Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Naysaburi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhı̄m al-Nı̄sābūrı̄ or al-Naysābūrı̄ ( ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم النيسابوري; ) was an
Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...
scholar from Nishapur, who entered the service of the
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
caliphs al-Aziz Billah and al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. His life is relatively obscure, and is known chiefly from references in his works. Among them three stand out as highly important for Fatimid and Isma'ili history: the ''Istitār al-imām'', a historical work that offers unique information on the early history of the Isma'ili movement and the rise of the Fatimid Caliphate, the ''Risāla al-mūjaza'', which contains an exposition on the qualities and duties of the ideal Isma'ili missionary, and the ''Ithbāt al-imāma'', an influential analysis of Isma'ili conceptions of the imamate, combining rationalist philosophical argument with Islamic theology.


Life

Very little is known about Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Naysaburi's life, apart from what can be gleaned from his works. As his '' nisbah'' reveals, he came from Nishapur, which at the time was a major centre of
Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...
missionary activity ('' daʿwa'') in Khurasan. Some of the chief Isma'ili theologians of the period, men like Muhammad al-Nasafi and
Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani Abu Ya'qub Ishaq ibn Ahmad al-Sijistani ( ar, أبو يعقوب إسحاق بن أحمد السجستاني) or al-Sijzi () was a 10th-century Persian Ismaili missionary active in the northern and eastern Iranian lands. His life is obscure, but ...
, and later
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani Hamid al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-Kirmani (; CE) was an Isma'ili scholar. He was of Persian origin and was probably born in the province of Kirman. He seems to have spent the greater part of his life as a Fatimid ''da'i'' (missiona ...
, were active thered. The Ima'ili ''daʿwa'' was largely tolerated by the local
Samanid dynasty The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
, and Nishapur at the time was experiencing an intellectual renaissance: the great philosopher Avicenna was a son of an Isma'ili convert, and the philosophical traditions of the time, emphasizing
rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy ...
, are evident in al-Naysaburi's own works. Like his contemporary, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, and the later
al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi Al-Mu'ayyad fid-din Abu Nasr Hibat Allah b. Abi 'Imran Musa b. Da'ud ash-Shirazi (c. 1000 CE/390 AH – 1078 CE/470 AH) was an 11th-century Isma'ili scholar, philosopher-poet, preacher and theologian of Persian origin. He served the Fatimid C ...
, al-Naysaburi left his native city and settled in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
, the capital of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, during the reign of Caliph al-Aziz Billah (). He remained there during the subsequent reign of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (), rising to what, according to the historian Paul E. Walker, appears to have been a high-ranking position in the Isma'ili ''daʿwa''. It was during al-Hakim's reign that al-Naysaburi composed his works, with topics ranging from history to theology and literature.


Writings

Al-Naysaburi's three main works are the ''Istitār al-imām'', ''Risāla al-mūjaza'', and ''Ithbāt al-imāma'', the second of which has not survived directly, but through inclusion in a later work.


''Istitār al-imām''

His work ''Istitār al-imām wa tafarruq al-duʿāt fi’l-jazāʾir li-ṭalabih'' (" ook on theConcealment of the Imam and the Dispersal of ''Dāʿī''s in Search of Him to Different ‘Islands’"), usually shortened to ''Istitār al-imām'', is a significant historical source on the early history of the Isma'ili movement, the early schism that resulted in the flight of
Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and the e ...
, from the Isma'ili headquarters at
Salamiyya A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995) Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it wa ...
, and his journey to
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, where he established the Fatimid Caliphate in 909. It also contains the first public version of the Fatimid dynasty's official genealogy, possibly published, as the historian Michael Brett suggests, as a reaction to the anti-Fatimid ''
Baghdad Manifesto The Baghdad Manifesto was a polemical tract issued in 1011 on behalf of the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir against the rival Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate. Background The manifesto was the result of the steady expansion of the Fatimid Caliphate since its ...
'' issued by the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
caliph
al-Qahir Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tadid ( ar, أبو المنصور محمد بن أحمد المعتضد, Abū al-Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muʿtaḍid), usually known simply by his regnal title Al-Qahir bi'llah ( ar, القاهر ...
in 1011. The work has been edited and published by
Wladimir Ivanow Wladimir Alekseevich Ivanow (Влади́мир Алексе́евич Ивано́в; November 3, 1886- June 19, 1970) was a Russian orientalist. He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and died in Tehran, Iran. He was a scholar of Islam, with ...
in ''Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts'' (University of Egypt, Vol. 4, Part 2, 1936), pp. 93–107, and an English translation has been provided by the same author in his ''Ismaili Tradition concerning the Rise of the Fatimids'' (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pp. 157–183. The Arabic text is also published in Suhayl Zakkar's ''Akhbār al-Qarāmiṭa'' (2nd edition, Damascus, 1982), pp. 111–132.


