Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations and maps
- Foreword by Wilfred Madelung
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Note on the text and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction: progress in the study of the Ismāʿīlīs
- 2 Origins and early development of Shīʿism
- 3 Early Ismāʿīlism
- 4 The Fāṭimid period until 487/1094: dawla and daʿwa
- 5 The later Fāṭimids and Mustaʿlian Ismāʿīlism
- 6 Nizārī Ismāʿīlī history during the Alamūt period
- 7 The post-Alamūt centuries and modern developments in Nizārī Ismāʿīlī history
- Genealogical tables and lists
- Glossary
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Foreword by Wilfred Madelung
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations and maps
- Foreword by Wilfred Madelung
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Note on the text and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction: progress in the study of the Ismāʿīlīs
- 2 Origins and early development of Shīʿism
- 3 Early Ismāʿīlism
- 4 The Fāṭimid period until 487/1094: dawla and daʿwa
- 5 The later Fāṭimids and Mustaʿlian Ismāʿīlism
- 6 Nizārī Ismāʿīlī history during the Alamūt period
- 7 The post-Alamūt centuries and modern developments in Nizārī Ismāʿīlī history
- Genealogical tables and lists
- Glossary
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
The study of the history of the Ismāʿīlī religion, which for long had depended largely on the polemical and often distorted accounts of its opponents, has been transformed since the time of the First World War by the discovery of large private collections of authentic Ismāʿīlī works in the Soviet Union and India. Many of the original texts, previously kept secret from outsiders by the Ismāʿīlī communities, have now been published or are accessible in manuscript to scholarly research. Although a relatively small number of scholars in the East and the West have actively pursued such research, progress in uncovering the story of the Ismāʿīlī movement in its various branches and the development of Ismāʿīlī religious thought has been steady. The major aspects and characteristics of this thought and its transformations in the course of often catastrophic events affecting the scattered Ismāʿīlī communities have become evident. There are, to be sure, still large gaps left in our knowledge of these developments, some of which may prove difficult to fill because of a lack of sources. Moreover, on some fundamental questions, especially concerning the early stages of Ismāʿīlism, consensus has not yet been reached among scholars. Yet these problems must not obscure the remarkable advances made in the study of Ismāʿīlism, which provide both a general outline of the history of one of the major branches of Shī'ī Islam and a sound basis for further detailed research.
- Type
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- Information
- The Isma'ilisTheir History and Doctrines, pp. xiii - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007