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Golden Temple of Amritsar
Golden temple of Amritsar

Golden Temple of Amritsar

By: Mumtaz Ali Tajddin S.Ali
mumtaztajddin@yahoo.com

Guru Nank (1469-1539) or Baba Nanak is the first of the ten Shik Gurus. His message based on equality, fraternal love, goodness and virtue. His advices/words are registered in the form of 974 poetic hymns or Shabda in the holy text of Sikhism, known as Guru Granth Saheb.

Guru Nanak was an enlightened person and as a result he is referred to in the 47th couplet of the Braham Prakash as under:-

Aur Nanak Shah ne’ paya ek naam nishva karine’ dhyaya

The Effects of Succession Crisis between Bayezid II and Cem Sultan on Ottoman Foreign Policy

After the era of Bayezid I who first left Ottoman gradual conquest policy that depended on negotiation and compromise with both local and imperial powers rather than direct centralized authority belonging to Sultan’s initiative, Ottomans faced first interregnum period in which each successor tried to gain power in their regions because of the defeat of Bayezid I in Ankara battle.

1935 Bombay High Court rules that Hindu law of joint family property does not apply to Khojas

Bombay High Court
Fidahusein Pirmahomedalli vs Bai Monghibai on 11 October, 1935
Equivalent citations: (1936) 38 BOMLR 397
Author: Chitre
Bench: Chitre
JUDGMENT Chitre, J.

47th Pir Prince Shâhbûddin Shâh Aga Khan explains the True Meaning of Religion ‘Risala dar Haqiqat-i Din’- A Summary with Pictur
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"The Risala dar Haqiqat-i Din, Treatise on the True Meaning of Religion" by Pir Shâhbûddin Shah Aga Khan is a must in Ismaili religious literature. In it, we find everything we ought to know about our faith and life. Pir Shâhbûddin Shah had written it for and at the request of the Ismailis before his death.

See complete text in Attachment here below!

A Comparison of the Refugee Resettlement of Ugandan Ismaili Muslims and Cambodian Theravada Buddhists in Canada

This paper will compare the resettlement and ability to recreate religious identities of refugees from Uganda and Cambodia. The specific religious identities of focus are Ugandan South-Asian Ismaili Muslims and Cambodian Khmer Theravada Buddhists, and their resettlement in Ontario, Canada. This paper will argue that the three predominant factors that have made Ugandan Ismailis more successful in their integration into Canadian society than Cambodian Buddhists are; leadership, pre-migrational skills for adaptation and integration, and transnational connections.

A Compendium of Farmans: Directives and Counsel by, or on Behalf of, the First Two Aga Khans to Nizari Ismailis from 1850 to 189
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This article provides a comprehensive examination of Farmans, or directives, made by the first two Aga Khans to the Nizari Ismaili community between 1850 and 1891. It highlights the historical and theological significance of these Farmans, delivered either by the Imams or their authorized representatives, including Pirs. The author discusses the challenges in preserving these sacred pronouncements, despite their central role in guiding the Ismaili community's spiritual and material life.

A History of Medieval Islam - IX The Turkish Irruption

The entry of the Seljuk Turks into Western Asia in the second half of the eleventh century forms one of the great epochs of world history.

A History of Syncretism of the Khoja Muslim Community

Medieval India seems to have been at the confluence of various grassroots religious/spiritual traditions. One of the important texts in this regard is Dasavatar credited to have been written Pir Sadr-ud-din, the founder of the Khoja Ismaili sect in the 15th century, in Sindh. The Dasavatar renames Kalki of Puranic literature as Nikalanak – the last messiah who is to come at the end of this era; acknowledges Vishnu, and also names Buddha as one of the avatars.

A Modern History of the Ismailis Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community

There are between 70,000 and 80,000 Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims (also known as Nizari Ismaili Muslims, or simply, Ismailis) in Canada. The largest settlements are in Toronto and Vancouver, with substantial communities (jamats; jama'ats) located in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa. Ismaili migration to Canada .occurred in the 1950s, with significant increases taking place between the 1970s and 1990s.1 The expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972 was the cause of a notable growth in the
community.

