The Eagle Returns | Dr Shafique N. Virani

The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Ismaili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests

Dr Shafique N. Virani Author

Keywords:油珂看稼乙看鉛,油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊,油AlamutFortress of the Nizari Ismailis in northern Iran, which fell to the Mongols in 654 AH/1256 CE., 岳温��l庄馨庄霞霞温, Juwayni, Gilan, Mazandaran, Saljuqs, Hulagu, Maymundiz, Khwarshah, Tarkiya, Kiya Sayf�al-Din, Qazwin, Mar��ashi, Ilkhanids,�mulhid, wajibat,�糸温��w温,�Ginan,�NizarisAdherents of a branch of the Ismailis who gave allegiance to Nizar, the eldest son of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir (d. 1094) as his successor., Hasan Sabbah, Nusayris, Nasai��ih-i Shah-Rukhi, Ul足jaytu.

This article by Dr Shafique N. Virani focused on how Persian historians, following Ata-Malik Juwayni’s eyewitness accounts in�The History of the World Conqueror, record the complete annihilation of the Shi’i Ismaili community, centred at�Alamut, in the thirteenth century Mongol invasions that devastated the Muslim world. While modern research reveals that the community had, in fact, survived, its continued activities at�Alamut�and the south Caspian region have been underestimated. Inconsistencies and exaggerations in Juwayni’s testimony are analysed for a correction of his narrative based on other historians, including Rashid�al-Din.

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"The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Ismaili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests" by Shafique N. Virani

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Table of content

Introduction

A Corrective to ��Ata-Malik Juwayni��s Narrative

In the Shadow of the Ilkhanids and Beyond

Testimony of the 鰻温壊温��i鞄-i Shah-Rukhi

Testimony of the Da��wa Literature of the Indian Subcontinent

Conclusion

Footnotes

Introduction

None of that people should be spared, not even the babe in its cradle.-Edict of Chingiz Khan and Mangu Qa��an¹

It is generally believed that the fall of the castle of�Alamut�in A.H. 654 (A.D. 1256) marks the end of the Ismaili influence in Gilan. This is a great mistake.
-Hyacinth L. Rabino²

The catastrophic Mongol incursions into the heart of the Muslim world during the thirteenth century left a path of death and destruction in their wake. Though the assaults succeeded in vanquishing Baghdad, toppling the Muslim�caliph�himself, it is notable that the famous contemporary historian, ��Ata-Malik Juwayni, does not describe this as the pinnacle of Mongol conquest. Rather, for this Sunni historian, the zenith and culmination of the Mongol invasion is the obliteration of the tiny rival enclave of the�Isma��ilis, a Shi��i community centred at the mountain fortress of�Alamut. It is to this singular event that Juwayni dedicates the concluding one-third of his�History of the World Conqueror.³

Ibn al-Athir and later historians record a charming anecdote about this fortress. Apparently, Wahsudan b. Marzuban, one of the�Justanid�rulers of�DaylamThe highlands in the province of Gilan, near the Caspian Sea in northern Iran., was on a hunting expedition when he saw a soaring eagle alight on a rock. Noticing how strategically ideal the site was, the ruler decided to build a castle there that was henceforth called�Aluh amu[kh]t, which may mean ��the eagle��s teaching,��岳温��l庄馨 al-��uqab�in Ibn al Athir��s rendering. The name, later simplified to�Alamut, is significant in at least two ways. As noticed by a number of historians, in the traditional�温恢逮温糸油system of alpha-numeric correspondence, the name is a chronogram for the year 483 AH, corresponding to AD 1090, the very year that Hasan Sabbah, the champion of the Nizari Isma��ili cause, came into possession of the fortress. From then on, it became the home of the�Nizaris, the�岳温��l庄馨庄霞霞温, as they came to be known, reflecting their emphasis on the need for authoritative instruction (岳温��l庄馨) and reminiscent of this delightful story about the�岳温��l庄馨 al-��uqab, the eagle��s teaching.⁴

The Mongols sought a complete destruction of�Alamut�and the extermination of the�Isma��ilis. Many of the Persian historians, led by Juwayni, believed that they were successful in this endeavour. Until recently, the complete extermination of the�Isma��ilis�in the face of the Mongol behemoth was also accepted as fact in Western scholarship. Perhaps the first person to draw attention in orientalist circles to the continued existence of the�Isma��ilis�as well as to their local traditions and literature was Jean Baptiste L. J. Rousseau (d. 1831), who was the French consul-general in Aleppo from 1809 to 1816 and a long time resident of the Near East. He came across the�Nizaris�in Syria and highlighted their sorry plight after their 1809 massacre at the hands of the Nusayris. He was also much surprised, during his participation as a member of an official French mission sent to the court of the Persian monarch Fath ��Ali Shah (d.1834), to find that the community flourished in Iran as well. He wrote a letter about his findings to the famous Parisian scholar, A. I. Sylvestre de Sacy, who quoted it at the end of his pivotal study ��M辿moire sur la dynastie des Assassins, et sur l��辿tymologie de leur Nom.��⁵

However, this information was scarcely noticed in orientalist circles. It was only with the pioneering efforts of Wladimir Ivanow in the following century that the community finally emerged from academic obscurity. While its continued survival had now become clear, what has hitherto been largely underestimated, if not often unnoticed, is the fact of continued Isma��ili activity in the regions of Gilan,�Daylam, and Mazandaran, including at the fort of�Alamut�itself, in the wake of the Mongol invasions. This was first suggested by Hyacinth Louis Rabino (d. 1950), the British vice-consul in Rasht whose writings contributed significantly to scholarship on the south Caspian region.⁶�Little use was made of Rabino��s findings in this regard until Farhad Daftary revisited the issue briefly in his work,�The Isma��ilis: Their History and Doctrines.⁷�Slightly later, Maryam Mu��izzi contributed new insights in her M.A. thesis, completed at Firdawsi University in Mashhad.⁸

In this article it is maintained that Isma��ili activity in the region in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions was even greater than previously suspected. Inconsistencies and exaggerations in Juwayni��s testimony; a correction of his narrative based on other historians, including Rashid al-Din; and the evidence of regional histories, geographical tomes and inscriptions clearly point to sustained Isma��ili presence in the region. This evidence is further supported by the fifteenth-century Nasai��ih-i Shah-Rukhi, a hostile Khurasani source that clearly indicates that�Alamut�was a centre of the Isma��ili�糸温��w温�to which community funds were sent. The testimony of the 鰻温壊温��i鞄 is supported by that of the�糸温��w温�literature of the Indian subcontinent, which provides very suggestive evidence that the residence of the�Imam�Islam Shah was�Alamut. From this, it becomes clear that the south Caspian region continued, perhaps sporadically, as an important centre of the Isma��ili community for over a century after the Mongol irruption. The eagle had, so to speak, returned.

A Corrective to ��Ata-Malik Juwayni��s Narrative

The Mongol invasions were undoubtedly a singular event in Islamic history. The cataclysmic proportions of this catastrophe moved contemporary writers to predict the imminent end of the world.⁹�Ibn al ��Athir, who himself had witnessed the destruction wrought by the marauding invaders, prefaced his account of the conquest as follows:

I have been avoiding mentioning this event for many years because I consider it too horrible. I have been advancing with one foot and retreating with the other. Who could easily write the obituary of Islam and the Muslims? For whom could it be easy to mention it? Would that my mother had not given birth to me, would that I had died before it happened and had been a thing forgotten. However, a group of friends urged me to record it since I knew it first-hand. Then I saw that to refrain from it would profit nothing. Therefore, we say: this deed encompasses mention of the greatest event, the most awful catastrophe that has befallen time. It engulfed all beings, particularly the Muslims. Anyone would be right in saying that the world, from the time God created humans until now, has not been stricken by its like. Histories contain nothing that even approaches it.¹⁰

As Morgan convincingly argues, it was not mere coincidence that Juwayni makes the Mongol conquest of�Alamut�the culmination of his�History of the World Conqueror. As a staunch Sunni Muslim, he could scarcely celebrate the devastation of his co-religionists by his own heathen patron whose service he had entered during his youth. He was therefore at pains ��to discern some silver linings in the Mongol clouds.��¹¹�What better way than to celebrate his patron��s victory over the ��arch-heretics,�� something the Saljuqs had never been able to accomplish?¹²�Though he was an eyewitness to the Mongol invasions, Juwayni selectively reports what suits his aim. Numerous authors from the time of d��Ohsson in the early 1880s to David Ayalon more recently have vigorously censured Juwayni for ��extravagant flattery�� of the Mongols, castigating him for being ��servile��- even ��nauseating.��¹³�Edward Granville Browne is somewhat more forgiving, noting that his circumstances ��compelled him to speak with civility of the barbarians whom it was his misfortune to serve.��¹⁴

Undoubtedly, the most glaring omission in his tome of the Mongol conquests is his neglecting to mention the fact that the Mongols sacked Baghdad and murdered the last ��Abbasid�caliph�in 656 AH/1258 CE, unceremoniously rolling him up in a carpet and trampling him to death with elephants.¹⁵�Meanwhile, the downfall of the tiny Nizari Isma��ili state is given great prominence and is the pinnacle of his narrative.¹⁶�Juwayni himself composed the�fathnama�or proclamation of victory on this occasion.¹⁷�We must wonder, though, if Juwayni��s own immense distaste for the Nizari IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja平far al-畊��diq (d. 765), as his successor. was shared to the same degree by his patron. In fact, Hulagu��s own attitude appears ambiguous at times. There are instances when he seems to have treated the Isma��ili�Imam�with great deference, viewing him with ��attention and kindness,�� and even bestowing lavish gifts on him.¹⁸

For the same reasons that Juwayni seriously downplays the desolation of the Sunni Muslim world, he revels in the Mongol victories over the�Isma��ilis. Asserting that the ��sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and all of [the] seed and family�� of the last Isma��ili�Imam�of�Alamut, Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah, were ��laid on the fire of annihilation,��¹⁹�he triumphantly declares in concluding his history, ��He and his followers were kicked to a pulp and then put to the sword; and of him and his stock no trace was left, and he and his kindred became but a tale on men��s lips and a tradition in the world.��²⁰�While there can be little doubt that the community was devastated – we know independently from the�Tarikh-i Tabaristan, for example, that�Khurasan�especially was flooded with captive Isma��ili women and children, sold as slaves – this devastation was not total.²¹

