Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Isma‘ilis and Isma‘ili studies Farhad Daftary; Part I. The Classical Phase: 2. The Fatimids and the Qarmatis of Bahrayn Wilferd Madelung; 3. The cosmology of the pre-Fatimid Isma'iliyya Heinz Halm; 4. Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani and the seven faculties of the intellect Wilfred Madelung; 5. The Isma'ili oath of allegiance ('ahd) and the 'sessions of wisdom' (majalis al-hikma) in Fatimid times Heinz Halm; 6. Al-Qadi al-Nu‘man and Isma‘ili jurisprudence Ismail K. Poonawala; 7. A critique of Paul Casanova's dating of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' Abbas Hamdani; 8. Portraits of self and others: Isma‘ili perspectives on the history of religions Azim A. Nanji; 9. An Isma‘ili version of the heresiography of the seventy-two erring sects Paul E. Walker; Part II. The Nizari Phase: 10. Hasan-i Sabbah and the origins of the Nizari Isma'ili movement Farhad Daftary; 11. The power struggle between the Saljuqs and the Isma'ilis of Alamut, 487–518/1094–1124: The Saljuq perspective Carole Hillenbrand; 12. The Isma'ilis of Quhistan and the Maliks of Nimruz or Sistan C. Edmund Bosworth; 13. The philosopher/vizier: Khwaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and the Isma‘ilis Hamid Dabashi; 14. 'Sometimes by the sword, sometimes by the dagger': the role of the Isma'ilis in Mamluk-Mongol relations in the 8th/14th century Charles Melville; 15. The Isma'ili ginans: reflections on authority and authorship Ali S. Asani; 16. The Nuqtawi movement of Mahmud Pisikhani and his Persian cycle of mystical-materialism Abbas Amanat.