And again one must know that (the way to) the knowledge of the Imam is
fourfold. [Fol.3v.] First, the knowledge of his body. It can be shared even by
an animal. Secondly, the knowledge of his name. It can be obtained even by
adversaries. Thirdly, the recognition of his Imamat. In this the "people of the
order" can participate. Fourth, the knowledge of his (real) nature. It can be
posse4ssed by his Hujjat only.

One must also know that whenever during the six millennia of the "night of
faith" the Imam has a bodily incarnation (as an ordinary man). [Fol.3] his
Hujjat has no complete manifestation. So it was in the time of the Prince (of
the believers - Ali) when Salman did not reveal his teaching except to one
man.[1] But as soon as the Imam becomes hidden, he (Hujjat) must be
completely manifested and it is impossible that both, the Imam's bodily
incarnation as well as preaching in his favour, would disappear. He would
cause by this the creations to perish.

The reason why the Imam occasionally withdraws the completemanifestation
of the Hujjat and himself becomes incarnated as an ordinary man is that at that
time the people are not capable (of accepting his doctrines), God forbid! Just
as Hakim Nizari says in his poetry:-

Do not withdraw from those who ardently desire its advent
The full (ma'nawi) manifestation (the date of which) is covered withmystery!
And, after this, the door of mercy in the Heaven

[1] Certain expressions in this text have been naively ciphered, either entirely
or partly, with the help of the figures substituted for letters according to the
abjad system, with zeros being omitted in tens. Thus I-m-a-m is 1+4
(0)+1+4(0). This system is apparently not used in the Fatimid literature which
employs a specialscript. The single man to whomSalman revealed his doctrine
was certainly the Prophet. The part of the Salman as Jabra'il is probably a new
invention of the Safawid times.

[2] Ma-bandi may stand for ma-band. In the province of Qa'in and Birjand,
from which Nizari was hailed, this is now the usual form of the Imperative with
a negation,

So it is proved that it is on account of his slaves' errors, negligence and
sinfulness that he shuts occasionally the door of mercy and the gate of the
knowledge of himself and leaves them to their fate.
If thou leave us to ourselves to act, (Then) explain (clearly) what thou wilt have us to do.

Firstly I begin to discuss the recognition of the Imam, which is as follows, so
that thou mayest to know. (By the name of) Imam is called a man whi at one
time may be (directly) know in his own person, and at another time through
(the guidance of) his Hujjat. It is possible to recognise him (directly) only on
the day of the "Sabbath of the faith." and it has to be known that every "day of
the faith" is equal to one thousand years of this world (so that) a week of the
Religion lasts seven thousand years. In these seven days the "day of the faith"
is only one, not more, and the other six are the "night of the faith." This "day
of the Religion" is called Saturday and on this day the Sun of the Faith, the
Imam, becomes manifested. This is the reason why it is said : "All the (Divine)
commandments will pass, but that about Saturday will remain." [Fol.2]. The
other six days are called the "night of the faith," and the reason for this is that
at that time the law (shari'at) of the prophets is a veil (hijab) of the Imam just
as the night is the veil of the sun in this world. But as there is the moon which
takes the place of the sun when it is hidden, so there is Hujjat, who takes the
place of the Imam when he is not manifest, in order that his slaves, i.e., the
"people of order", could recognise him with (the help of) the light of his
"Proof's" teaching.

It is also to be understood that in the six thousand years of the "night of the
faith" the Imam also becomes manifest occasionally. But these his
manifestations are not ma'nawi, i.e., those in which he appears in his full glory,
and the knowledge of him, in his real essence, cannot be attained. Just as on
the contrary in the millennium of Saturday he can be recognised with his real
nature because on that day his manifestation is complete.[1] Therefore in these
six thousand years he cannot be recognised. So the [Fol. 2v] great Ra'is says
(in his poetry):

The manifestation (of the Imam is a mystery.
Do not associate it with any (ordinary) person,
Because for the believer who is passing through the Resurrection (qiyamat) it
is immaterial whether he is absent or present.[2]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] The terms shakli, idafi and ma'nawi, in application to the idea of the zuhur are here the
same as in the Rawdatu't-taslim. These ideas substantially differ from those of
the Fatimid time where the zuhur of the Imam is his appearance to the world in
the capacity of the ideal theocratic ruler. It is interesting to note that here the
term satr, opposite to zuhur,does not appear at all.

