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

The phrase in the first verse of the 105th Koranic chapter, Sura al-Fil, from which al-fil (elephant) provides the term by which the sura is known. The verse directly addressed to the Prophet: "Have you not seen how your Lord has dealt with the People of the Elephant (ashab al-fil)?" The short sura of five verses describes an expedition in which one of the mounts was an elephant, which was miraculously annihilated by God, Who sent flocks of birds against the invading host.

It means the year of grief. Soon after the annulment of the social boycott in the tenth year, i.e. 619 A.D. of the mission, the Prophet suffered two severe calamities in the death of his uncle, Abu Talib, which was followed by that of his wife, Khadija. With the death of Khadija, the lamp of the Prophet's house was extinguished. One protected him with the influence that derived from his noble rank, while the other guarded him with her material and wealth.

In 41/661, Hasan bin Ali bin Abu Talib had relinquished the power in favour of Muawiya after ruling for 6 months and 3 days. Thus, the year of his abdication became known as A'am al-Ja'ma (the year of the community), and prevented a bloody military solution of the conflict.

It is a sonorous word intoned by the faithful at the end of the every dua as a confirmation or its corroboration. It means be it so. When one recites the dua, the listeners uttered a'amin (be it so)

The word a'lam (pl. a'lamun) means world or realm. In the technical language of the philosophers and the mystics, it is often connected with various nouns and adjectives to distinguish between the visible and the invisible world. From the point of view of the phenomenal determination, the cosmos is described by Ibn Arabi in several different cosmological and ontological schems, in each of which diverse existential aspects of cosmic quantities are depicted. Ibn Arabi thus divided the cosmos into two main realms: one unseen, and the other sensory.

"The word ab-i shafa in Persian means healing water, and its synonymous in Arabic is ma'ush- shafa. The word shafa occurs six times in the Koran (9:14, 26:80, 10:57, 16:69, 17:82 and 41:44), which literally means remedy, recovery, healing or convalescence. One of the names of the Koran itself is shafa (healing): "And We revealed the Koran which is a healing (shifaun) and a mercy to the believers" (17:82). The word ma' (pl.

The word is derived from the verbal root ta'abbada means what remains for a long time or eternity. The word abad occurs thrice in the Koran, means post-eternity, ever-lastingness or that which has no end.

Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet had a son, Abdullah, who never tried to establish his own caliphate. Abdullah and his son, Ali bin Abdullah resided in Humayma. It was the latter's son, Muhammad bin Ali to have taken the charge of Kaysaniya sect from the dying Abu Hashim. Thus, the house of Abbas inherited the party and organization of Abu Hashim along with his claims. Muhammad bin Ali led the Kaysaniya sect, and propagated in the name of Ahl al-Bayt, declaring that the caliph should be from Alid descent and the Umayyads had no right to rule.

500AH-550AH (Pir in 540AH) Born in Sabzwar, son of Pir Kaliquddin, named by Imam Mohtadi. Fathered 4 sons, passed away in Morocco. King Tommarat was his disciple.

Imam before Abu Talib. Son of Hashim and grandfather of The Prophet and of Hazrat Ali*. Fathered 5 sons: Al-Abbas*, Abu Lahab*, Hamza*, Abdallah*, Abu Talib*.

After the death of his father, he was declared Chief Dai by Imam Ismail. He was succeeded by Sayd al-Khayr, brother of Imam Raziyiddin Abdullah.

Son and successor of Maymun al-Qaddah* who was responsible for the establishment of the Dais in Askar Mukaram.

Father of Prophet Mohamed. Died before the birth of his son.

Teacher of Imam Baqir. According to the Ummul Kitab, he openly declared the divinity ofImam and was executed.

"Mahmud Shah, surnamed Abdus Salam or Salam Shah, whose exact date of birth is not known. But the evidence is in favour of his having been born in 859/1456 in Shahr-i Babak, where he mostly passed his early life. He is also called Shah Salamullah. He ascended to the office of Imamate at the age of 21 years. It is related that he was a pragmatic scholar and had gleaned historical informations from his father and the elders of the community, notably the period stretching from the reduction of Alamut to his time.

The word abjad means chronogram, which is a mode of reckoning numbers by means of the Arabic letters of the alphabets, counting alif for one; bay for two; jim for three, etc. It may be noted that in English, only seven letters have of this chronogram, viz. C for 100, D for 500, I for 1, L for 50, M for 1000, V for 5 and X for 10.

[ see WUZU ]

(M. 619AD). Son of Abdul Mutalib and father of Jafar and Hazrat Ali.

"Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i was hailed from Kufa. He espoused Ismailism by the hand of da'i Firuz. Imam Radi Abdullah sent him to Ibn Hawshab in Yamen for further training in esoteric doctrines as well as affairs of the state, where he stayed for a year. Ibn Hawshab then sent him towards Maghrib.

"Abu Ali ibn Sina, Ibn Sina or Avicenna, known in the West as Prince of Physicians, was born in 370/980 in the village of Afshana near Bukhara. He was an encyclopeadist, philosopher, physiologist, physician, mathematician, astronomer, logician and poet. He gained the titles of Shaikh al-Ra'is (leader among the wise men) and Hujjat al-Haq (proof of God), displayed a remarkable aptitude for learning from an early age. His father Abdullah hailed from Balkh and was in the service of the Samanid court.

