On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, Khalil Andani (Doctoral Candidate - Islamic Studies, Harvard University) delivered a Guest Lecture on the topic of "Shi'a Isma'ili Islam" before an audience of University students.
I'm sunni but I like learning about others too . Learn a lot about Ismaili . Had been searching for a long time about Ismaili until I saw ur video . Shukran .
Excellent insight! It cleared a lot of misconceptions about the 'Agha Khanis'. As a Sunni, I lament the divisive nature that exist amongst us. Unfortunately, a lot of fanatics and fringe elements (yet very vocal/visible)have hijacked our religion. I especially like the "Love" aspect of your Tarika. It's needed the most. Literal interpretation is a providence of all fundamentalists (independent of religion). We need 2 look @the inner meanings and adjust/evolve (w/o losing Tawhid) per space-time.
Nizari Isma'ilis follow both the fundamental and allegorical verses. If you claim that nobody knows the meaning of the allegorical verses, then it is impossible to actually follow those verses (because you don't know the meaning of them!). Furthermore, the Qur'an tells us that Hazrat Khidr and Hazrat Yusuf had knowledge of ta'wil; so how can the Prophet Muhammad lack the knowledge of ta'wil? Also, the group that says "we believe in it" must actually KNOW what they are believing in.
we all are branches of one tree. I am a sunni, I am a shia, I am an Ismaili, I am a sufi. I am everything that is connected to the religion of Allah. The time has come now, The Muslims desperatly need to unite. Respect eachother. pls pls pls
Nice presentation by Khalil Andani! We appreciate his efforts to provide clarity to other Muslim denominations and even non-Muslims about the background of ismailism and its basic tenents...
An exceptional presentation about our faith... Islam has evolved in the best way thru the Ismailism practice where being progressive & liberal is true representation of Islam.
Peace be upon all Shia of ALI , Ismaili , Zaydis and Ithna-Asheri , we might have our own little differences , but the key point is , Ali is the Mawlla of us all ,and that's all what matters. Thank you for the interesting presentation . Good luck and Well-being for all . Greetings from a Lebanese Ithna-Asheri .
Great, refreshing, almost universal presentation for intellectually and historically oriented Islamic scholarship and curiosity - a great minimum introduction to REAL ISLAM to non-Muslims with a bent on intellectual discourse. This is real universal Islam in the least. Khwajah Nasir-i Khusraw was a great, fiercely revolutionary intellect and spirit. Like Hazrat 'Ali (A), he has what Hazrat Mohammad (S) said, "9/10 of the reach and content of Knowledge - and the remaining 1/10 is completely with that one as well", inner and outer. However, since the heterogenous yet comprehensive likes of al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Nasir-i Khusraw, Suhrawardi, Ibn 'Arabi (and his expositor 'Abd al-Karim Jilli), Haydar 'Amuli (Ibn 'Arabi and Shia Islamic synthesizer for the twelver Shi'a community), Mulla Sadra, one rarely sees the instance of an ACTUAL ACTIVE UNIVERSAL INTELLECT ('Aql Kulli Natiqa/Quthb Mutafarrid/Mutha' bi Waqt va Dawr) nowadays (as this video also indicates somewhere, albeit in a historical context) who brings us epistemically and ontically to further horizons - irrespective of the abundance of academic reviews and scholarship and also irrespective of the various branches of Islamic cosmology, epistemology, and jurisprudence, including the Sunni-Shia division, and the Nizari and Musta'li branches of Ismailism. Most books won't do that, though some fluid intellectual authors can shed great light on history and classification of thought. A singular exception is this wonderful preserved tablet of knowledge ("mahfuzhat"), this weblog: sufi-horizon.blogspot.com/ (somewhat extensively Shia/Sufi - also redefining the meaning of "Sunni" via the root-word "Sunna" as "the intellectual-necessary Whole of the Word and the World" - therefore dismissing the ill-defined popular notion of "mysticism" for the sake of a profounder logical-creative category of intellection and imagination). And in going beyond classical 'Irfan, Ismailism, Ibn 'Arabism, and the Sadrian "Four-Journey" gnosis, it decisively and categorically (ontologically and epistemologically) distinguishes between the most singular, uncountable, emanative, substantive category of BEING (Wujood-i Mahsulat/Wujood-i Mustajjid bi Munfasil) (which the author calls "surjective") and the more reflexive-reflective (and the so-called "inconsistent singular multiplicity") EXISTENCE (Wujood-i Munbasit-i Jam-i Mutakathirah) in general - making the Muhammadi Reality (Haqiqat Muhammadiya) ontologically four-fold: twice outward and twice inward (beyond just inward and outward, the details are given there). This weblog (and its author, indirectly) I've now known for some time through a friend in an intellectual (beyond post-modern) Shia-Islamic Universalism circle. It greatly satisfies my epistemic thirst for bewilderment as well as certainty - apparently the mystery author ceased writing/updating it in 2011. Again, see this: sufi-horizon.blogspot.com/
Mr Somji, please note that the verb "salla" in Arabic means both "praying" and "blessing". The same verb is used in other Qur'anic verses as an act of God and His Angels - "Verily, God and His Angels shower blessings upon the Prophet (inna Allaha wamalaikatahu yusalloona AAala alnnabiyyi). Therefore, 9:103 means that the Prophet both prays over and blesses the believers. The Imam, as the spiritual successor of the Prophet, continues this function.
