Conclusion

In this book I have traced an evolutionary trajectory of various iterations and manifestations of Fatimid apocalyptic myth. It first illustrated how social structures such as oath-taking, tithing, and centres of the daʿwa terrestrially instantiated a vision for the establishment of utopia on earth, a utopia to be inaugurated imminently by the ...

Introducing Ismaili Apocalypses

This is a book about apocalypticism, a mode of religiosity so powerful and generative that it has been implicated in a variety of major events across geographies and time periods. Apocalypticism played a significant role in the rise of major religious traditions such as Christianity...

From Movement to Text: The Haft-bāb

This chapter examines the Haft-Bāb, a document recounting the theology behind the Nizari Ismaili declaration of the Resurrection (qiyāma) written approximately 40 years after the event. It illustrates how the Haft-Bāb disclosed a new universe in which humanity was classified into three categories, categories based upon one’s spiritual relationship with the imam. This chapter also illustrates how temporality was envisioned in this new realm, as well as how one could obtain salvation. It then illustrates how some of the ideas of the resurrection were deployed by another exegete, Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, in eschatological ways and non-eschatological ways to construct a paradigm of ethical behaviour. This examination, in turn, illustrates how apocalyptic and eschatological symbols can be reinvested with new meanings after they become decoupled from an immediate eschatology.

Actualising the End: The Nizari Declaration of the Resurrection

This chapter provides a historical overview and analysis of the Nizari Ismaili declaration of the Resurrection (qiyāma) on August 8, 1164. It argues that this declaration cannot be dismissed as an aberrant manifestation of antinomianism. Rather, it shows how the deployment of apocalyptic symbolism provided a theological framework for the transfer of authority from hidden to present imam. This transfer of authority provided a resolution to three logistical problems facing the Nizari community.

A Spiritual Progression to a New Eschatological Centre: The Taʾwīl al-daʿāʾim on the Hajj

There exists a rich tradition in Islamic history of exegetes who have provided symbolic interpretations to the rituals associated with the hajj. Chapter six focuses specifically on how al-Nuʿmān’s taʾwīl of hajj rituals provided a symbolic framework for creating the imam as utopian centre. Through the infusion of these rituals with symbolic correlates, this chapter also illustrates how al-Nuʿmān’s taʾwīl displaced the immediacy of an expected utopia as well as the arrival of the eschatological figure in part by linking these rituals to the arrival of another figure, al-qāʾim. The performance of the hajj, like the performance of many rituals in al-Nuʿmān’s taʾwīl, becomes at once a rehearsal of a revised notion of sacred history; the embodying of awaited mahdist expectation; and a reaffirmation of the Fatimid hierarchy.

Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript II: The Book of Righteousness and True Guidance

Chapter four examines another text of taʾwīl dated to the Fatimid revolution, the Kitāb al-rushd wa-l-hidāya, or Book of righteousness and true guidance. It discusses how numerical correspondences between Quranic chapters and members of the Fatimid hierarchy also became a hermeneutic tool pointing to the imminent advent of the mahdi. The Kitāb al-rushd wa-l-hidāya also reflects the Kitāb al-kashf’s deployment of symbolism that equated elements of the Quran’s eschatological or apocalyptic imagery with the mahdi and his advent. The chapter ends with a very brief examination of numismatic materials, illustrating how some of the earliest Fatimid coins bore Quranic inscriptions that could be read as a reflection of the Fatimids’ emergence as having inaugurating the awaited earthly utopia.

Oaths, Taxes and Tithes: Organising an Imminent Utopia

This chapter illustrates the ways in which the revolutionary dimension of the early Fatimid interpretive system was organized on the realm of terrestrial history. Preparations for the arrival of a utopian existence were carried out through the secret development of an extensive system of networks called the daʿwa, the summons or call, a hierarchical network that was responsible for recruitment to the Fatimid cause. In the Fatimid vision, the entire world became divided into regions that were headed by or were to be headed by significant members of the daʿwa. Those who wished to join the Fatimid cause were required to pledge an oath of allegiance in anticipation of the mahdi’s imminent arrival. This chapter discusses the nature of this oath at length, paying particular attention to how pledging it became central to the salvific paradigm, bestowing upon the believer a spiritually exalted lineage, one shared by prophets and other sacred personnel throughout history. In exchange for pledging the oath and working on behalf of the awaited mahdi, initiates became acquainted with the hidden meanings of revelation, and thus access to the tools of salvation.

From ẓāhir to bāṭin: An Introduction to Fatimid Hermeneutics

This chapter discusses the details of the early Fatimid interpretive process. It emphasizes how the process of taʾwīl or esoteric interpretation was related to Fatimid conceptions of sacred history and allegiance to the imams. This taʾwīl was an interpretive modality that envisioned the Quran as having a multiplicity of hidden meanings whose true nature can be derived only by the imam of the time and his authorized agents. The true nature of this interpretation was hidden; it is bāṭin, and is distinct from what is outwardly apparent, the ẓahir; thus the true meaning of things could be known only by the elect. This interpretive modality was fused to Fatimid conceptions of sacred history, a history punctuated primarily by seven law-giving prophets. The sixth law-giving prophet was Muḥammad, who entrusted the esoteric elements of divine revelation to ʿAlī, the first imam. The last speaker-prophet was the mahdi whom organizers of the Fatimid movement claimed would reappear soon.

To Temper an Imminent Eschatology: The Contributions of al-Mahdī and Qāḍī l-Nuʿmān

Chapter five focuses on the ways in which the first Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi and the most important ideologue of the Fatimid State, Qāḍī l-Nuʿmān, reinterpreted the identity of the eschatological figure and his placement in sacred history while simultaneously arguing for the Fatimids’ right to rule. Two texts are central to this chapter’s analysis: the caliph al-Mahdi’s letter to his Yemeni community, and Qāḍī l-Nuʿmān’s taʾwīl of his own book of laws, the Taʾwīl al-dāʿāʾim. The latter book has not been translated and has only received scant scholarly attention. Yet it is a fascinating source because it is a book whose symbolic interpretations were authorized by the imam himself and read only to initiates. This chapter shows how al-Nuʿmān’s taʾwīl of ritual practices becomes a powerful mechanism for reinterpreting the temporal linearity associated with an imminent mahdist expectation.

Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript I: The Book of Unveiling

This chapter examines the apocalyptic symbolism of one of the first works of taʾwīl attributed to the Fatimids, the Kitāb al-kashf, or Book of Unveiling. After a brief introduction to the apocalyptic elements of the Quran, the chapter shows how the author of the Kitāb al-kashf interpreted the text to argue that the Quran’s descriptions of the end of time in actuality referred to the coming of the awaited eschatological figure, the mahdi. The chapter argues that the Kitāb al-kashf’s taʾwīl of the Quran’s eschatological and apocalyptic imagery created a new transcript whose soteriological structure was centred around belief in and support for the mahdi and his cause.