''Risāla al-mūjaza''

His work ''al-Risāla al-mūjaza al-kāfiya fı̄ ādāb al-duʿāt'' ("Brief but Sufficient Account of the Rules of Guidance for the ''Dāʿī''s") contains the only Isma'ili treatise on the qualifications and attributes required for an Isma'ili missionary ('' dāʿī''), and their duties and responsibilities while on mission, combining theological instruction with advice on practical matters. It is an example of ''adab'' ("appropriate behaviour, etiquette") literature. Written sometime between 1013 and 1015, it emphasizes the strict obedience owed by the ''dāʿī'' to the Caliph-Imam, and considers all other authorities illegitimate; as Michael Brett writes, his strategy aimed to "win recruits against the time when the lords of the land would be either converted or overthrown". It is quoted in full, apart from a lost introduction, by the 12th-century
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
i
Tayyibi Tayyibi Isma'ilism is the only surviving sect of the Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, the other being the extinct Hafizi branch. Followers of Tayyibi Isma'ilism are found in various Bohra communities: Dawoodi, Sulaymani, and Alavi. The Tayyibi ...
leader
Hatim ibn Ibrahim Hatim ibn Ibrahim al-Hamidi () (died 16 Muharram 596 AH, 6 November 1199 AD), Al-Hutaib, Yemen) was the third Tayyibi Isma'ili '' Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq'' (Absolute Missionary). He was of the Banu Hamdan tribe of Yemen and succeeded his father, th ...
, at the end of his own treatise ''Tuḥfat al-qulūb'', and has since been transmitted among the Tayyibi community, especially the
Dawoodi Bohras The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, Sout ...
, until the present day. A facsimile edition was published in Verena Klemm, ''Die Mission des fatimidischen Agenten al-Mu’ayyad fi'ddin in Siraz'' (Frankfurt, Peter Lang, 1989), pp. 205–277, and a translated critical edition by Verena Klemm and Paul E. Walker as ''A Code of Conduct. A Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission'' (London, 2011).


''Ithbāt al-imāma''

His main theological and philosophical work is the ''Ithbāt al-imāma'' ("Demonstration/Proof of the Imamate"), where he applies rationalist philosophy and the
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
nic principle of "degrees of excellence" to underpin his theological and
cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
concepts. It was written in an atmosphere of deep crisis in the Isma'ili ''daʿwa'', created by Caliph al-Hakim's erratic changes in both doctrine and governance, and is an attempt to reaffirm, in the words of Brett, "the necessity of belief in the Imam as the source of knowledge and the authority for the law". Along with the contemporary works of Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad ibn Ya'qub (''Risāla fi’l-imāma'') and al-Kirmani (''al-Maṣābiḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma''), and the earlier ''Tathbīt al-imāma'' written by the third Fatimid caliph,
al-Mansur Billah Abu Tahir Isma'il ( ar, أبو طاهر إسماعيل, Abū Ṭāhir ʾIsmāʿīl; January 914 – 18 March 953), better known by his regnal name al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (), was the third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from ...
, al-Nusaybi's work provides "an extremely important representation of the Fatimid vision of the imamate". It was published by M. Ghalib, Beirut, 1984, and in a critical edition with an English translation by Arzina R. Lalani, in ''Degrees of Excellence: A Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in Islam. An Arabic Edition and English translation of Ahmad al-Naysaburi’s Kitab Ithbat al-Imama'' (London, I. B. Tauris in association with the
Institute of Ismaili Studies The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) is a research institute in London, United Kingdom. It aims to promote the study of Muslim cultures and societies, both historical and contemporary, in order to foster a greater understanding of their relatio ...
, 2006).


Other works

Other works of al-Naysaburi are the ''Kitāb al-tawḥīd'' ("The Book of Unity"), a theological treatise, and the ''Risālā al-zāhira fī maʿrifat al-dār al-ākhīra'' ("The Resplendent Treatise on the Recognition of the Abode of the Hereafter"), which deals with
eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
, but its attribution to al-Naysaburi by Ivanow has been questioned by the contemporary historian Ismail Poonawala, who ascribes it to Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ya'buri al-Hamdani.


References


Sources

* * * * * * {{Authority control 10th-century Iranian philosophers 11th-century Iranian philosophers 10th-century historians from the Fatimid Caliphate 11th-century historians from the Fatimid Caliphate Iranian Ismailis Ismaili theologians Medieval Arabic-language writers People from Nishapur 10th-century Ismailis 11th-century Ismailis