It is well-known that as one of the most renowned Ismaili dāʿīLit. ‘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…s of the Fatimid age, Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020), attempted to create a complex system of thought blending together inherited Ismaili traditions – including gnostic cosmological elements – and philosophical strands, mainly drawn from Fārābian Neoplatonism. Achieving prominence during the reign of the Imam-caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (r. 386-411/996-1021), al-Kirmānī set for himself, among other things, also the task of harmonising the views of the earlier celebrated Ismaili missionaries Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Nasafī (d. 332/943) and Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī (d. c. 361/971). The Kitāb al-Riyāḍ (Book of Meadows) is probably the best example of such endeavour.
In this talk, Dr Maria De Cillis – through references to her translation and analytical commentary of the eighth chapter of the Kitāb al-Riyāḍ, which is dedicated to the issue of divine preordination and human redemption -will highlight al-Kirmānī’s theologically distinctive interpretation of the question of qaḍāʾDivine decree. In the Qur’an, it does not appear as a noun, but as a verb meaning ‘to decree, determine.’ Together with qadar this concept featured in theological disputes on… wa’l-qadar (divine decree and destiny) question. In particular, drawing from the major theoretical findings of her latest book, Salvation and Destiny in Islam: The Shiʿi Ismaili Perspective of Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī, Maria De Cillis will attempt to guide the audience through the metaphysical and esoteric correspondences which al-Kirmānī used in order to provide a very Fatimid answer to many doctrinal controversies.
This lecture marks the book launch of De Cillis, M. (2018) Salvation and Destiny in Islam: The Shiʿi Ismaili Perspective of Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī. Published by I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.
Speaker
Dr Maria De Cillis
Dr Maria De Cillis is an Associate Professor and Head of the Shiʿi Studies Unit (Interim) in the Department of Academic Research and Publications at the IIS, where she is also the Managing Editor of the Shiʿi Heritage Series. Dr De Cillis obtained her bachelor’s degree (with honours) from the Faculty of Languages and Literatures in the Department of Arabic and English Studies at the Universita’ degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy. She completed her Master’s in Islamic Studies (with distinction) and was awarded her PhD in Islamic Studies from the Near and Middle East Section, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, SOAS University of London.