Abu Bakr, the son of Abu Qahafa was born in the Qoraish family. When he was born he was taken to the Kaba, dedicated to the gods, and named Abdul Kaba. In his early age, he liked to play with the young camels, which earned him the surname of Abu Bakr, i.e., the father of the foal of the camel. He did not receive any formal education. At the age of 18 years, he adopted the profession of a cloth merchant, which was his family business, and came to be recognized as one of the richest merchants of Mecca. He was first among the elders to accept Islam in Mecca.

7th Century. Famous for his piety, one of the first companions of Imam Ali.

"Abu Hatim ar-Razi was born near Ray around 260/874. He was the hujjat of Ray, and conducted the mission with great efficiency and promptness. He studied Ismaili doctrines, also Arabic poetry, and the religious science of Islam, comparative religion and indeed the natural and mathematical sciences. He succeeded to bring the ruler of Ray, Ahmad bin Ali (307-311/92O-924) to the Ismaili fold, who was formerly aggressive to the Ismailis.

Ommayad governor who rebelled against the Fatimid Caliphe al-Hakim in 1004. See Husseyn b. Jawhar.

Governor who revolted against the Fatimide Caliphate in 1004. See. Husseyn B. Jawhar.

(8th Century) Dai sent with al-Hulwani to Maghreb by Imam Jafar as-Sadiq in 145AH/762. Follower of Dai as-Shii. Played a major role in converting the population.

"Abu Yaqub Ishaq bin Ahmad as-Sijistani, nicknamed "cotton-seed" (Iranian, panba-dana, Arabic khayshafuj) was born in 271/883 in Bandan, a district in north of Sijistan and was trained in Yamen. He was a great philosopher and scholar and considered to be one of the major Ismaili thinkers whose share in the development of the Ismaili system of thought is considerable. Paul E. Walker writes in Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary (London, 1996, p.

(10th Century). Imam Mehdi's private doctor and author of several texts on medicine.

"Imam Abul Hasan Ali was also known as Syed Shah Muhammad Hasan Shah, Hasan Beg and Abul Hasan Ali Shah. He was born in Shahr-i Babak. The Iranian sources called him, Abul Hasan Kaheki, a name mostly was popular among the inhabitants of Kahek, whom he generously helped for about two times. One of the ways he utilized his wealth was to serve delicious dishes strewn with ample varieties of food to the hungry and needy while he himself would seldom taste it.

Pir Shihabuddin Shah (d. 1301/1884) married to Bibi Arus Khanum, who gave birth of a son, Abul Hasan Shah and six daughters, viz. Talah, Nushi, Turan Malek, Khadija, Tuman Malik and Zarin Taj. Upon the death of Pir Shihabuddin Shah, Imam Aga Ali Shah declared his infant son, Abul Hasan Shah as a next Pir. In this context, the farman follows:

(8th Century) Dai for Imam al-Baqir and Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, publicly declared his faith in the Holy Imam and was hanged in Kufa in 138AH/755. See Khattabiyya.

"Muhammad Abuzar Shah, surnamed Abuzar, was also called Nuruddin. He is also known as Shah Nuruddin bin Gharib Shah in the Syrian works. Like his father, he also passed a darwish life in Anjudan. He had however advised his followers to exercise precautions in view of new religious tendency and political cataclysm in Iran.

First man. Highest intellect at all times. There have been thousands of Adams.

(14/15th Century). One of the 19 children of Pir HK. Buried in Lahore.

RUHANI ADAM. 3rd Intellect fallen at the 10th position and dividedinto the individual souls to regain his 3rd spiritual place.

The word adl means equity. It is used in the Koran in quasi-legal contexts, but elsewhere to mean being fair or fairness. The Koran employed the term adl but relatively rarely 14 times in the sense of justice or equity and in a much broader fashion, vide ta'dlin (6:70), adlun (2:48, 123, 282; 4:58, 85, 5:95, 106; 6:70, 16:76, 106:90, 49:9, 65:2) and li adli (42:15). While God's words are described as adl in 6:115.

Son of Aga Shah Khalilullah. He was Pir for 3 months and died while still an infant. He accepted Dash Boshi* while still in the crib.

Son of Imam Qasim Ali, also known as Hassan Beg. Became Imam in 1780, named his brother Mirza Mohamed as Pir. Died in Mahalat, buried in Najjaf.

"Imam Aga Ali Shah, His Highness Aga Khan II was born in 1246/1830 at Mahallat, where he spent the first decade of his age. In the outset of 1256/1840, Imam Aga Ali Shah had been taken to Iraq, where he stayed a few years with his mother. Under the instruction of Iranian and Arab teachers, eminent for their piety and learning, he had been taught the oriental languages, and he achieved a reputation as an authority on Persian and Arabic literature, as a student of metaphysics and as an exponent of religious philosophy.

(1246AH/1830-1302AH/17 August 1885). 46th Pir, named by his father Imam Hassanali Shah. Named Pir Aga Shabuddin Shah in 1881 after being declared as the 47th Imam (4 year Imamat).