Ismailis

Ismailis, a Shiite Muslim sect, whose adherents reached their greatest political influence in the Islamic world between the 10th and 12th centuries ad. The Ismailis are also known as Seveners, because they originally accepted a line of only seven imams, though their spiritual descendants now believe there were more Imams. The first Ismailis emerged from a dispute in ad 765 over the succession of the sixth Shiite Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. Ismailis were those who recognized Jafar's designation of Ismail, his eldest son, as his successor and hence the seventh Imam-to-be, even after Ismail had predeceased his father. Those Shiites who came to recognize another son, Musa, as the heir apparent are thought to be the precursors to Imamis (or Twelvers). Some Ismailis refused to acknowledge Ismail's death—maintaining that he had gone into occultation ( ghayba) but would return at the end of time as the Madhi—while others believed that Ismail himself had designated (before his premature death) his son Muhammad as his successor. Little more is known about these early Ismailis. Over a century later the Ismaili community seems to have developed a sophisticated set of theological systems and beliefs and to have split up into groups, some of which—like the Carmathians (Qaramita)—continued to believe the last Imam was in occultation while others—like the Fatimids—dropped the movement's initial beliefs and acknowledged a variety of rival claimants as descendants of Ismail and Muhammad and thus the present day Imams.

Ismailis have generally been viewed by other Muslims as on the fringes, if not beyond the pale, of Islam. They were severely persecuted by Sunnis and viewed with suspicion by Imami Shiites. Like Sufis and the Imami Shiites, their religious leaders—in their case, the Imams—can penetrate the hidden meanings (batin) of the Koran through their esoteric interpretations (tawil). Though itself divided into various sects, Ismailism first assumed elements of gnosticism and then later adopted almost intact Neoplatonism as its theology, an emanationist system that had also been adopted by some nominally Sunni Sufis and philosophers.

In the late 9th century an Ismaili state was organized by the (above-mentioned) Carmathians in Bahrain and Oman, and another in the 10th century by the Fatimid Imams in North Africa: the latter also proclaimed themselves as caliphs and thus rivals to the Sunni Abbasid caliphate. The Fatimids conquered Egypt in 969, founded Cairo and the al-Azhar mosque, and developed a strong, culturally brilliant state that flourished until the 12th century. A splinter group of Fatimid Ismailis, called the Nizaris but known to the West as the Assassins, established a stronghold in the mountains of northern Iran and Lebanon in the 12th century and attempted to eliminate important religious, military, and political Sunni opponents.

The two main branches of Ismailis today stem from the Fatimids: the Bohras, with their headquarters in Mumbai, believe that their last Imam is occultation and accept the authority of the “absolute Dai” as his deputy. The Khojas are the largest of all Ismaili sects and number some 20 million. They are the spiritual descendants of the Nizaris (Assassins) of Iran and Lebanon and their line of Imams contines to this day, their present Imam being known as the Aga Khan.