Rashid�al-Din�informs us that the fortress of Girdkuh managed to hold out under extreme siege conditions for almost twenty years, falling only in 669 AH/1270 CE, over a decade after Alamut��s capitulation.²²�In the same year, an attempt, ascribed to the�Nizaris, was made on the life of ��Ata-Malik Juwayni himself, who had written them out of existence scarcely a decade earlier. This strongly suggests that contemporary witnesses still viewed the�Isma��ilis�as a force to be reckoned with and were not at all convinced of their extirpation by the Mongols.²³

Both Hamd Allah Mustawfi (d. 750 AH/1349 CE) and Fasih Khwafi (b. 777 AH/1375 CE) inform us that shortly after Girdkuh fell, a group of�Isma��ilis, led by the ��son of Khwarshah�� whose title was ��Naw Dawlat�� or ��Abu Dawlat�� managed to recapture�Alamut�in 674 AH/1275 CE.²⁴�The subjugation of the fortress by this son of the�Imam�Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah, in league with a descendant of the Khwarazmshahs, led H. L. Rabino to assert, ��It is generally believed that the fall of the castle of�Alamut�in AH 654 (1256 CE) marks the end of the Isma��ili influence in Gilan. This is a great mistake. Either the destruction of�Alamut�cannot have been as complete as reported by the Persian writers, or the castle was rebuilt.��²⁵

This event involving the son of�Imam�Khwarshah forces us to dismiss Juwayni��s assertion that the Mongols had killed the entire family, ��to even the babe in its cradle.�� A careful examination of the�History of the World Conqueror�further reveals inconsistencies and lapses in Juwayni��s testimony, particularly with regards to a parenthetical remark that�Imam�Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah had but a single son – ��he sent out his son, his only one, and another brother called Iran-Shah with a delegation of notables, officials and leaders of his people.��²⁶

Prior to this pivotal assertion, Juwayni had mentioned a young son of the�Imam�Rukn�al-Din�who was sent together with a number of his chief officials to the service of Hulagu. As the historian tells us, the Mongol leader suspected that he had been tricked and that a decoy of the same age had been sent in place of the real son, despite assurances to the contrary. It seems rather more probable that the misgivings were Juwayni��s, not Hulagu��s. The Mongol conqueror treated the child kindly and allowed him to return on the agreement that one of the imam��s brothers, Shiran Shah, would take his place.²⁷�Rashid�al-Din, narrating the same incident, doesn��t share Juwayni��s doubts about the identity of the boy.²⁸�His testimony regarding this event seems more reliable. Juwayni is convinced that even�Imam�Khwarshah��s ministers and advisers had been duped and were unaware that it was not the real son, which is scarcely a possibility.²⁹�Both Juwayni and Rashid�al-Din�record that the child was seven or eight years old.³⁰�If indeed this were a decoy, it would have been quite foolhardy to send such a youngster, who would have easily blurted out the truth of his identity under questioning.

Both Juwayni and Rashid�al-Din�mention that when the castle of Maymundiz was conquered in 654 AH/1256 CE, Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah sent another son to Hulagu together with the imam��s brother Iran Shah and various notables and dignitaries.³¹�This son was clearly not the same person as the child sent earlier, as Juwayni is confident of his identity.³²�Rashid�al-Din�provides the important additional detail that the name of this son was Tarkiya.³³�Thus,�Imam�Khwarshah had at least two sons. This is further supported by Juwayni himself who contradicts his testimony about a single son, by writing about Rukn al�Din�Khwarshah��s ��sons and daughters, brothers and sisters��³⁴�in one instance, and again about his ��brothers, children, domestics and dependents��³⁵�in another.

Whether the son of�Imam�Khwarshah who reconquered�Alamut, named Abu Dawlat or Naw Dawlat in our sources, was this Tarkiya, the child sent with Iran Shah, or some other offspring is not possible to determine without more information. If he was either Tarkiya or the child sent with Iran Shah, he would have been in his late twenties when he led his people to victory. Regardless of which of these offspring he was, it is likely he was quite young at the time as Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah himself was only in his late twenties when the Mongols attacked, his youthfulness being alluded to in numerous places.³⁶

In the Shadow of the Ilkhanids and Beyond

However, the earlier political power of the�Isma��ilis�had been broken, and the fortress was once again seized from ��the son of Khwarshah�� by Abaqa Khan (d. 680 AH/1282 CE), Hulaga Khan��s eldest son and successor to the throne of the Ilkhanids.³⁷�The Mongols did not stay to rule, though. Gilan was never properly conquered by them and, until the time of Uljaytu Khan (d. 716 AH /1312 CE), was left relatively undisturbed due to its inaccessibility.³⁸�In fact, we find the area scarcely mentioned in the earlier chronicles of the Mongol period.³⁹�Thus, the�Nizaris�were probably able to retain some sort of autonomy in�Daylam, just as other groups ruled relatively independently in the surrounding areas. Indeed, Hulagu��s great-grandson, Ghazan Khan, who succeeded to the Ilkhanate in 694 AH/1295 CE, refers to the continued presence of�Isma��ilis�in his time ��who have been in these lands from long ago,�� noting that they had a practice of concealing their beliefs.⁴⁰�This state of relative independence continued until, hungry for the taxes of the Gilani�amirs and power over the silk of that region, Uljaytu brought in his army in 706 AH/1307 CE.⁴¹�His foray into�Daylam�was marked by plunder and killing.⁴²�Most of the Daylamites fled to take refuge in the jungles of the area, and the Mongols took women and children as prisoners.⁴³�Uljaytu��s victory was not entirely one-sided, though. Hafiz Abru informs us that it was a hard fight, with both sides experiencing heavy casualties.⁴⁴�A local chief by the name of Shiru, unidentified but whose defiance and area of activity suggest the possibility of his being an Isma��ili, resisted the onslaught and managed to plunder the Mongol baggage train, which had been held up by the difficult terrain.⁴⁵�Though this Mongol incursion into Gilan was successful, it was, as J. A. Boyle correctly recognised, ��at most a Pyrrhic victory.��⁴⁶�Even if they managed to maintain some residual authority over the region after this expedition, it would have evaporated with the death of Abu Sa��id (735 AH/1335 CE), Uljaytu��s successor and the last great Mongol Ilkhan. Henceforth, there was no central rule or strong government in the region, a circumstance that would have allowed any remaining�Isma��ilis�in the area a respite from the ravages of the previous decades.

This is supported by the�Nuzhat al-Qulub, written in 740 AH/1340 CE, which mentions that the lands of Ashkawar, Daylaman, Talish, Kharaqan, and Khastajan, the great mountainous districts between (Persian) Iraq and Gilan, were under the control of independent governors, each of whom considered himself to be an independent king. The work further goes on to state that the people of many of these areas were�Isma��ilis.⁴⁷�It seems that during this period of respite, the community managed to regroup and within a few decades was able to eliminate some of its opponents, such as Malik Bisutun, a local ruler in Taliqan, in 787 AH/1385 CE.⁴⁸

Despite his clear hostility and stylised diatribes, we are forced to rely on�Zahir�al-Din�Mar��ashi��s (d. 892 AH/1486 CE) testimony, as he is our only major source for the�Isma��ilis�of�Daylam�in this period. This author dedicated a whole section of his�Tarikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan�to the history and doctrine of the�Isma��ilis, a section to which he repeatedly refers but which, unfortunately, is absent in the sole surviving manuscript of the work. In itself, the attention of this author, who lived two centuries after the Mongol destruction of�Alamut, is testimony to the Isma��ili community��s enduring presence and influence in the region.⁴⁹

By 770 AH/1368-69 CE, the whole of Daylaman seems once again to have come under Isma��ili rule and was governed by Kiya Sayf�al-Din�of the Kushayji family. While the Isma��ili religious tendencies of the Daylamites and their leaders were suspected, they do not appear to have been proclaimed openly. Administrating from his residence in Marjikuli (modern day Mirjankuli), this leader received a hostile letter from the neighbouring Zaydi ruler,�Sayyid��Ali Kiya b.�Amir�Malati, who would later go on to found the Caspian Zaydi dynasty of�Amir�Kiya��i sayyids that would endure until the�Safawids�subdued Gilan in 1000 AH/1592 CE. In his letter he severely denounced the�malahida-i isma��ili�and prevailed upon Kiya Sayf�al-Din�to rid his territories of the hated sectarians. The Isma��ili leader replied indignantly to the messenger, declaring his family��s religion openly, ��My ancestors followed the religion of Muhammad, upon whom be peace, and were followers and believers in the sayyids of the line of Isma��il b. Ja��far. Nobody has a right to order us in this manner.��⁵⁰�The stinging rejoinder moved ��Ali Kiya to prepare his troops for battle. When Kiya Sayf�al-Din�heard of these preparations, he immediately readied his own Daylami troops. The two parties clashed in 779 AH/1377-78 CE.

In the battle, Kiya Sayf al-Din��s troops were routed and this Isma��ili leader was forced to flee.�Sayyid��Ali Kiya quickly set about to ��repulse and obliterate the path of impiety and depravity [of Isma��ilism] that the people of that realm had adopted for some years.��⁵¹�If indeed Isma��ilism had only recently been accepted by the people, as Mar��ashi implies, it is an indication that efforts at conversion were being made. However, given the traditional Isma��ili associations of the area, it is perhaps more likely that extremely difficult circumstances had forced the sectarians underground and it was only in the less hostile environ ment permitted by an Isma��ili ruler that they became bolder in asserting their identity. ��Ali Kiya��s new lieutenant,�Amir��Ali, pursued Sayf�al-Din, eventually capturing and beheading him. The head was sent forthwith to ��Ali Kiya.