[2] The poetical quotations which appear in this opuscule have, as a rule,
suffered so much in transcription by ignorant scribes that the meaning of some
passages remains quite obscure. In some of these the prosody is not only badly
violated, but ocasionally simply disregarded. Mard-I Qiyamat may also be a
poetical expression for the Qa'im (the term which does not appear here). I
must confess that the meaning of this bayt is not clear to me.

But it would be absurd (to think) that he will leave the "chosen of the order"
(khassan-I tarattub) without the possibility of recogtnising him; for the purpose
of their acquiring this knowledge the world was created. If he should leave
them so, -which God forbid ! - he would be ungenerous. Therefore inevitably
a moon must exist in this night (of faith) which would remain perpetually
manifest in its real nature. Any one who will not attain the knowledge during
the time when the moon appears in its real essence, how should he acquire (this
knowledge) at the time when the sun is manifest in a form which gives no
light? Just as a poet says:-
If to-day no benefit is derived from a complete manifestation (of the Hujjat),
Of what use will be to-morrow a bodily manifestation (of the Imam)?

In another place the poet says:-
The complete manifestation (of the Hujjat) whose propaganda is at work,
Will not be greater or smaller than what it actually should

In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate.
(This is) a Note [1] on the recognition of the Imam who is the hypostasis
(mazhar) [2] of the Divine creative act (amr); the Hujjat, (his) "proof" who is
the hypostasis of the Universal Reason ( aql-I kull); da'I, "the preacher";
ma'dhun-I akbar, the "senior licensee" (to preach); ma'dhun-I asghar, the
"junior licensee," [3] and mustajib, the "neophyte" (lit. "asking questions," one
who has the right to ask questions concerning the religion, and of course,
receive correct answers), who all are the hypostasis of the Universal Soul
(nafs-I kull); and ahl-I tadadd, the "opponents" (or adversaries of the religion)
who are the hypostasis of the Universal Body (jism-I kull.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] The term fasl, originally meaning section, chapter, division (in a book), in Ismaili
literature is used since the earliest times in the sense of apparrently "small
book," pamphlet, note. In this sense it is already in use at the beginning of the
fourth/tenth century, in the works of Abu Hatim ar-Razi. I have collected
many instances of the use of this term in my "Rise of the Fatimids," p.299;
"Guide to Ismaili Literature," p.101; and, especially in application to Persia, in
the "Kalam-I Pir," p. xxix.

[2] The author's philosophical terminology is rather primitive and inaccurate,
as may be seen almost on every page. A literal rendering of the terms which he
uses would render his work very obscure. I therefore apologise for rendering
these nearer to the intended sense rather than to the philological derivation.

[3] I may recall the fact that Ismaili ideas of the hierarchy were always
fluctuating in the course of history, being adjusted to the requirements of the
moment and circumstances, either in the way of the expansion of the number of
the ranks, or contraction of this. The ma'dhun was an assistant of the da'I,
probably being appointed from amongst the more intelligent and devout new
converts in the community. His duties were those of a preacher and instructor
of others.

As mentioned above, the original copy forms a part of a majmu'a, No.4 of the
collection of I. I. Zaroobin. Both the hand-made paper and handwriting seems
to be of Indian origin. The coopy is not dated, but looks as if not older than
the middle of the last century.

The handwriting is unskilled, but legible nasta'liq. There are eleven lines to a
page, of 8.5 cm. The size: 21.0 by 11.5 cm. State of preservation: good.
Fols. 16.

In order to facilitate references to the Persian text, published separately, and to
the first edition, all references (as also in the index) are made to the folios of
the original copy. The letter "v" standing after the figure, verso, means the
reverse side of the leaf. The beginning of each page of the original copy is
marked both in the translation and in the edition of
the Persian text, as it was marked in the first edition.

As the press in which this is printed does not possess Arabic types, and as it is
still very difficult to avail oneself of the services of presses equiped with these,
I am compelled to quote Persian words in translation. I use the same system as
in all my preceding works, and hope that it will not inconvinience the student.