A Modern History of the Ismailis Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community

There are between 70,000 and 80,000 Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims (also known as Nizari Ismaili Muslims, or simply, Ismailis) in Canada. The largest settlements are in Toronto and Vancouver, with substantial communities (jamats; jama'ats) located in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa. Ismaili migration to Canada .occurred in the 1950s, with significant increases taking place between the 1970s and 1990s.1 The expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972 was the cause of a notable growth in the
community.

A petition to a woman at the Fatimid court

The Genizah of the Ben Ezra synagogue in Fustat preserved dozens of petitions addressed to the Fatimid and Ayyubid chanceries in Cairo and decrees that they issued in response. This article provides an edition, translation, and discussion of a petition housed among the Genizah documents of the Bodleian Library directed to Sitt al-Mulk, half-sister of the caliph alh˙ākim (386–411/996–1021) and head of the Fatimid state between his death and her own 414/1023.

A Respect for Difference: The Shi'a Ismaili Khojas of Mumbai

This dissertation explores how ideas about cultural and religious difference motivate members of the Shi‘a Ismaili Khojas community in Mumbai to erect social boundaries around their community and reach out to others through volunteer service. As a minority within India’s Muslim minority, difference has been a particularly fraught issue for Ismailis throughout their history. Consequently, they have maintained strict boundary lines around religious institutions in their community, such as sharply restricting attendance at religious functions to Ismailis only.

A Semiotics of Infinite Translucence: The Exoteric and Esoteric in Ismaili Muslim Hermeneutics

The complex juxtaposition of private practice and public visibility/invisibility of contemporary Ismaili Muslims has certain parallels with other religious communities, but it exhibits unique features. This community adheres to an esotericism that has shaped its hermeneutic and communication practices. In a seeming paradox, the group is also extensively engaged in the public sphere. However, its communal institutions are limiting the dissemination of texts pertaining to the religious addresses and biography of the group’s leader, Aga Khan IV.

A Short History of the Ismailis Traditions of a Muslim Community

The Ismailis represent the second largest Shi‘i Muslim community after the Twelvers (Ithna‘ asharis), and are today scattered as religious minorities in more than twenty-five countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Despite their long history and contributions to Islamic civilisation, however, they were until recently one of the least understood Muslim communities. In fact, a multitude of medieval legends and misconceptions circulated widely about Ismaili teachings and practices, while the rich literary heritage of the Ismailis remained inaccessible to outsiders.

A SINDHI VERSION OF PIR SHAMS' DAS AVATAAR - An Unpublished Ginan

By Dr. Gulshan Khaki

This paper is partly based on one of my previously published paper [1] and draws freely from it.

A teaching and learning guide for: “A survey of Ismaili studies Part 1” and “A survey of Ismaili studies Part 2”

Ismailis, make up the second largest branch of Shi‘i Islam after the Twelvers (Ithna ‘Ashariyyah). While all Muslims
recognize Prophet Muhammad as the last in a long line of Prophets and Messengers of God and the Qur'an as the
revelation of God's Word, there are differences of interpretation concerning the scope and locus of religious authority
after the death of Muhammad. Sunni Muslims vest religious authority in the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the interpretations
of these sources by the religious scholars (‘ulama) of the community; Shi‘i Muslims believe that the Prophet

Abe Shafa

AB-I SHAFA
By: Mumtaz Ali Tajddin
mumtaztajddin@yahoo.com

Adam and the White Stone - English
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On 29 September 1899 in Dar-es-Salaam, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah said to the jamât when He was speaking about the origin of Adam:

Adam et la Pierre Blanche 4000 ans avant J.C.
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À Dar-es-Salaam le 29 septembre 1899, Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah avait posé cette question au jamât sur l’origine d’Adam:

Addenda to Secondary Sources in Ismāʿīlī Studies: The Case of the Omissions

To date, there have been two major bibliographies of secondary sources in Ismāʿīlī studies, namely Nagib Tajdin’s A Bibliography of Ismailism1 and Farhad Daftary’s Ismāʿīlī Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies (hereafter referred to as Ismāʿīlī Literature).2 The present bibliography is an attempt to identify sources omitted by these two works within the limits specified below. The purpose of the bibliography, then, is to provide students, scholars, and specialists with organized access to the omissions, thereby supporting research, teaching, and learning

Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) An Ethical Framework prepared by the Institute of Ismaili Studies London, U.K.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies

copyright 2000 The Institute of Ismaili Studies

Reference
Prepared for the Aga Khan Development Network by The Institute of Ismaili Studies London.
Keywords: AKDN mandate, din, duniya, ethical ideals
The AKDN Mandate

AHL AL-KITAB (People of the Book) - By: Mumtaz Ali Tajddin S. Ali

The word ahl means those who occupy with one the same tent, the family or inmates, relative, folk, kin, kinfolk, people, members, followers, etc. Under these meanings, the word ahl occurs 31 times in the Koran. According to another view, it is derived from ahala, meaning to demonstrate (the family).

The word kitab, comes from the root word kataba, meaning to write down. The word kitaba occurs in the Koran for the Divine Books revealed to various prophets.

Al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī: His Writings on Theology and their Reception*

While the theological thought of Twelver Shiʿism during the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries has been studied relatively well (as much as is possible on the basis of the few, mostly secondary sources that are preserved),1 little is known about its doctrinal
developments from the early 5th/11th century onwards.

Al-‘Aziz bi’llah

Al-‘Aziz bi’llah Abu Mansur Nizar b. Abu Tamim Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah (955–996 CE), the fifth Fatimid imam-caliph was the first sovereign of his dynasty to begin his rule in Egypt. Al- ‘Aziz’s reign epitomises the cultural, intellectual and architectural efflorescence of Fatimid rule in Egypt. It also established the Fatimids as a vibrant Mediterranean Empire, pursuing trade, diplomacy and warfare with their Byzantine, ‘Abbasid and Andalusian Umayyad counterparts.

Alamūt, Ismailism and Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī’s Recognizing God

Drawing extensively on the testimony of the Persian historians of the seventh-eighth hijri centuries (corresponding to the thirteen-fourteenth centuries of the Christian era), this article sketches a detailed picture of several personalities involved in founding the nascent Ismaili state centred at Alamūt in the fifth/eleventh century. This background sets the stage for analyzing a new manuscript source documenting Ismaili history and thought of this period, Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī’s Recognizing God

Alamūt, Ismailism and Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī’s Recognizing God

Drawing extensively on the testimony of the Persian historians of the seventh-eighth hijri centuries (corresponding to the thirteen-fourteenth centuries of the Christian era), this article sketches a detailed picture of several personalities involved in founding the nascent Ismaili state centred at Alamūt in the fifth/eleventh century. This background sets the stage for analyzing a new manuscript source documenting Ismaili history and thought of this period, Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī’s Recognizing God

Aly Khan, A Prince with a Golden Heart
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a unique article with EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS, in which Prince Aly Khan exemplifies the true spirit of Islam, whether in wartime or in ordinary times. His untimely death was an inestimable loss to the Ismailis and humanity.

Download PDF of the article from the link BELOW.

Aly Khan, Un Prince Au Coeur D'Or
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Un très bel article avec PHOTOS INÉDITES, dans lequel Prince Aly Khan incarne le véritable esprit de l’Islam, que ce soit en temps de guerre ou en temps ordinaire. Sa mort prématurée fut une perte inestimable pour les Ismailis et l’humanité.

Téléchargez la version PDF de l'article dans l'attachement ci-dessous.

An Introduction to Chogadia Ginans

By Mumtaz Ali Tajddin Sadiq Ali

The word gadi means "time", corresponding with the Koranic term, sa’a. During the Ancient times in India, day and night were measured in gadi instead of hours or minutes. According to the Holy Koran: "They are indeed in loss who give lie to the meeting with God until when the hour (al-sa’a) comes upon them all of a sudden." (6:31) Here, the hour (al-sa’a) stands for the gadi (moment) of death, which is also depicted in the following lines of a ginan:-

Sayan’ji mor’e dar lago ek din’ko

An Ismaili Interpretation of the Fall of Adam

During a recent stay in Cairo, I found in the Taimuriya library a manuscript copy of an interesting Ismaili work entitled Kitabu'l-idah wa'l-Bayan, by the Yemenite da'i Husain ibn 'Ali (*1)

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