Led by a certain Dabbaj Bahadur, the members of the Kushayji family and their followers regrouped in Qazwin. They managed to exact revenge and did away with�Amir��Ali. Numerous�Isma��ilis�then sought refuge in Qazwin, from where they made forays into Daylaman. Writing just a few decades earlier, Hamd Allah Mustawfi, himself a native of Qazwin, had remarked that though the city was encompassed by�Isma��ilis, its population remained largely Sunni of the�Shafi��i�school, ��extremely bigoted in matters of religion.��⁵²�However, the inhabitants of nearby Taliqan, just to the east of Qazwin, while declaring themselves�SunnisAdherents of the majority branch of Islam, Sunnism; from the term sunn朝 which means a follower of the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad., were known to incline to Isma��ilism.⁵³�In 781 AH/1378 CE,�Sayyid��Ali Kiya��s commander of Ashkawar and Rudbar, Khwaja Ahmad, drove these refugees out of Qazwin. The Kushayji family then fled to Sultaniyya to join some of their co-religionists who had been ordered there by Tamerlane.⁵⁴�Just over a decade later, Tamerlane��s troops were also to massacre the�Isma��ilis�in Mazandaran,⁵⁵�and shortly afterwards those of Anjudan as well.⁵⁶

��Ali Kiya sought to enlist the support of Khudawand Muhammad��s forces in his efforts to dominate the region. He therefore sent an emissary bearing a message proclaiming, as Mar��ashi informs us, that ��the Almighty God��s gate of repentance and penitence was open�� and that the way to it was for the�imam��to forsake the corrupt beliefs�� of his forbears and ancestors.⁵⁷�The message is further supposed to have proclaimed:

Your folk have ruled over Daylamistan for a number of years, but due to abounding iniquity, the evil of impiety, and wicked beliefs, you have witnessed what you have witnessed [apparently a reference to the downturn of Isma��ili political fortunes]. If you turn away from the path reviled by the leaders of religion and companions of certainty, and adorn and bedeck yourself in the garb of faith and certitude, accepting our merciful counsel, we will show compassion and mercy to you and bestow the land of Daylamistan upon you.⁵⁸

The highly stylised account then has Khudawand Muhammad hastily beating a path to Lahijan where�Sayyid��Ali Kiya enlists his support to overcome Kiya Malik Hazaraspi of Ashkawar with whom he had fallen out, despite the earlier allegiance of Kiya Malik��s ancestors. This was clearly the real purpose of his original communication. Mar��ashi��s narrative then has Khudawand Muhammad abjure the beliefs of his ancestors before the ��religious scholars, jurists, and judges�� of the land.⁵⁹�There followed, in the year 776 AH/1374 CE, a mighty battle in which the forces of Kiya Malik were routed by the combined efforts of Khudawand Muhammad and�Sayyid��Ali Kiya��s brother,�Sayyid�Mahdi�Kiya. Kiya Malik fled and took refuge at�Alamut.⁶⁰

However, rather than assigning Daylaman to Khudawand Muhammad for his support as had been promised,�Sayyid��Ali Kiya double-crossed him, instead entrusting this area to his own brother,�Mahdi�Kiya.⁶¹�Realising he had been deceived, Khudawand Muhammad stole away by night to�Alamut, where he formed an alliance with the defeated Kiya Malik. In turn, Kiya Malik promised that�Alamut�would be entrusted to the�imam�if he helped him to regain Ashkawar. As Mar��ashi narrates, upon seeing Khudawand Muhammad, the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut�and Lamasar immediately rallied about him, joined the forces of Kiya Malik, and converged on Ashkawar. The combined forces inflicted heavy losses on the Gilani army of�Sayyid�Mahdi, whose dead and wounded totalled close to two thousand, while many others were taken prisoner by the�Isma��ilis.⁶²�Sayyid�Mahdi�Kiya was himself taken captive and sent to the court of the Jalayirid ruler of Azarbayjan, ��Iraq and Kurdistan, Sultan Uways (r. 757-76 AH/1356-74 CE), whose dynasty had been one of the successors of the Mongol Ilkhanids in Persia.⁶³�An accompanying letter written by Kiya Malik stated that a group of�rafidis had made common cause with�Sayyid�Mahdi�Kiya to subjugate Daylamistan and ��Iraq, and hence he was being sent to the court.⁶⁴

Mahdi-Kiya remained incarcerated for a period of a year and six months, during which time, oddly enough, his brother made no attempt to have him released. It was only with the intercession of Taj�al-Din�Amuli, one of the Hasanid Zaydi�sayyids of Timjan, and the proffering of numerous gifts that he was freed.⁶⁵�When appealing to Sultan Uways, Taj�al-Din�explained that Kiya Malik was in cahoots with the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut�(馨温鉛温鞄庄糸温-庄油粥鉛温馨顎岳). Apparently the sultan required no further explanation. Even away in Tabriz, he seems to have been well aware of the continued existence of the�Isma��ilis�in�Daylam�and their survival of the Mongol depredations.

Soon after his brother was released, ��Ali Kiya set out to displace Kiya Malik from Ashkawar once again. Kiya Malik was bested in the ensuing struggle and fled to�Alamut, where Khudawand Muhammad wanted nothing to do with him. He thus took refuge with Tamerlane. Meanwhile, the army of ��Ali Kiya, which had pursued Kiya Malik right up to�Alamut, decided to besiege the fort. Khudawand Muhammad refused to capitulate. However, dwindling resources forced him to surrender the castle. He was granted safe conduct and also made his way to the camp of the Turkic conqueror.⁶⁶

��Ali Kiya wrote a letter to Tamerlane about the collusion of Kiya Malik and the Isma��ili�imamIn general usage, a leader of prayers or religious leader. The Shi’i restrict the term to their spiritual leaders descended from 平Al朝 b. Ab朝畊��lib and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima., prevailing upon him to take the appropriate measures. Upon receipt of this letter, the ruler sent Kiya Malik to Sawa, while Khudawand Muhammad was sent to confinement in Sultaniyya. Mar��ashi writes that the imam��s descendants continued to reside there until his own days, that is to say, until the late fifteenth century.⁶⁷

��Ali Kiya��s death in 791 AH/1389 CE allowed Kiya Malik Hazaraspi to return to Daylaman from Sawa. There he received help from the locals to regain�Alamut�and Lamasar from the�Amir�Kiya��i�sayyids.⁶⁸�He was, however, murdered by his own grandson, Kiya Jalal�al-Din, who then succeeded him and who, we are informed, was hated by the Daylamites. Amidst this confusion, Khudawand Muhammad reappeared in the area, and the�Isma��ilis�of the region, who apparently resided at�Alamut, gave the fortress to him. However, this was soon lost once again to Malik Kayumarth b. Bisutun, one of the Gawbara rulers of Rustamdar.⁶⁹

Later, the fortress was taken over by ��Ali Kiya��s son, Radi Kiya (d. 829 AH/1426 CE). This ruler perpetrated such massacres in�Daylam�that in the year 819 AH/1416 CE, in the words of Mar��ashi, ��the waters of the White River (Safidrud) turned red with the blood of those killed.��⁷⁰�Among those done away with were many Isma��ili leaders, including some descendants of the Isma��ili�Imam�Khudawand ��Ala�� al�Din�Muhammad. However, it seems that even this terrible massacre did not completely end Isma��ili activities in the area. While it would appear that the Isma��ili imams now abandoned the region, perhaps in favour of Anjudan, there is epigraphic evidence of continued Isma��ili activity in the area of Gilan. The tombstone of the Zaydi ruler of Lahijan, Muhammad Kar Kiya b.�Sayyid�Nasr Kiya, dated 883 AH/1478 CE boasts that for forty years he battled against the innovations of the�Isma��ilis�(bid��a mulhidiyya).⁷¹

In his�Ta��rikh-i Mazandaran, written in 1044 AH/1634 CE,�Mulla�Shaykh��Ali Gilani reports Isma��ili activities in the region as late as the end of the tenth/sixteenth century, that is to say even into Safawid times. Above, we have mentioned that Khudawand Muhammad had lost�Alamut�to Malik Kayumarth b. Bisutun, one of the Gawbara rulers of Rustamdar. When this ruler died in 857 AH/1453 CE, his territories were divided between his two sons, Kawus and Iskandar, the former ruling from�Nur�and the latter from Kujur. In 957 AH/1567 CE, Sultan Muhammad b. Jahangir, a Nizari Ismaili, succeeded his father to the leadership of the Iskandari line. Gilani expresses his distaste for this ruler, but reports that he was tremendously popular amongst his subjects. With the help of his adoring citizenry, he spread his creed throughout Rustamdar and established his suzerainty over�Nur�and other areas of Mazandaran, even as far as Sari. When his eldest son Jahangir succeeded him in 998 AH/1589 CE, he continued his father��s religious policies. The south Caspian region could not remain free from Safawid hegemony for long, however, and after Shah ��Abbas I subjugated much of the area in 1000 AH/1591 CE,Jahangir hastened to his court. Shortly after returning to Rustamdar, he was captured by a force under the command of the shah��s local lieutenant, sent to Qazwin, and executed there in 1006 AH/1597 CE.⁷²�This is the last we hear of Isma��ili political activities in the area. Some faint whisperings of the possibility of the community��s continued habitation in this region, however, are found in a verse of the Isma��ili poet, Khaki Khurasani, who flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century, which refers�diyar al-marz�and Mazandaran.⁷³�This single allusion may represent the last vestige of Isma��ilism in the south Caspian region.

After Alamut��s capitulation to the Mongols, while the community had continued its activities in the area for an extended period, and tenuously and sporadically tried to reassert its control over the fort,⁷⁴�repeated reversals of fortune eventually led to its disappearance from the area. Command over all the fortresses formerly under Isma��ili suzerainty eventually passed into the hands of the�Amir�Kiya��i�sayyids who used them as prisons until the Safawid conquest.75

An interesting question arises here about the identity of Khudawand Muhammad, who played such a central role in rallying the�Isma��ilis�of the area. As mentioned above, Mar��ashi records that people in Daylaman, Rudbar, Padiz, Kushayjan, and some of the regions of Ashkawar owed their allegiance to this figure, a descendant of the�imam��Ala��al-Din��Mulhid��. This lineage, Mar��ashi��s description, and the title ��Khudawand�� all indicate that he was considered the�imam�by his followers. The confusion arises because of the existence of evidence, first brought to light in a seminal article by Ivanow published in 1938, indicating the possibility that the Nizari�Isma��ilis�split into two sects in the fourteenth century, the followers of Qasim Shah and the followers of Muhammad Shah.⁷⁶�Further evidence from Muhammad Shahi sources was later provided by the Syrian scholar ��Arif Tamir in his ��Furu�� al-shajarat al Isma��iliyya��⁷⁷油温稼糸油al-Imama fi al-Islam.⁷⁸

While a discussion of the split is beyond the scope of this study, it should be mentioned that scholars have cautiously identified Khudawand Muhammmad with Muhammad Shah b. Mu��min Shah (d. 807 AH/1404 CE) of the Muhammad Shahi line, on the basis that there was no contemporary�imam�of the Qasim Shahi line with the name Muhammad.⁷⁹�However, new evidence in a work entitled�Haft Nukta, associated with the Qasim Shahi�Imam�Islam Shah, may suggest a different identification.⁸⁰�While the Muhammad Shahi line is never explicitly mentioned in this work, there is an allusion to rivalry in the family. This source specifies that the author��s rival had influence in four areas, Badakhshan, the fort of Zafar, Egypt and Narjawan.�Daylam�is not mentioned at all, and we may therefore assume that it remained loyal to the imams of the Qasim Shahi line. This would significantly reduce the possibility of the earlier identification of Khudawand Muhammad. Given that the first of the Qasim Shahi imams named Islam Shah was also known as Ahmad,⁸¹�and that the names Ahmad and Muhammad are often interchangeable (as in the case of the Prophet himself), it is possible to suggest cautiously that Khudawand Muhammad may be identifiable with�Imam�Islam Shah b. Qasim Shah. In view of the fact that the Nizari tradition of the Indian Subcontinent, which is discussed below, identifies the residence of�Imam�Islam Shah as�Alamut, this is conceivable. As far as we can tell with the limited information available to us, there is no parallel tradition among the Muhammad Shahis of Syria identifying a place of residence for the�imam�Muhammad Shah b. Mu��min Shah. In the absence of further information, though, the question of Khudawand Muhammad��s identity must remain open.

