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The Forgotten Crown of Cairo: The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

The Forgotten Crown of Cairo: The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun
By Ahmad Amirali

Cairo (al-Muizziya al-Qahira) one of the oldest cities, founded by the Ismaili Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli making it as the new capital of Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century. The worlds 3rd largest and oldest university and learning centre, The Al-Azhar Mosque University was also founded in Cairo by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah. Blessed with the thousand beautiful mosques, Cairo is the home of the famous ‘Al-Hussein Mosque’ which was built over the remains of the martyred Shia Imam. However, the architecture piece in which I am going to talk about in this article is situated in the most remote and impoverished area of the Cairo city. Continue reading “The Forgotten Crown of Cairo: The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun” →

The Assassin Legends – Myths of the Isma’ilis – A Review

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

The Assassin Legends – Myths of the Isma’ilis by Farhad Daftary (I.B Taurus, London, 2001)
Review by Ahmad Amirali

Since centuries the legends of the Ismaili assassins have been told and narrated by many western-eastern scholars in a variety of ways. The most common among these stories are ‘the legends of the old man of the mountain’ and his follower assassins who had a stronghold in the Syrian mountains and northern Iran. These tales, myths or the legends first appeared in the Levant during the time of Crusades. Over the years, after crusades, the legends concluded in Marco Polo’s account who fabricated the new definition of Nizar Assassins. According to Polo’s accounts, the Nizari Assassin describe as a leader known as ‘the old man of the mountains’ who controlled the behaviour and will of his followers (devotees) by using hashish (drug) and the secret garden of paradise. This account became so mesmerised that the word ‘assassin’ entered the English language as a collective noun for the murderer. These tales over the time became legends and portrayed Ismailis as a sinister order of assassin by the western scholarship. Continue reading “The Assassin Legends – Myths of the Isma’ilis – A Review” →

Memoirs of a Mission: The Ismaili Scholar, Statesman and Poet, al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi – A Review

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Memoirs of a Mission: The Isma’ili Scholar, Statesman and Poet, al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi By Verena Klemm (I.B Taurus, London, 2003)
Review by Ahmad Amirali

Al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi (died 1087 CE), was a remarkable and multi-talented Fatimid scholar of Persian origin. He spends his life mostly serving Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir (1036 to 1094 CE) as a chief da’i performing various administrative, diplomatic, military and religious duties. Verena Klemm in her book elaborated a detailed account on the life and achievement of al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din through the lenses of his autobiography Sirat al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din. She believes that this Sira is not only an essential historical source regarding the function of Fatimid da’wa during 11 CE, it also provides a brief overview of Islamic military and political leadership during that time, i.e. Fatimids, Buyids, Seljuqs and Abbasids. The significance of al-Mu’ayyad’s Sira has been highlighted in many forms by Klemm in her book.  She considered al-Mu’ayyad’s Sira as “a masterpiece of medieval Arabic literature” that includes “rhymed prose, interspersed with lively dialogues, self-composed poems, dreams, stories and parables” (Klemm, 2003, p19).  Continue reading “Memoirs of a Mission: The Ismaili Scholar, Statesman and Poet, al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi – A Review” →

Hamid Al-Din Al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim – A Review

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Hamid Al-Din Al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim by Paul E. Walker (I. B. Tauris, 1999)
Review by Ahmad Amirali

In this book, Paul E. Walker introduces the major works of an Ismaili scholar Hamid al-Din Abu’l–Hasan Ahmad b. ‘Abdallah al–Kirmani. Al-Kirmani from the time of Imam-Caliph al-Hakim bi-amr Allah. (996-1021). He was a cutting edge of the intellectual advances of his time and almost aligned with the famous Ibn Sina, with whom he shared many mystical and philosophical ideas. Al-Kirmani’s ideas on the human intellect and the order of creation are the aperture those expressed by early Ismaili thinkers which he endeavoured to amend, thus providing insights into to initial Ismaili debates about philosophical and scientific concepts. Continue reading “Hamid Al-Din Al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim – A Review” →