It is an interesting fact which I would never have believed had not I personally
witnessed it many times, that while the Ismailis generally treat with great
respect the text of their religious works, being afraid to alter anything in these,
even if an emendation suggests itself quite unequivocally, the Ismailis of
Badakshan, in a broad sense, form an exception. I saw many times how the
people of Chitral, Hunza, and some other places in that part of the world, who
would scarcely be able to understand Persian or write a simple sentence in it
correctly, would not hesitate a moment to introduce what they regarded as a
"correction" into the text when they thought it was required. Very often such
"corrections" are hopelessly stupid, rendering the whole sentence meaningless,
but no amount of persuation helps to make the ignorant fool desist in his
mischief. The result of this custom is that while in Arabic Ismaili works
preserved amongst the Bohoras of India variants are exceptionally rare, other
obvious mistakes may be many, in the Badakhshani copies very rarely does a
single line not contain several variants. I am not sure whether this is a blessing
of modern times or was practised since long ago. The latter seems the more
probable case. Perhaps only in Syria the position is worse. After all, Persian is
a foreign language for the Badakhshanis, and only their ignorance makes them
introduce mistakes, while for the Syrian Ismailis the language of their literature
is their mother tongue, and they cannot plead an improper understanding of it.

The peculiarities which the pamphlet shows in its language partly depend on
the real corruption of the text, and partly on irregular and inconsistent
orthography which has a general tendency in the Badakhshani Ismaili literature
to preserve various archaic usages, inherited from earlier manuscripts. For
instance, it is quite common to see the relative pronoun ki, written simply as k:
kasi-k, zira-k, hamchunan-k. But contrary to this one may meet ki for ki. The
particle of duration with verbs, mi, is usually written separately, and added to
the tenses which in good Persian do not require it, as in mi namuda and (f.4).
The use of bad- for ba- with pronouns seems to be really archaic, as in bad-in,
bad-an, bad-ishan. There is a general tendency to use ba instead of ba. The
third pers. Sing. Of the substantive verb, ast, is, even after consonants, written
as st.

In the use of words the text shows many mistakes against Persian syntax, as in
the cases of the verb in the plural being used after a collective noun: haywan
sharik-and; mawjudy az mawjudat sharik na-bashand, etc. In true Central
Asian style, ishan is often used instead of an-ha.

In verbal forms often the particle mi is either superfluous or stands instead bi-
that can be expected: u-ra ba-qatl mi-rasanad, quite obviously for bi-rasanad.
An expression may lead perhaps to interesting finds. Speaking of Jabra'il, and
other angels, the author gives them the title mihtar (f. 7). It would be
worthwhile tracing the use of this title in the literature of Persia proper. I have
noted a few cases of a similar use of it in the work of the author of the beg. of
the xi/xvii c., the saint of Peshawar, Akhund Darwiza Ningarhari (Sharh-I
Amali, manuscr. Of the Asiatic society of Bengal, Ad 17).

The doctrine which the author of the opuscule popounds is a very late and
advanced form of Ismailism. Taking the latter as it was towards the close of
the Fatimid Imamat, we can see how much Ismailism in Persia developed after
the Nizari-Musta'lian split (in 487/1094). The doctrine lost much of its
original learned theological finish and became filled with mystical elements.
All this is particularly noticeable in the rather unskilled presentation of its ideas
by the rustic author.

Such alterations have undoubtedly been introduced under the pressure of
various adverse historical, social, cultural, and even economical factors. Ever
since the Nizari-Musta'lian split, for something like 150 years, the Ismailis of
Persia were living in almost continuous state of war, defending their very
existence against the powerful Saljuq state and its successors. Ultimately
immence ruin was caused by the brutal Mongols, and general conditions were
made still worse by Timur with his worthy successors and later on by the
struggle which accompanied the rise of the Safawids. The suffering of the
poulation must have been indescribable. Small wonder that Ismaili literature,
probably not very rich initially, has almost entirely perished. It is really
astonishing in the circumstances that even after all these events their
community still possessed enthusiasts such as the author of the opuscule, who
were still writing books for the benefit of their coreligionists. Exactly for this
reason our text may be treated as particularly valuable, being a rare relic of that
important, and yet almost entirely unknown, process of religious evolution.
To the unprepared and unsophisticated reader the doctrine explained in the
treatise would appear strange, perhaps too mystical. Some beginners amongst
students, or uninformed enthusiasts, may at onve see in it the inevitable
"traces" of various alleged "influences." All this, on sober consideration, is
utterly futile. This doctrine is as legitimate a development of the basic
principles of Islam as any of the orthodox schools of Sunnism. The difference
is only constituted by the general direction of the process forced by the
combination of a different set of historical and general conditions. The
glittering diamond and a piece of coal are of the same substance despite their
difference in appearance; similarly, the same elements form both systems,
though it is often not easy to see this at once.