The material outlined above clearly indicates that the�Isma��ilis�continued their activities in the south Caspian region, perhaps sporadically, through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This hypothesis finds further support in sources from both�Khurasan�and India.

Testimony of the 鰻温壊温��i鞄-i Shah-Rukhi

Our most important source for the�Isma��ilis�of Quhistan after the Mongol invasions is the 鰻温壊温��i鞄 al-Muluk or�鰻温壊温��i鞄-i Shahrukhi�by a fourteenth/fifteenth-century author and inveterate enemy of the�Isma��ilis�by the name of Jalali Qa��ini, a resident of Harat. The work is contained in a hitherto unpublished manuscript in Vienna, and its contents regarding the�Isma��ilis�are only accessible to us through the writings of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and Delia Cortese, both of whom were able to consult the original.⁸²

It appears that the last of the great Ilkhanids, Abu Sa��id Bahadur Khan (d. 735 AH/1335 CE), was concerned that much of the province remained dedicated to the tenets of Isma��ilism. This is certainly a possibility. Just decades earlier, recalling the ubiquity of the�Isma��ilis�in the area, Juzjani opprobriously dubbed Quhistan,�Mulhidistan, ��the land of the (Isma��ili) heretics.��⁸³�Indeed, in his verses, the Isma��ili poet Nizari Quhistani rails against those who would call him a�mulhid:

If I am a heretic, then where is this ��Muslim?�� Who is he?!

And again:

Why do you say ��heretic�� to one who has established his faith with a hundred proofs from the�河顎姻��a稼�and the Hadith?

When you understand he who attains the perfect�馨温��r庄韓温�[gnosis], then by knowing him, you will confess your own ignorance.⁸⁵

In concert with Shah ��Ali Sijistani, the lieutenant of Quhistan, the Ilkhanid ruler sent a mission to the area to effect a mass conversion to Sunni Islam in 718 AH/1324 CE. At the head of the mission was the author��s grandfather, a certain�Shaykh�Imad�al-Din�Bukhari, a distinguished jurist who had fled�Bukhara�for Quhistan when that city was destroyed. ��Imad�al-Din�was accompanied by his two sons, Husam�al-Din�and Najm�al-Din�Muhammad, as well as four other learned men. The details of this expedition were related to our author by his father, Najm�al-Din, whose presence on the mission makes this testimony very valuable. The efforts of the group were directed primarily at Qa��in, said to be the chief seat of the�Isma��ilis. Apparently the group��s efforts bore fruit. When Tamerlane��s son and successor, Sultan Shah Rukh (r. 807-50 AH/1405-47 CE), sent Jalali to the province to snuff out Isma��ilism there many decades later, he found that Sunnism had made inroads already. The ��ulama were said to be zealous�Sunnis�who were accused of rafd and�ilhad�if they showed any weakness. However, while the lords of Junabad and perhaps some of the Mutasayyid lords of Siyawahan (but ��only God knows whether they were free from rafd or not��) appeared to be pure�Sunnis, all the other lords of Quhistan were charged with Isma��ilism. If these figures were indeed�Isma��ilis, they must have been practicing dissimulation (taqiyyaPrecautionary dissimulation of one’s religious beliefs, especially in time of persecution or danger, a practice especially adopted by the Shi’i Muslims.) in order to avoid the purges. Jalali notes that�Isma��ilis�occupied important positions in the political administration (diwan), thereby seeking to avert the persecution of their coreligionists. According to our author, with the exception of most of the princes of Tabas and Zir-i Kuh, the remaining princes of Quhistan were possibly leaning towards rafd and�ilhad, i.e., towards the Isma��ili faith. Pleased, Jalali writes that Far��an, Tijarar, Makhzafa, and Sa��ir were free of the taint of Isma��ilism.

Most noteworthy for our purposes, though, our author writes that some of the�Isma��ilis�returned to�Alamut�after the death of�Imam�Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah. Yet more significant, Jalali states that even in his own time the�Isma��ilis�of Quhistan would send their religious dues (wajibat) to�Alamut, a practice that had existed since the time of Hasan Sabbah. There can be no reason for this�modus operandi�other than the continued existence of the�糸温��w温�structure, if not the imam��s own residence, in that region. Jalali��s testimony inspires confidence as his investigation was quite thorough. In the space of eighteen months⁸⁶�he travelled the length and breadth of Quhistan on his mission.

Testimony of the Da��wa Literature of the Indian Subcontinent

Further evidence of continued Ismaili activity in the region of�Alamut�comes to us in the form of what are sometimes called ��unintentional�� historical sources-that is, sources that were not composed with the express intention of recording history but which nevertheless may serve a historical purpose, particularly where writings with an expressly historical intent are wanting. With the destruction of the Isma��ili state at�Alamut�and the devastation of Iranian lands by the Mongols, literary activity among the Ismailis was stymied. As would be expected under the circumstances, no chronicles of Isma��ili activities written by members of the community are known to have been composed in this volatile period, despite a tradition of historical writing in Fatimid and�Alamut�times.⁸⁷

While the Mongol onslaught decimated the Iranian regions, the Indian subcontinent was largely spared these depredations. Accordingly, we find testimony in the Isma��ili literature of the subcontinent as to the continuation of�糸温��w温�activities in the area and, most notably for our purposes, to continued connections with�Alamut.⁸⁸�Hitherto, however, there has been no thorough study of the textual transmission of this literature, which goes by the name�Ginan, derived from a Sanskrit word meaning gnosis. As the name suggests, the subject matter of this corpus is often esoteric, with a predominance of didactic, mythic, and allegorical motifs. Historical references, while they certainly exist, may sometimes be understood symbolically. Furthermore, the texts have suffered from a long period of transmission, both oral and written, occasionally resulting in anachronisms. While we can be certain that at least a few manuscripts dating back to the sixteenth century survived until recent times,⁸⁹�the oldest manuscript currently preserved in an institutional collection dates to 1736.⁹⁰�Bearing these factors in mind, however, as it has survived, the Isma��ili literature of the subcontinent perhaps preserves memories of this most obscure period of history.

The ancient mausoleum of the Isma��ili savant,�Pir�Shams of�MultanA major city in the province of Sind (today in Pakistan) where the seat of a Fatimid principality was founded in around 958., which likely dates to the thirteenth century, witnesses the community��s presence in the region at the time of the Mongol invasions.⁹¹�Traditional accounts, preserved both in the�Ginans�as well as in later, non-Isma��ili sources, maintain that the son and grandson of�Pir�Shams,�Pir�Nasir�al-Din, and�Pir�Shihab�al-Din�(or Sahib�al-Din, as his name often appears) respectively, assumed the leadership of the�Isma��ilis�in the subcontinent from the late thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century.⁹²油意鞄艶油赫庄稼温稼壊油confirm that religious dues continued to be submitted to the�imam�in this period and that propagation activities were conducted in secret.⁹³�Procedural details provided in these accounts give us greater reason for confidence in the testimony. Of the sum collected, twenty percent was for local use, while the remaining eighty percent was dispatched to the�imam�who, we are informed in the�赫庄稼温稼庄界油account, resided in a fortress by the name of ��Mor��. Juzjani informs us that prior to the Mongol invasions the�Isma��ilis�were in possession of seventy forts in Quhistan and thirty-five in the�Alamut�region.⁹⁴�Whether this particular fort was one of these is difficult to ascertain. Regardless, according to this�赫庄稼温稼庄界油testimony, emissaries, known as�rahis, travelled from Uch to Mor to convey the funds to the�imam, who was in concealment (alop). Such a system of delivering religious dues is presumed in the�Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi�of the fifteenth-century�imam�Mustansir bi��llah.⁹⁵�Similarly, the sixteenth-century Isma��ili author, Muhammad Rida b. Sultan Husayn, known as Khayrkhwah Harati, also refers to the comings and goings of Isma��ili dignitaries from various places, including India, to see the�imam�as well as to submit religious dues.⁹⁶

A striking feature of the literature attributed to the Indian Isma��ili leadership in this period is the candour with which it speaks of the imam��s continued residence in�Daylam, or even the fort of�Alamut�itself. A work attributed to�Pir�Sahib�al-Din�that alternates between addressing the disciples and the�imam�states:

Come hither! O assembly of vassals
That the King may fulfil your desires

We are sinful, paupers, slaves
O King! Succour us

In serving your court, no other comes to sight

The four aeons have run their course
O chivalrous ones
Perform deeds of virtue

Brother, build a raft of truth
Believer, steady your heart

For in the land of�Daylam
The Great King, my Lord has descended

O King, the earth��s nine continents are your vassalry

You are our lord, the�Mahdi
O Lord Islam Shah, the granter of boons

Be pleased, O great�Mahdi
O King, bestow on the faithful salvation, deliverance and your beatific vision

How blessed is the region of�Alamut
Where you have established your physical residence!⁹⁷

Most remarkably,�Alamut�or�Daylam�are mentioned in no less than twelve of the compositions attributed to Shihab al-Din��s son and successor,�Pir�Sadr�al-Din.⁹⁸�Under the able leadership of this fourteenth century luminary, perhaps the most prolific of the Isma��ili authors in the region at this time,⁹⁹�the community in the subcontinent experienced something of a renaissance. He was a contemporary of the�imam�Islam Shah whose name is often mentioned in his compositions.¹⁰⁰

While we have mentioned the need for a proper study of the textual transmission of the�赫庄稼温稼庄界油corpus, and the attendant necessity for prudence in deriving historical data from it until such a study is completed, there is remarkable consistency in the testimony of the�赫庄稼温稼壊油in this particular instance. Not only do we have repeated reference in the�赫庄稼温稼壊油of�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�to�Daylam�as the residence of the�imam�Islam Shah, but association of the residence of the�imam�with this locale completely disappears in the compositions attributed to the successors of this�Pir. There is not a single�赫庄稼温稼庄界油composition attributed to any figure who lived after�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�that mentions�Alamut�or�Daylam�as the current residence of the Isma��ili�imam�in any of the over six hundred works consulted.¹⁰¹

While this concentration of references to the residence of the�imam�at�Alamut�or�Daylam�in the works attributed to�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, to the exclusion of works attributed to later authors, is in itself compelling evidence to argue for the authenticity of the traditional attribution of authorship, the argument does not rely on this ascription. There is a consensus among scholars that in the event that particular compositions are incorrectly ascribed to their purported authors, the provenance of these compositions must, in all events, be later than that attributed to them, and hence after the Mongol invasions. This is fairly compelling evidence that at some time after the Mongol invasions, an Isma��ili�imam, almost certainly one of those named Islam Shah, again took up residence in�Daylam.

