Ismaili Islam: History, Imams, Esoteric Teaching and Branches

Ismaili Islam is a branch of Shi'i Islam whose followers trace the imamate through Isma'il, a son of the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, rather than through his brother Musa, whom the Twelvers follow. Ismailis are known for their esoteric interpretation (taʾwīl) of scripture, for the Fatimid caliphate that ruled from Cairo between the tenth and twelfth centuries, and today for two main living communities: the Nizaris, led by the Aga Khan as their present Imam, and the Musta'li Tayyibis, including the Dawoodi Bohras.

Origins: The Succession after Ja'far al-Sadiq§

When Ja'far al-Sadiq, revered by Shi'is as the sixth Imam, died in Medina in 765, his followers divided over his successor (on the earlier Imams see The Twelve Imams of Shi'a Islam). His son Isma'il, whom many had expected to succeed him, appears to have died before his father, and the majority eventually followed another son, Musa al-Kazim, forming the line that became Twelver Shi'ism. Others held that the imamate had passed to Isma'il and from him to his son Muhammad ibn Isma'il.

Little is known for certain about the following century, which Ismailis call the period of concealment (dawr al-satr). Later sources describe hidden Imams directing a network of missionaries (dāʿī, "summoner") from Salamiyya in Syria. In the second half of the ninth century this daʿwa spread with striking success in Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Bahrain and North Africa, promising the imminent return of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as the Mahdi. Around 899 a crisis split the movement: the leader at Salamiyya claimed the imamate openly for himself and his ancestors, and part of the movement, including the Qarmatians of eastern Arabia, rejected him. It was a Qarmatian army that sacked Mecca in 930 and carried off the Black Stone, as told in The Ka'ba in Mecca.

The Fatimid Caliphate and the Age of the Da'wa§

In 909 the claimant from Salamiyya, 'Abd Allah al-Mahdi, was proclaimed caliph in Ifriqiya, in present-day Tunisia, founding a dynasty named after the Prophet's daughter Fatima, from whom it claimed descent. The Fatimids challenged the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad for leadership of the Muslim world. In 969 their general Jawhar conquered Egypt for the caliph al-Mu'izz, who founded the new capital of Cairo, al-Qāhira, "the Victorious", and the mosque of al-Azhar. At their height the Fatimids ruled North Africa, Egypt, Syria, the Hijaz and Sicily.

Cairo became the centre of a sophisticated intellectual life. The jurist al-Qadi al-Nu'man compiled the Pillars of Islam (Daʿāʾim al-Islām), the foundation of Ismaili law; the caliph al-Hakim founded a "House of Knowledge" in 1005; and missionaries trained there carried the da'wa into Persia, Central Asia and India. Among them were the philosopher Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani and the Persian poet and traveller Nasir-i Khusraw, whose writings are still revered by Ismailis in the Pamir mountains. The reign of al-Hakim also gave birth to the Druze movement, which proclaimed his divinity and developed into a separate religion.

Zahir and Batin: Ismaili Esoteric Thought§

At the heart of Ismaili thought is the distinction between the outward and the inward. Every revelation has an exoteric form (ẓāhir), the letter of scripture and the law, which changes from prophet to prophet, and an esoteric truth (bāṭin), which is eternal and unchanging. The inward meaning is reached by taʾwīl, literally "leading back" to the origin, a method of spiritual interpretation that only the Imam and those he authorises can carry out fully. Unlike some radical groups, mainstream Ismaili teachers insisted that the outward law remains binding alongside the inner meaning.

History, in this teaching, unfolds in cycles. Six "speaking" prophets (nāṭiq), Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, each brought a law, and each was accompanied by a "silent" legatee (ṣāmit or asās) who held the key to its inner meaning; for Muhammad this was 'Ali. Each legatee was followed by a series of seven Imams, and the seventh cycle would be inaugurated by the Qa'im, the "Riser", who would abrogate the outward law and reveal the inner truth in full.

Ismaili thinkers combined this prophetology with Neoplatonic cosmology. Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani taught a God so transcendent that He lies beyond being and non-being, from whom proceed the Universal Intellect and the Universal Soul; al-Kirmani adapted the ten intellects of the philosophers into an Ismaili system. The famous encyclopaedia of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ), with its blend of numerology, music, astrology and Neoplatonism, is often connected with Ismaili circles, although the authors' affiliation remains debated. These ideas are explored further in Islamic Philosophy and Neoplatonism and Theurgy, and Henry Corbin made Ismaili "gnosis" one of the pillars of his interpretation of Islamic spirituality (see Henry Corbin).