The basic doctrine of Islam is not only belief in the Divine revelation, but also
the mission of the Apostle of God. Both are inseparable, and the system
collapses if either of these is upset. We may well realise that the Sunnite
version of Islam, patronised by the rulers and ruling classes, developed that
mentality of "clan ownership" of religious knowledge, as it was, for instance, in
the theory of ownership of the state treasury by all the Muslims. This was due
not to any alleged "democratic" spirit, but to a relic of the tribal mentality. It
was probably this mentality which consistently opposed the perspective of the
rise of a priestly class, and even went to such extremities as to legalize the
ijma' and qiyas, i.e., the doctrine of the consensus of the enlightened opinion of
the society on religious matters as binding, or decisions based on analogy. The
representatives of this upper classs of the society sought for religious
knowledge in the study of the Coran and hadiths, and firmly believed in the
spiritual guidance of the Prophet, or of those who carefully studied his
doctrine.

Quite a different approach to the same problem of salvation and righteousness
of life has developed in the strata, or masses who had little chance to acquire
education, and who themselves felt the sad truth that the shari'at was no
protection against oppression and merciless exploitation. Their suffering made
them impatient, looking for a short cut to the attainment of human existence.
This was sought in the dreams of the ideal Alid theocracy which will "fill the
earth with equity and justice even as much as it has always been filled with
oppression and injustice". This depended on what was planned as the
movement for perfecting the shari'at by the wisdom which the Prophet
received from God, but, being unable to reveal it to the still unprepared
humanity, entrusted it for gradual release to Ali with his posterity.

The Imam, an Alid as the candidate for the post of such an ideal ruler, was
originally expected as a mighty warrior who would wrest the supreme
authority in Islam from the Abbasids, and introduce his ideal state. The
Fatimids, the only Alid dynasty with the necessary means, could not, for
various reasons, succeed in the fulfilment of these dreams. By the time of the
Nizari-Musta'lian split no illusion remained as to the futility of such political
aspirations, and the subsequent events, with the Mongol invasion, etc., made
this all too clear. An important metamorphosis then came to Ismailism. From
a religion with clearly defined social and political ideals it became the religion
of personal salvation. This rendered all former ideas, points of view,
organisation and outlook unsuitable to the new purposes. The Imam, deprived
of his earthly ballast, rose to heaven. Out of a mighty warrior descending from
the Prophet, and ideal ruler, but otherwise a man of flesh and blood, he became
an abstraction of the Divine Truth, of the Logos of all existence, a Divine
sunstance of the Divine Light hardly distinguishable from God Himself.

The Fatimid hierarchy of the hududu'd-din, i.e. different agents in one
complete system of the preparation of the future ideal theocracy, parts of a
smoothly working machine, became useless. Formerly the main function of
this hierarchy was propaganda, the preaching of the doctrine. In the new
conditions propaganda became impossible and almost aimless, the da'I with his
subordinates became obsolete. Instead of the whole hierarchy only one person
acquired paramount importance, namely, the hujjat whose significane the
author explains in detail.

This new theory of the hujjat, in fact, almost completely repeats the numerous
theories of the Imam as they were developed at the beginning of the Ismaili
movement. We may note that in the Fatimid hierarchy there were, as is known,
twelve hujjats each of whom was in charge of the propaganda in each of the
conventional twelve divisions (jazira) of the world.[1] All this, of course, was
purely conventional, and in reality their number probably was larger or smaller,
according to circumstances. Fatimid literature is remarkably reticent on the
subject of the functions of and all dtails concerning, the hujjat. Despite of long
search I have bot found as yet any satisfactory answer to the question as to
whether the Fatimid Hujjat was something like a bishop-resident in a province,
or like a minister at the court of the caliph, advising and assisting in matters of
the administration of such a province.

[1] On the meaning and the names of the jaziras see my "Rise of the Fatimids,"
Bombay, 1942, footnote on pp. 20-21.