The fact that no author after�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�mentions�Alamut�as the imams�� residence strongly suggests that the imams must have moved their base at some point during his lifetime. That the imam��s residence was in the�Alamut�region at the time when the�imam�Islam Shah succeeded his father,�Imam�Qasim Shah, is implicit in the Sindhi�Ginan�shahake hek man anhi sirevo, in which the audience is assured that�Imam�Islam Shah, the light (nur) of�Imam��Ali, is none other than�Imam�Qasim Shah himself, established at the fort of�Alamut.¹⁰²�This kind of statement would most likely have been made at the outset of�Imam�Islam Shah��s reign.

One of the most striking facts that emerges from a reading of�Pir�Sadr al-Din��s compositions is that he himself made a pilgrimage to the Imam��s residence at�Alamut. This is suggested in the following emotive verses:

Blessed, blessed is this day
For we have attained the Supreme Lord
Effaced are the sins and misdeeds of the four cosmic ages
Gather in the assembly of love with the True Guide
Gather in the assembly of hearts with�Pir�Sadr�al-Din
The Savior of the hundred and twenty million souls��¹⁰³
Forsake this deceitful world
Cross the vast ocean of the deceptive world
With the Name of the�Imam
Work deeds of righteousness in the world

The�imam�has descended in the garb of a human being¹⁰⁴
At the fort of�Alamut, the capital of the land of�Daylam

I scaled towering mountains and negotiated treacherous passes
Now I await the Light of the True Guide

How base are lofty trees without leaves
How the human soul wanders lost without gnosis of the Guide.¹⁰⁵

The reference to scaling the difficult mountain passes of�Daylam�is redolent of the arduous journey that would have confronted believers making the trek to see the�imam�from far-off places. That it was�Imam�Islam Shah whom�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�met is expressed elsewhere:

We received the lord Islam Shah
Who bestowed on us the mysteries of faith
We recognised him in his indescribable form
And he fulfilled all our desires.¹⁰⁶

Yet another composition mentions the author��s departure from Alamut:

Brothers,�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, the true guide, departed from the fort of�Alamut
The capital of the land of�Daylam.¹⁰⁷

Extremely noteworthy is an exultant Sindhi composition that suggests that proselytisation was once again set afoot from Alamut:

The Imam��s herald travels throughout the world
Blessings be upon the�Imam, the�Pir�and the community
For the�Imam�has appeared in the fortress of�Alamut

Brother, we are perpetually blissful
By God, he has arrived, the community enjoys its fortune
Hail the advent of the Lord ��Ali in the West!

Recognise the Supreme Man, Lord of Light
Friends, know the�Pir�to be he
Who has led you to the recognition of the Lord of Twelve Splendours¹⁰⁸

Serve none other than that very Lord, my brother
Friend, never doubt in this
Hail the advent of the Lord
As glorious as the risen sun!¹⁰⁹

Conclusion

Upon examination of the evidence, it becomes immediately apparent that even after the Mongol onslaught, Isma��ili activity continued in the south Caspian region.

Juwayni��s omission of any reference to the destruction of Baghdad and the murder of the Sunni�caliphIn Arabic khal朝fa, the head of the Muslim community. See caliphate., and his making the subjugation of the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut�the climax of his narrative of the Mongol conquests had definite political motives. The historian wished to celebrate the great service his pagan patron had rendered to the Islamic world by destroying this ��community of infidels.�� He could scarcely dwell on the depredations visited upon the rest of the Muslim world by the Mongols, and certainly not the destruction of the Sunni�caliphateThe Muslim political institution or state centred around the caliph, which came to an end, historically, in 1924 with the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire.. He thus had to overstate the iniquities and the political significance of this minority group, emphasising how the Seljuqs and others had failed to subdue them. He also had to exaggerate the extent of their defeat and stress their absolute and complete extermination. Anything less than a total annihilation would have been seen as failure on the part of his patron. As all future Persian historians drew on Juwayni��s testimony for their narratives of the Isma��ili community, they accepted his conclusions.

However, we know that after their initial subjugation in 654 AH/1256 CE the�Isma��ilis�attempted several times to recapture the fortress of�Alamut, and were often successful. Within five years of the fall of Girdkuh, the son of the�imam�Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah had already managed to rally the�Isma��ilis�of the area and retake their chief fortress. However, the blows they had sustained at the hands of the Mongols had seriously undermined their strength, and it was soon lost once again. The Mongols, though, did not maintain a strong presence in the area, and it is likely that the�Isma��ilis�resided there unmolested until Uljaytu Khan entered Gilan with his army in 706 AH/1307 CE. However, once again, this attack was short-lived.

After the departure of these forces,�Daylam�and the surrounding areas likely reverted to their semi independent status. Certainly, after the death of the last great Mongol Ilkhan, Abu Sa��id, in 735 AH/1335 CE, there was no strong central rule or government in the region. This gave the remaining�Isma��ilis�a respite from the ravages of the previous decades. At this time, the great mountainous districts between Persian ��Iraq and Gilan were controlled by independent governors. We are informed by contemporary accounts that much of the region remained dedicated to Ismailism in this period. By 770 AH/1368-69 CE, the whole of the Daylaman seems once again to have come under the Ismaili rule of a certain Kiya Sayf�al-Din�Kushayji. However, he did not openly proclaim his identity until provoked by a Zaydi rival,�Sayyid��Ali Kiya.

Sayyid��Ali Kiya extended his control over the region, ousting this Isma��ili leader. Nevertheless, the population in Daylaman, Rudbar, Padiz, Kushayjan and Ashkawar remained Isma��ili and was dedicated to an�imam�by the name of Khudawand Muhammad. This Khudawand Muhammad was intricately involved with the political struggles of the area and managed to reoccupy�Alamut�for a spell. At this time a certain Taj�al-Din�Amuli was able to discuss the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut�(馨温鉛温鞄庄糸温-庄油粥鉛温馨顎岳) with the Jalayirid ruler, Sultan Uways (r. 757-76 AH/1356-74 CE) without having to explain who they were. Clearly the continued presence of the�Isma��ilis�in their ancestral centre was known even at the court of Tabriz. That�Alamut, or at least the region of�Daylam, remained an important centre of the Isma��ili community in this period is testified to by Khurasani and Indian sources. These make it clear that after Hulagu conquered the region, the�Isma��ilis�returned and religious dues continued to be delivered to this area. There is even testimony, albeit from sources whose history of transmission has yet to be fully studied, that the�imam�Islam Shah lived at the fort of�Alamut�itself.

Though the�Isma��ilis�continued to inhabit�Alamut�and the south Caspian for much of this period, their former political power had been broken. No longer were their activities the stuff of fantastic legends woven by Christians passing through the region as they had been at the time of the Crusades, nor was their history of particular interest to Muslim chroniclers. Henceforth, at least politically, the�Isma��ilis�were of minor, regional significance. Soon enough, in 819 AH/1416 CE, they were subject to yet another massacre in which ��the waters of the White River (Safidrud) turned red with the blood of those killed.��¹¹⁰�Among those done away with were many Isma��ili leaders, including some descendants of the Isma��ili�imam�Khudawand ��Ala��al-Din�Muhammad. It must have been around this time, about one and a half centuries after�Alamut�first capitulated to the Mongols, that the�Isma��ilis�gave up all hopes of regaining the fortress as their centre. While Isma��ili activity continued in this region, the imams appear to have moved away to safer, more politically quiescent surroundings, ushering in an era that has been dubbed the ��Anjudan Period�� of Isma��ili history.

