ISMA'ILITE

a sect of the Shi'ites (one of the major branches of Islam) that was most active as a religio-political movement in the 9th13th century through its subsects, the Fatimids, the Qaramitah (Qarmatians), and the Assassins. The Isma'ilites came into being after the death of Ja'far ibn Muhammad (765), the sixth imam, or spiritual successor to the Prophet, who was recognized by the Shi'ites. Ja'far's eldest son, Isma'il, was accepted as his successor only by a minority, who became known as the Isma'ilites. Those who accepted Ja'far's younger son, Musa al-Kazim, as the seventh imam and acknowledged his successors through the 12th imam became known as the Ithna 'Ashariyah, or Twelvers, the largest and most conservative of the Shi'ite sects. Certain of the Isma'ilites (known as Waqifiyah, or Stoppers) believed Isma'il to have been the seventh and last imam and were designated as Seveners (Sab'iyah), while the majority of Isma'ilites believed the imamate continued in the line of the Fatimid caliphs. The Seveners later claimed that Isma'il's son Muhammad at-Tamm was expected to return at the end of the world as the mahdi (divinely guided one). Isma'ilite doctrine, formulated during the late 8th and early 9th centuries, stressed the dual nature of Qur'anic interpretation, exoteric and esoteric, and, like Manichaeism, made a corresponding distinction between the ordinary Muslim and the initiated Isma'ilite. The secret wisdom of the Isma'ilites was accessible only through a hierarchical organization headed by the imam and was disseminated by da'is (missionaries), who introduced believers into the elite through carefully graded levels. The Rasa'il ikhwan as-safa' wa khillan al-wafa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends), a 10th-century philosophical and religious encyclopaedia influenced by Neoplatonism, was said to have been composed by a secret confraternity connected with the Isma'ilites. The Isma'ilites became active in the second half of the 9th century in southern Iraq under the leadership of Hamdan Qarmat. This branch of the sect, which came to be known as the Qaramitah, established itself in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain, in the 9th11th century. In Tunis, 'Ubayd Allah established himself as the first Fatimid caliph in 909, claiming descentthrough a line of hidden imamsfrom Muhammad, son of Isma'il, and through him from Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet, whence the dynastic name. The Fatimids conquered Egypt in 969; while they did not succeed in converting the bulk of their subjects during their brilliant rule of two centuries, they did create a widespread Isma'ilite missionary network with followers all over the Islamic world. A fatal schism split the movement over the succession to the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir (d. 1094). The Egyptian Isma'ilites recognized his son al-Musta'li, but the Isma'ilites of Iran and Syria upheld the claims of his older son, Nizar; hence, there are two branches of Fatimids, the Musta'lis and the Nizaris. When Isma'iliyah came to an end in Egypt with the deposition of the last Fatimid caliph by Saladin in 1171, the Musta'li Isma'ilites survived in Yemen. They had not recognized any Fatimid after al-Amir, al-Musta'li's son, and believed that al-Amir's infant son atTayyib remained alive and that the line of the imams was hidden until a future time. In the interim they are governed by the chief da'i. In the 16th century the da'i of a major branch of the Musta'lis relocated in India and now resides in Surat, in Gujarat district. His followers in India are usually known as Bohras. The Nizaris, led by Hasan-e Sabbah, gained control of a number of fortresses in Iran and Syria, the chief being Alamut (1090). Known as Assassins, they remained in political power through the 13th century until displaced by the Mongols and the Mamluks. The Nizaris survived, though in two rival lines. The minor line died out by the 18th century, while the major line, led by an imam called the Aga Khan, moved from Iran to India in 1840. The Aga Khan has a following, estimated in the millions, in India and Pakistan and in parts of Iran, Africa, and Syria. The Druze, a hill people living in modern southern Lebanon, neighbouring Syria, and Israel, separated from the main body of the Isma'ilites early in the 11th century. They then formed a special closed religion of their own, which acknowledged the imams as incarnations of the godhead.