‘Open access’

The Khujand State University in collaboration with The Institute of Ismaili Studies recently organised a book launch of Nasirian Ethics by Nasir ad-din Tusi, a celebrated 13th century Muslim scholar. The publication represents the first edition of the Nasirian Ethics in the Tajik language.

It is with deep sadness that the IIS announces the untimely loss of Dr Janis Esots, colleague and esteemed scholar.  

Dr Otambek Mastibekov gave a presentation at The Institute of Ismaili Studies on History of Leadership and Authority in Tajikistan in March 2010 as part of the Occasional Lectures organised by the Central Asian Studies (CAS) project. The paper was based on his doctoral thesis entitled Leadership and Authority in Badakhshan of Tajikistan submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

The North American Chapter Group of the IIS Alumni Association held its three-day annual general meeting in San Diego, California, from 19-22 December 2016.

The second most important Shi'i community, after the Ithna Asharis or Twelver, the Ismailis have had an eventful history. The Ismailis subdivided into a number of major branches and minor groups in the course of their long and complex history dating back to the middle of the second AH/eighth century CE.

Salamiyya, a town in central Syria in the district of Orontes (Nahr al-‘Asi), about 25 miles south-east of Hamat and 35 miles north-east of Hims (for the town’s exact situation, see Kiepert’s map in M. von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf, Berlin 1899, i, 124 ff., and ii, 401; National Geographic Atlas of the World, 5th ed., Washington D.C. 1981, 178-9).

The Fatimid imam-caliphs were the sovereigns of a vast, multi-religious and multicultural empire. In this capacity, they had to formulate policies concerning various segments of the population. This paper examines the approach of the first two Fatimid rulers, al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (r. 953-975 CE) and al-Aziz bi'llah (r. 975-996 CE) towards their non-Muslim subjects the ahl al-kitab or the ahl al-dhimma, the people of the covenant of protection. In the case of Egypt, this referred to the Christians and Jews.

Whether overtly or covertly, the Ismailis have played an important role in the cultural history of Islam, particularly in Syria and Egypt, where they constituted the Fatimid , which was to last for around 200 years. After the fall of the in 1171 CE and during the subsequent diaspora, they became famous for their strongholds in Iran and Syria, from where they intervened in the various conflicts between Christian powers and the Muslim kingdoms in the Holy Land.

Hasan Sabbah, prominent Isma‘ili da‘i and founder of the medieval Nizari Isma‘ili state (b. Qum, mid-440s AH/1050s CE, d. Alamut. 518 AH/1124 CE). Little in­formation is available on the early life of Hasan Sabbah, who was referred to as Sayyidna (our master) by his contemporary Nizari lsmailis.