The Great Schism: Nizaris and Musta'lis§

The death of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir in 1094 brought a lasting division. His elder son Nizar was set aside by the powerful vizier in favour of a younger son, al-Musta'li, and Nizar was killed after a failed revolt. The Ismailis of Egypt, Yemen and western India recognised al-Musta'li; those of Persia and Syria followed Nizar and his line.

The Persian Nizaris were led by Hasan-i Sabbah, who had seized the mountain fortress of Alamut in 1090 and built a network of castles in Persia and Syria. Their use of targeted killings against powerful enemies gave rise to the European legend of the "Assassins", whose history and myths are discussed in The Assassins and the Hashish Legend. In 1164 the Nizari leader Hasan II proclaimed the qiyāma, the spiritual "resurrection", declaring that the inner truth now superseded the outward law; his successors later reinstated the sharia. The Mongols destroyed Alamut in 1256, and the Nizaris survived in scattered communities, often concealing their identity under the outward forms of Sufism or Twelver Shi'ism.

The Musta'li line in Egypt continued until 1130, when the caliph al-Amir was assassinated. His supporters in Yemen held that his infant son al-Tayyib had gone into concealment, and that a supreme missionary, the dāʿī muṭlaq, would lead the community until the Imam reappears. This Tayyibi da'wa moved from Yemen to Gujarat in the sixteenth century, where it later divided into the Dawoodi, Sulaymani and Alavi Bohras.

Ismailis Today: The Aga Khan and the Bohras§

In South Asia Nizari missionaries, remembered as pīrs, created a distinctive devotional tradition known as Satpanth, expressed in hymns called ginān in Indian languages, which drew on local religious vocabulary; their followers became known as Khojas. In the nineteenth century the Nizari Imam Hasan 'Ali Shah, who had received the Persian title Aga Khan from the Qajar shah, moved to India. His grandson Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III (1877–1957), led the community into modern institutions and presided over the League of Nations in 1937. Karim Aga Khan IV, Imam from 1957, built the Aga Khan Development Network, active in education, health, architecture and culture; after his death in 2025 his son Rahim became the fiftieth Imam as Aga Khan V.

Nizari Ismailis gather in a jamāʿatkhāna, a "house of congregation", for daily prayers in their own form, pay a religious due to the Imam and receive his guidance (farmān) as the living interpreter of the faith. Their communities are found in Central and South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and a large diaspora in Europe and North America. The Dawoodi Bohras, mostly Gujarati-speaking and centred in Mumbai, follow Fatimid law closely, pray in mosques, wear distinctive dress and are led by their da'i al-mutlaq; the community's leadership has itself been contested in recent decades. For the place of both groups within the wider Shi'i world, see Sunni and Shi'a Islam.

Frequently asked questions§

What is the difference between Ismaili and Twelver Shi'a?§

Both venerate 'Ali and the early Imams, but they divided after Ja'far al-Sadiq in 765. Twelvers follow Musa al-Kazim and await a hidden Twelfth Imam, while Ismailis follow the line of Isma'il; Nizari Ismailis have a living, present Imam, the Aga Khan.

Who is the Aga Khan?§

The Aga Khan is the hereditary Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, believed by them to descend from the Prophet through 'Ali and Fatima. The present Imam, Aga Khan V, succeeded his father in 2025.

Were the Assassins Ismailis?§

The "Assassins" of medieval European legend were the Nizari Ismailis of Persia and Syria in the late eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Many of the famous tales about them, including their supposed use of hashish, are now regarded by historians as legend.

Who are the Dawoodi Bohras?§

They are a Tayyibi Musta'li Ismaili community, mostly of Gujarati origin, led by a supreme missionary (dāʿī muṭlaq) on behalf of a hidden Imam. They preserve much of Fatimid law and ritual.

Sources and further reading§

• The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines — Farhad Daftary, 1990
• A Short History of the Ismailis — Farhad Daftary, 1998
• Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani — Paul E. Walker, 1993
• The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning — Heinz Halm, 1997
• The Order of Assassins: The Struggle of the Early Nizari Isma'ilis against the Islamic World — Marshall G. S. Hodgson, 1955
• Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis — Henry Corbin, 1983