In many sects with mystical or gnostic tendencies, later on taken over by
Sufism, this ancient idea survived and received further development. We can
see that the author clearly explains the hujjat as the "witness" of the Exalted
Position of the Imam (ff. 10v-11), introduced to absolve the Imam from giving
evidence in his own favour. In fact, both the Imam and hujjat are of the same
Divine origin, and it is only as a concession to the imperfection of human
nature that they appear as two.

This new version of the hujjat is merely a divinised Sufic pir. Only through him
one can attain the knowledge of the Imam and of God, because ordinary mortal
is obviously incapable of penetrating Divine mysteries. The proof of his own
genuineness is his "miraculous knowledge" (f. 11v). The Imam, whose
manifestation has a cosmic importance, and without whom the world cannot
exist, must be manifested in his real essence, but also can appear in disguise.
The hujjat, however, must always be what he really is (ff. 13v-14).

All this would be too mystical for early Ismailism with its sober and
rationalistic outlook, and we may safely treat this doctrine as an importation
from Sufism, incorporated under the pressure of historical conditions. The
Imams had to live in strict disguise and in mortal danger; this is why the ancient
theory of the hijab was, perhaps unconsciously, revived. The term hijab
actually occurs in the text (f. 2), though not in this sense: here the shariat is
the hijab of the Imam. Thus it is highly probable that the words that one can
recognise the Imam only through his hujjat could also have ordinary and direct
meaning, not mystical. Probably only the hujjat, as a close relative and
absolutely trusted person, knew the hiding place of the Imam and could really
point him out to followers who had a very rare chance of seeing him, and
knowing him personally.[1]

The author devotes all his attention to the spiritual or Divine nature of the
hujjat and his theory, but, unfortunately for us, he leaves unanswered many
pertinent questions which inevitably arise: was there only one hujjat at a time,
or several? Did every Imam appoint only one hujjat during the whole of his life
time, or a succession of them? Was it normal if there was no hujjat at certain
periods of time? Did he carry any administrative functions, and if so, which?
These, and many other questions in the same strain, are not touched upon here.
As mentioned in the Preface, the author's terminology bears striking
resemblance to the terminology used in the Rawdatu't-taslim, supposed to be
the work of Nasiru'd-din Tusi, and which, most probably, was the source of
the author's information. I hope to deal with this matter when analysing that
latter work. Now it will suffice if I add a few remarks on some expressions.

The old term hududu'd-din (ff. 3v, 6, 8v) is occasionally used, but a new term
is far more in use, tarattub, i.e. "order." The Badakshani Ismailis invariably
read it as tartib, "arrangement." The expression of ahl-I tarattub is much used,
and occasionally khawassan-I (obviously for khassan-I) tarattub, in the sense of
the dignitaries. This to some extent recalls an early term, of the beginning of
the fourth/tenth century, the ahlu'l-maratib (in Abu Hatim ar-Razi's Kitabu'l-islah).
If the idea of the hujjat being a "witness" of the Imam, i.e. the genuineness of
his claims, recalls the Ali-Ilahi doctrine, still more may this be said of the term
jama, which appears twice on f. 3v. This is neither Sufic nor Ismaili, if the
earlier doctrine is concerned. It probably came in use in Sufic circles during
the Safawid period, when the strong sub-current of Ali-Ilahi ideas spread all
over Persia. It is a Persian equivalent of the Turkish dun, or Arabic libas, used
in the same sense, i.e. the human, mortal "dress" of an incarnation, its dress of
flesh.

These may be sufficient as preliminary notes on the contents. I would like to
address a request to every student who may care to make use of this text in his
work on Ismailism, not to forget the time factor, the date of the work from
which ideas or references are derived. I have seen so many instances where
nothing but utter confusion is created and good work rendered useless by
indiscrinately pulling out references from any source, any context, regardless of
the period to which it belongs, and the phase of evolution which it reflects.

As has already been mentioned in the Preface, the work seems to be
exceptionally rare. It is not impossible that the Leningrad copy is unique.
With the little information that is available about the Badakshani Ismaili
literature ther is hardly much chance of finding additional information
concerning this opuscule. All that we can expect to know about it must be
derived from an analysis of its contents.

