Ismaili Studies Digest: Week 2
The 7 most popular academic works from the past week
Welcome to the second edition of our weekly digest, where we showcase the top 7 articles from the past week in the field of Ismāʿīlī Studies. This curated selection highlights the most compelling and influential research, discussions, and discoveries that have captured the attention of scholars and enthusiasts alike.
Top 7 Posts
The Unknowable Lord Has Manifested: Quiddity of Deity Between Divine Immanence, and Divine Transcendence, in the Isma'ili Ginan Tradition
Abstract: Absolute Divine transcendence, and concomitant necessary Divine immanence, are theological currents permeating the South Asian Shi'i Ismā'īlī tradition of the Gināns. The contrast between the articulations of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus in the Ginān tradition reflects its Subcontinent vernacularism, Shi'i framework, and the influence a…
"The Intellect is a Point and a Circle": A Case Study in the Textual Relationship of Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Maqalid and the Longer Theology of Aristotle
Abstract: In his groundbreaking monograph Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī, Paul Walker has pointed out parallels between al-Sijistānī's Kitāb al-Maqālīd and the Longer Theology of Aristotle--an augmented version of the Theology of Aristotle preserved mainly in Judeo-Arabic manuscripts and a sixteenth-centu…
'Ahd-i Sayyidna, a Newly Discovered Treatise on the Consolidation of the Nizari Da'wa in Alamut
“During my evaluation of a manuscript from Badakhshān, I came across a text which contained detailed information about the early confrontation of Nizārī Ismailis with the Saljūq armies in Alamūt. It covers the early years of Nizārī daʿwa after the seizure of Alamūt castle by Ḥasan-i Ṣabbāḥ (d. 518/1124), or ‘Sayyidnā’, as he is referred to here, in 483/…
