Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

The phrase al-hurriyah al-diniyyah means freedom of religion. One of the manifestations of personal liberty is the freedom of the individual to profess the religion of his or her choice without compulsion. Everyone in the society must have freedom to observe and to practice their faith without fear of, or interference from, others. Freedom of religion in its Islamic context implies that non-Muslims are not forced to convert to Islam, nor are they hindered from practicing their own religious rites.

The word takfir means accusing someone of being a disbeliever, and takfir al-muslim is an attribution of disbelief to a Muslim. The Islamic Shariah forbids the attribution of disbelief, blasphemy or heresy to a Muslim.

In Islam, the women are not forbidden to take part in any social and religious activities, nor is there any injunction in the Koran or the hadith shutting them up within the four walls of their houses.

"It must be known that some historians have tried to establish as fact that the Qarmatians and the Ismailis constituted one and the same movement, and some have tried to prove the contrary. Ibn Rizam, an anti-Ismaili pamphleteer of the first half of the fourth/tenth century had wrongly woven stories of the Ismailis and Qarmatians, to which S.M. Stern writes in Studies in Early Ismailism (Jerusalem, 1983, p.

"The Arabic word for marriage is nikah, meaning uniting. The family is the basic social unit in Islamic society, and marriage is the fundamental Islamic institution. The husband and wife are the principals of family formation. Parents are held responsible for the social, cultural and moral growth of children as well as for their physical and health care.

The word qadi (pl. qudat) means a religious judge administrating the Islamic law. The term qadi al-qudat refers to the highest judiciary officer of the Fatimid state.

The word qatl al-nafs means self-murder, denoting suicide in classical Islamic literature. Another word intihar means cutting of the throat is common in modern Arabic speech. There is only one phrase in the Koran relevant to the subject of suicide: "O you who believe! Do not devour your wealth in the wrong way, rather only through trade mutually agreed to, and do not kill yourselves" (4:29). The phrase wa-la taqtulu anfusakum (do not kill yourselves) coincides with the Arabic term for suicide (qatl an-nafs).

"The term niyya does not occur in the Koran. The word ikhlas (sincerity) however is used 17 times in its active participial form, mukhlis, best appropriates the notion of worthy and well directed "intention" (niyya). Sincerity is the foundation of al acts of worship (2:139, 39:2, 11:14), acceptable to God and of all forms of prayer (7:29, 10:22, 29:65, 31:32, 40:14, 65, 98:5).

"Qadi Noman was a renowned Ismaili jurist in the Fatimid court. He espoused Ismaili faith early in life at Kairwan. His association with the Fatimids however began with his entry into the services of Imam al-Mahdi since 313/925. During the period of Imam al-Qaim, he concentrated mainly in the study of history, philosophy and jurisprudence and composed numerous works. Prior to the death of Imam al-Qaim in 334/945, he was appointed as a qadi. His status was further promoted during the time of Imam al-Mansur when he was granted the rank of Chief Qadi (qadi al-qudat).

"The word qibla means direction or point towards which one turns his face for prayer as opposed to dibrah which indicates the direction or point towards which one turns his back. The word qibla occurs four times in the Koran.

The central theme in the Koran is the requital of human deeds by divine justice both in this world and the world to come. For those who do good deeds, God gives him some reward on earth and a far greater reward in the hereafter. Unbelievers and evildoers can be punished on earth and have to undergo eternal chastisement in the hereafter. The ultimate separation of the two groups will take place on the day of judgment.

"Abu Mansur al-Nizar, surnamed al-Mustapha al-dinillah (the chosen for God's religion), was born in Cairo on 437/1045. He assumed the Imamate on 18th Zilhaja, 487/January 6, 1095 at the age of 50 years. He had been however proclaimed as a successor in 480/1087 before the notables in the court by his father. His participation in state affairs is scant. In 454/1062, during the perilous period of Egypt, Imam al-Mustansir had however sent him to the port of Damietta with the Fatimid army to execute few assignments.

The word qadr and taqdir are derived from qada. According to Raghib, it means the making manifest of the measure (kamiyya) of a thing, or simply measure. In the words of the same authority, God's taqdir of things is in two ways, by granting qudra (power) or by making them in a particular measure and in a particular manner, as wisdom requires.

The word riba comes from the verbal root raba meaning to grow, increase, addition or excess. It refers to an addition over and above the principal sum lent. In economics, it refers to that surplus income, which the lender receives from the borrower, over and above the principal amount as a reward for waiting or parting with the liquid part of his capital for a specific period of time.

"Imam Nizar was born in 982/1574 in Anjudan, and ascended at the age of 11 years. He is known as Shah Ataullah among the Iranian mystics. His father had brought him in Kahek in 992/1584, and henceforward, Kahek became the next headquarters. Kahek or Kiagrak is situated about 35 kilometers northeast of Anjudan and north-west of Mahallat. It took few years to the Ismailis to settle in Kahek and its locality. He also founded a village near Kuhubandi, known as Kahek of Aqa Nizar, then became known as Bagh-i Takhat. The colony of the farmers in this village was also known as Nizarabad.

Taqdir, meaning the absolute decree of good and evil by God, an idea with which the word is now indissolubly connected by the popular mind as well as thinking writers, is neither known to the Koran, nor even to Arabic lexicology. There is only one occasion in the Koran on which a derivative of taqdir is used to indicate the fate of a person. Speaking of the wife of Lot, the Koran says, "We ordained (qaddarna) that she shall be of those who remain behind" (15:60, 27:57).