The name of the author is not mentioned. Even a superficial acquaintance with
the the text shows that, even allowing much for the "rough handling" of the
text by generations of Badakshani scribes, who are generally people of little
education, and to whom Persian is a foreign language, it would be possible
only to infer that he was a man of no great theological erudition. His style is
crude and heavy and he plainly has much difficulty in expressing his thoughts.
At the end of his work he says that he composed it in "simple langauge which
even the uneducated could understand, so that even they would not be
deprived of the spiritual advantages which perusal of the book may bestow".
Such a charitable disposition rarely manifests itself in Persian authors as
"smoke without fire". Had the author been really learned, he would not
hesitate to make his pamphlet a gem of theological learning. We may be fairly
safe in imagining him as a country squire, a well-to-do peasant, devout to his
religion, and keen on reading, despite not having had much schooling in the
past.

Although the manuscript comes from Shughnan, it is difficult to think that it
was compiled there. As is well known, Badakshan, several centuries ago,
became the centre of the cult of Nasir-I Khusraw, to whose influence, -even
what may be called a "school," -many works belong. This opuscule, however,
does not exhibit the typical features of that line. Quotations from Nizari, an
Ismaili poet of Birjand and Khusp (d. ca. 720-721/1320-1321) whose works
are entirely unknown in Badakshan, or from another Ismaili poet of still earlier
time, Ra'is Hasan (end of vi/xii c.), whose poems have been apparently
preserved only in the province of Kirman, or from Thana'I, a Khorasani poet
who went to India under Akbar, may be treated as indications of the ties with
Persia rather than Upper Oxus. In addition to this it is possible also to recall
the same postscript in which he refers to the composing of his work "in plaim,
simple language, intelligible to the uneducated". This, of course, may refer to
the Badakshanis whose Persian is generally of a very elementary nature, but it
seems more probable that the author meant his less educated Persian-speaking
fellow countrymen in Persia.

The question of the date of compositon appears to be simpler. The author
refers to many poets and other persons, quoting poems by some of them,
Sana'I, Attar, Jalalu'd-din Rumi, Nasiru'd-din Tusi (probably), Nasir-I
Khusraw, Nizari, Ra'is Hasan, all belong to that period. The latest are
probably Amir Sayyid Ali-yi Wa'iz (f. 8) and Thana'i. The former is
obviously the son of Husayn-I Wa'iz Kashifi, the author of the famous Anwar-I
Suhayli and Tafsir-I Husayni. His son, Ali, was a third-rate poet, with the
takhallus Safi; he died in 939/1532-3.[1] Thana'I's name inspires some doubts
as there is often a tendency to confound him with Sana'i. However, the
mention of his work, Iskandar-nama, is an additional indication. Thana'I really
wrote a mathnawi of that title, dedicated to Akbar, but the quotation here
cannot belong to a mathnawi, and the author himself calls it a qasida. Thus we
cannot build much on the name of Thana'i. There is, however, an allusion
which also points to the same period.

While discussing the dawrs, periods of the domination of the systems of
shari'at founded by various prophets, f. 13v, the author mentions the "dawr of
Muhammad, in which we are still living". As is known, such dawrs are
supposed to be of millennial duration each. If there were only about six
hundred years between Jesus and Muhammad, the authors pay little attention
to such a trifling discrepancy. Therefore we may, almost with full right, believe
that when the author of this pamphlet wrote it, the date was still under 1000
A.H. Hence it is quite possible that the treatise was compiled somewhere in
Khorasan in the middle, or towards the end of the sixteenth century.
This conjecture tallies well with what little we know of the history of the
Badakshani community. The whole, or a substantial part of it, followed the
branch of the Nizari Imams to which belonged Shah Tahir Dakkani who was
driven by the rise of the Safawids to India ca. 926/1520.[1] At the same time,
the main line, probably also apprehending troubles, apparently intensified
relations with their own followers in Badakshan. In all probability this evoked
the revival of literary activity of which there are indications. It was possibly
during this period that the work was compiled and brought by someone to
Badakshan in view of the outspokenness which it shows.

[1] See my note, "A Forgotten Branch of the Ismailis." J.R.A.S., 1938,p.61.

[1] The text of the Ummu'l-kitab was edited by me in "Der Islam." 1936, pp.
1-132; cf. Also my "Notes sur L'Ummul-kitab des Ismaeliens de L'Asie
Centrale" in the "Revue des Etudes Islamiques," Paris, 1932, pp. 419-481.
The Kalam-I Pir, or Haft Bab-I Sayyid Nasir, was edited and translated by me,
Bombay, 1935 (I.R.A.'s Series, No.4). The Wajh-I Din was printed by the
Kaviani Press, Berlin, in 1924.