Footnotes

��Ala�al-Din��Ata-Malik 干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, ed. Mirza Muhammad Qazwini, 3 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1912-37), 3: 275; trans. John A. Boyle,�The History of the World Conqueror, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1958), 2: 723.
Hyacinth Louis Rabino, ��Rulers of Gilan,��Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society�(1920): 293-94. Juwayni himself was suitably impressed by the fortifications of the castle, and describes the immense difficulty of destroying it,�Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 272-73; tr. Boyle, 2: 720-21.
For a discussion of Juwayni��s possible motivations for this unusual treatment, see David 珂看姻乙温稼,油The Mongols�(Oxford: Blackwell, 1986), and Carole Hillenbrand, ��The Power Struggle between the Saljuqs and the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut, 487-518/1094-1124: The�Saljuq�Perspective,�� in�Mediaeval Isma��ili History and Thought, ed. Farhad Daftary (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), 214.
��Izz�al-Din�Ibn al-Athir,�Ta��rikh al-Kamil�(Cairo, 1303/1885), 10: 110-13. Cf., for example, 干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 194; tr. Boyle, 670. Hamd Allah Mustawfi Qazwini, Nuzhal al-Qulub, ed. Guy Le Strange,�The Geographical Part of the Nuzhat al-Qulub�(Leiden-London, 1915-19), 61, trans., 66; Muhammad b. Khwandshah Mirkhwand, Rawdat al-Safa��, 10 vols. (Tehran, 1338-39/1960), Am. Jourdain, ��Histoire de la dynastie des Isma辿liens de Perse,���Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits�9 (1813): 208, trans. 154. Mirkhwand gives an alterative translation of�Alamut�as ��the eagle��s nest�� (ashyana-yi ��uqab), which is etymologically less convincing. Wladimir Ivanow felt that these medieval attempts were ��absurd�� and that it was impossible to reconstruct the etymology of a word from an unknown language. See Ivanow,�Alamut�and Lamasar�(Bombay: The Ismaili Society, 1960), 1. Rashid al-Din��s dating is different from the above, being based on the chronogram of�Alamut, rather than the older version of the name. See Rashid�al-Din�Fadl Allah Tabib,�Jami�� al-Tawarikh, ed. B. Karimi (Tehran, 1338/1959), 2: 697, tr. 2: 486.
鴛稼油M辿moirs de l��Institut Royal de France�4 (1818): 1-84; trans. Azizeh Azodi, ��Memoir on the Dynasty of the Assassins and on the Etymology of their Name by Silvestre de Sacy,�� in�The Assassin Legends, ed. Farhad Daftary (London: I. B.Tauris, 1994), 182.
See, for example, his ��Les Dynasties du Mazandaran,��Journal Asiatique�228 (1936): 472-73, ��Les Dynasties locales du Gilan et du�Daylam,��Journal Asiatique�237 (1949): 315-18,�Les Provinces Caspiennes de la Perse: Le Guilan�(Paris, 1917), 281, 402-5, 409-10, and ��Rulers of Gilan,�� 293-95.
Farhad Daftary,�The Isma��ilis: Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990; in particular, 448-51.
��Isma��iliyyan-i Iran�� (M.A. thesis, Danishgah-i Firdawsi, 1371-72 S), esp. 193-237.
For example, Minhaj�al-Din��Uthman b. Siraj Juzjani,�Tabaqat-i Nasiri, ed. ��Abd al-Hayy Habibi, 2nd ed. (Kabul: 1342-43/1963-64); trans. Henry G. Raverty,�The Tabakat-i-Nasiri: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia�(London, 1881-99). Though he was an old man living safely in the Delhi�Sultanate�when he wrote his book, he himself had witnessed the horrors of Chingiz Khan��s invasion forty years earlier.
Ibn al-Athir,�Ta��rikh al-Kamil, 12: 358; translated in ��Preface�� to Rashid�al-Din�Fadl Allah Tabib, tr. Wheeler M. Thackston,�Jami��u��t-tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ., 1998), xi.
珂看姻乙温稼,油The Mongols, 17-18.
In fact, Carole Hillenbrand suggests that Juwayni intentionally inflated the number of failed�Saljuq�forays against the�Isma��ilis�in order to bring into relief the Mongol success. See Hillenbrand, ��The Power Struggle between the Saljuqs and the�Isma��ilis�of�Alamut,�� 214.
See David Morgan, ��Persian Historians and the Mongols,�� in�Medieval Historical Writing in the Christian and Islamic Worlds, ed. D. Morgan (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London, 1982), 114; David Ayalon, ��The Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan: A Re-examination,��Studia Islamica�33 (1971): 133.
京姻看敬稼艶,油A Literary History of Persia, 4 vols. (rpt. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997), 2: 473.
This is the most generally credited account. See John Andrew Boyle, ��The Death of the Last ��Abbasid Caliph: A Contemporary Muslim Account,��Journal of Semitic Studies�6 (1961): 160. Another equally uncomplimentary, though perhaps less creditable version, is that of Marco Polo and others, which has him shut up in a tower surrounded by his treasures and starved to death. See Aldo Ricci, trans.,�The Travels of Marco Polo�(New York: Vi king Press, 1931), 27.
The following passage illustrates this penchant for drama:
In that breeding-ground of heresy in the Rudbar of�Alamut�the home of the wicked adherents of Hasan-i Sabbah and the vile followers of the practice of�ibaha油畏壊庄界,油ibaha], there remains not one stone of the foundation upon another. And in that flourishing abode of innovations (恢庄糸��a岳) the Artist of Eternity Past wrote with the pen of violence upon the portico of each one[��s dwelling] the verse: ��These their houses are empty ruins [河顎姻��a稼Muslims believe that the Holy 河顎姻��a稼 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More 27: 53].�� And in the market-place of those wretches�� kingdom the�muezzin�Destiny has uttered the cry of ��Away with the wicked people!�� [河顎姻��a稼 23:43]�� Their luckless womenfolk (haram u harim), like their empty religion, have been utterly destroyed. And the gold of those crazy, double-dealing counterfeiters which appeared to be unalloyed has proved to be base lead. Today, thanks to the glorious fortune of the World-Illuminating King, if an assassin (kard-zan) still lingers in a corner, he plies a woman��s trade; wherever there is a�糸温��i�there is an announcer of death; and every�rafiq油畏壊庄界,油rafiq] has become a thrall. The propagators of Isma��ilism have fallen victims to the swordsmen of Islam. Their�maulana油畏壊庄界,油maulana] to whom they addressed the words: ��O god, our Protector (maulana),-dust in their mouths!-(and yet ��the infidels have no protector [河顎姻��a稼 47:12]��) has become the serf of bastards. Their wise�Imam, nay their lord of this world, of whom they believed that ��every day doth some new work employ him [河顎姻��a稼 55:29]��, is fallen like game into the net of Predestination. Their governors (muhtasham) have lost their power and their rulers (kiya) their honour. The greatest among them have become as vile as dogs. Every commander of a fortress has been deemed fit for the gallows and every warden of a castle has forfeited his head and his mace. They have been degraded amongst mankind like the Jews and like the highways are level with the dust. God Almighty hath said: ��Vileness and poverty were stamped upon them [河顎姻��a稼 13:25].�� These, a curse awaiteth them [河顎姻��a稼 2:58].�� The kings of the Greeks and Franks, who turned pale for fear of these accursed ones, and paid them tribute, and were not ashamed of that ignominy, now enjoy sweet slumber. And all the inhabitants of the world, and in particular the Faithful, have been relieved of their evil machinations and unclean beliefs. Nay, the whole of mankind, high and low, noble and base, share in this rejoicing. And compared with these histories, that of Rustam the son of Dastan has become but an ancient fable. The perception of all ideas is through this manifest victory, and the light of the world-illuminating day is adorned thereby. ��And the uttermost part of that impious people was cut off. All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds! [河顎姻��a稼 6:45]��.
干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 139-42, tr. 2: 639-40.
He appends this document to one of the chapters in ibid., 3: 114, tr. 2: 622.
干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 274, tr. 2: 722. This surprisingly warm reception was also noted by Bernard Lewis,�The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam�(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967), 93.
干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 276, tr. 2: 723.
干顎敬温霞稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3:277, tr. 2: 724-25.
Ibn Isfandiyar and anonymous continuator, cited by Marshall G. S. Hodgson,�The Order of Assassins�(New York: AMS Press, 1980), 270.
Jami�� al-Tawarikh, 2: 695, 766, tr. 2: 485,3:535-56. See also Juzjani,�Tabaqat-i Nasiri, 2:186, tr. 2: 1206-11. Here he states that the garrison of Girdkuh, reduced to one or two hundred men, was still holding out against the Mongols in 658 AH/1260 CE, at the time he was writing. Also cited in Daftary,�意鞄艶油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊, 429, 698 n. 242. Daftary provides some of his own observations concerning the situation of Girdkuh.
京姻看敬稼艶,油Literary History of Persia, 3:25.
Hamd Allah Mustawfi 河温噛敬庄稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Guzida, ed. ��Abd al-Husayn Nawa��i (Tehran:�Amir�Kabir, 1362 S), 592; E. G. 京姻看敬稼艶,油The Ta��rikh-i Guzida: or, ��Select History���(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1910-13), ed. 583, tr. 143. ��Khwarazmshah�� in the manuscript used by Browne must be amended to ��Khwarshah.�� Ahmad b. Jalal�al-Din�Muhammad Fasih Khwafi, Mujmal-i Fasihi, ed. Mahmud Farakh (Mashhad, 1340 S), 2: 344; L. Lockhart, ��Alamut,�� in�Encyclopaedia of Islam�(Leiden: Brill, 1999; rpt. CD-ROM ed.), 1: 352 mistakenly gives the date as 673. Cf. Rashid�al-Din, ��Back on this front, as soon as Khwarshah was set on the road, his kith and kin, including men and women down to babes in cradles, were all put to death between Abhar and Qazwin,�� with no trace remaining,��Jami�� al Tawarikh, 2: 697, tr. 2: 486. Clearly, this must refer only to the family members who had accompanied him on the journey.
��Rulers of Gilan,�� 293-94. Juwayni himself was suitably impressed by the fortifications of the castle, and describes the immense difficulty of destroying it; see�Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 272-73, tr. 2: 720-21.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 267, tr. 2: 717, emphasis added.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay,�3: 111, tr. 2: 620.
Jami�� al-Tawarikh, 2: 694, tr. 2: 484.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 264, tr. 2: 715. It is equally inexplicable how he was somehow able positively to identify as false a child whom even the imam��s most intimate associates thought to be his son.
