The Ismaili 餃櫻尪蘋Lit. ‘summoner,’ a term for missionary amongst various Muslim communities, especially used among the Ismailis before and during the Fatimid period as well as in the Alamut period of Ismaili… (missionary) and poet N廜ξr-i Khusraw (d. after 1070) wrote Khwn al-ikhwn (The Banquet of the Brethren) when he was living in his remote mountain refuge of Yumgan in Badakhshan. This work includes a pr矇cis of ideas found in the Kitb al-Yanb蘋尪 (硃梭-廎可域鳥硃) (The Wellsprings of Wisdom), written by the earlier 餃櫻尪蘋 Ab贖 Ya尪q贖b al-Sijistn蘋 (d. ca. 971). N廜ξr-i Khusraw recast these ideas in Persian and then expanded them into 100 chapters (or courses of a banquet). The text presents a sequence of dynamic arguments for divine unicity (喧硃滄廎汁削The Oneness of God or belief in Divine Unity, one of the fundamental tenets of Islam.), while also asserting the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, his legatee and son-in-law 尪Al蘋 b. Ab蘋 廜珀libCousin of the Prophet Muhammad and his son-in-law by marriage to his daughter Fatima; the first Shii Imam and fourth caliph (d. 661)., and the subsequent Imams from the line of the Prophets descendant Ism尪蘋l b. Ja尪far al-廜〢diq.
Khwn al-ikhwn stands as a significant work in Ismaili theology and philosophy, exemplifying the central role of 喧硃尨滄蘋梭The elucidation of the inner or esoteric meaning, b廜虹n , from the literal wording or apparent meaning of a text, ritual or religious prescription. (esoteric interpretation). It also reflects the learning of the age, including the conception of a geocentric cosmos, Aristotelian physics, and Neoplatonic philosophy, all of which profoundly influenced the Ismaili 餃櫻尪蘋s in Iran.
This new Persian critical edition is based on the only two extant manuscripts of Khwn al-ikhwn, while referring additionally to Henry Corbins edition of al-Sijistn蘋s Kitb al-Yanb蘋尪. Rahim Gholami has also prepared an accompanying volume containing an annotated English translation of the Persian text.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction to the edition
Persian edition of Khwn al-ikhwn
Index of Quranic Citations
Index of Hadith Citations
Index of Biblical Citations
Select Bibliography
General Index
Rahim Gholami is a Research Associate at 51勛圖厙, UK. He received his PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter, UK, in 2021. He has translated over 100 articles for Encyclopaedia Islamica (2008 ), an abridged and edited translation of the Persian D尨irat al-Ma尪rif-i Buzurg-i Islm蘋, which is a comprehensive reference work on the Muslim world, with a focus on Shi尪i Islam. His research interests include Shi尪i esoterism and poetics, Ismaili intellectual traditions, and esoteric hermeneutics and literature.