In the great scarcity of reliable information about Ismailism, and almost
complete absence of genuine works on it, the pamphlet was remarkable for a
considerable extent of outspokenness in the treatment of its esoteric subjects,
and also for the feature which is very rare in Ismaili works in general, namely:
numerous references to various authors and poets belonging to general Persian
literature. Having decided to edit and translate it, I carefully copied the text,
but wartime conditions and revolution prevented its publication. When in May
1918 I was sent by the Academy to Bukhara, I took the copy with me in the
hope of finding some learned Ismailis who would be able to explain to me the
numerous difficult and obscure places in the opuscule. Various circumstances,
however, prevented me from returning to St. Pertersburg. Instead, I found
myself in Persia, and later India. In Khorasan I came in touch with the local
Ismailis, but they confessed to never having seen the pamphlet before, and
could not help me in its translation. Later on, in India, I met many Ismailis
from Hunza, Chitral, and a few from Shughnan and other districts of
Badakshan. These also admitted never having seen the text before, and only
one claimed some some previous knowledge of it, mentioning that the real title
of the work was the Ma'dinu'l-haqa'iq. On the whole his testimony did not
inspire much confidence, and Iwould hesitate to accept his statement until it is
supported from reliable sources.

In India I have prepared an edition of the text, with an English translation, and
it was published under the title of "Ismailitica," in the VIII volume of the
"Memories of the Asiatic Society of Bengal" (Calcutta, 1922,pp. 1-76).
Except for some poetical works of Nasir-I Khusraw, this was the first genuine
Ismaili work in Persian ever published. It was quite natural that it evoked
considerable interest both amongst students and the Ismailis themselves, and all
copies of the separate issue were very soon sold. Those who wished to
acquire a copy had to purchase the whole of Vol. VIII which, except for this
paper, dealt with biology and other matters having no connection with
Ismailism. By now it seems even this opportunity has ceased to exist.
At present, twenty-five years after its publication, this little work not only has
not lost any of its interest, but, on the contrary, in the light of further studies
and finds, appears even more interesting than it did earlier. Access to the
original Ismaili literature of the Fatimid period and later has provided valuable
background to it, putting many of its features in a different light, and often
raising new problems where none was at first suspected. In any case the
inaccessibility of this text to students, except to those working in large and
well-equiped libraries, was to be deplored. I am, therefore, extremely grateful
to the "Ismaili Society" of Bombay who have sympathetically considered my
offer to bring out a second edition in their newly started series. It was,
however, unfortunate that the situation with printing in India had reached such
difficult conditions. The larger and better equipped presses all over the
country, already overworked, had been badly hit by the wave of strimes and
riots. For this reason only the use of small presses and lithography proved to
be practicable, and even in these it was possible to obtain the services of only
inferior and inexperienced scribes. For all these, and many other reasons, it
was decided to publish the text and translation separately.

It seems to be an inviolable psychological law that every beginner wants to
make his work at one a perfection of scholarship and erudition, stuffing it with
references to earlier literature, regardless of whether such references are really
needed or useful. In bringing out this new edition and translation I have
ruthlessly suppressed all such signs of youthful enthusiasm, leaving only those
references which are absolutly necessary.

I am taking this opportunity to reiterate my most sincere and profound thanks
to all my Ismaili friends without whose generous assistance and collaboration I
would have not been able to do much work for the study of Ismailism. I am
perfectly obliged to the President and the Committee of the "Ismaili society"
for the help they have so willingly given me.

Bombay, January, 1947.
W.IVANOW

The aim of the "Ismaili Society," founded in Bombay on the 16th of February
1946, is the promotion of independent and critical study of matters connected
with Ismailism, that is to say, of all branches of the Ismaili movement in Islam,
their literature, history, philosophy, theology, and so forth. The Society
proposes to publish monographs on various subjects connected with these
matters, critical editions of the original texts of early Ismaili works, their
translations, and collections of shorter papers and notes. It may be noted that
the Society completely excludes from its programme any religious or political
propaganda or controversy, and does not intend to vindicate the point of view
of any particular school of Ismailism.