This seems in keeping with the fact that�Imam�Rukn�al-Din�Khwarshah was also quite young at this time, his youth being mentioned in the�Fathnama�of�Alamut. See ibid., 3: 116, 124, tr. 2: 624, 628.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 133, tr. 2: 634.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 267, tr. 2: 717, Jami�� al-Tawarikh, 2: 685, tr.2: 485.
Jami�� al-Tawarikh, 2: 685, tr. 2: 485.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 276, tr. 2: 723.
Ta��rikh-i Jahangushay, 3: 134, tr. 2: 635.
See, e.g., ibid., 3: 124, tr. 2: 628.
河温噛敬庄稼庄,油Ta��rikh-i Guzida, 1: 583, 2: 143.
Hamd Allah Mustawfi,�Zafarnama, lithograph of British Library MS Or. 2833, 2 vols. (Tehran: Markaz-i nashr-i danishgahi-i Iran, 1999), 2: 1426; Ahmad-i Tabrizi,�Shahanshahnama, MS British Library Or. 2780, fol. 116ro, cited in Charles Melville, ��The Ilkhan Oljeitu��s Conquest of Gilan (1307): Rumour and Reality,�� in�The Mongol Empire and its Legacy, ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss and David O. Morgan (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 84.
Melville, 117.
Jami�� al-Tawarikh, 2: 984, tr. 3: 676.
Melville, ��Ilkhan Oljeitu��s Conquest,�� 105.
Melville, ��Ilkhan Oljeitu��s Conquest,�� 105.
��Abd Allah b. Lutf ��Ali al-Bihdadini Hafiz Abru,�Dhayl-i Jami�� al-Tawarikh�(Tehran: 1317 S/1938), 73.
Cited in Melville, 105, 197 n. 122 from a manuscript of the�Dhayl-i Jami�� al-Tawarikh�that contains sections not found in the edited version.
Jamal�al-Din�Abu al-Qasim ��Abd Allah b. ��Ali Kashani,�Ta��rikh-i Uljaytu, ed. M. Hambly (Tehran: 1348/ 1969), 67. Also cited in Melville, 105.
Boyle, ��Dynastic and Political History of the Il-Khans,�� in�The Cambridge History of Iran, ed. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968), 5: 401.
Nuzhat al-Qulub, 60-61, tr. 65-67.
舘温鞄庄姻油温鉛-禽庄稼油珂温姻��a壊鞄庄,油Ta��rikh-i Tabaristan wa Ruyan wa Mazandaran, ed. Husayn Tasbihi (Tehran: 1361 S/[1983]), 147.
See Rabino, ��Les Dynasties locales du Gilan et du�Daylam,�� 314.
舘温鞄庄姻油温鉛-禽庄稼油珂温姻��a壊鞄庄,油Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, ed. M. Sutuda (Tehran: 1347/1968), 67; Rabino, ��Rulers of Gilan��, 295.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 67.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 67.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 65, tr. 70.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 69-70; see also below.
鰻庄噛温馨油温鉛-禽庄稼油皆鞄温馨庄,油Zafarnama, ed. F. Tauer (Prague, 1937-50), 1: 168; Sharaf�al-Din��Ali Yazdi,�Zafarnama, ed. M. ��Abbasi (Tehran, 1336/1957), 1: 412; Mirkhwand,�Rawdat al-Safa��, 6: 207. This attack occurred in 794/1392, when Nizam�al-Din�Shami was actually present; see 皆鞄温馨庄,油Zafarnama, 1: 128.
皆鞄温馨庄,油Zafarnama, 1: 136; Yazdi,�Zafarnama, 1: 443-44; Mirkhwand,�Rawdat al-Safa��, 6: 211-12; Ghiyath�al-Din�b. Humam�al-Din�Khwandamir, Habib al-Siyar, ed. W. M. Thackston,�堰温恢庄恢顎��s-皆庄霞温姻, vol. 3:�The Reign of the Mongol and the Turk�(Cambridge, Mass.: Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard Univ., 1994). With regard to the�Habib al-Siyar, reference should be made to the section quoted in Ibrahim Dihgan,�Karnama�(n.p.: Chapkhana-i Musawi, 1345), 47-49, which includes passages that do not appear in Thackston��s critical edition and translation. The attack on the�Isma��ilis�in Anjudan occurred just a year after the attack in Mazandaran.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 54.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 54.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 55
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 56, 58
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 58
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 59
On this dynasty, see J. M. Smith, Jr., ��Djalayir, Djalayirid��, in�Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2: 401
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 59.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 60-61
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 63-64
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 65. Maryam Mu��izzi, while also forwarding this interpretation, correctly comments that the meaning of the phrase�wa awlad-i an�jama��at�aknun niz inja�and [this reads�anja�and in Sutuda��s edition] is equivocal. See her ��Isma��iliyyan-i Iran��, 229 n. 28.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 89, 121
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 123. Cf. Daftary,�意鞄艶油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊, 450. Also note the observations in Mu��izzi, ��Isma��iliyyan-i Iran,�� 199, on the possibility of there having been more than one Khudawand Muhammad
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 129.
Manuchihr Sutuda,�Az Astara ta Astarabad, 10 vols. (Tehran, 1366/1987), 2: 343, 346-48; Hyacinth Louis Rabino,�Mazandaran and Astarabad�(London: Luzac, 1928), 60.
Mulla�Shaykh��Ali Gilani,�Ta��rikh-i Mazandaran, ed. M. Sutuda (Tehran, 1352/1973), 88-89, 99-100. Maryam Mu��izzi, while admitting the possibility that these rulers were Isma��ili, expresses some reservations as they are referred to simply as�malahida�in our sources: ��Isma��iliyyan-i Iran,�� 212-14. While this derogatory epithet does indeed have broader applications, it is most commonly used of the�Isma��ilis, particularly in the South Caspian region, though certainly elsewhere as well. See, for example, W. Madelung, ��Mulhid,�� in�Encyclopaedia of Islam, 7: 546. Gilani��s statement in reference to Sultan Muhammad b. Jahangir, that ��he renewed the influence of the deviation (ilhad) of [the Isma��ili�Imam�Hasan] ��Ala Dhikrihi al-Salam in the land of Rustamdar,�� however, is fairly explicit about the religious leanings of this ruler.
Imam�Quli Khaki Khurasani,�Diwan, ed. Wladimir Ivanow,�An Abbreviated Version of the�Diwan�of Khaki Khorasani�(Bombay, 1933), 69.
Cf. W. Madelung, ��Isma��illiya,�� in�Encyclopaedia of Islam, 4: 198
舘温鞄庄姻油温鉛-禽庄稼油珂温姻��a壊鞄庄,油Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, ed. Hyacinth Louis Rabino (Rasht, 1330/1912), 86-87, 216.
��A Forgotten Branch of the Ismailis,��Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society油(1938).
��Arif Tamir, ��Furu�� al-shajarat al-Isma��iliyya,��al-Mashriq�51 (1957): 581-612.
��Arif Tamir,�al-Imama fi al-Islam�(Beirut, n.d. [1964?]), 157-58, 169-78, 192ff.
See, for example, Daftary,�意鞄艶油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊, 449; Delia Cortese, ��Eschatology and Power in Mediaeval Persian Ismailism�� (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1993), 204.
This work is not mentioned in Ivanow��s�A Guide to Isma��ili Literature�(London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1933), or�Isma��ili Literature: A Bibliographical Survey, 2nd ed. (Tehran: Ismaili Society, 1963), or Ismail K. Poonawala,�Bibliography of Isma��ili Literature�(Malibu, Calif.: Undena Publications, 1977). Details may be found in Shafique N. Virani, ��Seekers of Union: 意鞄艶油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊�from the Mongol Debacle to the Eve of the Safavid Revolution�� (Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 2001), 103-4. The text itself contains no explicit indication of authorship; however, the compiler of the volume in which it appears, Haji Qudrat Allah Beg, attributes it to ��Mawlana Islam Shah.�� See�Imam�Islam Shah, ��Haft Nukta,�� in�Kitab-i Mustatab-i Haft Bab-i�Da��i�Abu Ishaq, ed..Haji Qudrat Allah Beg,�Kitab-i Mustatab-i Haft�Bab, pp. 115-24. Its attribution to an�imam�is also suggested by an introduction to the work that appears in Persian MS 43 at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. This preamble refers to the work as the�一温鉛温馨-庄油壊鞄温姻庄韓, ��the noble words,�� an expression that one would scarcely expect to be used of an author of little consequence. It further prevails upon the believers to carry the spiritual message of the aphorisms in their hearts and not to divulge their contents to the uninitiated. We can therefore provisionally accept the attribution to the�imam�Islam Shah, acknowledging, of course, that there were three Qasim Shahi imams known by this title.
See, e.g.,�Pir�Shihab�al-Din�Shah al-Husayni,�Kitab-i Khitabat-i ��aliya�(Tehran, 1963), 45.
干温鉛温鉛庄��s油鰻温壊温��i鞄 al-Muluk�is item 163 in the Imperial Library of Vienna. My repeated attempts to secure a copy of this manuscript from the Imperial Library have been unsuccessful. A summary of the contents of the whole work is given in Gustav Flugel,�Die Arabischen, Persischen und Turkischen Handschriften der Kaiserlich ��koniglichen Hofbibliothek zu Wien�(Vienna, 1867), 3: 289-91. See also�Codices Arabicos, Persicos, Turcicos, Bibliothecae Caesareo-Regio-Palatinae Vindobonensis, ed. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (Vindobonae, 1820), n. 163�鰻温壊温��i鞄-i Shah Rukhi, Persian MS 1858 (cf. Flugel), folio 302a. Reference to the�鰻温壊温��i鞄�here is through von Hammer Purgstall,�The History of the Assassins�(London, 1835), 204-10 and Cortese, ��Eschatology and Power,�� 195-97. Cortese��s treatment of it is much fuller than that of von Hammer-Purgstall. She gives the work an alternate title,�鰻温壊温��i鞄-i Shahrukhi. Some cautionary notes on von Hammer-Purgstall��s scholarship are sounded in Daftary,�The Isma��ilis, 20-21, and Lewis,�The Assassins, 12-13. Regarding anachronisms in the reporting of the text, see Virani, ��Seekers of Union,�� 114-15. Recently, much light has been shed on the author of this treatise by Maria Eva Subtelny and Anas B. Khalidov; see Subtelny, ��The Sunni Revival under Shah-Rukh and its Promoters: A Study of the Connection between Ideology and Higher Learning in Timurid Iran,�� in�Proceedings of the 27th Meeting of Haneda Memorial Hall Symposium on Central Asia and Iran: August 30, 1993 (Kyoto: Institute of Inner Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 1994), 16-21; and Subtelny and Khalidov, ��The Curriculum of Islamic Higher Learning in Timurid Iran in the Light of the Sunni Revival under Shah-Rukh,��JAOS�115 (1995): 217-22.
Juzjani��s testimony is not to be taken lightly. In 1224, he himself was sent to the Isma��ili ruler Abu al-Fath Shihab�al-Din�Mansur on an embassy via Qa��in. Despite his dim view of the community in general, he seems to have been quite taken by this Abu al-Fath, and praises him lavishly for his sagacity and wisdom, as well as for his courtesy to visitors, poor wayfarers and refugees fleeing from the Mongols. See Charles E. Bosworth, ��意鞄艶油鴛壊馨温��i鉛庄壊�of Quhistan and the Maliks of Nimruz or�SistanA province in eastern Iran.,�� in�Mediaeval Isma��ili History and Thought, ed. Farhad Daftary (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), 226.
Nizari Quhistani,�Diwan-i Hakim Nizari Quhistani, ed. Mazahir Musaffa (Tehran: Intisharat-i ��ilmi, 1371), 1:84
