Conclusion

Treatise V
Translation
Commentary

  1. The Imam and his proof, the 平粥霞稼 and the 酷偵幣
  2. The rejection of antinomianism
  3. Organizing the 糸温平敬温: instruction to the missionaries and refutation of the false Mahd朝
    Conclusion

Treatise VI
Translation
Commentary

  1. God’s choice challenged by human caprice
  2. 平Al朝 and Aaron as books of God
  3. Proofs and summoners
    Conclusion

Bibliography
Index of Quranic Verses
Index of Names and Places
Index of Technical Terms

F但r竪s Gillon is Associate Professor in Islamic Studies and Arabic at Aix-Marseille University, France. He received his PhD from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), and specializes in the intellectual history of early Shi平ism, with a particular focus on Fatimid Ismailism. He has published several articles on these topics, and has also co-edited with Mathieu Terrier an Anthologie de la philosophie en Islam (Paris, 2023). Previously, he was Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. His research interests include Shi平i history and doctrines, Ismailism, Nusayrism and Islamic Philosophy.