Furthermore, when the Prophet or Imam give blessings, they are not claiming any independent power. Because as the Salwaat/Durood asserts, God sends blessings upon the Prophet/Imam and the Imam transmits those blessings upon the believers via his prayers for them. There is no compromise of tawhid in this.
The infallibility of the imam as described by the ismaili constitution...the imam has absolute say over each and every matter of faith or any matter with direct regard to the faith.The practice of faith and different rituals and ceremonies are also included.
Mr. Somji, your translation and interpretation of this verse is entirely arbitrary. The fact is that the Qur'an uses the same verb and same wording in both the case of God and the Prophet. Both God and the Prophet can perform "salla" as the Qur'an attests. How you translate it into English is secondary, but in Arabic it is the same word.
Following the death of the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir in 1094CE, his heir designate and eldest son, Nizar was deprived of his succession rights by the vizier al-Afdal who placed Nizar's younger brother on the throne with the title of "al-Mustali". Nizar’s descendants arrived in Alamut which had been peaceably taken 1090 CE by Sayyid Hassan b. Sabbah, an Isma‘ili Da’i. The Nizari Ismaili Imamate continued from here and they are today headed by the Aga Khan, their 49th Imam...
excellent presentation...I respect the ismaili community & their imam for the work they do in keeping the community together,and in numerous other areas as well...i myself would have been an ismaili,but for a couple of questions... 1) the fact that H ismail ibne jafar (pbut) predeceased his father. 2) the authentic hadith from prophet muhammad(pbuh) about there being sucessors/caliphs after him? The 1st one i think many will brush aside saying that it isn't true....but the 2nd one....??
wow...extremely "in depth" presentation! one can tell u are passionate about this subject; yet, for the sake of brevity & time, how would u sum up your main point(s) u wish the listener/viewer to "take away"/learn from you &/or this lecture???
Brilliant video, I have a question about Nizari Ismaili Islam. In for example Roman Catholicism the Pope is seen as infallible, but only in matters of a spiritual nature and only speaks infallibly, only speaks with 'magisterium', under certain very strict conditions, so for example the current Pope has written some books on Jesus, but they are not considered infallible as he is not speaking 'ex cathedra'. What is the nature of the infallibility of the Imamate in Nizari Ismaili Islam?
Imam's say is final and absolute without conditions. To be an ismaili means to submit total allegiance to the Imam of the time. If one cannot submit, then that person cannot be true Ismaili. This is entirely voluntary expression of submission and deeply personal. Only the individual and the Imama know the nature of the relationship. No-one else can ever know or judge it.
Thank you for this amazing presentation, as a Shia Ismaili Nizari Muslim it was great to actually understand our practises and the inner meanings. Great Job :)
The Buyid dynasty, though Shii, is not a caliphate, but rather used the emirate appellation. Rather, they accepted the authority of the Abbasid caliphates. The Safavid rulers used the title Shah, and therefore were not caliphs. I think the de facto abolition of the Caliphate came with the Mongolian domination, and it would never come back again.
Your translation of 3:7 is not the only one. According to the rules of logic and Arabic grammar, the last part of the verse translates as "And no one knows its ta'wil except God and those who are firm in knowledge, saying: "We believe in it: All is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding."
The Mustali Ismailis who followed Nizar's younger son further divided after the death of al-Mustali's son al-Amir. It was alleged by the Sulayhid Queen of Yemen that the Fatimid Caliph al-Amir had a son 'al-Tayyib' who had however gone into hiding and the community, in the absence of Imams would be led by Supreme Dai’s. These Musta’ali Ismailis became known as the Bohora’s and more specifically the Tayyibi Bohora’s who are now scattered in parts of the Indian sub-continent...
I don't care about Islam, but I like the presentation and explanation of this student and I came to know the answers of so many questions I had me confused.