Translated in Faquir M. Hunzai,�Shimmering Light: An Anthology of Ismaili Poetry�(London: I. B. Tauris, 1996), 87. Ma��rifa is glossed (144 n. 72) as ��a technical expression used primarily in�Sufism�for spiritual knowledge derived through an intuitive and illuminative cognition of the divine. In Ismaili thought, the term also signifies the spiritual recognition of one��s own soul which is tantamount to the recognition of God.��
Cortese��s account differs from von Hammer-Purgstall��s testimony, making Qa��ini��s investigation last eleven months. See Cortese, ��Eschatology and Power,�� 196.
In this regard, see Farhad Daftary, ��Persian Historiography of the Early Nizari Isma��ilis��,�Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies�30 (1992): 91-97.
The best introduction to the history of Isma��ilism in the subcontinent, known as�Satpanth, remains Azim Nanji,�The Nizari Isma��ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent�(Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1978). The later history should be supplemented with Shafique N. Virani, ��The Voice of Truth: Life and Works of�Sayyid�Nur�Muhammad Shah, A 15th/16th Century Ismaili Mystic�� (M.A. thesis, McGill University, 1995). The earliest period has been studied in Tazim R. Kassam,�Songs of Wisdom and Circles of Dance�(Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1995).
In this connection, see Nanji,�The Nizari Isma��ili Tradition, 10-11.
See Zawahir Moir, ��A Catalogue of the�Khojki�MSS in the Library of the Ismaili Institute�� (unpublished typescript, 1985), 1.
This unique artifact reflects the architectural features of the equally ancient tombs of Baha��u��d-Din Zakariyya and Shadna Shahid. See Kamil Khan Mumtaz,�Architecture in Pakistan�(Singapore: Concept Media, 1985), 42-43.
See Nanji,�The Nizari Isma��ili Tradition, 70. A late lithograph source by ��Isan Shah and�Sayyid�Muhammad Muluk Shah,�Ta��rikh-i Gulzar-i Shams�(n.p., nd.), gives the death of Nasir�al-Din�as 682/1283, p. 366, and the death of Shihab�al-Din�as 750/1349, p. 377.
Nur�Muhammad Shah,�Sat Varani Moti�([Mumbai ?]: [Mukhi Lalajibhai Devraj ?], n.d.), cantos 190-97,�Pir�Nasir�al-Din, ��Hun balahari tame shaha raja,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, vol. 2 (Mumbai: The Recreation Club Institute Press, 1993 VS/1936), no. 66;�Sayyid�Imam�Shah,�Janatpuri�(n.p.: n.d.), v. 83.
Tabaqat-i Nasiri, 518, tr. 1205-6. Bernard Lewis feels this number to be rather high;�The Assassins, 94.
Imam�Mustansir bi��llah [= Gharib Mirza?],�Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi, ed. Wladimir Ivanow,�Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi�or ��Advices of Manliness�� (Leiden: E. J.Brill, 1953), 2, 11, 17, 21, 34, 60, 63-64, 70, 78, 82, 88-89, tr. 2, 8, 11, 13, 21, 37, 39, 43-44, 48-49, 51, 54-55. Regarding this text, see also Virani, ��Seekers of Union,�� 139-44.
Such references are found scattered in Muhammad Rida b. Sultan Husayn Khayrkhwah Harati,�Risala, ed. Wladimir Ivanow,�Tasnifat-i Khayrkhwah Harati�(Tehran: Ismaili Society, 1961); see, e.g., 23, 39, 55, 60-61; also Muhammad Rida b. Sultan Husayn Khayrkhwah Harati,�河庄岳��a岳, ed. Wladimir Ivanow,�Tasnifat-i Khayrkhwah Harati�(Tehran: Ismaili Society, 1961), 105-7.
Pir�Sahib�al-Din, ��Ao gatiure bhandhe,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, vol. 3 (Mumbai: The Recreation Club Institute Press, 1991 VS/1935), no. 74, vv. 1-10. The translation of�tura�in verse 5 as ��raft�� is tentative. This word is not found in any of the various dictionaries consulted. The tentative translation is based on the semblance of this word to the word�tulahari�in verse 8 of the�garabi�of�Pir�Shams, ��Bhulo bhulo te bhul bhamarado re lol,�� in�Ginane�Sharif�Bhag Pahelo: 105�Ginan. (Mumbai: Ismailia Association for India, 1978) in which it seems to mean a boatman or an oarsman, and on verse 7 of�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, ��Bhair bhanga ma tado,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, 3: no.81. All these words appear to be based on the Sanskrit word�tari, meaning any seafaring vessel
These are�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, ��Sansar sagar madhe van apana satagure noriyanre,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, vol. 1 (Mumbai: The Recreation Club Institute Press, 1990 VS/1934), no. 68; ��Shahake hek man anhi sirevo,�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, vol. 4 (Mumbai: Mukhi: Lalji: Bhai: Devaraj: dhi: khoja: sindhi: chhapakhanun, 1968 VS/ [19121), no. 48; ��Juga jug shaha avataraj dharea [a.k.a. Sen Akhado],�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, 2: no. 26; ��Ashaji sacho tun alakh nirinjan agam agochar,�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 4; ��Yara anant kirodie vadhaiun�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 29; ��Payalore nam sahebajo vado lije,�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 82; ��Dhan dhan ajano dadalore ame harivar payaji,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, vol. 5 (Mumbai: The Recreation Club Institute Press, 1990 VS/1934), no. 42; ��Thar thar moman bhai koi koi raheseji,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, 5: no. 50; ��Des delama me shaha hari avatareo,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi�vol. 6 (Mumbai: The Recreation Club Institute Press, 1989 VS/1933), no. 29. To these may be added�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, ��Aj sabi mahadin bhujo bhev,�� in�Mahan Ismaili Sant�Pir�Sadaradin Rachit Ginano no Sangrah 1�(Mumbai: Ismailia Association for Bharat, 1969), which is not recorded in the six-volume�Khojki�set, but may be found in this Gujarati recension.
Hundreds of Ginans attributed to�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�are found both in published form as well as in Isma��ili manuscripts. See Ali Sultaan Ali Asani,�The Harvard Collection of Ismaili Literature in Indic Languages: A De scriptive Catalog and Finding Aid�(Boston: G.K. Hall, 1992); Moir, ��A Catalogue of the�Khojki�MSS��; and Zawahir Nooraly, ��Catalogue of�Khojki�Manuscripts in the Collection of the Ismailia Association for Pakistan (draft copy)�� (Karachi: Ismailia Association for Pakistan, 1971
The shajara discovered by Ivanow gives his dates as 1290-1380; see ��The Sect of�Imam�Shah in Gujrat,��Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society�n.s. 9 (1933): 34. Both the Gulzar-i Shams and Pirzada Sayyad Sadaruddin Dargahvala,�意温厩温姻庄一鞄-艶油永庄姻, 2 vols. (Navsari, Gujarat: Muslim Gujarat Press, 1914, 1935) gives the dates 650/1252-770/1368. It is interesting that Ivanow does not mention any dates from the Manazil al-Aqtab in connection with this�Pir. On�Pir�Sadr�al-Din, see Nanji,�The Nizari Isma��ili Tradition, 72-77.
This compelling consistency is important to note in light of the theory advanced in Ali Sultaan Ali Asani, ��The Isma��ili ginans: Reflections on Authority and Authorship,�� in�Mediaeval Isma��ili History and Thought, 265-80. See also Azim Nanji, ��The�Ginan�Tradition among the Nizari Isma��ilis: Its Value as a Source of their History�� , in�Actes du XXIXe Congr竪s international des Orientalistes�(Paris: L��Asiath竪que, 1975), 3: 143-46., All�Ginans�in the six volume set published in Mukhi Laljibhai Devraj were consulted. The class of�Ginans�known as�granths, however, was not used for the present study and should be examined as it may contain valuable information. There is a reference to�Daylam�in the�Ginan�of�Sayyid�Imam�Shah, ��Vela pohoti ne ved vicharo,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi, 1: no.14, v.7, by the later Isma��ili�糸温��i,�Sayyid�Imam�Shah, but this is merely a statement that in the fourth aeon, the�Imam�appeared in�Daylam, not that he was residing there in the author��s time. Another�Ginan,�Sayyid�Muhammad Shah, ��Sacho tun moro sanhia,�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 67, v. 8 asserts that the�imam�has established his throne in the land of�Daylam. However we do not know the dates of this�Sayyid�Muhammad Shah. The fact that this composition is in Sindhi largely precludes the possibility of his being any of the figures named Muhammad Shah who lived after�Imam�Shah and are known to have composed�Ginans, as their compositions are very influenced by Gujarati and Hindustani.
Sadr�al-Din, ��Shahake hek man anhi sirevo,�� in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 48, vv. 15-16.
The expression bar gur refers to�Pir�Sadr�al-Din�as the leader of twelve crore (a sum of 120,000,000) souls who are to be saved in the last age of the world. On this concept, see Christopher Shackle and Zawahir Moir,�Ismaili Hymns from South Asia: An Introduction to the Ginans�(London: School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London, 1992), 89, 169. A portion of this explanation is corrected in Virani, ��The Voice of Truth,�� 130-31 n. 82.
The word�shah, translated here as�imam, is one of the most commonly occurring terms in the�Ginans�used to refer to the�imam. Gulshan Khakee notes that�shah�is the most frequently used noun in the tenth chapter of�Sayyid�Imam�Shah��s�Das Avatar, occurring an astounding 147 times. See Gulshan Khakee, ��The Dasa Avatara of the Satpanthi Ismailis and the�Imam�Shahis of Indo-Pakistan�� (Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1972), 14. Similarly, the word�shah�is one of the most common appellations for the�imam�in the�diwan�of Khaki Khurasani (and, we may extrapolate, for Persian-speaking�Isma��ilis�in the mid-1600s). See Ivanow��s�An Abbreviated Version of the�Diwan�of Khaki Khorasani�(Bombay, 1933), 10.
��Dhan dhan ajano dadalore ame harivar payaji,�� 5: no. 42, vv. 1-5.
��Sirie salamashaha amane maliya,�� in�100 Ginanani Chopadi,�5: no. 10, v. 1. The second line may also be translated as ��Who bestowed the kingdom of religion upon us.��
��Alamot gadh patan delam des bhaire,�� in�100 Gindnani Chopadi, 2: no. 39, v. 1.
The twelve splendours (bar kala) refer to the sun, perhaps because it passes through twelve signs of the zodiac on its celestial rounds. It is contrasted with the moon of sixteen splendours (sol kala), which has sixteen digits and is representative of the�Pir. The term, admittedly a difficult and infrequently used�Ginanic�concept, is mistranslated in Shackle and Moir, Ismaili Hymns from South Asia, 89, 169, where the notion of�barkala�is confused with that of�bar karod, mentioned above, which refers to the twelve crore (120,000,000) disciples who are initiated into the mysteries of the Satpanth in the last age of the world.
��Jugame phire shahaji muneri��, in�102 Ginanaji: Chopadi, 4: no. 3, vv. 1-4.
Ta��rikh-i Gilan wa Daylamistan, 129.

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